WASHINGTON — Here is the text of the eulogy President Joe Biden delivered Thursday during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter in Washington.
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Leaders of the clergy, distinguished guests and most importantly the Carter family.
In April 2021, Jill and I visited Jimmy and Rosalynn on a warm spring day down in Plains, Georgia. We wanted to see them.
Rosalynn met us at the front door with her signature smile. Together, we entered a home that they had shared for almost 77 years of marriage, an unassuming red brick ranch home. They flexed their modesty more than any trappings of power.
We walked into the living room where Jimmy greeted us like family. That day, just the four of us sat in the living room and shared memories that spanned almost six decades, a deep friendship that started in 1974.
I was a 31-year-old senator. And I was the first senator outside of Georgia, maybe the first senator, to endorse his candidacy for president.
It was an endorsement based on what I believe is Jimmy Carter's enduring attribute: Character. Character. Character.