Jimmy Carter: Washington bids farewell to a decent man and ponders a new political age

Character. Character. Character." Speaking from the pulpit of a hushed Washington National Cathedral yesterday, Joe Biden seemed to be eulogising something bigger than the late US president who lay in a Stars and Stripes-draped casket before him. "Jimmy Carter's friendship taught me, and through his life, taught me, that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold," Biden said. "It's the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, that everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot."

- David Smith

And was the president looking beyond Carter's casket to his predecessor and successor, Donald Trump, sitting in the pews, as he added: "We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbour, and to stand up to what my dad used to say is the greatest sin of all, the abuse of power."

Biden, departing the White House in 11 days, was perhaps mourning not only Carter, the longest-lived president in US history, who died last month aged 100. As he gazed around at former presidents, senators and congressmen in the cold stone of the gothic-style cathedral, the 82-year-old great-grandfather also appeared to speak for a vanishing age. It was the day the Washington of old made its last stand.

America might not have a royal family of its own but here was the pomp and majesty of a Shakespeare history play. The two-hour memorial service, full of scripture that Carter would have known by heart, heard tributes to the businessman, the navy officer, the evangelist, the politician, the negotiator, the climate visionary, the author, the woodworker, the humanitarian, the music lover and the family man. It heard of decency, humility, integrity and willingness to put self above service.