By Currents News
The U.S. is saying goodbye to its longing living president: the presidential service for Jimmy Carter was held in Washington D.C. Jan. 10. It was a grand memorial for the peanut farmer from Georgia who went on to lead America.
The funeral services were fit for a president as the nation reflected on the life and service of Carter. Thursday’s marked the sixth presidential state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, bringing together five living presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump – to honor Carter as the longest-lived commander-in-chief.
Asked by Carter before his death, president Joe Biden delivered a eulogy.
“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me and through his life, taught me, the strength of character is more than title and the power we hold,” he said. “It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.”
Additionally, eulogies by former president Gerald Ford and Carter’s vice president Walter Mondale, written before their own deaths, were given at the cathedral by their respective sons.
The service capped off days of pomp and circumstance in Washington for Carter’s passing with ceremonies at Joint Base Andrew and the U.S. Navy Memorial.
After service Carter was taken back to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he was buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter.
It was a remarkable homage including a procession that followed the same route Carter and his family walked the day of his inauguration in 197, before a service in the Capitol rotunda.
“The test of American presidents is not the number of years they serve but the duration of their accomplishments,” Stuart Eizenstat, former White House adviser to Carter, said of him during the services.