A funeral steeped in history
From Pointe du Hoc to the Berlin Wall, Ronald Reagan's sense of public occasion seldom failed him. He had a genius for both enlarging and personalizing high ceremony. In that sense, the first state funeral Washington, D.C., has seen in more than three decades marks a fitting final tribute to the 40th president.
"The pageantry is very, very moving," Robert S. McNamara said yesterday from his Washington office. McNamara, who served as secretary of defense under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, participated in their state funerals. "There's nothing comparable in our civic culture."
In 1973, Johnson's was the last state funeral held in Washington.
Today, an Air Force 747 will fly Reagan's body from California, where it has been lying in repose at the Reagan Presidential Library, to Washington. A state funeral ceremony will be held in the Rotunda of the US Capitol, where his body will lie in state until Friday morning.
"The idea of processing our dead from this world to the next is part of all funerals, back to the Neanderthal," said Thomas Lynch, a Michigan funeral director, poet, and essayist, who is the author of such books on death and the ceremonies surrounding it as "The Undertaking" and "Bodies at Motion and at Rest."
"It's both sensible and appropriate, the idea of processing Ronald Reagan from the place of his death in this way. At his library, people can bear public witness in a family sense, a neighborly sense. In Washington, the place that was such a part of his public life, the nation can take leave of him, then bring him home for burial. It recalls [Abraham] Lincoln's journey to Springfield [in 1865]. It's very human, very rich in humanity."
Each president, former president, and president-elect is eligible for a state funeral, as is any person designated by the president. All state funerals share certain elements -- lying in state, a horse-drawn caisson, a flyover by military aircraft -- yet each is unique, reflecting the wishes of the deceased and his family. Not all presidents choose to have a full state funeral.
In 1989, Reagan filed a 300-page plan with the Military District of Washington, which is responsible for the planning and execution of state funerals. The plan has been updated annually since then.
Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush all have plans on file with the Military District. Bill Clinton has yet to file one.
Most 20th-century presidents have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda, but not all. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Richard Nixon did not.
Truman was in his office at the Truman Library, in Independence, Mo., when shown the plans for his state funeral. "A fine show," he called it, but he vetoed the idea of his body lying in state. "I want to be out there," he said, gesturing to the library courtyard, "so I can get up and walk into my office if I want to."
Plans can change over time. While president, Nixon drew up specifications for his state funeral that included a performance of "California, Here I Come," with the further instruction it be played "softly and slowly." By the time of his death, in 1994, the song had been dropped from the program.
Some of the most celebrated elements of state funerals come from military tradition. As the former commander in chief of the armed services, deceased presidents are granted all honors accorded veterans.
The caisson -- the cart that carries the flag-draped casket -- has its origins in the 19th-century conveyance of artillery pieces. The caisson that will be used in Reagan's funeral was built in 1918 to carry a 75mm cannon.
Six matched horses pull the caisson. Three are ridden, three guided.
Also dating from the 19th century is the tradition of a riderless horse in mourning caparison, or ornamental covering, which follows the caisson. An empty pair of boots are placed, reversed, in the stirrups. According to the Military District of Washington website (www.mdw.army.mil), the reversal of the boots "indicates the warrior will never ride again, and also betokens the commander's parting look on his troops, who march behind."
Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.
