Jimmy Carter: Former US president’s six-day state funeral starts with procession – as mourners gather for service
Six days of funeral events are under way for the former US president Jimmy Carter as a service took place in Atlanta on Saturday.
The 100-year-old Democrat, who served one term in office from 1977 to 1981, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family on 29 December. He was the oldest living former US president.
A motorcade with his flag-draped coffin set off from the Phoebe Sumter Medical Centre in Americus, where ex-Secret Service agents who protected him served as pallbearers and walked alongside the hearse as it left the campus.
Former Secret Service agents assigned to protect Jimmy Carter carry his coffin to a hearse. Pic: AP
His family, including his four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, accompanied him in a procession that took his body through Plains and past his boyhood home on his family farm in nearby Archery.
Members of the National Park Service watch as the hearse passes through Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm in Archery, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
There, the National Park Service rang the old farm bell 39 times to honour his time as the 39th president.
People lined the procession route in central Plains, near the train depot where Mr Carter had his presidential campaign headquarters.
Crowds watch the hearse leaving Phoebe Sumter Medical Centre in Americus, Georgia. Pic: AP
Some carried bouquets of flowers or wore commemorative pins with Mr Carter’s photo.
“We want to pay our respects,” said Will Porter Shelbrock, 12, who was born more than three decades after Mr Carter left the White House in 1981.
“He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”
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Pic: The Carter Centre
A service took place at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta. Pic: Reuters
The motorcade made its way to Atlanta, where there was a moment of silence in front of the Georgia Capitol, and later a ceremony took place at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta.
His body will remain at the Carter Presidential Centre until Tuesday, when he will be flown to Washington DC to lie in state at the US Capitol.
His state funeral begins on Thursday at 10am at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a return to Plains for an invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church.
He will be buried near his home, next to his late wife Rosalynn Carter, who died in November 2023.
Pic: AP
They were both born in Plains and lived most of their lives in and around the city, apart from Mr Carter’s navy career and his terms as Georgia governor and president.
Last year, on his 100th birthday, Mr Carter received a private congratulatory message from the King, expressing admiration for his life of public service.
Jimmy Carter’s coffin passes his boyhood farm in Archery, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
Mr Carter became president when he defeated former president Gerald Ford in 1976.
The Georgia native and former peanut farmer was later beaten by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
The final year of Mr Carter’s administration was dominated by a hostage crisis in Iran, when 52 Americans were taken captive at the US embassy in November 1979.
Pic: Reuters
On the day he left office, 20 January 1981, the hostages were released. Mr Carter had continued negotiations behind the scenes, even after his election defeat.
In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to avoid conflict around the world.
Mr Carter conducted diplomatic missions into his 80s and was involved in building houses for the poor well into his 90s.
Following his death, former president Bill Clinton and his wife, the ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, led tributes to Mr Carter, who they first met during his campaign in 1975, giving “thanks for his long, good life”.
“Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others – until the very end,” they said in a statement.
White House incumbent Joe Biden said: “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian.”
President-elect Donald Trump said the challenges Mr Carter faced as president “came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans”.
“For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude,” he said in a statement.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
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Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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