President Donald Trump ordered U.S. flags to half staff in honor of the late country icon Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday in Nashville. She was 80 years old.
Flags will be lowered for one week starting 6 p.m. Tuesday, Trump said.
“This is a true loss for millions of people,” Trump said on Truth Social. “There has never been anyone like her, and never will.”
Parton’s death was announced by her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver. Her family said in a statement on social media that Parton’s legacy is “one of love, compassion and resilience.”
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In addition to her hits such as “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” Parton was a philanthropist who championed children’s literacy through her Imagination Library program, which delivered free books across the nation.
Parton famously stayed out of politics throughout her more than 60-year career. She told The Guardian in 2023 that engaging in politics would mean losing “half your audience.”
“Don’t get so trapped where if you’re a Republican, you got to be this way, if you’re Democrat, you got to be that way. You’re not allowed to think nothing else,” Parton said. “Well, how crippling is that? I’ve got as many Democrats as I do Republicans as fans, and I’m not going to insult any of them because I care about all of them. I ain’t that good a Christian to think that I am so good that I can judge people. That’s God’s job, not mine. So as far as politics, I hate politics. Hate politics.”
Parton added that she saw “both sides of everything.”
Figures on both sides of the political spectrum paid tribute to her Tuesday, including Kentucky Democratic Gov.Andy Beshear, Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R–Tennessee), Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee and federal agencies.
“Dolly Parton carried the music, stories and spirit of her Tennessee mountain home wherever she went,” the Interior Department wrote Tuesday on X. “She was a lifelong champion of the Great Smoky Mountains and proudly shared her love for them with the world.”
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