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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. According to CNN, the 39th president died “surrounded by family” in Plains, Georgia, a little over a year after the death of his beloved wife, Rosalynn, in November of 2023. “Over six decades, Jill and I had the honor of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend,” President Joe Biden wrote via Instagram on December 30, 2024. “But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well.”
As the nation looks ahead to a National Day of Mourning in his honor, find out more about January 9 below.
Is January 9 a Federal Holiday?
According to USA Today, President Biden signed an executive order on December 30, which would effectively close all government agencies on Thursday, January 9. This means that as a “mark of respect,” executive departments all federal agencies and executive departments will close that day. Flags will fly at half-staff at the White House, and at public buildings. The New York Stock Exchange will also be closed, as will the Supreme Court Building. The United States Postal Service will not deliver mail that day.
“I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance,” Biden said in his proclamation, declaring January 9 a National Day of Mourning, according to Newsweek.
Former President Carter will have a state funeral, with services in both Georgia and Washington, D.C. According to U.S. News & World Report, he will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda from January 7-9. A National Day of Mourning was last observed following the death of former President George H. W. Bush, who died in December of 2018 at the age of 94.
How Old Was Jimmy Carter When He Died?
At 100 years old, Carter was the oldest living ex-president. He was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, where nearly a century later he’d live out his final days. He had been receiving hospice care in his home at the time of his death.
Carter lived a full life, in accordance with his advanced age. “If our doctors tell us that we have a terminal illness and can expect to live only another year, or five years, how would we respond?” he wrote in “The Virtues of Aging,” his 1998 book, per The New York Times. “In fact, we confront exactly the same question if we are still healthy and have a life expectancy of fifteen or twenty more years.”
Who is the Oldest Living President Now?
With the death of Carter, current President Joe Biden, 82, will be the oldest living ex-president, when Donald Trump, 78, takes office for the second time in January 2025.
