The hearse carrying the late former President Jimmy Carter stopped briefly in front of the state Capitol on the journey to the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. (Photo by Jill Nolin | Georgia Recorder)
Former President Jimmy Carter may have only served one term as governor, but he left his mark in many ways before leaving for Washington, even literally.
With a pencil, Carter signed the desk in the governor’s ceremonial office, starting a tradition that has been continued by his successors.
Four of those governors who would go on to write their own signature on the desk – three of them Republicans – were among those who bundled up Saturday and stood outside the state Capitol as Carter’s motorcade made a brief and solemn ceremonial stop on its way to the Carter Presidential Center a few miles away.
“I think most of us felt like he had really fought for so long that there was a certain peace about that at that final moment in that regard,” Sonny Perdue, a former governor who is now chancellor of the University System of Georgia, told reporters Saturday.