Transcript of LIVE: State funeral for former President Jimmy Carter in Georgia | Special Report

Today. And legacy of former President Carter. The motorcade carrying the former President is about to arrive at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta after a four-hour journey driving through country roads, avoiding the interstate to allow residents in rural areas to catch a glimpse of the former President. Ceremonies to honor the 39th President began this morning. Crowds gathering in Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains, Georgia to pay their respects. Many not even born when Jimmy Carter was President. The Carter family earlier arriving at the Phoebe Sumpter Medical Center in Americas, Georgia. Agents from the former President's Secret Service detail carrying his casket to the hearse, accompanying the President for one last time as he began his final journey. The motorcade then stopped along the route to Atlanta at Carter's Boyhood Home in Archery, Georgia. There, a bell was rung 39 times for the 39th President. That same bell that woke Carter in the morning when he was a child. The motorcade just arriving at the state capital in Georgia. Governor Brian Kemp, the state's Lieutenant Governor, the mayor of Atlanta, and other dignitaries are there, including members of Jimmy Carter's State Trooper Protective Detail, who served when Carter was governor.

And there, I believe we do see members of the Carter family there greeting, of course, the governor, the Lieutenant governor, and other dignitaries. There we see his son, Jack Carter, his eldest son. I believe that's his grandson, Jason Carter, there next to him as well, paying their respects. Of course, Jimmy Carter was a state senator from 1963 to 1967, and of course, then the governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. They're paying their respects. We see them hugging, shaking hands. As we mentioned, Georgia State Patrol Honor Guard is there, lining the edges of this Plaza. There we can see them behind the family and the other officials. They're there at the top of the steps. You see some there holding their patrol caps. These are the surviving members of President Carter's State Patrol detail from his time as governor, as we mentioned. It's just another example we have seen throughout this day of how he is honoring the men who protected him during his term, because to him, they were more than a protective detail. They were really family. In fact, we've learned of one powerful example of this really extraordinary relationship, a retired Georgia State Patrol Master Trooper, Roni Gay, who actually met his future wife, Judy Comer, in Governor Carter's scheduling office when they were Married, then Governor Carter walked the bride down the aisle.

Their daughter, Lauren Gay, then went on to serve as President Carter's Chief of Staff since 2001. And there are plenty of stories like that, the many ways in which Jimmy Carter and the Carter family touched the lives of everyone around them. We're joined now by Mary Jordan, our contributor and Associate Editor with the Washington Post. And you've heard that so often as we reflect on the life of Jimmy Carter, how many people's lives he changed and personally touched as well. There's many people in Congress today and well-known figures who got their start in politics during the Carter administration. Senator Warner was an intern in his office. David Rubinstein, the philanthropist who has put so much money into the Magna Carta, refurbishing the Washington Monument, and today got the Medal of Freedom. He worked in the Carter Administration. I mean, really, if you're at a party in Washington, many people said that they were inspired by this governor who kept saying things like, We're a good country. We deserve a good government, and I want good people around me. It worked. A lot of people got their start because of this man who we're honoring today.

Really helping that next generation of political heavyweights to grow and develop their careers as well. You now see the motorcade there after this moment of silence outside of the state capital, the motorcade rolling again. It's about a 10-minute drive away now from here to the Carter Center, the Carter presidential Center, where there will be a service. One last image there as the motorcade makes its way. Our Steve Osensami joins us as well. And Steve, we were noting how every detail of today was meticulously planned by Jimmy Carter, by his wife, Rosalind. They wanted this day, the first of many days of events honoring his life, really to pay tribute in a lot of ways to the people who helped them and helped to carry forward all of the work that they were doing. That's right, Mary. These are our Plans that have been in the works for many, many, many years. They've been adjusted over the years by the Carters and their team, by the US military, depending on when his demise might happen, whether certain people were in or out of the country. These are plans that have been in place for some time.

But one important thing that the former President wanted, that he insisted on is that he wanted the first major event of his state funeral to take place here where I'm at, at the Carter Center, and it be a service involving scientists, pacemakers, educators, physicists, all the different types of people who he worked with here at the Carter Center to help, and this is putting it very plainly and straightforwardly, to help heal the world. And so that will be happening here shortly. There's a service that's going to be taking place just maybe about a couple of thousand feet away from where I'm standing right now, a dispute from the people who he worked with at the Carter Center to the former President and to the former First Lady. This is the place where his presidential library is. It's also the place where he and the former First Lady would stay when they were in the city when they were away from their homes. As I've shared with a couple of people today, one of the wonderful things about the former President that so many people admired is that he did not live extravagantly family. At the Carter Center, when he would stay here, they had a Murphy bed that he would sleep on, that the two of them would sleep on.

As you're seeing today, you're seeing an outpouring of people from all over the world, and of course, all over Georgia, who are lining the highways to say goodbye to this President. And of course, the visitation will be 24 hours and will continue until Tuesday. Mary. Thank you, Steve. Of course, paying tribute to the people who helped him with his mission to heal the world. We have with us now, Spencer Christian, of course, a longtime member of our ABC family, a longtime former meteorologist at Good Morning, America, now the meteorologist at our station, KGO in San Francisco. And, Spencer, you covered Jimmy Carter, you also got a chance to form a close relationship with him. And I'm hoping you will share with us a story that you've shared with me, which is just how you first met him, because I think it says a lot about who the former president was. You're right, Mary, and I love sharing this story. It was 1988, the summer of '88, and Good Morning, America had sent me down to Atlanta to the Carter Presidential Library to do a live remote early in the morning for Good Morning, America. President Carter was an as a runner in those days.

As my camera person and I were setting up on the grounds of the library, we saw the former President and secret Service agent running around the grounds of the library early in the morning, about 6 AM, and he came jogging up to where we were and he said, Hi, Spencer, I'm Jimmy Carter, as if I needed an introduction. It was just his grace and his humility and that down-to-earth regular guy quality just touched something inside my heart. I just felt a connection with him right away. The next words out of his mouth were, The Carter family would like you to know how much we appreciate how kind you were to Billy and Sybil when you interviewed them years ago. That's a reference to his younger brother, Billy Carter, and his wife, Sybil, whom I had interviewed in New York in 1980. There were many people in the media who, when they interviewed Billy, were trying to rob him of his dignity and make him look like something other than who he was. I didn't do that. Apparently, that got back to the Carter family, and he was expressing his appreciation to me for that. I was dumbfounded.

The former President of the United States is thanking me for a simple gesture of kindness to his brother. Here I am in this picture with him, President Carter, at the site of Habitat for Humanity build in Washington, DC, where I did a remote with him for GMA, and I stayed the rest of the day and worked with him. This picture is from President Carter's 75th birthday celebration in America's Georgia, which I had the great honor of emceeing a big grand black tie event. This picture with the President and Mrs. Carter, it was a joint celebration of his 95th birthday and her 92nd birthday that was held at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, a longtime family church of the Carter's. And it's where the former President taught Sunday school for years and years and years. I love this story so much, Spencer, for a lot of reasons. But for one, just the fact that he remembered eight years later, an interview that you had done with his brother, I mean, especially when you consider how many people he must have come into contact with. I just think it tells you so much about the man. It really does, Mary.

