The former president and once-again-future president, who are historically something less than besties, chatted it up before the service began. (Michelle Obama was not in attendance.)

WASHINGTON ― The current and former living U.S. presidents said goodbye to Jimmy Carter on Thursday, and in the process once again highlighted the contrast between former and soon-to-be President Donald Trump and all the others.

One of the first calls Obama made after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 was to George W. Bush to spread the word that the mission had been accomplished, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of “Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump.”