There are no specific criteria for who is chosen, beyond the approval of Congress and the consent of the deceased’s family.
Twelve have been presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Taft, Kennedy, Hoover, Eisenhower, Johnson, Reagan, Ford and George Bush.
The list also includes House members, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Adm. George Dewey, J. Edgar Hoover of the F.B.I., unknown soldiers of major wars in the 20th century, and Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the planner who designed the layout of Washington.
In July, John Lewis, the 17-term congressman from Georgia and an icon of the civil rights movement, became the 16th United States representative to lie in state at the Capitol, after Representative Elijah Cummings in October 2019.
Until the early 20th century, lying-in-state ceremonies were typically reserved for presidents or members of Congress who died in office, said Betty K. Koed, a historian at the United States Senate. Now, it depends on what the family wants. To her knowledge, nobody has been denied the honor.
“Some families are more private than others,” Ms. Koed said. “Some are comfortable in the public eye and some are not.”
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-lie-in-state.html
Comments