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 Byrds family to go ahead with a formal resolution that would allow Byrds 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 Lincolns 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 Byrds 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.
I do beg your pardon — I thought you were wondering which was correct, the old saw about hens came to mind. No insult intended whatever.
So who would cross the street to see him? Are they giving government workers a paid day off to go?
Well, Reagan was a former Democrat an he got to lie in state, so who are we to cast stones? ;)
So long, “Sheets”. It’s been nice not to know ya!
No worries. It’s all good Dawg!
I’ll skip the cross burning. It’s amazing to see how the MSM is whitewashing Byrd’s KKK past. It would have destroyed a Republican’s career years ago.
I agree. Why honor someone, who in their life, dishonored principles that are decent and good? We live in a crazy, upside-down world these days.
Thank you! It’s perfect.
“Byrd may lie in state”
I totally agree.
Let him lie there for at least months and more.
The hot climate should do just great.
I’m all for it.
They say a Byrd in the Ground is worth two in the Senate.
OMG, you said “whitewashing”.
Sorry and thanks.
Pretty soon every Senator to serve more that 2-3 terms is going to expect the Big Funeral.
I don't care who you are, that's funny!
I am sooooooo tired of the political, educational, and crony capitalist elites who have twisted what's right and wrong, trampled on our God given liberties, and have disdainfully taken what is not theirs and used it against the rightful owners in order to gain ever greater confiscatory powers and riches.
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