(NewsNation) — The state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, will be held Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral, the White House has announced.
Carter will be honored with a state funeral spanning six days from Jan. 4-9. The ceremonies will include events in Georgia and Washington, D.C., concluding with a private interment in Plains, Georgia.
The funeral marks the first presidential state funeral since George H.W. Bush’s in 2018.
The former president will be laid to rest beside his wife, Rosalynn Carter, who passed away in 2023 at age 96.
Jimmy Carter’s funeral: Full schedule
The Carter Center has detailed the full funeral plans on its website.
“The Carter Family invites the public to honor and celebrate the life of former President Carter by paying their respects during either of the public viewings; the funeral procession in Washington; in the downtown area of Plains, Georgia; or along the motorcade routes in Georgia and Washington,” the website states.
Here are the highlights of the program. All times in ET:
Saturday, January 4
- 10:15 AM: Beginning at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia
- 10:50 AM: Motorcade pause at Carter’s boyhood farm, where the National Park Service will ring the historic farm bell 39 times
- 3:00 PM: Motorcade stops at Georgia State Capitol for moment of silence
- 3:45 PM: Arrival ceremony at Carter Presidential Center
- 4:00 PM: Service at Carter Presidential Center
- 7:00 PM: Public viewing begins
Sunday-Monday, January 5-6
- Continuous public viewing at Carter Presidential Center
Tuesday, January 7
- 9:30 AM: Departure ceremony from Carter Presidential Center
- 10:40 AM: Departure via Special Air Mission 39 from Dobbins Air Reserve Base
- 12:45 PM: Arrival at Joint Base Andrews
- 2:00 PM: Funeral procession with horse-drawn caisson from U.S. Navy Memorial to U.S. Capitol
- 3:00 PM: Congressional service in the Capitol Rotunda
- 7:00 PM: Public viewing begins
Wednesday, January 8
- Continuous public viewing at the Capitol Rotunda
Thursday, January 9
- 10:00 AM: National Funeral Service at Washington National Cathedral
- President Joe Biden expected to deliver eulogy
- Additional eulogies by:
- Jason Carter (grandson and Carter Center board chairman)
- Son of former President Gerald Ford
- Son of former Vice President Walter Mondale
- 2:00 PM: Arrival at Lawson Army Airfield, Fort Moore
- 3:45 PM: Private funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Plains
- 5:20 PM: Private interment at Carter residence
- U.S. Navy to conduct missing man formation flyover before interment
NewsNation confirmed Monday that President Joe Biden, who addressed the nation Sunday night after Carter’s passing, is expected to deliver the eulogy at the funeral. More details are expected to be announced soon.
The funeral will take place three days after Carter’s body is flown to Washington from Atlanta, where the former president will lie in repose Saturday and Sunday at the Carter Center. The Carter Center announced Sunday that public observances for the 39th president will be held in Atlanta and Washington before private interment will be held in Plains, Georgia.
A state funeral is a national tribute that is traditionally reserved for a head of state, according to the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and the U.S. Military District of Washington.
The United States conducts the funerals on behalf of all people who hold, or who have held, the office of president, president-elect and other people who have been designated by the president. A state funeral is typically made up of three stages and typically lasts seven to 10 days. In former President Carter’s case, however, this week’s New Year’s holiday will delay the start of the process.
Stage 1 of the state funeral takes place in the former president’s state of residence. The New York Times reported Carter’s body will be taken by motorcade from Plains to Atlanta, which is the site of the Carter Center.
Stage 2 includes ceremonies that are held in Washington before the state funeral culminates with interment.
The Washington ceremonies may involve Armed Forces color guards, elite military bands and other representatives from service academies, the JTR-NCR/USAMDW said. Any services held outside of Washington include Washington-based honor guards and local service units as well as active duty, National Guard and Reserve for logistical, military band or salute guns support.
Who will attend Jimmy Carter’s state funeral?
State funerals are typically expected to be attended by other former presidents, including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. President-elect Donald Trump told reporters on New Year’s Eve that he will attend the funeral, which will take place 11 days before Trump’s inauguration.
Biden has also declared Jan. 9 as a national day of mourning. Biden ordered all flags across the nation to remain at half-staff for the next 30 days. ABC News reported Carter asked Biden in 2023 to deliver his eulogy upon his passing. Biden endorsed Carter as the Democratic nominee for president during his first term as a U.S. senator and was the first member of Congress to do so.
“I think that what Jimmy Carter is an example of is just simple decency,” Biden said about Carter. “And I think that’s what the rest of the world looks to America for.”
NewsNation has confirmed that in addition to Biden speaking at the state funeral, eulogies will also be delivered by Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson, who is the chairman of the board of the Carter Center. Other eulogies will be delivered by the son of former President Gerald Ford and the son of former Vice President Walter Mondale.
Mondale was Carter’s running mate when Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
What will happen before and after the national funeral?
Once Carter’s body arrives in Washington on January 6, the former president will lie in state at the Capitol, where presidents dating back to Abraham Lincoln have been publicly remembered. Thousands of people are expected to pass through the Capitol Rotunda to pay their respects.
The Carter Center issued a statement Monday saying that the U.S. Congress graciously extended an invitation to allow the former president to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
Washington National Cathedral is located just a few miles north of the White House and has been the venue used for several state funerals, ABC News reported. Other former presidents whose service was held at the church have included Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.
Carter will be returned to Georgia by military flight for burial after the national funeral. The New York Times reported that Carter’s body was initially set to be returned to Georgia by train but that the former president objected.
“If you take my cold, dead body across the U.S. by train, I’ll haunt you until the day you die,” he told a staffer, according to the report.
Carter is expected to be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died last year at the age of 96.
The Carter Center family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations are asked to be made to the nonprofit Carter Center, which is located at 453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway, N.E. in Atlanta.