I mean, he's Mike, gosh, you hear so many people describe him this way. He was approachable, humble, gracious, down to earth, just a real person, but he had a huge heart. Here's a picture with former President and the late Billy Carter, his younger brother. I think anyone who actually met the Carter's and had any time to actually chat with them and get to know them would come away with the same impression that you and I have, which is that he He was just a gracious man. He loved people. He loved all of humanity. That is evident, obviously, in the way the Carter's devoted their lives, especially in his post-presidential presidency years to just serving humankind globally, building houses with Habitats for Humanity, traveling to the most impoverished countries in the world to eradicate diseases and vaccinate children, and just to people hope and to lift their spirits. He was committed to that as a humble servant, a man who was true to his faith and lived out his faith by serving humankind. And, Spencer, we also actually have with us today, Jimmy Carter's niece, Kim Fuller, Billy's daughter. Kim, I don't know if you've been able to hear this conversation, but I know, Spencer, you, I think, are able to speak to Kim as well.

But I'm sure that the story that you are hearing retold must resonate with you as well. Yes, they do. We appreciate all of that. I'm very proud of my Daddy, and I certainly appreciate what Christian did for him all those years ago. We've been discussing all day, Kim. But your uncle's story and life was in so many ways this really improbable journey. Can you tell us what it was about your uncle's decision to initially even run for governor and then President? Was the family surprised? Because you hear so many people remembering that a lot of people, quite honestly, didn't really know that much about Jimmy Carter. We were not surprised at all because whatever Uncle Jimmy set out to do, he always did it. Now, We were overwhelmed when the press came in and started talking about it. But as far as him running for governor or president, we were not surprised. In fact, I've told people this several times over the past few days. But we were excited for the governor's mansion because every holiday we were there. Mom and Daddy put us on a bus and we'd go up there and stay. So we liked that part of it.

But no, we weren't surprised. When you come from a family like this, where you got my grandma who went to the Peace Corps, and then you've got the rest of the children who have done extraordinary things with their lives. It's just a matter of the way we lived. Spencer, I think you're still with us as well. Would you like to say hello to Kim? I would. Hi, Kim. I just wanted to remind you of something you may not recall because you were probably very young at the time, but when I emceed the former President's 75th birthday celebration in Americas, and I told the story about having interviewed your dad, I went out to talk a lot about your dad and how I felt a connection with him, with Billy Carter. I meant to say I felt like Billy and I were soulmates. But what came out of my mouth was I felt like Billy and I were soul brothers. When the When the event ended, your mom came up to me and gave me the biggest hug, and she said, Hello, soul, brother. And I thought that was just a wonderfully warm moment. That is.

And you all probably were soul brothers. That's a good thing. That's a very good thing. You're right. Just another way that I think it's remarkable, Kim, and how your uncle, your family have touched the lives of so many, including, of course, of yours, Spencer. I love seeing the two of you connecting and reconnecting here and sharing these old stories. Kim, I do want to ask you as well about your uncle's faith. I know that you share in his faith as well. He, obviously, we've been discussing with steadfastly dedicated to teaching Sunday school. What were those lessons like? And share with us how deeply his faith shaped him. If you experienced one of Uncle Jimmy's Sunday School lessons, I think you can honestly say that with the examples that he shared with everyone and the fact that he'd have his Bible there, and every once in a while he'd refer to it, but he already knew it by heart, that you came away with an uplift in yourself. Uncle Jimmy was one of those people who never, ever was ashamed or stopped to share his faith. What you saw is what you got. I remember I was his substitute Sunday school teacher for a long, long time.

I started teaching for him right before the pandemic, and then he would come back and we'd go back and forth. About a year and a half ago, he called me, said, You need to come up to the house. We got to talk. He said, I am giving you the class. Right after that, I asked him, Do you ever use a commentary? I really like those examples. He said to me, I don't have to use a commentary. I went, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not the leader of the free world, a former leader. But he gave me examples. He would stand up and give examples about what we were studying. He taught me an awful lot. I still have voicemails on my phone where he would call me and say, You need to add this or you need to do this, and I can't quite look at him or listen to him yet. I'm going to miss that because up until he just really couldn't, he would help me alone. And you still have those voicemails. Someday, maybe you will feel ready to listen to them. What a treasure to have. Everyone will remember your uncle for the many ways in which he impacted the world, the many ways in which he touched their own life.

To you, what do you think his legacy will be? I think Uncle Jimmy's legacy will be one of a common man who was accessible to so many people, who he didn't see color, he didn't see gender. He saw people. I think that's what we're going to see from him. I think those are the lessons we're going to hear. The lessons of peace. Just the lessons of a man who walked the walk. When he told you something, he meant it. He really did. Kim Fuller, Jimmy Carter's niece. Thank you so much for sharing your story, for sharing your uncle with the world. We really do appreciate you being with us, and our condolences to you and your family as well. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Mary Jordan back here with us at the desk. It's hard not to just bring a smile to your face when you do hear about all of the ways, all the little ways in which he touched so many people. It is what made him so different from so many many former presidents, the interactions that he had, whether it was through teaching Sunday school every weekend or out with his tool belt and his hammer doing a Habitat for Humanity build.

He was this accessible President in a way that I don't think we've ever seen before, and I'm not sure we ever will see again. His niece, Kim Fuller, made me laugh when she's talked about the details where he's 96 years old calling her and saying, Hey, you forgot this one line in the Bible. Everyone has a story about how sharp his mind was and how detail-oriented he was until really, really recently. I mean, and Rosalyn, his wife, they didn't always see eye to eye. She was a morning person. I'm sorry, he was a morning person. She didn't like the morning. She was a night person. They always didn't agree on things. In fact, sometimes the kids will tell you about she didn't want to come back to planes. In fact, she was so angry that on the long ride back after their naval career, and she loved going and seeing San Diego. She's like, Are you kidding me? We're going back to planes. So on the ride back with the kids, Jimmy's like, Hey, could you ask your mom? So they were telling stories about this, but they respected one another. And we will get into more of their relationship because what remarkable relationship it was.

But we do want to turn now to Pastor Tony Lauden, who joins us now. He's actually in the Motorcade. Pastor, thank you so much for joining us. You, of course, spent much, a lot of time with the former President. You served as his personal pastor for six years, and we've been discussing the many lives that he touched. What is the biggest impact that the former President had on your life, if you don't mind sharing? I think the biggest impact of that, I'm known to be his pastor, but more importantly, he was teaching me about being a servant leader. Every time I would go to visit him and spend time with him, he would ask me four questions. Where have you been? What have you done? Where have you helped? And how can I help you help them? He would ask me those four questions even into his latter days. And so it shows me how much he wanted to give himself and continue to serve this great nation. Those four questions every time you met. You visited with every week, right up until his death. Can you tell us a little bit more about those visits?

