UPDATED, with particulars on Nationwide Day of Mourning: President Joe Biden has ordered all U.S. flags on federal public buildings and grounds be flown at half-staff for the following 30 days to honor Jimmy Carter, who died at the moment at age 100.
Biden additionally set January 9 as a Nationwide Day of Mourning all through the USA.
In remarks this night, Biden paid tribute to his “nice good friend” and predecessor within the White Home, as a person of “easy decency” who “lived a life measured not by phrases, however by his deeds.”
In remarks in St. Croix within the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Biden is on trip, the president additionally recalled the help that Carter and his spouse, Rosalynn, gave to him after his son, Beau, died of most cancers.
“Jimmy knew the ravages of the illness too properly,” Biden mentioned. “He misplaced his father, his brother, his sisters, to this horrible illness. So when Jimmy was identified, we did our greatest to consolation him.” Carter’s mind most cancers, identified in 2015, went into remission.
“In at the moment’s world, somebody might [look] at Jimmy Carter and see a person of a bygone period with honesty and character. Religion and humility mattered. However I don’t imagine it’s a bygone period. I see a person not solely of our time, however for all occasions, somebody who embodies probably the most elementary human values we will by no means let slip away.”
Like Carter, Biden is leaving workplace after one time period. A reporter requested the president what impressed him concerning the thirty ninth president, whose post-presidential humanitarian work helped earn him the Nobel Peace Prize.
“By no means surrender hope. By no means surrender hope,” Biden mentioned. “I imply it from the underside of my coronary heart. A lot unfavorable this month.”
“I feel that what Jimmy Carter is an instance of is simply easy decency, easy decency, and I feel that’s what the remainder of the world appears to America for,” Biden mentioned.
In an earlier assertion, Biden mentioned that he shall be ordering an official state funeral for the previous president, however that particulars have been nonetheless being organized with Carter’s household.
Historically, throughout such ceremonies, the previous president lies in state on the Capitol Rotunda, adopted by a funeral at Washington Nationwide Cathedral.
“In the present day, America and the world misplaced a rare chief, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden mentioned in his assertion.
“Over six many years, we had the dignity of calling Jimmy Carter a pricey good friend. However, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, although, is that hundreds of thousands of individuals all through America and the world who by no means met him considered him as a pricey good friend as properly.”
Biden mentioned final 12 months that Carter had requested him to ship his eulogy. Biden was the primary sitting U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s presidential bid in 1975, when his run for the White Home was nonetheless thought of an extended shot bid.
“Together with his compassion and ethical readability, he labored to eradicate illness, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and truthful elections, home the homeless, and at all times advocate for the least amongst us. He saved, lifted, and adjusted the lives of individuals all throughout the globe,” Biden mentioned.
“He was a person of nice character and braveness, hope and optimism. We are going to at all times cherish seeing him and Rosalynn collectively. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership and their humble management is the definition of patriotism.”
Biden and First Girl Jill Biden visited Carter and Rosalynn Carter at their residence in Plains in 2021. “We sat and talked concerning the outdated days,” Biden mentioned, per the AP. Rosalynn Carter died final 12 months. The Carters had been married for 77 years.
“We are going to miss them each dearly, however take solace realizing they’re reunited as soon as once more and can stay ceaselessly in our hearts,” Biden mentioned in his assertion.
“To the complete Carter household, we ship our gratitude for sharing them with America and the world. To their employees – from the earliest days to the ultimate ones – now we have little question that you’ll proceed to do the great works that stick with it their legacy.
“And to all the younger folks on this nation and for anybody seeking what it means to dwell a lifetime of objective and which means – the great life – examine Jimmy Carter, a person of precept, religion, and humility. He confirmed that we’re nice nation as a result of we’re a very good folks – first rate and honorable, brave and compassionate, humble and powerful.”
The Carters have been current on the final state funeral, held in 2018 for former President George H.W. Bush.
