MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Today, all the living U.S. presidents will gather with hundreds of other dignitaries at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for former president Jimmy Carter's state funeral.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Carter lived to be 100, leaving a mark on this country and the world extending beyond his four years in the White House. Even as he traveled the world over the decades, he kept living in Plains, Georgia, a comparatively simple life. But presidential funerals are grandiose, and Carter's will be no different.
MARTIN: NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith will be in the cathedral for the funeral, and she is with us now for a preview. Good morning, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So just start with telling us how history will remember Jimmy Carter.
KEITH: He was a one-term president. And his time in Washington was marked by high energy prices, inflation and discontent, which really dragged down his presidency. There were foreign policy triumphs, like the Camp David Accord, but also challenges, like the Iran hostage crisis that only ended on Carter's last day in office. You know, he came into office in 1977 on a wave of post-Nixon backlash and demand for reform.
He promised to never lie to the American people but was punished for what became known as his malaise speech, where he perhaps shared a bit too much of what was on his mind. After leaving office, Carter wrote a whole new chapter of his legacy, 40 years of work fighting disease and homelessness and working for peace. And I'm certain this will get more than one mention at the service today, but Carter continued teaching Sunday school at the Baptist Church he attended in Plains, Georgia, well into his 90s.
MARTIN: As we said, all the living presidents will be there, which is not something that often happens. What will you be watching for?
KEITH: Well, you know, those dynamics of all the presidents sitting with their spouses in a single pew are always fascinating. President-elect Donald Trump will be there, as will President Biden, who he will replace in the Oval Office in less than two weeks. And the last presidential funeral was in 2018 for George H. W. Bush. Jimmy Carter was there for that one, along with the Obamas and Clintons.
President Biden is set to speak at this service, and he and Carter go way back. Biden, then a young U.S. senator, was the first national political figure to endorse Carter back in 1976. I spoke to former Obama speechwriter Terry Szuplat about what he's watching for. And he said, in Washington, even a eulogy is a political act.
TERRY SZUPLAT: They often reveal as much about the speaker as they do the person being honored and eulogized - their world view, what they believe in, their values, their vision.
KEITH: But he also said there's a risk in reading too much into these speeches. Not every glowing statement about Carter's character will be meant as an implicit criticism of some other president who's in the room.
MARTIN: OK, so potential for some subtext there. But what else stands out to you from the list of speakers?
KEITH: You know, Carter was a political outsider, but he's getting the ultimate Washington insider send-off. In addition to the eulogy from President Biden, there will be tributes from Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, and Stu Eizenstat, who served in the Carter administration. One thing that is quite unique, thanks to Carter's incredible longevity, two eulogies will be read by the sons of the men who wrote them.
Both former president Gerald Ford and former vice president Walter Mondale wrote eulogies for Carter, but Carter outlived them both. One other fun thing, country stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are set to sing "Imagine," by John Lennon. It was Carter's favorite song, and the lyrics are quite resonant with Carter's life's work.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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