Yes. Those visits, oftentimes, when we talked about spiritual stuff, a lot of times we talked about personal stuff. There was a time where he took me out to Archer Joy where he took me to an unmarked cemetery. In an unmarked cemetery, he showed me the grave site of Rachel Clark, a woman who introduced him to Christ and told him about family, a sharecropper, a black woman who worked on his father's farm. He showed me the headstone to Bishop William Decker, Bishop William Bonner Johnson, who was an AME Bishop who was in that area, ministering to African-Americans who worked on farms. He told me how much he introduced him to Christ. He showed me headstones of fathers who fought in World War I and World War II, all out in Orchard, Georgia. The lesson that he showed me that day was that African-Americans has made a major contribution to this great nation. I don't know why that Saturday, he was telling me that he wanted to show me this, but he was very intentional by trying to show me this history this rich history from Archdea, Georgia. I remember a time when African family came all the way from Africa, and he said he wanted to meet President Carter on a Sunday school lesson.

I told him, I don't think President Carter is going to make When President Carter came in in the wheelchair being pushed by one of the AIDS, and I went up to him and said, Listen to this African family who has been waiting. He wanted to meet you. Do you have time for him? And he said, Yes, bring him up. As Because I brought him up, this man got down on his one knee and he looked at President Carter and he said, I just want to thank you for saving my life and my family's life. I'm a doctor now. I graduated from the University of Michigan, and Because of the eradication of the guinea worm, you saved my life and my family's life. He leaned over and he had tears running from his face. President Carter started crying as well. He leaned his forehead in for this gentleman from Africa, and they both, their foreheads were touching together crying. It reminded me of the story where Jesus said, Wasn't it 10 lepers that I killed? And one came back to say, Thank you. I think at that moment, it really made President Carter feel great that this gentleman came back from Africa to say thank you, and let him know that everything that he was trying to do, making sure that people had clean water in Africa so that they wouldn't suffer from the guinea worm, was not in vain.

And that day, I would never forget in my entire life, was seeing the servant leader, the school teacher, crying with a gentleman from Africa over a victory that one man came back to say thank you. Pastor, thank you for sharing that story with us. Just remarkable. To be able to see the real-life impacts of the amazing humanitarian work he was doing And guinea worm, of course, a disease that because of the work of Jimmy Carter, was practically eradicated. As we mentioned, Pastor, you are now, I believe, still in the motorcade with the family. This is one of several days to come that will be full of rememberances. How has the day been? How is the family doing? Family's doing well. It's been awesome to see so many people alongside the roads, black, white, brown, everyone out, Republicans and Democrats, celebrating the life of the Georgia Sun. It's been great to see. Today is Saturday, and usually every Saturday, I am driving 2 hours to see him and spend some time with him as he sit at home waiting, wrapped up in a blanket that had Psalms 23 on it. Today, it hit me hard because Saturday is usually our day, and I guess today is our day again.

I get the opportunity to hang out with the Sunday School teacher from Plains, Georgia. Pastor Tony Lauden, thank you again for sharing your stories, your memories with us, and part of your special Saturday with the former President with us as well. We do appreciate it, and our condolences as well. Thank you. The pastor is, as we mentioned, in the motorcade that is making its way to the Carter presidential Center for the first of what will be three services to remember the former president. I do want to bring in our presidential historian, Mark Uptegrove, because what the pastor was reflecting on there, and what a remarkable story that is to think of a man who's His life was so fundamentally altered, really, by the work of Jimmy Carter coming, traveling all the way to Plains, Georgia, to be able to personally thank the former President. That is just one of the many, many ways in which he completely defined the work of the post-presidentcy. You're absolutely right, Mary. Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidentcy of any of our former President, shattering a record that was set by Herbert Hoover, who had lived 31 years after the presidency.

Again, Jimmy Carter, 44 years. That's really where he made his mark, Mary. He will be brought to the Carter Center. When Carter left the White House, Mary, he really didn't have any idea what he would do next. He went down to planes. He started writing his memoir, but he didn't know what the next chapter of his life would look like. Then he woke up in the middle of the night with an epiphany that he could start a Carter Center. That is where his principal legacy lies. You see him here in Africa doing some of the work of the Carter Center. It could have been helping to eradicate a guinea worm disease, as was mentioned earlier, or river blindness, or monitoring an election or some of the work that was being done at the Carter Center. But as he told me in 2014, when I asked him how history would remember him, he replied, I'd I like to be judged, principally, by my work at the Carter Center. I don't mean to exclude the White House, but in my most self-satisfied moments, I think about our unwavering devotion to peace and human rights. I think that's precisely how he will be remembered, Mary, for his dedication to peace and human rights and to being a humanitarian, not only for our country, but for the world.

I do think you are right, Mark Upto Grove, that certainly it is the work the humanitarian work around this nation and the world for which he will most likely be most remembered. Here, of course, we are watching the beginning of the ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. And Mary Jordan, we were discussing this a little bit earlier, but when he left the White House in defeat, it's not as if he knew exactly what he was going to go on to do. He had to build all of this. And yes, every President has a presidential center, but Jimmy Carter and Rosalind had to wrestle to decide what to do and how to best use the weight of the presidency going forward. It was a crushing time for them, and they talked about that and wrote about it. He was really upset. He doesn't like to lose. He's a very famously competitive man, and it was a really big defeat. I think Rosalind, she was like, How did American people let this happen? He's a good man. It took him about two years until the Carter Center opened up, and then they really felt their calling.

They felt that they could act as a team again. And the magic began again. But it was a low two. It wasn't always perfect. And the worst time of their lives, I think they would say, was after they came back to planes from the White House until they figured out their next move. But boy, did they? They certainly did. They certainly did. And we're going to be hearing so much today and in the days ahead about the work that they did through the Carter Center. I believe what we are watching now is the Army Band from Fort Jackson, South Carolina. There's a lot of music we're about to hear this afternoon, and that is no accident. Rosalind Carter, I believe, personally picking out much of the music that we are going to hear here today. And Steve Ossensami, I want to bring you back into this conversation. Again, we've been discussing just how meticulously all of this was planned to not only tell retail to the nation, the story of Jimmy Carter, but also to thank those who helped him accomplish so, so much. Yes, this has been a funeral, an estate funeral that has been planned for many, many years.

