Jimmy Carter’s state funeral will be held January 9 at Washington National Cathedral. President Biden declared January 9 a national day of mourning when he formally announced Carter’s death Sunday night, and he will deliver Carter’s eulogy.
Carter will lie in state at the US Capitol, the Carter Center announced Monday. He’ll lie in state in the Rotunda for three days, the Washington Post reports.
State funerals take between seven and ten days and consist of three stages, according to the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, which is headquartered at Fort McNair, which will coordinate the schedule for Carter’s memorial. The first stage will take place in Georgia, where services will begin on January 4. The second stage will be here in Washington, and Carter will be buried in Plains, Georgia, in a private ceremony.
Flags will be flown at half-staff for 30 days at the White House, on US military bases, and at federal buildings—which means they’ll be at half-staff on Inauguration Day. The last US President to lie in state there was George H.W. Bush, who died in November 2018 and whose state funeral at the cathedral drew thousands of mourners as well as then President Trump and former Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Carter.
There will be public observances in Atlanta as well, the Carter Center says. The center has published a site where people can sign a condolence book and view notable tributes to the 39th President.
This post will be updated.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
