The Latest: Jimmy Carter's casket arrives in Georgia

WASHINGTON — Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President, is being honored with the pageantry of a state funeral in the nation's capital. He will later be honored a second service and burial in his tiny Georgia hometown that launched a Depression-era farm boy to the world stage.

What to know:

1. Speakers: President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy. Other expected speakers include Steve Ford, reading remarks written by his father, former President Gerald Ford, before his death; former Carter adviser Stu Eizenstat and Jason Carter, one of Jimmy Carter's grandsons. See the full order of ceremony.

2. Funeral guests: In attendance are five living men who have also served as president: Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and George W. Bush. There are also current and former vice presidents, supreme court justices and congressional leaders.

3. Carter's burial: The former president will be buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, following a private funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where the former president taught Sunday school.

Here's the latest:

Carter arrives back in Georgia

The motorcade is crossing the peanut fields and pecan groves of a state Senate district Carter represented when he first was elected to office in 1962 during the 60-mile (95-kilometer) trip to Maranatha Baptist Church. There, a second, private funeral will precede Carter's burial.

Carter's casket makes its final departure from Washington

Carter's casket is headed back to Georgia. The former president's remains were loaded onto a plane that usually serves as Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after a brief ceremony that included an artillery salute and the U.S. Air Force Band playing the hymn ''O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee.''

A knot of 11 military officers gave a crisp final salute as the plane taxied away. The aircraft, carrying the casket, the Carter family and their guests, lifted off for Fort Moore in Georgia, where another motorcade will return Carter's body to Plains for a second funeral service and burial Thursday evening.

Martin Luther King III attended Carter's service

Carter heads back to Georgia

Carter's casket has been placed in the hearse and is departing the cathedral.

The casket, along with Carter's family and guests, are traveling to Joint Base Andrews and will head next to Georgia.

Biden greets Trudeau, Prince Edward

There were a few more handshakes after the service. Dignitaries have filed out of Washington National Cathedral, with a few more interactions.

Harris, who entered the cathedral swiftly ahead of the service, stopped to speak to Obama. As he left, Bush leaned over and briefly interacted with Trump, shaking hands.

Ahead of the service, many of the former presidents and other officials greeted Biden privately as they all arrived at the cathedral.

Chief Justice John Roberts also spoke to a number of senators as he walked out, including Sen Raphael Warnock

Carter's service concludes

Carter's service has concluded.

Carter's casket is then placed in the hearse, and it, along with Carter's relatives and guests head in a motorcade to Joint Base Andrews.

At that point, Carter's final journey home to Georgia begins. At the air base, there will be more music and another 21-gun salute before the casket is loaded onto the plane, and Carter's family boards.

Once it lands in Georgia, there is another ceremony, then the journey to Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, for a private funeral service.

Carter's personal pastor takes cathedral pulpit

The Rev. Tony Lowden, Carter's longtime personal pastor, spoke briefly and asked God to grant the former president ''eternal rest.''

In recent years, the homebound Carter also liked to watch Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock's Sunday services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Biden sings along to ‘Imagine'

As Brooks and Yearwood perform, Biden was among those in the audience observed who appeared to quietly sing along to ''Imagine.''

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sing John Lennon's ‘Imagine'

Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are singing their arrangement of John Lennon's ''Imagine,'' which they also sang at Rosalynn Carter's Atlanta funeral in 2023.The lyrics are remarkable for a former first couple of the United States, the world's preeminent military and economic superpower.''Imagine there's no countries

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Livin' life in peace.''

Young ''inspired'' by Carter's former actions

''Jimmy Carter was a blessing that helped to create a great United States of America. And for all of us, and many who are not able to be here, I want to say, ‘Thank you. You have been a blessing from God, and your spirit will remain with us,''' Young said.

Young calls Carter ‘something of a miracle'

Seated at a microphone, Young drew laughs from the crowd when he said, ''It's still hard for me to understand how you could get to be president from Plains, Georgia.''

Young, who is Black and was a pastor nearby, said he was ''nervous'' sometimes driving through the small town.

Andrew Young reflects on his and Carter's intersections with U.S history, race and politics.

He recalls Carter telling him upon their meeting that the future president was friends with Sumter County's racist sheriff.''

But time and again I saw in him the ability to achieve diversity by the personality and upbringing,'' Young said. ''He went out of his way to embrace those of us who grew up in all kinds of conflict.''