You're seeing now the preparations for the repose and the ceremony that will be beginning here at the Carter Center. Jimmy Carter, before he died, wanted the first event to happen here at the Carter Center. This is the circle drive in the Carter Center. It's a beautiful campus with one-way streets on both sides. Authorities have blocked off the roads to both sides. Secret Service has been here. There have been lots of security sweeps. But this is the goodbye. And tonight, this is the goodbye from the people here who, during his post-presidentcy, who he worked with so hard to eradicate diseases and ensure free elections around the world. If we can, let's just pause for a moment and listen in. As you mentioned, this is the circle drive there. We are awaiting the transfer ceremony that is to come outside the presidential center, the Carter presidential center. And again, Mary Jordan discussing, once they did decide what they were going to do with the Carter presidential Center, how did they get their start? Well, he wanted to do health because he really felt like that was a fundamental thing that if you didn't have your health. And you saw in rural Georgia that so many people didn't have access to health.

And so he started doing that and he went to Africa, and she went with him everywhere. This wasn't nice, fancy travel either. People who traveled with him used to talk about how he had a little bag and he never brought a tie or a jacket. And sometimes the Prime Minister or the President of a country he was traveling to would hear he's there, and he'd get a phone call, say the President or the Prime Minister is coming, and he would have to look around to had a staff person's jacket and tie, often very ill-fitting. He felt very comfortable in very, very rough circumstances. I think his upbringing in Plains, where it was a rural place, made him feel quite at home, likewise with Roselyne. And I think they started building on that. Early on, he was very aware of the need to promote democracy and to fight misinformation, again, ahead of his time talking about that and how important it was to have people understand civics and the need to participate and curate and take care of our democracy. You can go back 30 years and hear him talk about that. And Mark Updegrove, we were discussing this a bit earlier.

Every former president has a presidential center, some more lavish than others. And the Carter Center certainly is not the most lavish that I think was intentional. That was the way that former President Carter wanted it. But he really did spend a lot of time there. You were saying a week out of every month, Mary Jordan was saying, was spent there, and yet they didn't have a fancy apartment for a while. They didn't even have a bed. You're absolutely right, Mary. The Carter Presidential Center is comprised of two entities. There's the Carter Presidential Library, which houses the record of the Carter administration. That's what our presidential libraries are first foremost. There are archival repositories of the records of the administration so that they can be processed and be made accessible to scholars on the presidency and others. Any American can go into a presidential library and access those records. That's one part of it. The other part of it, as we discussed, is the Carter Center, this nonprofit organization that the Carter has established shortly after leaving the White House that was meant to look at problems that weren't being addressed by governments or non-governmental organizations or nonprofits.

These are problems that were festering across the world that wouldn't have been addressed if it hadn't been for the efforts of the Carter Center. And Roselyne and Jimmy Carter were very proud of that, that they were addressing problems that no one else was looking after. So the presidential center there is comprised of those two entities, both reflecting the life and legacy of Jimmy Carter, Mary. And they certainly did shine a very bright light on so many important issues. Steve O'Sansami, this wasn't just work that the former President was doing. This was work that the former President and the former First Lady were doing together, so much of this. You have spent a lot of time with the two of them together as a couple. And you were reminding us earlier that the Carter Center is actually where the former President spent some time before her funeral as well. That's right. You We were talking with Mary Jordan earlier about what they have here in terms of their facilities for where they would stay when they were in the city, when they were away from planes. And they have a small apartment here in the Carter Center at the presidential library where we're at right now.

And just to underline the stubborn frugality, we might say, of the former President. This wasn't a lavish apartment. It was a small apartment, and they slept on a Murphy bed in the apartment. And we've learned that the night before the former first lady's funeral, that is the same apartment that they use, the same bed. There are a lot of people who might think that the Carters would have some lavish condo in the sky here in Atlanta. There are plenty of those, but that's not how President Carter ran things. I'll share a personal story. I was interviewing him here in 2014 after he had a book published, and we were on the lower level at the Carter Center, which you can see in this photo here, and it was really hot. It was in the height of the summer. I was begging them to allow us to turn on the AC. And the people at the Carter Center kindly instructed me that the former President didn't want me or anyone else step on his AC bill. He wasn't the type to waste. The former first lady, even the dress that she wore at the inauguration was a dress that she had worn many times before.

At their home in planes. I was hearing stories from their grandchildren about how they were struggling for so long just to get them to swap out some of the old appliances, and the Carters were refusing. In particular, there was a microwave that the family was saying was as old as the hills and probably dangerous for them, but the former President said it worked and it didn't need to be replaced, and so he wasn't doing it. We talk a lot about the secret service in the house that this family, that the Carters lived in. It was a small home that was smaller than my house. It sits along this country road, and at the top of the hill is a large a secret service area where they have the vehicles, and it's shielded from the road. And I'm told that when they built that center, that one of the problems they had is it couldn't be bigger than the former President's house. And so it couldn't be that big. There are some people who have said this, and I think it's worth repeating, is that they just don't make them like this anymore. And I think it's fair to say that that's true.

These are people who grew up in a different time with a set of values that they held throughout their life and especially showed to the world how important it was to remember where you came from, to remember their small town values and to always respect rural America and the people of rural America. And that was something that the Carters were very good at, and the former President made an important part of his ethos in the way that he handled his life post-presidential. Steve, I think you are absolutely right. They certainly don't make them like that anymore. I like how you described it as stubborn frugality. There we are seeing the former President remains his motorcade now driving slowly up to the Carter presidential Center for what is going to be the first of three ceremonies and services to honor his life. And Mary Jordan, I I want to go back to something that Steve was just reflecting on and that you had mentioned earlier, which is the fact that he was so, so down to earth, so no frills, no nonsense, but that that in many ways was what made him so successful at connecting with so many people and really being able to advance the work of the Carter Center.

I mean, remember, he grew up in the Depression, and he didn't have a life. Let's pause for one moment and listen in. Let's Shoulders. Oh, my God. Shoulders. Oh. Oh, buddy. Oh. The remains of the former President now arriving at the Carter presidential Center for one final time. The center that was able to advance the work of his post-presidential work that truly redefined the post-president. See, creating a new roadmap, perhaps for future presidents as well, we shall see. And this ceremony, as we've been discussing, what is to come this service was really done with such intention by the Carter family. They wanted to make sure that this was also an opportunity for them to to pay tribute to and to highlight the people that they had been working with for so many years or 40 years to advance all of their humanitarian work around the globe, truly.

The remain now arriving at the Carter presidential Center. And we should also note that in addition to, obviously, today being an opportunity to pay tribute to those who continued to fulfill his legacy and the work of the Carter Center, this is also an opportunity for the public, or will be an opportunity for the public to begin to pay their respects because he's going to be lying in repose for the next two days. (rey) I have a leave up there in the corner of your screen. (rey) Those may be members of the family now joining as well. (rey) Of course, the former President had four children, Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy. 11 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren. Mary Jordan, while we watch the casket arriving here for this ceremony, speak to us a bit more about the family, the family's role in this today. There They have been down there for the last several years, including while he was in hospice. Many of them, especially Chip and Amy Carter, who live in Atlanta, day in and day out, and they knew this was coming. But when I was talking to them recently, it was really like, it's hard to imagine with him not there because it has been so much.

