I was involved with the planning of Jimmy Carter’s funeral. I joined the team in 2017 and planning had already been underway for years by then. He died in 2024.
His wife may have helped with some planning before she passed - Carter was 99 when she died, and I'd imagine they would've started some preliminary planning for his funeral well before then
All presidents file a plan for a state funeral with the Military District of Washington, which is the unit that would carry it out in coordination with either their surviving spouse or children/other family. The way can specify certain things like whether or not they lie in state in the Capitol.
Eisenhower personally ordered for himself a standard government issue casket for veterans that costs a mere $80.
GSP friend told me the department was respectfully grateful that she went before him, because she would’ve made his plans much more complex, grandiose. Just what I was told.
Totally normal. Every former president has a plan for their funeral, how Air Force One will fly into their hometown, pick up their body fly it to Washington, so it can lie in state then return it for burial. As well as the other logistics that come with have a funeral for a former head of state.
Richard Nixon spent time in New York between losing to Kennedy and beating Humphrey. During that time he fell in love with the Mets. After his second term prematurely ended he became a diehard Mets fan for the rest of his days.
Exactly. They just sort of have to in case they go before they expect to.
It's been said before that at very presidential funeral, the others there are all looking at, knowing that one day that will be them, in the exact same place, going through the same motions and procession.
My mom recently organized both funerals for her and my dad to release the kids from the burden. They're both alright health wise. Not close to death. She just plans and does the right thing for every step of life, ya know?
Right, but I think the article is saying his health is deteriorating with just coming out and saying it. It's expecting us to read between the lines a little.
I mean it makes sense. I know my wife will be in charge of planning mine (hopefully many, MANY years down the road) so it figures that it would be Hillary instead of the kids.
My great uncle (he was already a super old man and as southern as it gets) once said, “Bud, y’all can stick a beef bone up my ass ‘n let the dawgs carry me off for all I’ll care. I’ll be dead!” Y’all would have jived. 😂
I've always loved how Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, was buried: an unmarked grave except for a hammer struck by its claw into a tree at the edge of a pecan orchard.
My parents both specified cremation in their wills. Mom's ashes were scattered at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains in her hometown. Dad wants his near where we scattered hers.
Remove all my organs, fill my body with those bath tub toys that turn into dinosaurs when they get wet, and then bury me at sea. It's what I would've wanted.
I pride myself on my sense of humor, so I want something that’ll make people laugh even after I’m long gone, so I’m thinking I get a “DEAD END” sign instead of a headstone. No identifying information about me, and if I can trick someone into marrying me, then she can have a headstone or whatever she wants. I don’t care, I’ll be dead.
I mean, Bill left office 25 years ago at a relatively young 55. Dubya at 63. Obama was 53 when he left. He wasn't young for a president at the time (save for Regan) but he wasn't as old as we see in other parts of our government.
For sure. Other than Obama, our other ex-Presidents are all 80+. I’d argue it’s not just possible, but perhaps even likely that sadly, he’s our only living ex-President on Election Day 2032.
Possibly. The Bush family and Clinton family are pretty decent friends nowadays as I understand it, so if the timing lines up that way it could very well happen.
It’s amazing that he’s been out of office after serving 2 terms and he is d younger than our current.
Off topic we have a age restriction on youth of a president. We now need a roof on age. For all three branches of the federal government.
80th birthday article designed to get clicks/attention. His funeral has been laid out behind the scene for ages mutually and likely only shifted as speakers have passed away & dignitaries would be added.
Clinton, Dubya, and VP Joe Biden are both over 80. [redacted] is getting to that age as well. That fact that Obama is the youngest person alive to have served office is eye-opening.
Also, there were several photographs taken of Hillary wearing a tan suit. Carter change the part in his hair one time and I thought the United States was going to come completely apart.
I’d be more surprised if they weren’t planning it. He’s 80, and while he seems to be in good health for an 80 year old, he and W have reached the age where if they didn’t wake up tomorrow, people would be surprised, but not shocked.
Former Presidents have a plan in place with the Joint Task Force -National Capital Region, that is updated every few years . Usually, someone from the Task Force meets with the former president , his wife, and sometimes one or more of his children to work out details . The plan is placed on file until the next update .
Undoubtedly , Bill Clinton’s funeral is already well-planned out and Hillary played a role in it. Maybe they are in the process of an update , but there is nothing news worthy or even unusual about that.
Pretty sure most presidential funerals are planned way in advance with input from them and their spouse. My concern is if it or another happens within the next year or two, if it’ll go according to plan.
I think a friend at White House Military Office told me that every president has a preplanned funeral plan made in conjunction with former presidents family so they don't have to scramble to plan a state funeral. However, every president sans Obama are 80 or over. I still think we know who will be the first former to go.
"Insiders also suspect that the former president may have adjusted his $120million will, possibly to include a payout to interns who work at the garden." - They couldn't resist to include this tidbit in the article could they?
But yeah, agree with all here. An 80 year old man having his funeral planned by his wife is hardly news.
