Biden Announces Day of Mourning for President Carter

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday directed all federal agencies and departments to close on Thursday, Jan. 9, to honor the late President Jimmy Carter, who died in Georgia on Sunday at the age of 100.

The executive order signed by Biden, who is on vacation in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, directs the department and agency head to plan accordingly, though he did leave room for some employees to work “for reasons of national security, defense or other public need.”

Biden said the day is being set aside “as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th president of the United States.”

In a proclamation issued by the White House on Sunday, as word of Carter’s passing was just beginning to spread, the president declared Jan. 9 to be a “National Day of Mourning,” and called on his fellow Americans “to assemble … in their respective places of worship … to pay homage to the memory” of Carter.

He went on to invite “the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.”

“President Carter was a man of character, courage and compassion, whose lifetime of service defined him as one of the most influential statesmen in our history,” Biden said elsewhere in Sunday’s proclamation.  

“He embodied the very best of America: A humble servant of God and the people. A heroic champion of global peace and human rights, and an honorable leader whose moral clarity and hopeful vision lifted our nation and changed our world,” the president said. 

He recalled that Carter, the son of a farmer and a nurse, began his long career in public service in 1943, as a cadet in the U.S. Naval Academy.

“He later served in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets before becoming a decorated lieutenant and being selected to join the elite nuclear submarine program,” Biden said. “After his father died, he shifted from active duty to the Navy Reserve and returned home to Plains, Georgia, to help manage his family’s peanut farm.  

“He worked hard stewarding the land while leading his community as a church deacon, Sunday school teacher, and board member of a hospital and library. His deep faith inspired a passion for public service that led him to be elected state senator, Georgia’s 76th governor, and ultimately president of the United States,” Biden said, adding that as the nation’s president, Carter “understood that government must be as good as its people.” 

“His faith in the people was boundless just as his belief in America was limitless and his hope for our common future was perennial,” the president said.

Biden recalled that it was Carter who created the modern departments of Education and Energy.

“He championed conservation, and his commitment to a more just world was at the heart of his foreign policy, leading on nuclear nonproliferation, signing the Panama Canal treaties, and mediating the historic 1978 Camp David Accords. His partnership with Vice President Walter Mondale is one that future administrations strived to achieve,” the president said.

But Biden stressed that Carter’s post presidency was just as profound as all that had come before it.

Carter, he said, “advanced an agenda that elevated the least among us.”  

“Guided by an unwavering belief in the power of human goodness and the God-given dignity of every human being, he worked tirelessly around the globe to broker peace, eradicate disease, house the homeless, and protect human rights, freedom and democracy,” the president said.

“Through his extraordinary moral leadership, President Carter lived a noble life full of meaning and purpose,” Biden continued. “And as a trusted spiritual leader, he shepherded people through seasons of pain and joy, inspiring them through the power of his example and healing them through the power of his guidance.

“May President Carter’s memory continue to be a light pointing us forward. May we continue to be guided by his spirit in our nation and in our world,” the president said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue