In just a few days, fellow U.S. presidents, prominent humanitarians and other world leaders will honor Jimmy Carter at Washington’s towering cathedral.
But before that, a hearse carrying the remains of Mr. Carter, the 39th president of the United States, stopped outside a Georgia farmhouse on Saturday. There he raised chickens, helped his father with his peanut farm, and reached the pinnacle of political influence in Plains, Georgia, on a seemingly impossible 100-year leap that catapulted him along a globe-trotting mission to eradicate and protect against disease. The journey has begun. democracy.
It was the first stop on a farewell journey that traced a long and varied range of lives. The journey, like his life, will begin and end in rural Georgia, where he was born and raised and where he died on December 29 at the age of 100.
A series of future memorial events will include discussions about the impression Carter left on the world, including the legacy he left behind after just one term in the White House and what defined his post-presidential life. him.
On Saturday, the journey began with an acknowledgment of the places and people who played a significant role in shaping who they are.
He wrote a book in which he lovingly recounts his days milking cows, learning to cook possum (taste: “unique”), and fetching water from the well. He also described the racial dynamics of the segregated South and the ongoing tensions resulting from the Civil War.
“I grew up in a family where people couldn’t forget that we were conquered. “On the other hand, most of our neighbors were black people whose grandparents were liberated in the same war.” Mr. Carter wrote “An Hour Before Daylight,” a memoir of his childhood that was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. “Our two races, although inseparable in everyday life, were kept apart by social customs, misinterpretations of the Bible, and the law. “It is the uncontested law of the land, ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The trip began in Americus, Georgia around 10 am. Former and current Secret Service special agents protecting Mr. Carter transported his body to a hearse.
After stopping at his childhood home, now maintained by the National Park Service, the hearse passed through Plains, a town of about 500 that was his home base for most of his life.
As the hearse and motorcade stopped on a country road running along a farmhouse on the outskirts of the Plains, bells rang 39 times, a nod to his place in the lineup of U.S. presidents.
It was a brisk morning and people came from near and far to sit along the road. Heather Baade, 54, was driving from Austin, Texas, and expressed a sentiment shared by many. “I love Jimmy Carter.” She admired his ability to balance secular leadership with deep Christian faith. She also believed he was “trying to win the hearts of the whole country” and said, “You don’t see that much these days.”
Robert Garland, a retired Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy, was assigned to Mr. Carter’s security unit in 1991 when the former president visited Miami to work on home construction with Habitat for Humanity. “He was probably our greatest president.” Garland, 64, said. “He led with dignity, honor and respect.”
The motorcade will travel from the plains through country roads lined with farmland and forests before reaching a vast highway outside Atlanta.
City and state leaders, including Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, were expected to wait outside the golden-domed Capitol. Those gathered were silent for a moment.
The Atlanta Street Tour begins with a hearse carrying the former president and a tour of the city where he had a constant presence. He has roots in Braves games. He stopped at Manuel’s Tavern, a bar where Georgia Democrats often hang out. And he spent countless hours working at the Carter Center, a nonprofit he founded with his wife after leaving the White House.
The day’s trip is expected to end in a central, tree-covered area northeast of Atlanta. A private worship service will be held in the afternoon, and after resting from Saturday evening, we will stay until early Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday morning, the journey will continue toward Washington, where he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol for a day and a half. The funeral is scheduled for Thursday morning at the Washington National Cathedral, and President Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy. President-elect Donald J. Trump has announced his intention to attend.
From there, Mr. Carter will be transported back to the plains. He will be buried Thursday next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalyn, just outside the home they built together in 1961.