A lot of the nucleus of that family is based in Atlanta, where the Carter Center is, and it's about a two and a half to three hour drive to Plains, well worn path for the large Carter family. But Jimmy Carter told them that he was ready to go. He said, one good thing about living this long is that people remember all the work I did, not just the White House. He was really grateful for that. He said that when he was 94, I had I was really angry with him, and he said, All my brothers and sisters died young. All three died, two in their 50s, one in their 60s, of pancreatic cancer, all three of them. And he said, You know, I feel really lucky. I got to live this long, and I got to see that people appreciated all the work I did. It was pretty at peace. And we are going to be hearing so much about the truly impactful and remarkable work at the Carter Center. Let's listen in for a moment.

Come, right, taller, lower. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine, 10, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15, 15, 15,

Ready. Step. You are listening to the 282nd Army Band from Fort Jackson, South Carolina. And we had to smile here when they played Hale to the Chief a few moments ago, because, of course, that was one of the trappings of the presidency that didn't necessarily sit well with the former President. I believe at one point, he actually asked that they not play that in certain events. I'm not sure if that's a negotiable part of being President or not. Let's go back to Steve O'Sansami now. And Steve just your thoughts as you take this all in. You know, Mary, this is what we're witnessing an incredibly beautiful and moving moment to see the family at the Carter Center in that circle drive that he built and designed in the place that was so important to him, watch him be carried home. Very powerful pictures at the Carter Center. There are, I would say, several hundred people who are here already, hours before the visitation starts. You can hear the sound of the band playing America the Beautiful as you watch these soldiers carry Jimmy Carter into this facility that he and his wife built that was designed to literally change and heal the world.

Here he is being marched inside past the reflective pond that so many of us have spent so much time at near a place where people are laying flowers and jars of peanuts because he was a peanut farmer in memory of him. This is the beginning of a long goodbye, and there will be plenty of people here to pay their last respects. And of course, the family there as well. I think we are seeing some members of the family right now as they make their way in on this side as well. And Steve, you've had a chance to speak with some members of the family in recent days. I did. I spoke with Jason Carter last week, who told me that he was able to speak with his grandfather quite regularly in the weeks before he passed. And he told me that in the last few weeks that his grandfather kept telling him that he felt it was time, that he had been in hospice for a better part of two years, and that he wanted to go home and see his rose. He kept calling out for his wife, the former first lady who passed in 2023.

There were many of us, of course, who knew the strong bond that the former President and the former First Lady had, who worried that after she passed, that he would too quickly. But he held on. He held on for some time, but he was telling his family members in the end that it was time, and he wanted to see her. He wanted to go home and see Rose. Here we are watching his casket as Steve so eloquently put it, Coming home one more time into the Carter Presidential Center. These are the voices of the Morehouse College Blee Club. Let's just pause for a moment. Oh, Christ, whose voice thou Christ to thee, for those in peril on the sea. Most Holy spirit who is rude, upon the chaos dark and rude, and And bid its angry toll, cease, and give your wild confusion, cease. Oh, hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea. Most holy, Holy spirit, who disrode upon a chaos dark and rude, and bid its angry toll, cease, and give your wild confusion, cease, O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea.

O trinity of love and love, And shield in danger's hour. From rock and tempest, fire and fall, protest where so where they go. The seven more shall rise to thee. Glad hymns of praise from land and sea. The Morehouse College Glee Club, they're singing, Eternal Father, Strong to Save. Of course, that is the Navy hym. President Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946. He served until 1953, resigning when his father passed that year. The service set to begin now. Momentarily, we should be hearing from Jason Carter, his grandson, and of course, a chair at the Carter Center and the Board of Trusties. Good afternoon. We'll have many chances this week to pay tribute to my grandfather, but it was important for all of us that we stop here. These buildings, as you all know, are filled with his life, not just because this is a museum to his life, and not just because there's a collection here of his beloved paintings, but his spirit fills this place. The real reason that this spirit fills this place is because of the people who are standing here. The people in this room, from the library, the museum, and the Carter Center itself, you all are the real keepers of my grandparents' legacy.

Jimmy Carter Library Museum holds the historical legacy, tells my grandparents' story, which is really this unbelievable American story. You hold it and you present it for my kids and for their kids and for all of those other generations to come. To the people at the Carter Center, you continue the vibrant living legacy of what is my grandfather's life's work, really. You know this. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was President of the United States. When he won that prize, it was in no small part, as you know, because of the work that this organization has done and continues to do. We will spend this week celebrating this incredible life, and a life that I think we can all agree is as full and powerful as any life can be. As someone said, it's amazing what you can cram into a hundred years. But as we celebrate that legacy, I want you to know that in many ways, we're talking about the work that you do every day. Many of you have devoted decades to his legacy. You've been his partners. You've worked alongside world leaders and the village heroes far beyond the end of the road that are the other people who carry out that legacy, who are not in the room today, but who all of us in this room know so well and respect so much.

Your expertise, your track record, will continue to drive a world where people can participate in free and fair and credible elections, a world where the rule of law and human rights are respected and enjoyed not just by some people, but by everyone. A world where kids don't go blind from preventable diseases like trachoma, where there's no such thing as guinea worm disease or river blindness, and where we've strengthened health systems far beyond the end of the road, across some of the most marginalized places in the world. That is the work that gets done in this place, in these buildings. One of the amazing parts of my grandparents' legacy is the strength of this organization, and its ability to continue their work without their physical presence. All of us have been thinking about this day and planning for it for a long time, but it is obviously still hard for all of us. For us, in my family, and I'm sure I can see on your faces for many of you. I appreciate that. But just know that while we mourn my grandfather's passing, I know in my heart, and you all do, that his legacy will live on not only because of the millions of people that he touched across the globe, but very specifically because of your spirit and your knowledge and the work and the track record that you do every day.

