WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting Tuesday.
Carter鈥檚 remains, which had been lying in repose , left the Atlanta campus Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and extended family. Special Air Mission 39 departed Dobbins Air Reserve Base north of Atlanta and arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. A motorcade carried the casket into Washington for a final journey to the Capitol, where members of Congress will pay their respects.
In Georgia, eight military pallbearers held Carter's casket as cannons fired on the tarmac nearby. They carried it to a vehicle that lifted it to the passenger compartment of the aircraft, the iconic blue and white Boeing 747 variant that is known as Air Force One when the sitting president is on board. Carter never traveled as president on the jet, which first flew as Air Force One in 1990 with President George H.W. Bush.
The scene repeated outside Washington. The former president's casket was removed from the plane, cannons fired and a military band played. A hearse emblazoned with the seal of the president joined a motorcade that steered toward Washington.
A bipartisan delegation of members of Congress were led into the Capitol rotunda by Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Democrats who represent Carter鈥檚 home state. Three of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices also were present. Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan stood next to Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in the rotunda.
The U.S. Army Band Brass Quintet played as people awaited the casket鈥檚 arrival.
Carter, who , will lie in state Tuesday night and again Wednesday. He receives a state funeral Thursday at Washington 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Cathedral. President will deliver a eulogy.
There are the familiar rituals that follow a president鈥檚 death 鈥 the Air Force ride back to the Beltway, a military honor guard carrying a flag-draped casket up the Capitol steps, the Lincoln catafalque in the Rotunda.
There also will be symbolism unique to Carter. As he was carried from his presidential center, a military band played hymns 鈥 鈥淎mazing Grace鈥 and 鈥淏lessed Assurance鈥 for the who called himself a 鈥渂orn-again Christian鈥 when he sought and won the presidency in 1976. In Washington, his hearse stopped at the U.S. Navy Memorial, where his remains were transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for the rest of his trip to the Capitol. The location nods to Carter鈥檚 place as the lone U.S. Naval Academy graduate to become commander in chief.
All of the pomp carries some irony for the Democrat who went from his family peanut warehouse to the Governor鈥檚 Mansion and eventually the White House. Carter won the presidency as the smiling Southerner and technocratic engineer who promised to change the ways of Washington 鈥 and eschewed many of those unwritten rules when he got there.
From 1977 to 1981, Carter was Washington's highest-ranking resident. But he never mastered it.
鈥淗e could be prickly and a not very appealing personality鈥 in a town that thrives on relationships, said biographer Jonathan Alter, describing a president who struggled with schmoozing lawmakers and reporters.
often flouted the ceremonial trappings that have been on display in Georgia and will continue in Washington.
As president, he wanted to keep the Marine Band from playing 鈥淗ail to the Chief,鈥 thinking it elevated the president too much. His advisers convinced him to accept it as part of the job. The song played Saturday as he arrived at his presidential center after a motorcade through his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood farm. It played again as his remains were carried out on their way to Washington.
He also never used his full name, James Earl Carter Jr., even taking the oath of office. His full name was printed on memorial cards given to all mourners who paid their respects in Atlanta.
He once addressed the nation from the White House residence wearing a cardigan, now on display at his museum and library. His remains now rest in a wooden casket being carried and guarded by military pallbearers in their impeccable dress uniforms.
As Carter's remains left Georgia, President-elect Donald Trump the late former president during a news conference in Florida for to its home country.
Pressed on if criticism of Carter was appropriate during the solemn funeral rites, Trump responded, 鈥淚 liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing.鈥
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter鈥檚 death,鈥 he added, even though he had first mentioned it unprompted.
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This story has been updated to correct the last name of a senator. He is Jon Ossoff, not Osoff.
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Cooper reported from Phoenix.
