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The 39th president will be buried later at his Georgia home. Here’s the latest.
A weeklong series of tributes to former President Jimmy Carter culminates on Thursday with a solemn state funeral in Washington that will bring together all five of the nation’s living presidents, who will temporarily put down their partisan swords to bid farewell to one of their own.
Mr. Carter, who has lain in state for the past two days at the Capitol, is being brought to Washington National Cathedral for a 10 a.m. service featuring all the rituals of a national send-off. Then he will be flown back to his hometown, Plains, Ga., for burial outside the modest ranch house where he lived most of his life and died last week.
The service represents the pinnacle of America’s honors to its 39th president, who sought to heal the nation after the traumas of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War as he presided over a tumultuous time, from 1977 to 1981.
Here’s what to know:
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Eulogies from two presidents: President Biden will deliver a eulogy, and the eulogies written by former President Gerald R. Ford and former Vice President Walter F. Mondale before their own deaths will be read by their sons, Steven Ford and Ted Mondale. Mr. Carter defeated Mr. Ford in the 1976 election but they later became friends, while Mr. Mondale was his close partner for four years in the White House. Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, and Stuart E. Eizenstat, a longtime friend and White House domestic adviser to Mr. Carter, will also deliver eulogies. Here is a look at the speakers and performers.
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Going home: Mr. Carter’s coffin will be brought from the cathedral to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for his last flight aboard a presidential jet used as Air Force One. After a final private service at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where Mr. Carter taught Sunday school deep into his 90s, a motorcade with the coffin will make a last journey through Plains to the Carter home. Navy jets will conduct a flyover in missing-man formation and then Mr. Carter will be interred in a family plot next to Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, who died in late 2023. Here is the schedule for the day.
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Five living presidents: In addition to Mr. Biden, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as President-elect Donald J. Trump, are also expected to attend, making the funeral the first gathering of the so-called presidents club since Mr. Trump’s election win in November. The same group is expected to gather again just 11 days later for his inauguration. Mr. Trump will be the odd man out among the presidents, who view him as a dangerous force and in some cases have denounced him harshly. Even Mr. Bush, the only other Republican in the group, has written in other candidates rather than cast a ballot for Mr. Trump.
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Day of mourning: Mr. Biden, who may be the surviving president who was closest to Mr. Carter, has declared Thursday a national day of mourning and closed the federal government to all but necessary operations while flags fly at half-staff. Here’s a look at the tradition.
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Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
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GOP Rep. Tom Kean, missing from Congress for months, set to return on June 30
Washington — Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey will return to Congress on June 30, his spokesperson said, after being away since March in an unexplained absence that has confounded Capitol Hill.
“Congressman Kean is eager to return to in person work on June 30 and resume a full schedule,” Kean’s spokesperson, Harrison Neely, told CBS News on Thursday. The New Jersey Globe first reported on his return date.
Kean’s whereabouts since he last voted on March 5 have not been disclosed. When he first made a statement about the absence in late April, the New Jersey Republican said he was addressing a “personal medical issue.”
Kean said earlier this month that he would return to Washington within a matter of weeks, at which point he would provide more details about his health.
“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals, I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks. At that time I will be completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition,” Kean said in a June 2 statement released by his campaign.
The statement came hours before polls closed in New Jersey’s GOP primary for his seat, in which he ran unopposed.
He has missed more than 130 votes during his absence.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters earlier this month that he had recently spoken with Kean. Johnson said he was aware of the health issue, but would not disclose the details.
“What he’s dealing with is not very common and not a big thing,” Johnson said.
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Video: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago
new video loaded: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago
By Shawn Paik
June 18, 2026
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