For for us on behalf of my family, to the people in this room and to your colleagues and our colleagues across the world that work with the Carter Center, thank you for what you have done for him, for what you've done for my grandmother and for what you continue to do for the world. Thank you so much. A clearly visibly emotional Jason Carter there. First and foremost, thanking the staff of the Carter Center and the presidential library and museum who he described as the keeper of his grandfather's legacy. This is Pastor Tony Laudon. Let's listen in. Making the pilgrims down to Plains, Georgia, sitting beside President Carter in compound. When you walk in the room, he's wrapped in a blanket that has Psalms 23 on it, one of his favorite Psalms. The Lord is my separate. There's nothing I lack. He lets me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me besides quiet waters. He renews my life. He leaves me the right path for his name's sake. Even when I go through the darkest valleys, I fear no danger, for you are with me, your rod in your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Only goodness and faithfulness 'Lo love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live. ' If you can just use your spiritual imagination for almost two years, our friend, number 39, President Carter, pop, pop, dad, wrapped in a blanket that says, Psalms '93. That was Pastor Tony Lauden, the former President's personal pastor. Next year, we will hear from Chip Carter, the former President's son. Man, in that motorcade, there was a lot of love on the side of the road. Every overpass had people on it. It was amazing and gave you goosebumps just to sit in the van and see the reaction of the people of Georgia. It's so good to be here in the Carter Center, the circle of the life of our family for the last years. I'm so proud of Jason for accepting to be our family member on the board, and we're trusting him with my father's legacy now, so there's no pressure. But Dad's aspirations and mom's dreams have been fulfilled in a large part by the people here, by what he did as President and Governor.

I want to tell you a little bit about him as a human being. When my brothers and I were 10 years old, we were hired by Carter's Warehouse to put seals, tags on the top of seed peanut bags. They did 100-pound bags of burlap, and the federal government would get a ticket that said what the germination was in the farm material. Then you climb on top of the bags and you put those tickets on 100 bags. We got paid a dime 100. But if the little husk on the peanut, the pink thing on the little outside of it is cracked, the peanut will not come up. So it was a perfect job for 10-year-olds. We learned, began to learn there, the value of hard work, the value of trusting your neighbors. Most of the people that worked at the warehouse were African-American. Our neighbors, the closest one to us, were African-American, and they're the ones I spent my Saturdays with. They were my age. We had a wonderful snow sled we brought with us from Connecticut when we came back, and we carved a trail on the side of the canyon, across the street from our house.

Then we cut a vine off. If you could go down this thing, and when you got to the bottom, if you actually grabbed the vine, you could swing out over the briers and come back without getting hurt. Then you could use the rope to crawl to the top and then pulled the sled behind you. This was on mud. On mud, yes. When I was in the eighth grade, I failed. I brought home at Christmas an F in Latin. I didn't see any reason to learn Latin. Nobody I knew spoke it very much. My father was not pleased. And so the next morning, he came into my room and said, We were on Christmas vacation. He said, You have your Latin book? I said, Yes. He said, Let me have it. He went to work at Carter's Warehouse. When he came home that night, we spent an hour and a half him teaching me Latin that he had learned from my book that day. He did that every day of Christmas vacation. The first day of the school year, after Christmas, I went to my teacher and asked her if she'd let me take the final over again that she had given us, the midterm test.

And she said, yes. So after school that day, I took that test, and I made 100. I owed it to my father, who spent that time with me. He was a Boy Scout leader in our town. One day, we were trying to get our merit badges in hiking, and so we took a six-mile hike to our pond, one of the farms, about 20 of us in the Boy Scouts. We had a great time. We had hot dogs and marshmallows and whatever, and had the big fire going. At the end of all that, dad started telling ghost stories. One particularly bad one at the end was very gross. He claimed it happened on our farm. And so he told us to all go to bed, but we were just sitting there not doing what to do. After a little while, we decided that we would use the buddy system to go into the woods to use the bathroom after dark so that we could all get some relief before we went to sleep because we were sure that we were going to be attacked when we got there. I want to thank all of you here, as Jason said, because dad Ed's legacy from Georgia and his governor's office and from the presidency was a little bit rough at the end of it because of our opposition and the way they framed us, which was probably somewhat true and somewhat not.

But all this stuff after that is in the hands of the people that worked here and that still work here now. I see many people here that I don't recognize, and I welcome you to come. I'm I welcome you to spend your time doing the things that my parents love to do and love for us to do. I need to thank some other people, too. The hospice folks that looked up to my father for 22 months were amazing. Every week, we got a report from them on how he was doing, what we could do to make him more comfortable. It gave us a lot of confidence. It gave us the ability to think about him in a different way. Then we had caregivers. One of them is here in the audience. We It was with my father for six years. They became my father's friends. They are the people that helped keep them alive and comfortable and fed and cleaned and doing all that stuff that we didn't want to do. It was amazing what they did for us. Another thing I'd like to say is I'd like to thank my family. When you're President of the United States, you're thinking about your family, but you're not interacting with them very much.

His job was so much more than doing family stuff, so we didn't lose touch, but you had to get an appointment in advance. And that giving up of that time and sharing that was something that affected our family because we didn't have our parents as much as we could have. And I want to thank them for the sacrifice that they made and all that they gave. I was lucky seven years ago. For the five years, I went to see my parents three nights, two days, a little plus, every week for five years. I took over the farm from him. He liked that because he was able to boss me around every day. But I actually was able during that time to become friends with my parents. Something I never expected, to be able to sit down and talk to them like human beings instead of the boss. It was an amazing thing for me, something I'll always cherish. Then hospice came, and my brother Jeff and my sister Amy and my bride, Becky, and I split it up so I didn't have to go every week. I only went every fourth week, which was amazing.

But then for two weeks every month, Becky and I were apart, and that was difficult for all of us. But he was an amazing man, and he was held up and propped up and soothed by an amazing woman. And the two of them together changed the world. Because it was an amazing thing to watch from so close and to be able to be involved in. Thank you for your service. An understandably emotional, Chick Carter there reflecting on a side of the former President that we may not hear about as much, and that is Jimmy Carter, the Father. He spoke about him telling perhaps two scary, scary stories to his Boy Scout troupe, helping to painstakingly teach him Latin so that he could ace that test he once failed. But he also talked about the service and sacrifice of his parents, saying that it wasn't always easy to share him with the world, but that he thanked them for that sacrifice, and obviously reflecting on those later years when, as he put it, they just got to be friends. Of course, he also thanked those who took care of his father in his later years, and of course, those who are going to continue on his father's legacy, those who work at the Carter Presidential Center.

What you're seeing now is a laying of a wreath, each one made up of 39 white roses, of course, reflecting Carter's role as the 39th President of the United States. Let's listen in. Our Father. Our Father, which art in heaven, Alloed be, alloed be, thy name. ( ♪ high kingdom come ♪) ♪ I'm already like this. ♪ My kingdom come. ♪ ( ♪ soft piano ♪) ♪ That will be dark in earth ( ♪ as it is in heaven. ♪) Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our debt, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. All minds in the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen The Lord's Prayer from the Morehouse College Glee Club. Next, we're going to be hearing from a longtime friend of the Carter's and a Carter Center employee, Bernstein Hollis. Let us pray. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege it is to carry every Everything to God in prayer. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds us that we can cast all of our cares upon thee, for he cares for us.