Young, an ordained minister and onetime aide to Martin Luther King Jr., said Carter ''grew up in the tremendous diversity of the South, and he embraced both sides.''Now 92, Young became a Georgia congressman, Atlanta mayor and Carter's U.N. ambassador.

Biden's remarks end

Biden ended his remarks saying ''God bless you, Jimmy Carter.''He grazed his left hand along Carter's flag-draped casket as he passed by it in a return to his seat in the front row.

Biden is using his remarks to intertwine what he sees as the importance of Carter's own faith in God, and an enduring faith in America itself.

''The very journey of our nation is a walk of sheer faith, to do the work, to be the country we say we are, to be the country we say we want to be,'' Biden said. ''Today many think he was from a bygone era, but in reality he saw well into the future.''

Biden also recalled Carter as a ''Southern Baptist who led on civil rights,'' ''brokered peace'' and, along with Mondale, formed a ''model partnership'' of what it means to serve in the White House.

''I miss him but I take solace in knowing that he and his beloved Rosalynn are reunited again,'' Biden said.

Biden applaud's Carter's character

Repeating ''character'' several times as Carter's chief attribute, Biden said the former president taught him the imperative that ''everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.''

''We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor,'' Biden said, also noting the importance of standing up to ''abuse in power.''

Biden takes the lectern

Biden is taking the lectern to deliver his remarks in remembrance of Carter.

With decades of experience in a variety of political positions, Biden has often been called on to delivery eulogies for a number of allies - including Democratic Sens. Fitz Hollings and Ted Kennedy - and even foes.

Carter's grandson describes the family house

Carter describing his grandparents and their house: ''Walls papered with pictures of children and great-grandchildren.''

''They had a little rack next to the sink where they'd hang Ziploc bags to dry.''Carter, he said, ''Eventually did get a cell phone.''

''They were small-town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from no matter what happened in their lives. ... But I realize we are not here because he was just a regular guy.''

''As governor of Georgia a half-century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and mass incarceration,'' he said.

Stu Eizenstat, who served Carter as a domestic policy aide and has written a book on his administration, says he thought his boss's longshot presidential bid could, at best, end with a vice presidential nomination ''for regional balance.''

He said Carter told him flatly that he would win the Democratic nomination. Carter did, and Eizenstat noted that Carter was the only Democrat elected president between 1968 and 1992.

Eizenstat also said Carter brought ''integrity'' back to the office following Watergate and his help in establishing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which Eizenstat chairs.

Eizenstat also said Carter ''laid the building blocks for a better world'' in terms of the U.S.' relationships abroad, saying he operationalized the ''soft power'' of human rights with the ''hard power'' of military strength.

While so many Carter tributes focused on his humanitarian work, public service and personal decency, Eizenstat made a head-on effort to frame the Carter presidency as more successful than voters appreciated at the time.

''He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs in the foothills,'' Eizenstat said.

Former White House aide defends Carter's political record

While so many Carter tributes focused on his humanitarian work, public service and personal decency, former White House aide Stu Eizenstat made a head-on effort to frame the Carter presidency as more successful than voters appreciated at the time. Eizenstat ticked through legislative achievements— and their bipartisan support.

He noted Carter deregulated U.S. transportation industries, streamlined energy research, created FEMA, and notched the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. He emphasized that Carter's administration secured the release of the American hostages in Iran, though it did not happen until after his 1980 defeat.

''He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs in the foothills,'' Eizenstat said.

Presidential funerals are often filled with military presence given to the president's stature as commander-in-chief. Carter's had an added poignancy because he was the last of the Greatest Generation to have sat in the Oval Office and his death leaves only George W. Bush as a president who has worn a military uniform. It is a change from an era when veteran status was as ubiquitous as the Presidential Seal.

Mondale lauds Carter's fight for women's equality

In his remarks, Mondale spoke at length about Carter's efforts toward equality for women, noting that Carter had appointed ''five times as many women to the federal bench'' as any of those who preceded him as president, combined.

Foreign dignitaries attend Carter's funeral

In addition to U.S. political leaders, there are also a number of foreign dignitaries in attendance, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - who recently announced his resignation - Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Son of Carter's old running mate honors the late ex president

Ted Mondale, son of the late Vice President Walter Mondale, rose to read a letter from his father in honor of his former running mate.

