I understand your point(s), guys; really do. Again, don’t misunderstand. I believe the guy should be honored as we would and SHOULD honor any who served our country in time of war (including three of my own sons, by the way). I can think of many heroes, some highly decorated and some not, who gave their all (including their lives) for us in hell holes all over this world. Not all of them are given the honor of lying in state. Patton didn’t. Jimmy Doolittle didn’t. Omar Bradley...Halsey....Audie Murphy....an endless list.
They may all DESERVE it out of respect, but it’s impractical. Lying in state is generally reserved for a head of state. That’s all.
He is the last of the WW1 vets. That’s a BFD. Presidents come and go all the time. there will never be another last remaining WW1 veteran ever in American history; furthermore, lying in state is not specifically reserved for Presidents. This is about honoring the spirits of every WW1 vet and basically closing that chapter of US history. It’s about national closure. It’s also about our WW2 vets. There needs to be a national moment of recognition over this.
Those who have lain in state:
* 1852 – Henry Clay, long-serving Senator and Representative, Secretary of State, Speaker of the House, and presidential candidate
* 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated while in office
* 1868 – Thaddeus Stevens, Representative from Pennsylvania
* 1874 – Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts
* 1875 – Vice President Henry Wilson, served under Grant, died in office
* 1881 – President James Garfield, assassinated while in office
* 1886 – John A. Logan, Senator from Illinois
* 1901 – President William McKinley, assassinated while in office
* 1909 – Pierre L’Enfant – although he died in 1825, he was disinterred, laid in state upon reinterment at Arlington National Cemetery
* 1917 – Admiral George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy
* 1921 – The Unknown Soldier for World War I
* 1923 – President Warren Harding, died in office
* 1930 – President William Howard Taft, President 1909–13, also Chief Justice 1921–30
* 1948 – John J. Pershing, General of the Armies of the United States
* 1953 – Robert Taft, U.S. Senator and Majority Leader
* 1958 – The Unknown Soldiers for World War II and the Korean War
* 1963 – President John F. Kennedy, assassinated while in office
* 1964 – General Douglas MacArthur, General of the Army
* 1964 – President Herbert Hoover, President 1929–33
* 1969 – President Dwight Eisenhower, President 1953–1961, Supreme Allied Commander during World War II
* 1969 – Everett Dirksen, Illinois Senator, Senate Minority Leader 1959–1969
* 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director 1929–1972
* 1973 – President Lyndon B. Johnson, President 1963–1969
* 1978 – Hubert Humphrey, Vice President 1965–1969, Minnesota Senator
* 1984 – The Unknown Soldier for the Vietnam War (later identified as 1st. Lt. Michael J. Blassie)
* 1989 – Claude Pepper, long Serving Senator and Representative
* 2004 – President Ronald Reagan, President 1981–1989
* 2006–07 – President Gerald Ford, President 1974–1977