WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� is the consummate Washington insider. was anything but.
Yet the 46th and 39th U.S. presidents had a decades-long friendship starting when Biden, as a young Delaware lawmaker, became the first sitting senator to endorse Carter鈥檚 outsider White House bid in 1976. Their bond will be on display one final time Thursday as Biden eulogizes Carter during his at Washington National Cathedral.
It marks quite a bookend for both men. Carter and Biden each marked evolutions as the Democratic Party and the country changed over their long public lives. Both were presidents who endured four rocky years in the Oval Office before being forced out under terms that were not their own 鈥� and handing power to larger-than-life Republican figures in the process.
鈥淎merica and the world in my view lost a remarkable leader. ... He was a statesman and humanitarian. And Jill and I lost a dear friend,鈥� Biden said hours after .
For Biden, the spotlight provides an opportunity not simply to praise the late president's work after leaving office but perhaps also to amplify reassessments of Carter as president. That framing could, not so subtly, be something the 82-year-old Biden hopes for himself as he prepares to hand power over to President-elect on Jan. 20.
Trump鈥檚 presence at Carter鈥檚 funeral intensifies the dynamics. The former and incoming president spent the 2024 campaign , playing up Republican caricatures of Carter as an incompetent steward of an inflationary economy and directing the same indictment at Biden's administration.
鈥淏iden is the worst president in the history of our country, worse than Jimmy Carter by a long shot,鈥� Trump would say, even using some version of the attack when former first lady was on her deathbed in 2023 and on Carter鈥檚 100th birthday on Oct. 1, 2024. 鈥淛immy Carter is happy,鈥� Trump would say, 鈥渂ecause he had a brilliant presidency compared to Biden.鈥�
But some Democrats say the timing of Carter鈥檚 funeral, so close to Trump's second inauguration, makes for a favorable comparison with the Republican's bellicose tone.
鈥淛immy Carter is a fundamentally decent man, and Joe Biden is a fundamentally decent man,鈥� said Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic power broker who got her start on Carter鈥檚 1980 reelection campaign.
Biden has focused on the same idea.
鈥淲hen I endorsed him for president ... it was not only his policies but his character,鈥� Biden said after Carter's death. Asked specifically what Trump could learn from Carter, the president replied: 鈥淒ecency, decency, decency.鈥�
Biden, who served 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice president before winning the presidency on his third try in 2020, had not yet become a Washington careerist when he aligned with Carter. Elected senator at 29, Biden was in his first term when Carter, then Georgia governor, mounted a White House bid as a Beltway afterthought.
鈥淗e grabbed me by the arm and said, 鈥業 need you to help me with my campaign,鈥� and I said, 鈥業鈥檝e only been around a couple years, Mr. Governor,鈥欌�� Biden recalled. 鈥淗e said, 鈥橬o, it will make a difference.'鈥�
Biden chose Carter over powerful Senate colleagues and campaigned across the country for him during primary season and the general election campaign.
Both were moderates on fiscal issues and social issues. Both were outspoken about their religious faith 鈥� Biden the Roman Catholic, .
Their relationship, however, was not seamless once Carter won.
Both had opposed federally mandated busing to make public schools more racially diverse. Still, in 1977, Carter opposed a Biden Senate bill that would have limited courts鈥� authority on the topic. Carter viewed it as an unconstitutional breach of the separation of powers.
The young senator quipped: 鈥淣ixon had his enemies list, and President Carter has his friends list. I guess I鈥檓 on his friends list, and I don鈥檛 know which is worse.鈥�
Still, Biden was one of the Democrats who warned Carter that his liberal rival, then-Sen. Ted Kennedy, might challenge the president in the 1980 primary. When Kennedy, an Irish Catholic like Biden, did run, Biden stuck with Carter even as his fortunes lagged.
When Biden ran for president the first time ahead of 1988, Carter was busy building his post-White House Carter Center, a nonpartisan human rights organization, and he was still a pariah for Democrats after losing to Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide. Carter took private meetings with aspiring presidents but generally did not appear publicly with them.
When Biden ran a second time, he assessed Carter in a 2007 book with a calculated realism, writing that Carter鈥檚 values were not enough: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first time I realized that on-the-job training for a president can be a dangerous thing.鈥�
He even took issue with the former president鈥檚 religiosity: 鈥淚 campaigned hard for Carter in two elections, but I thought he had a dangerous penchant for moralizing. 鈥榊ou thump that Bible one more time,鈥� I told him once, 鈥榓nd you鈥檙e going to lose me, too.鈥欌��
Biden鈥檚 second campaign also flopped, but nominee Barack Obama tapped him for the vice presidential slot. The Obama campaign at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
As Biden was running for president a third time, Carter, then almost 95, threw an unintentional curveball.
鈥淚 hope there鈥檚 an age limit,鈥� with a laugh as he answered audience questions at the Carter Center in 2019. 鈥淚f I was 15 years younger, I don鈥檛 believe I could undertake the duties I experienced when I was president.鈥�
Biden and his primary rival Bernie Sanders were old enough to turn 80 in the White House.
Still, Carter returned Biden鈥檚 loyalty with familiar language.
鈥淲e deserve a person with integrity and judgment. Someone who is honest and fair鈥� and a president with 鈥渆xperience, character and decency,鈥� Carter said in a message taped for Biden鈥檚 2020 nominating convention.
On one of Biden鈥檚 first trips as president, he and first lady Jill Biden made a side trip to Plains, Georgia, to and his wife. Biden told reporters afterward that Carter had asked him to speak at his state funeral.
Biden ultimately did reach 80 in the White House, and widespread worry over his age drove him to end his reelection bid. As pressure mounted on Biden after a disjointed debate against Trump, the widowed Carter, more than a year into hospice care, made no public statements or private maneuvers.
鈥淗e, like a lot of us, was incredibly gratified by his friend鈥檚 courageous choice to pass the torch,鈥� said Jason Carter, the former president鈥檚 grandson. 鈥淵ou know, my grandfather and the Carter Center have observed more than 100 elections in 40 countries. So, he knows how rare it is for somebody who鈥檚 a sitting president to give up power in any context.鈥�
Whatever Biden says Thursday, former Obama campaign architect David Axelrod noted that the outgoing president will not enjoy the same opportunities as Carter to recast his legacy.
鈥淛immy Carter spent four years in Washington out of 100 years of his life,鈥� Axelrod said. 鈥淛immy Carter is looked at differently (now) because he spent 44 years after losing the presidency doing extraordinary things all over the world. 鈥� Biden won鈥檛 have that luxury.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
Bill Barrow And Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
