Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting Tuesday. Carter’s remains, which had been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Center since Saturday,

Members of Congress were among the first who were able to pay their respects at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state.

Jimmy Carter’s legacy includes working to eradicate tropical diseases in Africa, South America and Asia and to end conflicts in places like Syria, Israel and Sudan. But the late former president’s efforts also live on in the wild places of his native Georgia that he worked as governor and president to protect.