Three former presidents, one current and one elected all gathered together today for his funeral, a rare sight as it only happens at a limited number of official events.
US President Joe Biden and his predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump gathered at the Washington National Cathedral to honor Carter. It was the first time that the former presidents were all together since the funeral of George H.W. Bush in 2018.
Seated next to each other, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Barack Obama were seen chatting amicably. Trump has been accused of racism against his predecessor many times, especially when he refused to admit that he was actually born in the US and therefore qualified to run for the presidency.
The Trump-Pence handshake and the meeting with Harris
It was also the first time since the Nov. 5 election that the president-elect was in the same venue as his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Behind Trump and Obama, former Vice Presidents Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle were also sparring with each other.
Notably, Trump shook hands with Mike Pence, his former vice president who had refused to block the ratification of the results in the 2020 election, which Biden won. Trump supporters, who stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 to block ratification, had issued threats against Pence at the time.
Biden sat in the front row with first lady Jill, next to Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary – whom Trump beat in the 2016 election – took their seats next to George W. Bush and his wife Laura.
US media also pointed to the presence of outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was sitting a few meters away from Trump, who has launched several verbal attacks against him recently.
Who gave eulogies
At his funeral, Biden eulogized Carter, “a man who never allowed political turmoil to distract him from his mission, which was to serve and shape the world.” He also stressed that Americans “have a duty to stand up to hatred” and the “abuse of power” which, he said, is “the greatest sin.”
Carter’s grandsons, Jason and Joshua, spoke of their grandfather who “spent all the years I knew him helping those in need, building homes for those in need, eradicating disease in forgotten places,” as the latter put it.
“I never saw any difference between his public and private life. He was always the same person, whoever he was talking to, wherever he was and to me, that is the definition of integrity. That honesty was accompanied by love, by faith,” said Jason Carter.
Eulogies were also delivered by Stephen Ford, son of President Gerald Ford, and Ted Mondale, son of Carter’s former vice president, Walter Mondale.
Carter’s body will be flown to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and will be buried next to his wife, Rosalyn.
