• Carter honored at the Capitol: Former President Jimmy Carter is lying in state at the US Capitol Rotunda as lawmakers and the public pay their respects. Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune delivered eulogies at a service Tuesday afternoon honoring his life, faith and accomplishments.
• Upcoming services: The US Capitol will be open tonight through Thursday, so members of the public can pay their respects to the late president. Carter’s funeral service will be held Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral, where President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
• Carter’s legacy: The 39th president, who died last month in Georgia, was the oldest living former US president and the first to reach 100. He led enduring foreign policy initiatives, including a peace deal between Israel and Egypt, the normalization of relations with China and the treaties that gave Panama control of the Panama Canal from the US.
29 Posts
Our live coverage has ended for the day. Read more about today’s events to commemorate former President Jimmy Carter by scrolling through the posts below.
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Watch the moment Jimmy Carter's casket was brought to the US Capitol
From CNN staff
Former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state in the US Capitol ahead of a funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.
The Capitol will be open to the public to pay their respects from 6 p.m. ET to midnight, the Joint Task Force said.
Watch the moment Tuesday afternoon when Carter’s casket was brought into the US Capitol:
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Biden will deliver a eulogy at Carter's funeral on Thursday
From CNN's Michelle Shen and Nikki Carvajal
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the passing of former President Jimmy Carter on December 29.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images/File
President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral service held at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, according to a White House official. It’s a marquee moment for the Democrat to pay tribute to his longtime friend in the waning days of his own presidency.
In October, Biden celebrated Carter, who he called a “beloved friend,” with a video marking his 100th birthday, and last Sunday when Carter died, the president delivered heartfelt remarks detailing how their families provided each other support in their shared battles against cancer.
The president, who said he’d been “hanging out with Jimmy Carter for more than 50 years,” said Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.”
“To know his core, you need to know he never stopped being a Sunday school teacher at that Baptist school in Plains, Georgia,” he said.
Biden called Carter “just as courageous in his battle against cancer as he was in everything in his life,” and talked about how the illness had impacted both of their lives.
“Cancer was a common bond between our two families, as in many other families, and our son, Beau, died — when he died, Jimmy and Rosalynn were there to help us heal,” Biden said.
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Carter's family pay their respects as the former president lies in state
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Family members of Jimmy Carter are paying respects to the former president’s casket as it sits in the Capitol Rotunda.
Many of Carter’s children and grandchildren are in attendance.
Carter will now lie in state in the Capitol ahead of the funeral on Thursday. The Capitol will be open to the public to pay their respects from 6 p.m. ET to midnight, the Joint Task Force said.
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House leaders present a House of Representatives wreath for Jimmy Carter's casket
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Speaker Mike Johnson present a wreath as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state at the US Capitol Rotunda on January 7.
Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries together presented a wreath for Jimmy Carter’s casket on behalf of the House of Representatives before paying their respects.
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Vice President Kamala Harris says Jimmy Carter's works "will echo for generations to come"
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter as Carter lies in state at the US Capitol, on January 7.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Vice President Kamala Harris said the works of former President Jimmy Carter “will echo for generations to come”
In her eulogy to Cater at a service at the Capitol Rotunda, Harris said the former president lived “every day of his long life” serving the country and the American people.
She talked about how she was in middle school when Carter was elected president and recalled how her mother “admired his strength of character” and his determination.
Harris said during his presidency, Carter was a “respected global leader,” despite several crosses that defined his four years in office. She acknowledged how Carter achieved peace between Israel and Egypt and instituted diplomatic relations with China.
After his presidency, Harris said Carter “established a new model for what it means to be a former president,” pointing to his accomplishments in publish health and advocacy. The vice president said Carter has left an “extraordinary post-presidency legacy.”
This post has been updated with additional remarks from Harris.
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House speaker Johnson reflects on Carter's acts of service and dedication to his faith
From CNN's Tori B. Powell
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks during a ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter as Carter lies in state at the US Capitol, on January 7.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
House Speaker Mike Johnson reflected on the legacy of late former President Jimmy Carter during a eulogy at his funeral on Tuesday.
“When Jimmy Carter walked out on the east front of the Capitol and took his oath of office, I was just four years old,” Johnson said. “And he’s the first president that I remember. Looking back, it’s obvious now to me as an adult why he captured everyone’s attention.”
He went on to acknowledge Carter’s beginnings in rural Georgia, his time in the US Naval Academy in World War II, as well as his service with Habitat for Humanity.
