Lying in State
Whilst chatting with Jeremy this evening the subject of Gerald Ford's funeral came up.
In case you haven't the news in the last few days he died. And had a funeral. And NPR played the music from his funeral a thousand times today while reminding us that he died, had a funeral, and powerful people attended and said big things about him. Really big things. Disproportionate things. Disrespectfully disproportionate things.
What I mean by this is that when someone does some great things but otherwise not much that's OK to admit when he or she dies. Good guy, smart, decent but not amazing. That's not an insult. It's called being honest.
The thing Jeremy pointed out that I remembered thinking about when Reagan died was that not that many people have lain in state in the U.S. Capitol. In fact, only thirty-two people have ever had the honor granted to them, a list that includes Warren Harding and J. Edgar Hoover for what it's worth.
Only eleven have been Presidents. Jeremy noted that every President who died after the Kennedy assignation has been granted the honor save for Truman and Nixon. Before that neither Roosevelt received this honor, nor did Wilson. So what does this say about how these decisions are made and what they mean?
Roosevelt was a truly great President but I don't know if you can say this about Ford. This is not to disrespect him, it is simply to put his legacy in context. Here's an example: Harding was a terrrible President, George W. Bush is a terrible President, Ford was an average President.
But why Ford and not Truman?
One similarity between Truman and Ford is that they both made a difficult decision that they believed to be for the good of the nation; Truman ordered that the atomic bomb be used against civilians and Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. In a way I have more trouble with Truman's decision but that is another matter.
The best thing about Ford, as Daniel Schorr pointed out in a rare show of perspective amid today's pomp, was his executive order banning political assassinations. That he had the character to end the disgusting tradition, under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, of trying to murder the leaders of other (smaller and weaker) countries is a rare high point of the Cold War. The era of secret killings, of spying on American dissenters, and of deceiving the American people was a great tragedy that he helped to stunt temporarily.
This is his legacy, not the puffed up words of Dick Cheney, the shallow jokes of George H. W. Bush, or the pomp and circumstance of today's event.
Truman also had his moments of greatness and easily makes the list of the ten greatest Presidents. The Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine that set the stage for containment, his support for democracy and civil society, the Berlin Airlift, and desegregating the military stand out.
I'm not sure why Truman wasn't given a state funeral and I'm not sure why Ford was honored this way.
Just because a state funeral looks good on TV doesn't mean that every President should be granted the honor or that choosing to do so is necessarily respectful to the memory of the deceased. Ford should be honored, remembered for what he did as President and that should be the end of it.
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Who is this guy?
Sam,
I share your sentiment. As you can imagine, I don't know dirt about Ford. But coupling that with all the to-do about his death, it seemed like something was up.
Hope all is well with you,
Jacob
Ford was given a "full state" funeral (I'm having images of a "full English" breakfast right now) because that's what he chose.
Two of the first tasks faced by presidential staffers upon a president's inauguration are:
1. The planning for the presidential library; and
2. The planning of the funeral.
After Kennedy, the "full state" became the norm, the basis upon which all presidential funerals since are based. With Truman, I think the idea was that he wanted to remain a humble man, a military man who simply did what he was tasked to do. He opted out of the full on pomp, as was his wont.
With Ford, he stipulated the full-on state funeral: the standard affair, etc.
Seeing it first-hand, it was a lot lower key than Reagan's funeral in 2004. The crowds were smaller, the mood a lot lighter. Perhaps it's because Ford wasn't a leader who created such incredible divisions in the electorate. Ford wasn't a "love him or hate him" president; rather, he was a "like him or whatever" president. He was a guy who never aspired to be Commander In Chief, yet was elevated to the role.
And he did fine, given the circumstances. As you mention, his executive order banning political assassinations was the most under-reported yet significant act of his presidency. The Nixon pardon was more flashy (and also important in getting the country to move on), but it's the more quiet things that made Ford unique.
To me, the most striking thing about Ford - and the thing for which I give him the highest regard - is that he didn't try to impart his deep religious views on the country or his administration. He was, perhaps, the last decent high-level Republican leader in that regard. His piety was unwavering, yet he didn't rub it in the face of the country. Heck, he even canceled the National Prayer Breakfast during his term, feeling it wasn't his place to be the country's religious leader in addition to his political role. Again, it's simply incredible that Ford had the decency to make this decision.