President Jimmy Carter will lie in state for a second day Wednesday after his remains arrived in Washington a day earlier as part of state funeral rites. The Georgia Democrat and 39th president died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Among those that will eulogize the former president at the official funeral is a prominent voice in Minnesota politics. Walter Mondale, a senator from Minnesota, served at Carter's Vice President during his term in the White House.
Many years ago, Mondale was asked to write and give the eulogy once Carter passed. But Mondale ended up dying prior to Carter in 2021 at the age of 93.
Instead of Walter Mondale giving the eulogy, his son Ted Mondale will do it in his place.
"My dad wrote it in 2015, and clearly updated it," Mondale told WCCO Radio on Wednesday. "He never talked to me about it. So, after my dad passed, the Carter Center called and said, 'oh, by the way, your dad was going to give this eulogy and we now want you to do it.' So, that was great. That was a number of years ago."
Mondale says the eulogy that his father wrote covers a wide range of topics, including their decades-long friendship, and recalls his father's 90th birthday party.
"You call up a 93-year old, and ask them to come from South Georgia, and ask them to come to your 90th birthday on January 5th in Minnesota," Mondale explains. "And they show up. That's a sign that's a real friend there."
Carter passed away after spending almost two years in at-home hospice care. He was the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
Carter served as president from 1977-81, winning office as an outsider in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate. He endured a rocky four years of economic unrest and international crises that ended with his defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. But he also lived long enough to see historians reassess his presidency more charitably than voters did in 1980.
He was remembered Tuesday at the Capitol for his deep religious faith, long public service and decades of humanitarian work beyond what he accomplished in politics.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker Mike Johnson were among those who offered bipartisan tributes to Carter in the Capitol Rotunda, where his flag-draped casket remains atop the Lincoln catafalque for members of the public to pay their respects.
Carter will remain at the Capitol until Thursday morning, when he is transported to Washington National Cathedral for a state funeral. President Joe Biden, a longtime Carter ally, will deliver a eulogy. Other living former presidents, including President-elect Donald Trump, are expected to attend.
Carter will be buried next to his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, in a plot near the home they built before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and where they lived out their lives with the exception of four years in the Georgia Governor’s Mansion and four years in the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.