Walter Mondale wrote that he was ''surprised'' that Carter asked him to be his running mate for the 1976 campaign, saying that his only requests were that he make a real contribution to the team, and not be ''embarrassed, as many of my predecessors had.''

Mondale wrote that Carter ''protected'' him from ''humiliation'' faced by other vice presidents.

Top Biden officials attend the service

Posthumous Ford eulogy notes Palestine and ''ruffled feathers'' in Washington

Steven Ford, son of Gerald Ford, noted Carter and his 1976 rival aligned in pushing the U.S. foreign policy establishment to take action on Israel and Palestine—a reference to the longtime U.S. policy advocating a ''two-state solution'' in the region.

Carter sometimes rankled his successors and the U.S. foreign policy establishment with his emphasis on the rights of Palestinians.

Nearly a half-century later, Israel remains at war with Hamas in Gaza.

Those close to Carter have said that the president, in his final months, was often agitated and bothered watching news coverage of the conflict in the region where he had brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.

Club of former presidents is evident at the service

It's often referenced as an exclusive organization wherein only the members understand the stakes, but the club of former presidents is evident in some of the reactions coming from the front few rows at Carter's funeral.

As Ford's son read his father's remarks about how he and Carter had joked about the expense of presidential libraries, Clinton and Bush were among those laughing, since - as former presidents - it's a cost and process they both well know.

Gerald Ford's son eulogizes Carter

In the remarks read by his son, Gerald Ford wrote that the 1976 election brought about ''one of my deepest and most enduring friendships,'' in his bond with Carter.

Steven Ford noted that Carter ''supported my mom and gave her hope that week'' when Ford died.

Carter children sit in the front pew

The Carter children are seated in order of age on the front left pew, starting from the aisle: Jack, Chip (James Earl III), Jeff and Amy.

They are across the aisle from the other presidents and first ladies.

The brothers were young adults who worked as key campaign aides and volunteers in 1976. Amy Carter was in elementary school. Photographers captured her when she was with her parents on the trail. But she spent most of the campaign in Plains, being cared for by her grandmothers.

Joshua Carter talked about the legendary Sunday school class his grandfather led for decades at Maranatha Baptist Church, also noting that Jimmy Carter spent his ''entire life helping those in need.''

He said his grandfather ''eliminated diseases in forgotten places'' and ''waged peace'' around the world.

During Sunday School lessons, Carter said he did it because ''he worshipped the Prince of Peace, and He commanded it.''

He noted Carter's Sunday School students were the first to learn he'd won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Carter funeral also a reunion

But many of those are gathering in Washington for a reception and reunion to watch the funeral. Several Carter administration figures who are inside the cathedral will join their former colleagues after the service as Carter and his family return to Georgia for his hometown funeral and burial.

Dean of cathedral uses Carter's given name

The Very Reverend Randloph Marshall Hollerith, dean of the cathedral, opens by recognizing Carter as ''your servant James.''

Carter rarely used his given name. He took the oath of office as ''Jimmy Carter,'' and he signed official documents that way.

Carter's casket carried in silence to the front of the cathedral

The footsteps from the military pallbearers can be heard as they pivot to place Carter's casket for the service.

Carter's funeral procession begins

The funeral procession of Carter has begun, with a crucifer, torch bearers - typical of an Episcopal church procession - as well as representatives of all branches of the U.S. military.

Michelle Obama is not at the service

One of the dignitaries missing from the former president lineup is Michelle Obama.

Carter's casket removed from hearse

Carter's casket is being removed from the hearse and being positioned for delivery into Washington National Cathedral.

Biden and the first lady sit next to Harris and the second gentleman

Biden and his wife Jill are taking their seats next to Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff. There were no visible greetings, but the former presidents were all just together in a private room ahead of their entrances into Washington National Cathedral.

Chorus sings as Carter's casket readies entrance into the Cathedral

Former presidents and spouses sit near each other

Other former presidents and their wives are being seated just down the row from Trump, including George W. Bush and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush.

As she and her husband entered, former first lady Hillary Clinton walked around the end of the row on which Trump was sitting, going first to greet Bush and others.

Obama and Trump sit together

Obama has taken his seat next to Trump, chatting with his successor in office, who did not stand to greet him but shook hands. They were engaged in conversation as Harris entered the cathedral.

