Federal offices across the United States will close on January 9 for Jimmy Carter’s funeral. President Joe Biden signed an executive order shutting all executive departments and agencies, which the White House said was “a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr., the thirty-ninth President of the United States.”
The order allows exceptions. Some departments and agencies may stay open “for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.” Closing federal government on the day of a president’s funeral is common practice. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will also close on January 9 in Carter’s honor.
Biden separately declared January 9 a National Day of Mourning. His proclamation asked Americans to “assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr.” The funeral is set for the Washington National Cathedral.
Lying in state
Carter’s remains arrived in Washington on Tuesday and are lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda ahead of Thursday’s funeral.
He died on Sunday, December 29 at his home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 100. The Carter Center said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. He was the longest-lived president in US history, and had been in at-home hospice care for nearly two years.
A long post-presidency
Carter was known for his philanthropy and humanitarian work. In 2015 he disclosed that he had liver and brain cancer. “Now I feel it’s in the hands of God, who I worship, and I’ll be prepared for anything that comes,” he said. After extensive treatment he was declared cancer-free in December of that year.
Falls in 2019 led to hip replacement surgery, a fractured pelvis, and in November that year an operation to relieve bleeding on his brain. He still stayed active into his 90s. He kept teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains and helping to build Habitat for Humanity houses.
Sources
Sources
- Jan. 9 declared federal holiday for Carter funeral | FOX 5 DC
- Death and state funeral of Jimmy Carter – Wikipedia
