The Casket of Former President Jimmy Carter at the Start of Today’s Funeral at the National Cathedral in DC.
{resident Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden at the Funeral for Former President Carter This MOring.
The Rev. Andrew Young Speaks at the Funeral of President Carter This Morning.
President Joe Biden Eulogizing Former President Jimmy Carter This Morning at His Funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC>
It was more than a poignant religious farewell today. It was a masterclass in what made this nation the great country it is.
“It’s about character, character, character,” said President Biden who eulogized the late President Carter toward the end of the two-hour farewell to his late friend at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC this morning. “He saw well into the future, although some see him as a part of a bygone era.” It was a summary of what multiple eulogizers said about President Carter before him on this National Day of Mourning.
For many, it was an introduction to a Renaissance man they never knew because his rise to the presidency from humble beginnings was so long ago..
“President Carter may never get to Mount Rushnore, but he certainly belongs on the foothills for making the world a safer place,” said Stu Eizenstat, a domestic policy advisor to President Carer. “He earned his place in Heaven, although not on Mount Rushmore.”
Former President Carter was praised for his forward thinking on climate change calling him the most environmentaly oriented President since TR. He worked to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreigh oil and to make this nation energy independent.
He established the Departments of Education and Energy. Aside from his legislative accomplishments, was his groundbreaking ommitment to equality among all races. This despite the fact he was the son of the south and the son of a racist father. And he was remembered for his commitment to women because he placed women in national leadership roles as no other president had done before him.
“President Carter went out of his way to embrace us who had grown up in all kinds of conflict,’ said Rev Andrew Young., a civil rights activist and Congressman from Georgia, who the President named to be the first Black Ambassador to the United Nations. “Women and children were especially on his mind, although he was working as a nuclear submarine engineer.”
This masterclass in civility and tolerance from a former Sunday School teacher was in obvious contrast to President-elect Trump whose presidency is expected to focus on revenge and retribution and racist policies. Trump was among the former presidents attending the funeral of the longest living President. Did the tone-deaf President-elect get the message? Not likely.
Following the funeral, Jonathan Alter, biographer of President Carter, said it was an “evocative” funeral. “Carter was the un-Trump and Trump is the un-Carter.”