Former US president Jimmy Carter’s coffin arrives in Washington

A joint forces military team carries the flag-draped casket of former US president Jimmy Carter to Special Air Mission 39 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia on Tuesday (Alex Brandon/AP)

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

Mr Carter’s remains, which have been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Centre since Saturday, left the Atlanta campus on Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and extended family.