Trump and Pence have shaken hands as the former president takes his seat, just in front of his former vice president.

Trump and Melania enter the cathedral

Trump and his wife, Melania, are entering Washington National Cathedral and being ushered to their seats.

Congressional leaders attend Carter's funeral

Congressional leaders are also in attendance as they await the start of Carter's funeral.

Carter and Andrew Young had a long, notable friendship of Southern politicians

Andrew Young, the 92-year-old former U.N. Ambassador for Jimmy Carter, will speak about his longtime friend Thursday.

But Young was skeptical of Jimmy Carter in 1970. The former aide to Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the young state senator had never met King and was a calculated moderate during the Civil Rights Movement. Then Young watched Carter run for Georgia governor a second time and campaign at an Atlanta restaurant famous in the Civil Rights Movement. Carter, Young said, insisted on shaking every hand -- including in the kitchen, where Young said no politicians -- Black or white -- typically went.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Young noted how Carter, as governor and president, elevated more Black appointees, including judges, than his predecessors had combined. And he said Carter was the first U.S. president to pay attention to Africa.

''We still haven't caught up with him,'' Young said. ''He was ahead of his time.''

Carter's casket has arrived at the Washington National Cathedral, met by an honor guard hoisting flags rippling in the cold wind. Snow from a recent winter storm that gripped the nation's capital is still visible on rooftops and grounds, sparkling in the sunlight.

Which presidents will attend Carter's funeral?

Expected at Carter's funeral are the five living men who have also served as president: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

There are also incoming, current and former vice presidents, including JD Vance, Kamala Harris, Al Gore, Mike Pence —and of course Biden, who served alongside Obama.

Bipartisanship on display in the Washington National Cathedral

As often is the case with the funerals of former politicians, the reverence and respect on display thus far among attendees at Carter's upcoming funeral supersedes their partisan differences.

Another point of note is that Carter's funeral appears to be the first time that Pence and his former running mate, Trump, will be in the same space as Pence since their term together and fractured relationship following the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol.

The two spoke at a 2023 Lincoln Day Dinner in Iowa during the 2024 GOP presidential primary but were on stage at different times.

Carter's procession passes White House

Carter's funeral procession has just passed by the White House, which he once called home during his term as president.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh shook hands with Vice President-elect JD Vance and hugged his wife, Usha Vance, who sat in the third row.

The Carter family is large. But there's a notable absence: Rosalynn

Four children, a few dozen children and great-grandchildren, and many in-laws are accompanying Carter on his state funeral journey. But there's a notable absence: former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

The Carters had the longest presidential marriage -- 77 years -- when she died in 2023 at the age of 96. Carter's mother, ''Miss Lillian,'' was a nurse who delivered Rosalynn in Plains. She brought her young son Jimmy to meet the baby days later.

She became one of the most active first ladies in U.S. history, campaigning for Carter on his way up the political ladder and sitting in on Cabinet meetings in Washington. Carter admitted he did not treat Rosalynn as his equal early in their marriage. But it grew into a ''full partnership.'' She essentially ran the peanut warehouse. She campaigned for him solo. She sat in on Cabinet meetings.

Supreme Court Justices chat ahead of the funeral

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett stood talking, along with Sonia Sotomayor and Samuel Alito inside the Washington National Cathedral.

Ford-Carter friendship will be on display at Washington National Cathedral

Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford were rivals in the 1976 presidential election. And then they were friends.

The two men agreed long ago that whichever of them outlived the other would speak at the first funeral. Carter eulogized Ford after he died in 2006. Ford still found a way to keep his end of the bargain. His grandson, Ted Ford, will read a tribute Thursday to Carter that the 35th president wrote ahead of his own death.Ford and Carter became presidential friends quickly.

Biden's motorcade arrives at the Washington National Cathedral

President Biden's motorcade has arrived to the Washington National Cathedral. Members of the British embassy lined Massachusetts Avenue outside the building as Biden's motorcade passed by.

Carter elevated the vice presidency. Mondale will be represented.

It was the ''Grits and Fritz'' ticket for Democrats in 1976. Carter, the Southern governor, tapped Minnesota Sen. Walter ''Fritz'' Mondale for his running mate.Mondale, who lost to Ronald Reagan in 1984 four years after the Republican defeated Carter, died in 2021. But he wrote a tribute to Carter before his death that Ted Mondale will read Thursday.