Johnson finished his remarks highlighting Carter’s dedication to his faith.
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"He focused on making the lives of his fellow men better," Senate Majority Leader Thune honors Carter's legacy
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
Senate Majority Leader John Thune delivered a eulogy Tuesday for the late President Jimmy Carter at the US Capitol Rotunda, starting by remembering his various forms of service: “navy veteran, peanut farmer, governor of Georgia, and president of the united States, Sunday school teacher, Nobel Prize winner, advocate for peace and human rights, and first and foremost, a faithful servant of his creator and his fellow man.”
Thune said Carter’s post-presidency work focused on making others’ lives better.
“President Carter’s term as president ended in 1981, and for the remainder of his life — the longest post-presidency of any American president ever — he focused on making the lives of his fellow men better. That meant things like the Carter Center, which, among other things, works for the eradication of disease and some of the poorest areas of the globe. And it meant things like his work with Habitat for Humanity to provide affordable housing for those in need,” Thune said.
The new Senate majority leader also paid his tribute to President Carter’s sense of service.
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Senate chaplain opens service for Carter in Capitol Rotunda with prayer
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Senate Chaplain Barry Black opened a service honoring former President Jimmy Carter in the US Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday with a prayer.
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Jimmy Carter is lying in state at the US Capitol as Johnson, Harris and Thune deliver eulogies
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
Former President Jimmy Carter lies in state at the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC on January 7.
Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Former President Jimmy Carter’s casket is now in the Capitol Rotunda, where he will lie in state until Thursday morning, with a military guard of honor keeping watch throughout.
Military body bearers carried the casket up the steps of the US Capitol and into the Rotunda after a 21-gun salute.
Now, a short service will begin in the Rotunda for members of Congress and other invited guests. Majority Leader John Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to deliver eulogies.
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Here's what Capitol Hill looks like as members of Congress gather for a service for Jimmy Carter
From CNN staff
Members of Congress and guests attend a ceremony for former US President Jimmy Carter in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 7.
Kent Nishimura/Pool/Reuters
A sign in remembrance of Jimmy Carter, the former president who died on December 29 at the age of 100, is displayed inside the visitor center at the US Capitol building, on the day the casket of Jimmy Carter arrives to lie in state in the Rotunda of the US Capitol building in Washington, on January 7.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
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Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau will attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday, office says
From CNN's Hira Humayun
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs a book of condolences for former US President Jimmy Carter at the US Embassy in Ottawa, on January 3.
Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/AP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend former US president Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday, a statement from his office on Tuesday said.
Trudeau will deliver condolences on behalf of Canadians during his visit to Washington.
Why there was a riderless horse in the funeral procession of Jimmy Carter
From CNN's Elise Hammond
A riderless horse with boots reversed in the stirrups, alongside a member of the military, escorted the caisson carrying former President Jimmy Carter's casket from the Navy Memorial to the Capitol on January 7.
Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/Getty Images
A horse, fashioned with boots reversed in the stirrups, but no rider accompanied the casket of former President Jimmy Carter as it made its way toward the US Capitol on Tuesday.
The riderless, or caparisoned, horse is a symbol with a long history. According to the White House Historical Association, the practice is “a survival of the ancient custom of sacrificing a horse at the burial of a warrior.”
Mongols, Tatars — as early examples — believed that the spirit of the horse joined its rider in the afterlife. European folk belief hold similar reasoning, the historical association said.
While there is no sacrificing horses at funeral processions today, the horse still represents “that the deceased was mounted in this life and will continue to be mounted in the hereafter,” according to the White House Historical Association.
The Joint Task Force said the reversed boots and empty saddle “symbolize the warrior will never ride again.”
While the president, as the commander in chief, is automatically entitled to a riderless horse at their funeral, they are also included in funerals of those who reached the rank of colonel or above in the Army or Marine Corps, according to the Joint Task Force.
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Carter’s casket arrives at US Capitol
From CNN's Katherine Grise
The US Army's Caisson Detachment carries the casket of Jimmy Carter to lie in state at the US Capitol on January 7.
Marko Djurica/Reuters
Former President Jimmy Carter’s casket has arrived at the US Capitol in a horse-drawn caisson.
The late president will be carried into the Rotunda where members of Congress and other dignitaries will pay their respects. Majority Leader John Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to deliver eulogies during the service which begins at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Carter will then lie in state until Thursday.