A Holy and gracious Father, we come today, Lord God, thanking you for your amazing grace. We thank you, dear God, for all that you've done and all that you will continue to do through the lives of your people, Lord God. So today, our Father God in heaven, we come thanking you for the man of God that you placed here on earth, Lord God, who is an example to us, Lord God, as to what you have said in your word, Lord God, how we are to live, Lord God. You allowed him, O God, to be the little Christ here on earth, Lord God, to give us the example of God as to how we should live and what we should do. I am reminded in Matthew 25:35-36, When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was a stranger, you took me in. We thank you, Father God, for the man of God, Jimmy Carter, Lord God. We thank you, O God, for him living a life, oh God, that you placed in him, oh God, to be the example for us, oh God, in this nation.

We thank you, oh God, for what you allowed him to do through this building, the Carter Center, oh God. Building hope, fighting diseases, and waging peace, oh God. We thank you, heavenly Father for the humanitarian that he was in this life, oh God. Our Father God in heaven, we thank you right now, oh heavenly Father, for continuing to do what you have done, oh God. Help us to be the example, Lord God, yet here on earth to live a life as Jimmy Carter lived a life, Lord God. Holy spirit, we ask that you rest upon this family during these days of sadness, oh God. Father God, our hearts are heavy, but yet, Lord God, we rejoice in what we have seen through his life, oh God. We celebrate his life today, oh God, remembering O God, how he helped so many, oh God. He saw no skin color, but yet extended a hand to help someone who was down and out. Father God, we thank you right now, and we bless your holy and righteous name. We come boldly before the throne of grace today, Lord continuing to ask, O God, that you comfort and strengthen, O God, as only you can.

You said in your word, Father God, that you will leave us, but you will not leave us without a Comforter, that you will send the Holy spirit to comfort. Father God, we ask right now in the name of Jesus that you continue to comfort this family. Be with them throughout the days ahead, O God, as they are yet traveling, O God. Confident, strengthen them, O God. Continue to allow them to bond together in unity and in love, O God. We ask in the name in the name of Jesus, that yet we be reminded of Joshua 1:6, to be encouraged and be strong. During these times, things can happen, families can become apart. But Father God, we ask that you continue to bind them together in unity and in love, O God. Father God, I ask, O God, that the life that he lived, I challenge each of us to live the life as he lived. Let us be the example, Lord God, here on earth, that others can see the love of Christ in us. As I end this Father God, I leave this prayer as a sentence from his book, Written Faith. Our Creator God, you are with us at any time and at any moment.

You're here for each of us to give us guidance, to give us solace, and to give us forgiveness, and/or to meet other personal needs. We ask in the name of Jesus that you will receive this prayer, that you will continue to comfort this family. Be with them, oh God, continuously. Bind them together stronger in your word, oh God. Strengthen them, O God, to know that we have lost a great man, a blessed man, but we will continue to live the legacy that he left behind. The world will remember him, O God, for the mighty and the many things that he has done in this world. Father God, we thank you, we bless you, and we give your name the praise, the glory, and the honor, and we say, Amen. Amen. A powerful prayer there from a close friend to the family, Bernstein, Dean Hollis. Next, we're going to hear one last time from the Morehouse College Glee Club. My eyes have seen the glory of the Coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage land, the Grace of Rath, ♪ I see the age in the watch, ♪ ♪ Our song, our hearts, circling chances.

♪ They have drilled, inhaled, and altered, ♪ ♪ They're leaving, goos and dances, ♪ ♪ I see them in the watch, ♪ ♪ They're leaving, going, going, going, going, I can feel this march as sinless in the divest and flagrant justice. His truth is marching, marching on. Glory, glory, Hallelujah. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah. God is watching. Glory, glory, Hallelujah. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah. Glory, glory, Hallelujah. His truth is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in his full song, that transdures you and me. As we Let us die to make men holy. Let us die to make men free while God is marching on. Glory, glory, Hallelujah. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah. His truth is marching on. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. As we close out now, the first of three memorial services for the former President, 39th President, Jimmy Carter. Mark Uptergrove, this is something that the family obviously has been preparing for for many years, but can really prepare you. Saying goodbye is always difficult. We heard about Jimmy Carter, the President, the humanitarian, the Father. You also knew Jimmy Carter well, got a chance to know him well through your work.

What are you going to remember most about him? Well, I think there were a number of things, but one of the things that Chip Carter talked about today was the fact that his father taught him the value of hard work and those institutions that comprise the Carter Presidential Center really reflect the work, the incredible work ethic of Jimmy Carter. The Carter Presidential Library, of course, Jimmy Carter wouldn't have been President at all, but for the fact that he worked so hard to get the nomination, and he worked so hard in the presidency itself. I don't think any president worked harder than Jimmy Carter. Of course, the Carter Center reflects the meetings and the conversations and the handshakes and photo opportunities and the endless and unglamorous travel, the hammering of nails, all the things that he did, the counting of balance, all of the things that he did in order to ultimately earn the Nobel Peace Prize. Tony Loudoun, the personal pastor lovely. Carter's talked about the fact that President Carter was a man of faith and even had a Psalm 23 on the blanket that covered him in his final days. But I'm reminded of a passage from the Book of Matthew that President Carter would know, Well, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

I think that passage describes Jimmy Carter about as well as anything there. It certainly does. Mary Jordan, it was very intentional that this first service be held at the Carter Presidential Center, what Chip Carter called the circle of life of our family. And now they are going to be tasked in the years ahead in carrying on his legacy. When you go there, you see that it's about both the Carters. And I think one of the highlights of today was Chip just now choking up, saying great things about both his mother and his father, and then saying It was an amazing thing to watch up close, the magic of that team. The Carter Center was about both of them. And really, that says a lot about Jimmy Carter for promoting women Because he let Roseland sit down in cabinet meetings. He took political heat for that. He appointed the first woman to a cabinet position. And of course, he appointed all these women to the federal bench. Setting such an amazing example Well, Mary, thank you. I want to go back to our Steve Osensami. Steve, you have spent a lot of time with the Carters.

You got to know them well through your coverage of them. You know this community well, too. What is your final thought on this first day as we honor his memory and legacy? I'm moved by something that Chip Carter said, where he talked about having to share his father and his mother with the world. That's something that I heard personally from other Carter family members about how hard that was. I think back to how hard that must have been when they were much younger, when they needed their dad, but their dad was the President. Over the years, how when their dad first got sick with cancer, how it had to become a public event as much as it was a family struggle. How even in these last few years, how they tried so hard to protect their father and to allow him to cross over in grace and dignity, but at the same time having to deal with the public's need to understand what was happening to their president. We're hearing and seeing that in real time. I'm also struck by the fact that we are here at the Carter Center, as he so eloquently put, a building that is dedicated to their legacy, their purpose in life on this Earth.

