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(NEXSTAR) — Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died “peacefully” in his Georgia home Sunday, the Carter Center confirmed. He was 100 years old.
Carter, the longest-living American president, underwent a series of short hospital stays before being placed in hospice care in February 2023. He had “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
To pay tribute to Carter — and in accordance with federal law — the flag was lowered to fly at half-staff on Sunday.
The office of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a press release that U.S. flags and Utah flags at state facilities must be flown at half-staff to recognize the passing of former president Carter.
“Flags should be lowered to the half-staff position immediately and remain in the half-staff position until sunset on January 28, 2025,” Cox said in the release.
The flags will be at half-staff for a period of 30 days, which is the longest period possible for the flags to fly at half-staff, reserved for the death of the sitting president or former presidents.
Flags on federal buildings and grounds in the U.S. and its territories, as well as all naval vessels, will also fly at half-staff. Private citizens, in addition to businesses and organizations, have been invited to honor the former president by lowering their flags as well, Cox said.
Background
According to a proclamation signed by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, because Carter is a former president, flags are to remain at half-staff for 30 days from the day of Carter’s death.
Should the sitting vice president, chief justice (current or retired) of the Supreme Court, or the sitting speaker of the house die, flags would be ordered to half-staff for 10 days from the day of death.
For other officials – associate justices of the Supreme Court; a Cabinet member; a former vice president; the president pro tempore of the Senate; and majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate – flags are to fly at half-staff from the day of death until interment.
Flags are flown at half-staff “when the whole nation is in mourning,” the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs explains.