President Joe Biden on Monday ordered federal offices closed and gave government employees the day off to observe the January 9 funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, which Biden has proclaimed as a “National Day of Mourning.”

Carter passed away Sunday at the age of 100, after serving one term in the White House from 1977 to 1981.

Biden’s order dictates that all “executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed on January 9, 2025, as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr., the thirty-ninth President of the United States,” excepting in situations where agency or department heads determine “their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on January 9, 2025, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.”

Carter “was a man of character, courage, and compassion, whose lifetime of service defined him as one of the most influential statesmen in our history.” said Biden in an official message to Congress Sunday night, marking the the former president’s passing,

“He embodied the very best of America: A humble servant of God and the people. A heroic champion of global peace and human rights, and an honorable leader whose moral clarity and hopeful vision lifted our nation and changed our world,” Biden wrote.

Biden noted that Carter came from humble roots — his father was a farmer and his mother a nurse — and that he entered the United States Naval Academy in 1943 at the height of World War II.

Carter left active service and returned to Georgia after the death of his father. He took over management of the family peanut farm while serving as a church deacon and Sunday school teacher.

“His deep faith inspired a passion for public service that led him to be elected State Senator, Georgia’s 76th Governor, and ultimately President of the United States,” Biden wrote in his proclamation.

As a president, Biden said, Carter demonstrated he “understood that government must be as good as its people.”

“His faith in the people was boundless just as his belief in America was limitless and his hope for our common future was perennial,” Biden wrote.

When his time in politics ended with his defeat in the 1980 election against former President Ronald Reagan, Carter didn’t retreat into obscurity, Biden said, but instead dedicated the remaining 43 years of his life to “an agenda that elevated the least among us.”

“Guided by an unwavering belief in the power of human goodness and the God given dignity of every human being, he worked tirelessly around the globe to broker peace; eradicate disease; house the homeless; and protect human rights, freedom, and democracy,” Biden proclaimed.

After news of Carter’s passing broke, Biden said in a statement that he would order an official state funeral to be held in his honor in Washington D.C.. Carter’s funeral plans call for his burial at his home in Plains, Georgia, alongside his wife Rosalynn. The couple’s home has been deeded to the National Parks Service.

Biden said in a public address Sunday night his administration would “see to it that he is remembered appropriately, here in the United States and around the world.”

The president ordered U.S. flags to half staff “at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions” and at any diplomatic post or overseas military post for the next 30 days, as is tradition when a U.S. president dies.

Biden also declared the day of Carter’s funeral a “National Day of Mourning” throughout the U.S., and called on the public to mark the occasion.

“I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance,” he proclaimed.

“May President Carter’s memory continue to be a light pointing us forward. May we continue to be guided by his spirit in our Nation and in our world,” Biden said.

President-elect Donald Trump said that he and Carter may have been deeply divided on matters of politics or philosophy, but that it’s nevertheless very clear that the 39th president “truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for.”

“He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office,” Trump wrote via Truth Social.

Fellow Georgian native and VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt said in a statement that the “nation lost a devoted humanitarian with the passing of former President Jimmy Carter”

“President Carter is to be commended for his military service and remembered for political career, but what truly stands out is his decades-long association with Habitat for Humanity. He selflessly gave his time and effort to provide shelter to those less fortunate, touching thousands of lives and setting a stalwart example of faith in practice.”

Christine Mason, of Atlanta, places flowers at the entrance to The Jimmy Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta Monday. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)