All five past, present and future presidents gathered Thursday at an inspirational state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the famously folksy peanut farmer who rose from humble beginnings in rural Georgia to become the 39th commander-in-chief. As Carter’s beloved Bible hymns and country music rang out, President Biden and President-elect Trump joined former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the extraordinary send-off at the Washington National Cathedral. Carter died on Dec. 29 at age 100 after a long illness. Underlining the historic significance of the event, it was the first time since the 2018 funeral for ex-president George H.W. Bush that all the leaders met. “Jimmy Carter taught me the strength of character is more than the title or the power we hold,” Biden said. “It’s the strength that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.” Biden paid tribute to his fellow Democratic president just 11 days before he leaves office at age 82. US President Joe Biden touches the casket of former US President Jimmy Carter as he makes his way to deliver a eulogy during his State Funeral Service at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) “Keeping the faith with the best of humankind and the best of America is the story of Jimmy Carter’s life,” Biden added. “God bless Jimmy Carter.” Trump, who has a fraught relationship with all his predecessors from both parties, gave only a chilly handshake to his ex-Vice President Mike Pence, the first time they have been in the same room since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol during which the ex-president’s supporters chanted for Pence’s head. Obama sat next to Trump and the two longtime political rivals chatted amiably as the dignitaries filed in for the service. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden did not acknowledge Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, on the way in to their front row seats. Neither did Bush, Bill Clinton or his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost to Trump in his initial 2016 presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in the November election that paved the way for his White House comeback, likewise walked to her seat without acknowledging Trump. All the former first and second ladies, along with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, attended except for Michelle Obama, who remained on an extended holiday vacation in Hawaii according to her office. US President Joe Biden delivers the eulogy at the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) The funeral, part of a week of events mourning the ex-president ahead of his burial in tiny Plains, Georgia, was packed with pageantry, intrigue, pomp and ceremony, in notable juxtaposition with Carter’s homespun life. Many of the same leaders and all the first ladies gathered at the funeral for ex-First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who died in 2023 at 96. The funeral for Jimmy Carter began in the morning as military service members carried his flag-draped casket down the east steps of the U.S. Capitol, where the former president had laid in state, to be driven to the cathedral. On a sunny but frigid day, a 21-gun salute rang out to honor a no-frills man who famously despised rituals and felt most comfortable living a normal life. Inside, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed John Lennon’s “Imagine” with a country twang. Grandson Jason Carter said Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s modest ranch home epitomized their approach to life. “It was like thousands of other grandparents’ houses across the South, with fishing trophies on the wall and a fridge plastered with photos of his grandkids,” Jason Carter said. FILE – Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) They ex-first couple had only a landline phone for decades and mistakenly called his grandson while trying to take a photo with his first cell phone. “They were small-town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from,” Jason Carter said. “That love taught him to preach to power of human rights … and the power of democracy.” Stu Eizenstat, a former White House aide, joked that the tireless Carter is most likely already drawing up a big to-do list in his new home. “The Lord of all creation should be ready for Jimmy’s recommendations on how to make God’s realm a more peaceful place,” Eizenstat said. Former US President Barack Obama speaks with President-elect Donald Trump before the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) Mourners also heard from 92-year-old former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who served as U.N. ambassador during the Carter administration. “He may be gone, but he ain’t gone far,” said Young. The fellow Georgians from different sides of the racial divide both grew up in the era of Jim Crow segregation and lived to see the achievements of the civil rights movement. Carter was a decorated Navy officer and nuclear engineer who became a farmer, state lawmaker and eventually governor in Georgia. He was little known nationally when he rose to power as a plainspoken outsider who vowed to bring honesty back to Washington after the Watergate scandal. A Southerner and political moderate, he won a crowded 1976 Democratic presidential primary and ousted Ford, who had replaced President Richard Nixon after he resigned in disgrace. Carter’s presidency was marred by economic dysfunction, soaring inflation and mostly setbacks on the international front. He forged a historic peace between Israel and Egypt but presided over the humiliating capture of American hostages after the Islamic revolution in Iran. Carter suffered the rare indignity of a powerful challenge from within his party mounted by Sen. Ted Kennedy and lost his reelection in a sweeping landslide to incoming President Ronald Reagan. Unlike other past presidents, Carter returned to Plains after losing election without skipping a beat and started a post-presidency that many historians credit as the most impressive in history. He launched The Carter Center, a non-governmental organization that promotes democracy and human rights across the globe, and worked with Habitat for Humanity to build thousands of homes for the needy in 14 countries. In retirement, Carter also reprised his beloved role teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown, a position he sometimes claimed as his most worth of praise