Carter elevated the vice presidency, giving Mondale a more prominent role than the No. 2 spot typically had. That set an example followed by Al Gore under Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney under George W. Bush, and Joe Biden under Barack Obama.

Carter's casket placed into a hearse

Carter's casket has been placed into a hearse, which will take his body to Washington National Cathedral.

On a frosty morning in the nation's capital, relatives and Special Honor Guard members have donned gloves and ear muffs, as a stiff wind whips flags that accompany the former president's body.

Music will feature prominently Thursday for the ‘Rock-n-Roll president'

Music — sacred, patriotic and popular — will feature prominently throughout Thursday for the evangelical president who campaigned with the Allman Brothers Band, befriended Willie Nelson and quoted Bob Dylan in his 1977 inaugural address.In Washington, the U.S. Marine Orchestra and Armed Forces Chorus will sing ''Eternal Father, Strong to Save,'' the Navy hymn, for the only U.S. Naval Academy graduate to become commander in chief. Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who succeeded Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter as ambassadors for Habitat for Humanity, will perform John Lennon's ''Imagine,'' reprising their role at the former first lady's funeral in 2023.Hymns include ''All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name'' and, in Plains, ''Let there be Peace on Earth.''

Jimmy Carter did not meet Martin Luther King Jr. before his assassination. But he became close to King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and King's parents -- a key enduring friendship.

Martin Luther King Sr. was a key advocate for Carter in his 1976 campaign and delivered the benediction at the his nominating convention that year and four years later. Carter awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to the younger King, presenting the medal to his widow.

And Carter pushed for a national holiday to commemorate King.King's daughter, Bernice King, will be at Carter's national funeral. She told AP that Carter was a ''true pro-life president'' because of his emphasis on human rights.

Carter's casket departs the U.S. Capitol

Carter's casket is departing the U.S. Capitol as part of a procession to the Washington National Cathedral for his funeral. Accompanied by a 21-gun salute, the procession has paused during a performance of ''Hail to the Chief.''

Besides Joe Biden, several eulogists will offer tributes to Jimmy Carter

President Joe Biden is the highest-ranking eulogist for Carter's national funeral. But there are several other speakers from different stages of the late president's 100 years. They include Jason Carter, the former president's eldest grandchild who now chairs The Carter Center board; Stu Eizenstat, who shaped Carter's domestic policy as a top White House aide; and Andrew Young, Carter's fellow Georgian who served as his U.N. ambassador.

Steve Ford, the grandson of President Gerald Ford, will read a tribute from his grandfather, whom Carter defeated in 1976. The 35th president died in 2006. Ted Mondale, son of Carter's vice president, Walter Mondale, will read a eulogy his father wrote for Carter before his own death in 2021.

Read Jimmy Carter's full obituary

Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, died on Dec. 29, 2024, at 100 years old.

''My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,'' Carter once said.

Buried with Rosalynn

Carter will be buried next to his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in a plot near the home they built before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and where they lived out their lives with the exception of four years in the Georgia Governor's Mansion and four years in the White House.

2 notable funeral attendees remember Carter

''He set a very high bar for presidents, how you can use voice and leadership for causes,'' said Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder whose foundation funded Carter's work to eliminate treatable diseases like the Guinea worm. Gates spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., compared the two Georgians and Nobel Peace Prize winners.

''Both President Jimmy Carter and my father showed us what is possible when your faith compels you to live and lead from a love-centered place,'' said King, who is also planning to attend the Washington service.

Jimmy Carter's Sunday school class never got old

No matter how many times one crammed into the modest sanctuary at Maranatha Baptist Church, there was always some wisdom to be gleaned from Carter's measured, Bible-inspired words.

Carter taught his Sunday school class roughly twice a month to accommodate crowds that sometimes swelled to more than 500. (On the other Sundays, no more than a couple dozen regulars and a handful of visitors usually attended services).

▶ Read about the former president's Sunday school class

Even during funeral rites, Trump criticized Carter's presidency

As Carter's remains left Georgia Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump criticized the late former president during a news conference in Florida for ceding control of the Panama Canal to its home country.

Pressed on if criticism of Carter was appropriate during the solemn funeral rites, Trump responded, ''I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing.''

''I didn't want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter's death,'' he added, even though he had first mentioned it unprompted.