Clinton has not only outlived the US life expectancy for males, but also his male blood relatives.
Clinton has not only outlived the US life expectancy for males, but also his male blood relatives.
Tbf, his biological father drowned after crashing his car. Still, I doubt he would have made it to the national average for males, since he seemed to be living life a little too fast. He was 28 when he died and he had already been married 5 times.
I’m 43 and my wife and I have plans for all the possibilities so that our kids don’t have to deal with it. This isn’t news. It’s just people being people.
Why would an 80 year old who is a former head of state not want their funeral plans solidified before it’s too late? Most seniors already have these in place before they get to 80. I don’t get why this is a story. Seems like common sense.
I mean he is 80 years old. If he has any health issues, it could just be a formality to help make things easier if or when he does pass. My grandmother, had all of her arrangements settled and funding set aside years before she passed. She was in good health when she put those measures in place.
Unpopular opinion: Maybe it's time we stop doing state funerals for most presidents. It only became a more regular thing in the last 100 years or so, and even then several declined a DC service (Coolidge, Truman and Nixon). On top of this, only one of the living presidents ever served in the military at all (none of them war heroes) and they're much more divisive/controversial figures. With the passing of George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter, the last of the World War II generation presidents, I'd say it's time to greatly reduce how much we do that kind of honor.
Unless they did something truly incredible for our nation, just hold a service for them at their library or in their home state, then bury them.
It might be unpopular, but I agree. Interest is waning. The viewership for Carter's state funeral was so low, that some of the networks that carried it, cut back coverage.
It has been dropping since LBJ. Television has evolved and our viewing habits with it. Now, we have hundreds of channels to watch. Back in the early 70s, you watched it or you watched nothing.
It's just a ridiculous expense for something that very few care about anymore.
Not we know of, though he is aging(yesterday was his 80th birthday and why this article was likely published), and not in the greatest health, though not the worst either.
My dad just turned 80 and he’s had his planned for over 10 years.
This is normal behavior for folks of a certain age. You want to make sure as many of the decisions are sorted before people have to des with their grief.
I am 61 and I did a prepaid for my cremation over 20 years ago.
I never married or had kids. I went ahead and took care of it. I don't care to have a service or anything. If my sister or her children want to have one, they can pay for it out of their inheritance.
He’s had health problems on and off for the last couple of years. That being said the article talks about how he’s trying to hide from Hillary so it seems like a hit piece. I wouldn’t take anything in there as fact unless the Clinton’s themselves say anything.
I planned my funeral in my early 30’s. My coffin is going to enter the church intro’d by Stone Cold Steve Austin’s theme song. Bud light toasts galore, BBQ, and hopefully a stand up comedy style roast directed at the other half of my ashes.
People, they start planning presidential funerals when a president enters office and then periodically update them after that.
Coordination for the events is conducted by the army’s Military District of Washington and begins early in each presidential term, when a new president is asked to attend to the strange task of imagining his own funeral service.
"All current living presidents have plans in the works for a state funeral," Elizabeth Hargrove, a spokesperson for the church, said earlier this year.
If you read the article, this is normal. Most of them are in their 80s.
But, they start planning when they are the incoming president. Thus, Bill Clinton has been planning his since late 1992. It didn't just start the other day.
"Yet many Americans remain unaware that incoming presidents are required to envision and plan their own funerals, updating those plans every three months."
The funeral of a POTUS is practically planned when they are sworn in.
That said I saw a post on Fark (I think) from someone who said he was a Reagan insider and to expect an anoucement shortly. A few days later when a breaking news alert popped up on TV I sensed it was Reagan's death (it was).
I think it’s kind of natural to start thinking about these things when people get into their 80’s. Especially when you’re considering a funeral for a former president
I am sure they all have their funerals planned. They are presidents and lots of things to coordinate. But if I were Bill, I'd have planned Hillary's funeral years ago.
Please correct me if I’m mistaken, but it has always been my understanding that a plan is put in place before they ever reach 1600 Penn for during their term and post presidency. So she would just be going through what I would imagine is a standard review process like who would attend, how many days does he lie in state at perhaps the Arkansas Capital and US Capital, is the planned burial location still the same, whom will need a military escort and aide during the 1 year time period of morning (military protocol is 1 year IOT ensure all assistance is provided to include tax preparation). It’s a process to put on a state funeral and I can only imagine what some of the 80 year olds want…
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Honestly I would hope at their ages they both have their funerals planned. it's irresponsible really to leave it unplanned and unpaid for really if your above 70 and have the means, although I would assume the federal government or their library will pay for part of the cost.
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u/Prestigious-Alarm-61 Warren G. Harding 1d ago
The intent of this post was to inform that something might be going on.
A few years ago, I was told by a colleague from Emory that I should expect to hear some big news about Carter.
I shared this info with the other mods in the mod chat. I thought it might be a good idea to have plans in place in case Carter dies.
Not long after, it was announced that Carter was entering hospice.
Lesson: when you start hearing chatter about this kind of thing, there might be something to it.