A National Day of Mourning
For President Jimmy Carter
Today, Thursday January 9th, 2025, has been declared a National Day of Mourning in the United States to recognize the life of Jimmy Carter. There will be two funeral services held for the former president, one in the morning at the Washington National Cathedral and another in the late afternoon at his home church in Plains, Georgia. His bodily remains will begin the day in the US Capitol, where he has been lying in state, and before the day is through, he’ll be interred in his final resting place in Georgia.
Mourning for presidents
The death of John Kennedy in 1963 marked a turning point in how US presidents have been recognized with national days of mourning. Prior to and including JFK’s death, national days of mourning had only been invoked when presidents died during their terms in office: Lincoln (1865), Garfield (1881), McKinley (1901), Harding (1923), FDR (1945), and JFK (1963). (If you want to see a neat photograph of the White House draped in mourning for President Garfield, check out this picture from The White House Historical Association. This site also details the funeral held for Garfield as well as other presidents. It’s a great resource!)
Subsequent to JFK’s death, almost every former president who has passed away has been recognized with a National Day of Mourning including Eisenhower and Truman, who both served between FDR and JFK but died after JFK. Herbert Hoover, who died after JFK but who served before FDR, did not receive a National Day of Mourning. Nixon, who resigned from office, received a National Day of Mourning although his family opted out of a state funeral in Washington.
Two presidents who served before Lincoln and died while in office, William Henry Harrison (1841) and Zachary Taylor (1850), weren’t recognized with national days of mourning but did receive elaborate state funerals modeled on the customs of European royalty.
Two non-presidents have received national days of mourning in the United States: Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, who were both assassinated in 1968.
Mourning Jimmy Carter
In his proclamation designating the National Day of Mourning, President Biden “call[ed] on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr.”
I’d like to do something in observance today, but I don’t have a place of worship per se. I imagine there are many Americans that face the same problem. I’ll probably spend some time in a nearby cemetery and not just because this is the only place my dog has been willing to go for a walk lately.
My friends down in Atlanta were able to pay their respects to Jimmy Carter earlier this week when his body was on view at The Carter Center, which is incidentally where I first met my dog. Her foster brought her to the parking lot there to meet me.
One of my Oakland Cemetery volunteer friends was kind enough to share a picture he took of the tributes left outside the center. President Carter was not only a president but also a true humanitarian who worked to build homes through Habitat for Humanity and eradicate disease around the world. He leaves behind a great legacy.
How will you pay tribute to Jimmy Carter on this National Day of Mourning?
Note: an earlier version of the post failed to acknowledge that Herbert Hoover died after JFK but did not receive a National Day of Mourning.
That is nice. Interesting for sure. I can't wait to read about him when I get to his presidential picks but it is going to be awhile! Rest in peace.