Posted on 06/28/2010 1:05:11 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
Sen. Robert Byrd may join Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy among historic figures who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda — an honor only bestowed upon 28 other Americans over the past 160 years.
Senate leaders are likely to make a request for Byrd to lie in state, aides said Monday, but they are still awaiting approval from Byrd’s family to go ahead with a formal resolution that would allow Byrd’s casket to rest under the dome for a public viewing.
With a career that spanned nearly 58 years and ranked him as the longest-serving member in congressional history, Byrd has likely earned the consideration.
In 2006, Gerald Ford was the most recent political figure to lie in state in the Capitol, and he was preceded by Ronald Reagan, whose casket was visited by thousands over three days in June 2004. The caskets are draped with an American flag, and rest upon the same wooden catafalque — a raised platform — constructed for Lincoln’s state funeral.
Presidents James Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G. Harding, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and were also honored in the political hallowed space.
In 1865, Henry Clay was the first to be honored in the Rotunda after serving five consecutive terms in the House, including service as Speaker.
Other big names bestowed the state honor include Spanish-American War hero George Dewey and architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant.
Three non-political figures have lain in honor, which is different from laying in state: civil rights activist Rosa Parks and the U.S. Capitol Police officers, Jacob Joseph Chestnut and John Michael Gibson, who were killed during an attack on the Capitol in 1998.
Typically, a concurrent resolution from both the Senate and the House must be passed granting permission for the Rotunda space to be used, but the process is usually given top priority, according to the Office of the House Historian.
Less than four days after Reagan died on June 5, 2004, both the Senate and House cleared a resolution, and the President was already lying in state.
The House is expected to introduce a separate resolution honoring Byrd’s service in Congress and flags at both the Capitol and White House flew at half mast today.
In the past, Congress has sometimes granted the honor without issuing a resolution, with authority being granted solely by the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader. The option is usually used when Congress is out of session or unavailable to vote on the use of the rotunda.
Indeed. A doddering old man who should have been an embarrassment to the voters of West Virgina and who was in office far, far too long. 58 years in congress. That's absurd! Byrd's undeniable racist roots and penchant for 'talking conservative' and voting liberal are well known. For this man to be accorded the honor of a 'state funeral' and 'lying in state' is just wrong. However, in these times, where it seems everything is upside down and wrong is considered right, it may well occur. Yet another diminishing of the word 'honor' when it's applied to people like the late senator Robert C. Byrd.
Important note: Liberals also try to include Jesse Helms in the list, but that is incorrect. They were defined by membership in the The States’ Rights Democratic Party, in the election of 1948. At that time, Helms was a newspaper city editor of The Raleigh Times. The SRDP dissolved after losing that election, though they came close to being a spoiler which would have made Republican Thomas Dewey, not Harry Truman, president. Truman won in a squeaker.
Though Helms later did join with the Dixiecrats, he was not a charter member, so does not get that label. Oddly enough, neither does Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas, who led the standoff against integration of the Little Rock public school system against Eisenhower, and was later Bill Clinton’s mentor.
He’ll be buried at the Robert Byrd Memorial Park just past the Robert Byrd Bridge (over Robert Byrd River) off of WV state route Robert Byrd, on top of Robert Byrd Mountain in Robert Byrd County, West Byrd Virginia.
So, he’s dead?
They mentioned it on ABC this morning. They made sure to point out several times that his membership was very, very brief (hinted that it was a stunt to garner votes) and they mentioned a few times that it was the biggest regret of his life. yada yada yada
Why not? Who could ask for a more perfect symbol of everything that's wrong on Capitol Hill?
Lord knows he lied in the District of Columbia enough, might as well let him lie in state too.
Open casket? Hood on or off? Is there sufficient ventilation in the Capitol rotunda for a burning cross to pay a proper tribute?
LOL...he just hangs around and hangs around
Even after death can’t get rid of this SOB
West Virginia may be below the Mason-Dixon line..but West Virginia is not considered a part of Dixie. They opted to secede from Virginia and side with the Union.
Lie in State indeed? If Byrd can lie in state, so will Barney Frank.l Look at the wonderful loan swerviceshe has provided to the sodomite community. (Why will they have him laid face down?)
What a clown show.
CNN mentioned it this morning.
Sorry Puppage, I understand how you meant it now.
Thank you.
I agree.
I can’t believe I’m the first on the tread to say:
BARBARIC!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V95eGgZbrU
It might be. Certainly would make it easier to find should one wish to leave some yellow liquid.
Thread....thread...the word is thread.
Or Strom Thurmond, for that matter.
Well what can you say some people can fit nicely in a twin sized sheet and others require a king sized, with a dust ruffle - and a few matching curtains. No, he has no business lying in state. I’m all for allowing people a chance to reform, but it’s pretty clear from his statements that he never disavowed the Klan.
West Virginia should be renamed Byrdistan.
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