Washington, Jan 10, (V7N) - Five current and former U.S. presidents came together Thursday at Washington National Cathedral to pay their respects at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. The service, which lasted over an hour, marked a moment of unity among political rivals, with the leaders setting aside their past differences to honor one of their own.
Among the first to arrive were former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who shook hands and conversed amicably, despite their sharp political differences. Trump, who will assume the presidency again in just 11 days, appeared to listen attentively to Obama, and the two exchanged smiles during the interaction.
Trump later spoke about his brief interaction with Obama, joking, “It did look very friendly, I must say,” and adding that despite their differences, they likely shared mutual respect. “We have little different philosophies, right, but we probably do,” Trump said. “But I got along with just about everybody.”
Obama, who attended without his wife Michelle, sat with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived later, occupying a pew just ahead of the former presidents.
The funeral was a rare occasion where the former U.S. presidents gathered, as they typically remain busy with personal and public duties. The event highlighted the unity of the office, though some tensions were apparent. Trump, for example, did not engage with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had just defeated him in the 2020 election, when she entered the cathedral. However, her husband, Doug Emhoff, made an effort to shake Trump’s hand after the service.
The group also met privately before the service, but details of their conversation were not disclosed. Trump later mentioned that the former presidents "all got along very well."
While former presidents rarely meet socially, Carter’s funeral brought them together in shared respect. In a poignant moment, former President Gerald Ford’s son, Steven, read a eulogy for Carter that his father had written before his death in 2006.
Trump's relationships with former presidents have been complex, particularly with the Bush family. However, former presidents often rely on each other for advice, as seen with Bill Clinton reaching out to Richard Nixon and Obama consulting George W. Bush after the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
Kate Andersen Brower, author of “Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump”, noted that despite Carter's outsider status and sometimes critical view of the former presidents' club, he and Trump shared a commonality in their bluntness and directness, even though they had stark differences in almost every other regard.
Carter, who spent much of his post-presidency as a proud Washington outsider, famously avoided attending the unveiling of his own portrait due to his discomfort with being in the same room as President Ronald Reagan, who defeated him in the 1980 election.
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