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Carter's funeral procession mirrors his inaugural parade more than 4 decades ago
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, after Carter was sworn in as the nation's 39th president, on January 20, 1977.
AP/File
Former President Jimmy Carter’s life and service to the country is coming full circle as his funeral procession makes its way to the US Capitol on Tuesday.
It is the same route that he took for his inaugural parade, just in reverse. In 1977, Carter and his wife Rosalynn walked down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, according to the White House archives.
He was the first president to leave the car and walk the parade route, the White House said.
Heavy snow in Washington, DC: More than 5 inches of snow fell in the area on Monday — marking its snowiest day in two years. Federal government offices in Washington were closed Monday due to the weather and will remain shut through Tuesday, the US Office of Personnel Management announced.
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Jimmy Carter's funeral procession is underway
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is transferred to a horse-drawn caisson at the US Navy Memorial, before traveling on to the US Capitol, on January 7.
Mark Schiefelbein/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Late President Jimmy Carter’s casket was transferred to a horse-drawn caisson at the US Navy Memorial, and now, it is leading a funeral procession down Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues to the US Capitol.
Members of Carter’s family are expected to walk the procession route with the caisson.
Many onlookers came out to watch the procession in today’s cold weather. It’s currently about 35 degrees Fahrenheit in Washington, DC.
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Carter's motorcade arrives at Navy Memorial ahead of procession to US Capitol
From CNN's Elise Hammond
The hearse carrying the casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives at the US Navy Memorial on January 7.
Ting Shen/AFP/Getty Images
The motorcade carrying Jimmy Carter’s casket has arrived at the Navy Memorial.
There will be a ceremony in which his body will be transferred to a horse-drawn caisson, which will be used in a funeral procession down Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues to the US Capitol.
Member of Carter’s family are expected to walk the procession route with the caisson.
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Carter was regarded as a champion of human rights by world leaders, Richard Branson says
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Former President Jimmy Carter and entrepreneur Richard Branson visit the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem on August 25, 2009.
Ammar Awad/Reuters/File
Former President Jimmy Carter was highly regarded as a person who stood and fought for human rights, Richard Branson said. He and Carter were among the founding members of “The Elders,” a group of global leaders who work together for peace, justice and human rights.
Branson, who is also the founder of Virgin Galactic, told CNN about 20 years ago he was sitting with Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. They were reviewing a list of names for who to approach about being involved in the group.
Carter served as a member of “The Elders” until he was 90 years old. Those years in the group were “some of the most important of his life,” Branson said, with trips to places like Sudan and North Korea.
Diplomacy after the presidency: The former president and first lady visited more than 130 countries to meet with foreign leaders and other prominent individuals.
In 1994, the United States and North Korea were edging toward conflict over US concerns that Pyongyang was building a nuclear weapon. Absent diplomatic relations between the two countries, President Clinton gave Carter and Rosalynn permission to travel to the isolated Stalinist state to meet its supreme leader, Kim Il-Sung. In exchange for dialogue with the United States, North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear program, which defused the crisis — for a few years at least.
In 2002, he became the first former or sitting US president since 1928 to visit Cuba, where he called on the United States to end its “ineffective” economic embargo and challenged President Fidel Castro to hold free elections, grant more civil liberties and improve human rights. In 2008, he met with leaders from the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US State Department, and from Syria.
“He was relentless and just the most extraordinary, extraordinary individual,” Branson said.
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Motorcade carrying Jimmy Carter's casket is on its way to the US Navy Memorial
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
A hearse carrying casket of former President Jimmy Carter following an arrival ceremony in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on January 7.
Samuel Corum/AFP/Getty Images
A motorcade carrying late President Jimmy Carter’s casket is en route from Joint Base Andrews to the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC.
Upon arrival, the casket will be transferred to a horse-drawn caisson, which will lead a funeral procession to the US Capitol.
That’s where Carter will lie in state until Thursday morning.
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US Air Force Band plays as Carter's casket is transferred into presidential hearse
From CNN's Elise Hammond
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is tranferred to a hearse during an arrival ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on January 7
Samuel Corum/AFP/Getty Images
The US Air Force Band is playing “Abide with Me” as a team of military body bearers place the casket of former President Jimmy Carter into the motorcade.
There was also a 21-gun salute and other honors presented by ceremonial troops when the aircraft carrying Carter’s body landed at Joint Base Andrews.
