Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who struggled with a bad economy and a hostage crisis but went on to a long and admired post-White House career, will be honored at a state funeral in Washington on Thursday.

Mary Elizabeth King was running a group designed to boost the paltry number of women in the top ranks of the federal government. And Joan Claybrook was one of Ralph Nader’s Raiders, the cadre of lawyers and researchers around the country pushing for consumer protections.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will be honored Thursday with the pageantry of a funeral in the nation’s capital and second service in his tiny Georgia hometown that launched a Depression-era farm boy to the world stage.

Roosevelt had possessed the same gift for longevity as Jimmy Carter and lived until he was 100. He would have died in1982, in Ronald Reagan’s second year in office. Most likely FDR would then reside in my consciousness in roughly same way Carter does for my children,

The late president is lying in state through Thursday morning, giving the public a chance to pay respect in person.