When you think about what it takes to actually heal the world of a disease, that's something that happened here with the work of Jimmy and Rosalind Carter, something that they accomplished on their own, two normal everyday people from a peanut farmer farm in Plains, Georgia, who ascended to a position where they were able to help humanity. That's an amazing legacy that they leave behind. I think I'll say this as a closing thought for me in that what we've seen today in the pictures and the moments and the sounds and the choir and the diversity of people, both racially and politically, who have come out to say goodbye to this President. This is only the beginning of what will be several days of tributes to the President, but I think it shows how to properly say goodbye, and that is with thanks, with love, and respect. Mary. A proper goodbye for, as you put it, two ordinary people who went on to change the world. You've been watching the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. His remains at the Carter presidential Center in Atlanta. He will stay there where he will lie in repose until Tuesday to allow members of the public to pay their respects.

It is expected 2,000 guests per hour will be able to say their goodbye. Then the former President will make his final trip to Washington in DC. The state funeral there at the National Cathedral on Thursday. Finally, Carter will be buried back home in Plains, Georgia, beside his beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalind. Thank you all for watching, and thank you to our team, Mary Jordan, Steve O'Sansami, and Mark Hup to Grove. Our coverage continues on ABC News Live and abcnews. Com, and we will have live coverage on ABC when the former President's remains arrive at the nation's capital midday on Tuesday. I'm Mary Bruce in New York. Have a good evening. This has been a special report from ABC News. I'm Phil Lipoff. You have been watching ABC News Live's special coverage of the Memorial service for our 39th President, Jimmy Carter, in his home state of Georgia. We want to continue now reflecting on Carter's life and legacy with our senior national correspondence, Steve Osonsami and presidential historian, Mark Updegrovia. Gentlemen. Thanks for joining us. Steve, I'd like to begin with you. Jimmy Carter himself decided the details of these services and that it would all start in his native Georgia, of course, the first of three of these celebrations.

How What do you think the day reflected the man? I think it reflected the man very well. Some of the most beautiful images I've seen were of his casket being moved into the Carter Center with the band playing behind him and the family watching over him. When they moved the casket into the Carter Center for that first service, it was absolutely a beautiful moment. You mentioned, Phil, that we've been planning for this for some time. The details of this have been in the works for many, many years and were very complicated. We're talking about a state funeral for a former President. But one important thing that former President Jimmy Carter wanted that he insisted upon was that the very first event for his state funeral, which began when his casket was moved out of that hospital in South Georgia, is he wanted to have a service here at the Carter Center in front of and involving the people who helped he and the former first lady carry on their legacy. And that's why we're here right now. The public visit The consultation has not started yet. The service had to come first, according to Jimmy Carter, and that is what happened.

His wishes were honored here. It was inspiring to hear his son talk about that moment in being able to say thank you as his son to the people who not only carried on his parents legacy, but will continue to do so, an important point that they underline. Jason Carter, who I've been talking to over the past couple of weeks, who I've talked to over the years as well. He also spoke and thanked the scientists, the peacemakers, the humanitarians who were here. Also, we saw the mayor of Atlanta, the governor of Georgia, dignitaries from all walks of Georgia politics and life who were here to say goodbye and witness this moment. It is absolutely a fitting tribute, and it was a beautiful It was a beautiful day. As cold as it was, the sun shined on Jimmy Carter as people here got to say goodbye. Yes, Steve, fitting and beautiful are two perfect words to describe what we just saw. I was also struck by how emotionally Chip spoke, as you mentioned about both of his parents, but also that he spoke about the goosebumps he got when they were on their way to the Carter Center and watching people line the street paying their respects to his dad.

Mark, I want to move to you. What we saw today, I'm wondering How does it compare to other presidential memorial services that we've seen, in your opinion? It was just as moving and just as fitting a tribute as we've seen from other presidents. You try through these ceremonies to get a reflection of the life legacy of that president. They did a magnificent job of doing that today, Phil, by starting off in Plains, Georgia, where Jimmy Carter was born and where he died and where he spent most of the years in between. Even when he left Plains, Plains, Georgia. Plains, Georgia never left him. Jimmy Carter was always that barefoot boy from Plains. It was in his heart. You could almost feel the soil of Plains pulsating through Jimmy Carter's veins. He was very much a product of that small town. Of course, the day ended at the Carter Presidential Center, which really is a reflection of Jimmy Carter's life's work in his adult life. You have the Carter Presidential Library, which is a repository of the record of the Carter administration, Jimmy Carter's years in the White House in a museum depicting his life and legacy, but also, importantly, the Carter Center.

The Carter Center, the nonprofit organization, which is Carter's, launched 1982, and which did so much good work across the world and which will continue to function, partly due to the billion-dollar endowment that President Carter raised during the course of his post-presidential. That will continue to do good work throughout the world, just like the good work that Jimmy Carter did in his post-presidential, Phil. Yeah, and as the country begins to mourn the loss of a president, we can't forget the Carter family is mourning the loss of a loved one, Mary history. Bruce said it beautifully just a short time ago that no matter how long a loved one lives, as remarkable as his life was, the length of it and the impact that it has, even though they were ready for this, it is still obviously painful. He's no longer here. Steve, this is the start of a series of services ending Thursday in Washington, DC. Give us a little bit of what the itinerary looks like from here out. There will be a public visitation that starts here shortly that will run 24 hours, all through the night and will continue until Tuesday morning. Then the President's remains will be flown to DC for a public visitation at the US Capitol.

The state funeral is on Thursday at the National Catholic procedural. We believe that President Biden will be giving a eulogy at that state funeral, and then President Carter will come home to Georgia for a private ceremony in planes where he will be buried on his property next to his wife. It was a location that they selected before she died. I want to underline a point that you mentioned earlier and underlines the need for their private ceremony. Chip Carter spoke about sharing his father and his parents with the world. It's something that I have heard also personally from members of the Carter family who I've spoken with, that that was one of the most challenging parts of being a Carter. There were times where they would have preferred to have their dad all to themselves, but they knew that wasn't possible. And that included in these times when he was in hospice care for so long, when he would get sick, when he would need surgeries, It was tough to share him with the world when they needed to have him alone. But they came and thanked the people who helped them through that and who helped fulfill and maintain contain and who will continue their parents legacy.

I think that this is an important day for them and for us and for Americans who are following this and recognizing and respecting this man. His son thanked all those who for 22 months helped his dad in hospice care. Steve Ossensami, Mark Upto Grove. Thank you both very much. I think President Carter would have loved what happened today and that so many people consider his life a blessing. I'm Phil Lipoff. Thank you for streaming with us. We've got more news just ahead. The news never stops. From Tampa, we are here tonight as Hurricane Milton has just made landfall. The surge just keeps coming up. Right on the border between... Yes, exactly. Now, effectively, with my wife, we'd watch them. We'd watch them. We'd ask them to be good. Okay. You're walking for the whole world. Yeah, so we're walking. We're going to do a lot of music, and we can't call it as that. How do you have... It's always so good. You're a little close to it. I'm really good. You're not even in the same way. Yeah.