WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) – Jimmy Carter’s The journey of memory will end at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he grew up on a peanut farm. There’s his wife, RosalynnHe was buried last year in a plot chosen a few years ago.
But before Carter reaches his humble final destination, there will be an interstate choreography of mourning, ceremony and logistics characteristic of state funerals. Since the nation’s founding, America has bid farewell to former presidents with an intricate series of events that combine long-standing traditions and personal touches.
Funerals are often organized by presidents themselves, and they usually have years after leaving the White House to think about how they want to be remembered.
“They are very involved in the planning process, and the decisions they make tell us a lot about who they are, how they see the presidency and how they want to be remembered by the American people,” senior Matthew Costello said. Historian of the White House Historical Association, author of “Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture.”
Carter had more time to plan than most. He lived 43 years into his presidency, the longest in US history, before he died on Sunday at the age of 100.
Many details of his funeral remain under wraps, at the discretion of the family and military units responsible for carrying out the plans. Most presidents are in the United States Capitol, and there is usually a service at Washington Cathedral.
President Joe Biden dismissed last year that Carter had asked him to give a eulogy. (“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” Biden admitted.)
Biden said Sunday that his team is working with Carter’s family and others “to see that he is properly remembered here in the United States and around the world.” Carter’s son Chip is his main point of contact, although Biden has said he has spoken to all of Carter’s children.
He described an ongoing process that “will take some time” but will be “a great service in Washington, DC” for Carter, which Biden had planned for January 9.
Sometimes former presidents help with even the smallest details.
Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, recalled a meeting with George HW Bush shortly after the former president reviewed the seating chart for his funeral.
“And I said, ‘Is that weird? You know, it’s your death,’” Engel recalled. “And he said, ‘You know, you do it every three months. That’s how you get used to it.’
President Dwight Eisenhower, who commanded Allied troops in World War II before becoming a politician, wanted the government to bury him in an $80 box. Apart from the glass seal that added to the design, it was indistinguishable from any other soldier’s box.
Processional details can also reflect aspects of a president’s life. Ronald Reagan’s casket was carried up the west steps of the US Capitol, overlooking his native California. When Gerald Ford died, his casket was moved from the House side of the building, a nod to his years as a member of the legislature.
Work on presidential funerals Joint Task Force-National Capital Regionwhich includes 4,000 military and civilians. As the unit said in a statement, “it is a privilege to provide this support on behalf of the nation.”
Presidential funerals can leave lasting marks on the American consciousness. One of the most memorable descriptions of George Washington—”first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens”—came from a eulogy given at the death of the country’s first leader.
After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, his son John Jr. was photographed saluting the casket. Kennedy’s casket was carried down Pennsylvania Avenue in the same casket carried by Abraham Lincoln after his assassination a century earlier, and a horseless horse was included in the procession.
Kennedy’s was the first televised presidential funeral.
“Technology has made mourning in a way more accessible, more democratic. More people have the opportunity to take a moment and think about what that person meant,” Costello said. “And I think it also opens the door for more people to participate in the grieving process.”
In many democratic countries, the head of state and the head of government are two different people. The United States combines both ceremonial and chief executive roles in the office of the presidency.
“Since we don’t have a national figure other than the president, basically we have taken all the traditional weight and civic emotion that is given to the death or birth or marriage of a sovereign or king and put it on our head. the president,” Engel said. “And there aren’t that many, to be honest. So every time one of them passes, it’s unusual and a big deal.”
He described the funeral as a moment to remember that “we’re all in this together” and that “this man was a president for all of us, Republican or Democrat.”
However, in today’s divided politics, state funerals can create uncomfortable, even tense, moments.
At George HW Bush’s funeral in 2018, President Donald Trump was in the audience. He shook hands with former President Barack Obama, his predecessor, but did not interact with Hillary Clinton, who he defeated in the 2016 election, or her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
“These funerals are always political,” Engel said. “What happens at Carter’s funeral is going to be political, frankly, whether those around the Carter family like it or not.”
___
Associated Press video reporter Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.
