Following Jimmy Carter’s death Sunday, outpourings of grief for and memories of the nation’s 39th president are shedding light on his legacy in the D.C. area.
Nearly two years after entering hospice care, Carter, 100, died Sunday surrounded by family in the home he shared with his late wife, Rosalynn Carter.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday closing all departments and agencies of the federal government Thursday, Jan. 9
On the same day, Carter will be honored in D.C. with a state funeral as part of a National Day of Mourning, according to the White House.
Carter will be laid to rest in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Details on the state funeral have not been announced; the Washington National Cathedral has held services for past presidents.
Biden also ordered that U.S. flags fly at half-staff for one month.
How to give condolences
The Carter Center has said people will be able to honor the former president during public observances.
You can sign an official condolence book for Carter at The People’s House: A White House Experience, which is at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
Floyd and Michaela Kursey, of West Virginia, stopped by to sign the book.
“We are Democrats, and we supported the party and what he stood for,” Michaela Kursey told WTOP. “He was a good, I feel like, a good president. I mean the different diseases and so forth that he tried to eliminate, and just his life in general.”
Claudia Zygmunt and her mother shared condolences at The People’s House as they remembered Carter as a worldwide humanitarian and defender of human rights.
“He focused not only on the situation in the U.S., but also globally,” said Zygmunt, who is from central Europe and is a legislative fellow in the U.S. Congress.
“He was also a big supporter of the peace talks in Bosnia, in the Balkans. So that’s how he will be remembered, not only in the U.S., but also back in Europe.”
If you can’t make it in person, you can also send your thoughts through the Carter Center’s tribute website.
In Annapolis, you might hear the sound of gunshots as the Navy honors Carter — who is the only president to have graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Personnel are shooting one 40-mm salute round every 30 minutes until sunset, according to the City of Annapolis.
Read more:
- Mattie and Jimmy: The friendship of the president and young Rockville poet
- DC-area leaders mourn death of Jimmy Carter
- LISTEN: Historians, political reporters and more share their thoughts on Jimmy Carter’s legacy
- PHOTOS: Look back on the life of Jimmy Carter 1924 — 2024
Passion for service, driven by faith
Carter had a passion for serving after he left office. He volunteered for 35 years for Habitat for Humanity, which builds and improves housing for needy families.
CEO Jonathan Reckford said when Jimmy Carter showed up in New York City in 1984 to be part of renovating homes, it shocked a lot of people.
“You had never seen a former president of the United States sleeping in a church basement, physically working on rehabbing a tenement building,” Reckord said.
Reckford also said Carter redefined the post presidency with his service.
Reckord said for Carter, Habitat for Humanity was the best way for him to put his faith into action.
“It wasn’t a show up for a photo op, this was 35 years of building all around the world,” Reckford said.
In fact, Reckford recalled Carter would tell people working on projects, “if you come up and asked for a picture then I’m not building, you’re not building and the person with the camera is not building.”
Carter would always make time at the end of the build for pictures and conversation with anyone, Reckford said.
He added Carter knew that serving not only helps people, but builds community.
“When he was volunteering alongside the families who would buy those homes, he always got more out of it than he was able to give,” Reckford said.
Reckford said he thinks Carter will be remembered fondly largely because of his personal integrity and character.
“Sustained service, decades and decades of serving others, both with Habitat for Humanity and his work with the Carter Center, through all the work that he did,” Reckford said.
Carter gives a toddler a lift
Josh Davidsburg, a documentary filmmaker and lecturer at the University of Maryland, was just 2 and 1/2 years old when he met Carter.
On July 4, 1981, Davidsburg was at an Independence Day parade in Georgia, where his father, Lou, was a TV journalist.
Lou was taking part in the parade, so the younger Davidsburg was in the VIP stands with his mother.
Davidsburg gravitated to a man seated in the VIP section nearby.
“I just kind of wandered off from my mom, toddled up to him, ’cause I was 2 and 1/2, and I said ‘Uppy’ and he picked me up and put me in his lap,” Davidsburg said.
And former first lady Rosalynn Carter also handed the little boy a small American flag to wave at the passing parade.
The image was captured in a United Press International photograph and captures the former president in a moment that’s become part of Davidsburg’s own family history.
“A toddler from a local TV station wouldn’t be able to wander up to the president anymore,” Davidsburg said. “It was a different time, it was a nicer time. We didn’t have as much to worry about.”
Asked if he recalls the moment, Davidsburg told WTOP that honestly, he’s not sure how much of it he actually remembers, given that he was just a toddler.
“My mom and my dad talking about this moment, and the newspapers articles, it feels like a memory,” he said. “It’s kind of become a memory to me. And so it’s kind of grown into almost legend around our house.”
Davidsburg said Carter’s presidency was marked by division, but that the former president’s legacy is one of statesmanship and humanitarianism.
“Living to 100 is an amazing feat on its own, but to be able to do that and give as much back to the world, and to the country and to the state as he did, it was just an incredible life,” Davidsburg said.
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer, Kyle Cooper, Grace Newton and Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
