Carter service at U.S. Capitol delayed by weather, VP Harris to attend
WASHINGTON — All events on Tuesday related to memorial services for President Jimmy Carter have been delayed 90 minutes to account for a winter storm in Washington that blanketed the area with nearly a foot of snow.
The biggest event of the day is a 4:30 p.m. service at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda where Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune are scheduled to deliver brief eulogies and lay wreaths near Carter’s casket.
The former president will lie in state from 7 p.m. to midnight as scheduled, allowing members of the public to pass by his flag-draped remains and pay their respects. Public viewing will resume Wednesday at 7 a.m. and end Thursday at 7 a.m.
According to the new schedule, a departure ceremony will be held at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta at 11 a.m. Carter’s remains will be transported to Dobbins Air Reserve Base and then flown to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. From there, the motorcade will head to the U.S. Navy Memorial, where Carter’s casket will be transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson.
Jimmy Carter: The life and legacy of the 39th president
Read: The life story of the man from Plains
Where it all started: Plains, Georgia. The South Georgia hometown of Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, located in Sumter County along US 280, became a world fascination when Jimmy Carter became the first and only Georgian ever elected to the White House.
Carter’s legacy: Jimmy Carter’s greatest accomplishment wasn’t being president of the United States. It was what he did afterward. A curious late-night dream sparked the idea of the Carter Center, where he and his team, continued his mission toward world peace and global health.
Read this list of some of Carter’s biggest accomplishments and reflections from a former aide.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter: Rosalynn Carter said she thinks she fell in love first with a photograph. Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter went on to be the longest married couple in presidential history — married for more than 77 years until her death in November 2023.
Condolences: Read and sign the online guestbook at the Carter Center
Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and was chosen to serve in the Navy’s developing nuclear submarine program. He left the military in 1953 after his father became terminally ill with cancer and returned to Georgia to take over the family farm, a life pivot that paved the way for his political career.
The route from the Navy Memorial to the Capitol was designed to replicate a portion of Carter’s 1977 inaugural parade where he and his wife, Rosalynn, became the first couple to walk the route instead of being driven in a car. Members of the Carter family plan to walk behind the caisson for the roughly mile-long journey.
Members of the public are allowed to line up along the route of the procession, which is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m.
Upon arrival at the U.S. Capitol, the late president’s remains will be carried inside. His casket will be placed on top of the same catafalque that was built in 1865 after the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Members of Georgia’s congressional delegation will join their colleagues from both chambers of Congress at the 4:30 p.m. service. Invited guests also include Supreme Court justices, and current military and White House leaders, as well as those who served under Carter.
About the Author
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