The motorcade with Carter’s body will now travel to the US Navy Memorial for a “transfer ceremony and funeral procession” up to the US Capitol, according to the Joint Task Force.
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Carter's faith will shine though ceremonies in his hymn and scripture selections, niece says
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Former President Jimmy Carter teaches a Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on August 23, 2015.
David Goldman/AP/File
Former President Jimmy Carter’s strong faith will shine through today’s events, his niece said, because of his active role in planning how his own funeral would play out.
She said having Carter plan these elements for himself is meaningful for her because “even though he won’t be there, that faith is still going to shine through.”
Presidents start planning their funeral many years before they actually die, some of them even as soon as their first days in office, according Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to Laura Bush.
McBride said presidents meet with the Joint Task Force “not too long after they’re in the Oval Office.”
“It is a deeply emotive process for the president and the former president and their family, but also for the nation, and it’s really important that it’s done right,” McBride told CNN.
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Presidential aircraft carrying Jimmy Carter's casket arrives at Joint Base Andrews
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
A plane carrying the casket of former President Jimmy Carter lands at Joint Base Andrews ahead of its transfer to the US Capitol on January 7.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Late President Jimmy Carter and his family have arrived at Joint Base Andrews, outside of Washington, DC.
There is expected to be a short ceremony here to transfer Carter’s casket to a mototcade to be taken to the US Navy Memorial.
Ahead of the plane landing, “more than two dozen snowplow trucks” were working to clear ice and snow off of the tarmac, CNN’s Phil Mattingly reported. More than 5 inches of snow had fallen in the area on Monday, marking its snowiest day in two years.
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Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002
From CNN staff
Former President Jimmy Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in December 2002.
Arne Knudsen/Getty Images
Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize for his worldwide peace and human rights work in 2002.
The 5-member Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Carter’s decades of “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
He was repeatedly nominated for the prize, worth $1 million, and came close to winning in 1978, when he brought Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat together to sign the Camp David peace accord, but his presidency faltered under the weight of the Iran hostage crisis.
At the time, Carter told a news conference that he would give most of the $1 million prize to the Carter Center, which he founded after losing his 1980 re-election bid to Ronald Reagan. He said he shared the honor with his wife, Rosalynn, and the staff at the Carter Center.
Carter traveled around the globe monitoring elections, promoting human rights, and helping provide health care and food to the world’s poor.
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What to expect when Carter's casket arrives in the Washington area today
From CNN's Elise Hammond
When the body of former President Jimmy Carter arrives at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday, expect to see elements that are symbolic of the reverence for the office itself, CNN anchor and chief domestic correspondent Phil Mattingly said.
Once the casket is removed from the plane, there will be a military honor guard in position.
Carter’s family will also be present for the ceremony as the casket is moved from the plane into the motorcade that will take the body to the US Navy Memorial and then the US Capitol, where Carter will lie in state ahead of the funeral on Thursday.
“Hail to the Chief” will play and there will be a 21-gun salute, the Joint Task Force said in a statement on Monday, ahead of Carter’s arrival at the base in Maryland. A military body bearer team will remove the casket from the plane and place it in the motorcade, the force said.
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The Carters were the longest-married presidential couple in history
From CNN's Stephen Collinson
Then-Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife Rosalynn at his Atlanta campaign headquarters in 1966.
Horace Cort/AP
In the summer of 1945, Jimmy Carter, then a fresh-faced US Naval Academy student, met Eleanor Rosalynn Smith.
After their first date, Carter told his mother: “She’s the girl I want to marry.”
Rosalynn rejected his first proposal but accepted the second a few weeks later. They wed in 1946 and would eventually become the longest-married presidential couple in history.
Carter was asked the secret of his enduring marriage on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in July 2015.
When he published his book “A Full Life” shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, Carter contemplated his own mortality. He wrote that he was at peace with his accomplishments as president as well as his unrealized goals.
He said he and Rosalynn were “blessed with good health and look to the future with eagerness and confidence, but are prepared for inevitable adversity when it comes.”
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What we know about the state funeral schedule for Jimmy Carter
From CNN's Brian Rokus
A person lays flowers at a memorial for former President Jimmy Carter in front of the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta on Sunday.
Richard Pierrin/AFP/Getty Images
The official state funeral schedule for former President Jimmy Carter is already underway. Carter is will lie in state in the US Capitol on Tuesday, but here’s a look at the other events.
