Jimmy Carter was to be honored Thursday with a state funeral at Washington's National Cathedral, amid a groundswell of tributes honoring the 39th US president and the last from the so-called Greatest Generation.

The public will be able to pay their respects to the 39th president at the U.S. Capitol until his state funeral Thursday morning.

Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation’s capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returns to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting on Tuesday.