Last weekend: The state funeral began on Saturday morning with the arrival of the Carter Family at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Plains, Georgia, after which his motorcade traveled through Plains. His remains then went to the Carter Center in Atlanta to lie in repose through Monday.
Today: After a ceremony, Carter will depart the Carter Presidential Center one last time and his family will travel to Washington, DC, via Special Air Mission 39, which will first arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where Carter’s remains will be transferred with ceremony to the hearse. Carter and his family will then travel by motorcade to the US Navy Memorial where his remains will be transferred from the hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for a funeral procession up to the US Capitol. Military body bearers will carry Carter into the Rotunda where members of Congress will pay their respects during a service. Carter will then lie in state while the military maintains a guard of honor. The public is invited to pay their respects as he lies in state from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. The late president will also lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday.
Thursday: The National Funeral Service will occur at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday at 10 a.m. Then Carter will then be transported back to Plains for a private internment at the family residence that evening. The public is invited to line the motorcade route as Carter and his family travel through his beloved hometown of Plains, Georgia, to the late president’s final resting place.
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Former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state at the Capitol today
From CNN's Haley Talbot
Former President Jimmy Carter poses for a photo in Atlanta in 2011.
David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
Former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, from January 7 to January 9, according to Congressional leadership.
The letter was signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
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Carter memorial events come as DC deals with winter storm
From CNN's Aileen Graef
The flag atop the US Capitol flies at half-staff in honor of former President Jimmy Carter on Monday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city will support the federal government during former President Jimmy Carter’s memorial events as a winter storm hits this week.
It’s a busy few days in the capital, with Congress having certified the 2024 presidential election on Monday, and Carter lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda starting today.
The Capitol will be open to the public on the night of January 7 through January 9, ahead of Carter’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral at 10 a.m., according to the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region.
“Both of those events have been expected, and we expect that they will happen as planned, and we will support the federal government in all of their efforts,” Bowser said at a news conference Sunday.
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A look at the crises at home and abroad that defined Jimmy Carter's presidency
From CNN staff
US hostages are seen inside the United States embassy compound in Iran blindfolded on November 4, 1979.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
In 1979, former President Jimmy Carter did himself significant political damage in an extraordinary address to the nation on the energy crisis.
Carter listed criticisms of his presidency, painting a picture of a listless nation trapped in a moral and spiritual funk.
Ultimately, the speech came back to haunt Carter and made it easy for opponents, not least Ronald Reagan, to portray him as a pessimistic and uninspiring leader.
Still, in the late 1970s, it seemed conceivable that Carter’s command of foreign policy at the height of the Cold War would give him a fair shot at a second term.
But a swelling of revolutionary Islam – heralding a trend that would confound future presidents — conspired to sweep him out of the White House.
The Iran hostage crisis: In October 1979, the United States let the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi — who had been overthrown by the Iranian Revolution a few months earlier — enter the country for medical treatment. That infuriated Islamic revolutionaries who saw him as an oppressive US puppet and wanted him returned to Iran for trial.
On November 4, a year before the US election, students who supported the Islamic revolution seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage.
President Jimmy Carter speaks in April 1980 on the aborted rescue effort intended to get the hostages out of Iran.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
The 444-day standoff transfixed the nation, souring the national mood day by day as television news bulletins tallied how long the hostages had been in custody. Gradually it dashed Carter’s hopes of a second term.
His fortunes were also battered by a daring and ultimately disastrous rescue bid in which a US helicopter carrying special forces crashed in the desert, killing eight US servicemen.
At the same time, the Cold War was approaching a pivotal point. After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, Carter decided to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow and asked the Senate to delay ratification of SALT II.
As November 1980 approached, a sense of Soviet belligerence and the lengthening humiliation of the hostage crisis fostered an impression of US power under siege. Carter wrote in his memoirs that his destiny was out of his hands as the election approached, but prayed the hostages would be released.
“Now, my political future might well be determined by irrational people on the other side of the world over whom I had no control,” he said.
“If the hostages were released, I was convinced my election would be assured; if the expectations of the American people were dashed again, there was little chance I could win.”
Throughout the campaign, Reagan berated Carter as an ineffectual leader consigning America to perpetual decline.
“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his,” Reagan charged.
The actor-turned-California governor pulled off a stunning landslide on Election Day 1980, winning 489 electoral votes. In the final humiliation for Carter, on January 20, 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan was sworn in, Iran released the hostages.
