Times-Union readers want to know:
Why didn’t President Barack Obama attend services for Antonin Scalia or Nancy Reagan? Is he the only president not to attend the funeral of a sitting Supreme Court justice and a former first lady?
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It is true that Obama did not attend the funerals of Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, and Reagan, who died on March 6.
It is rare for justices to die while serving – seven have died during four administrations from 1946 to 2016, FactCheck.org research found. Presidents attended three of the seven funerals, and Obama was the only one of the four not to attend at least one.
Scalia was considered one of the most influential conservative jurists in modern history, and Obama’s decision not to attend his funeral was criticized by conservative news commentators. For example, Megyn Kelly, host of Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” said on her Feb. 17 show: “I find no precedent for this in history, that a sitting U.S. president would not attend the death of a sitting Supreme Court justice. Why wouldn’t he go? The White House says he has no plans on Saturday.”
When FactCheck.org asked about Obama’s plans for Scalia’s funeral, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the president and the first lady would pay their respects to Scalia as he laid in repose at the Supreme Court, and that Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden would attend the service.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama did pay their respects, spoke with Scalia family members and briefly stood in silence, heads bowed, in front of Scalia’s casket, Reuters reported.
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FactCheck.org found that Obama had no public events scheduled on the day of Scalia’s funeral.
Here’s a look at presidential attendance at the other funerals, as compiled by FactCheck.org:
George W. Bush:The last Supreme Court justice to die in office was Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died in 2005. CNN reported that Bush and first lady Laura Bush attended the funeral. In fact, Bush gave a eulogy during the funeral Mass in Washington, D.C.
Dwight Eisenhower: Eisenhower attended one of two funerals for justices who died while he was in office. The New York Times reported that Eisenhower traveled from Denver to Washington in 1953 for the funeral of Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson. However, according to The Los Angeles Times as reported by FactCheck.org, when Justice Robert H. Jackson died in 1954, Eisenhower did not attend the funeral.
Harry Truman: Truman attended one of the three funerals for Supreme Court justices who died during his administration. He interrupted a cruise to attend the funeral of Chief Justice Harlan Stone in 1946, but did not attend the funerals for Justices Wiley B. Rutledge and Frank Murphy, both of whom died in 1949, The New York Times reported.
Less than a month after Scalia died, former first lady Nancy Reagan died at age 94. Earnest was asked if Obama would attend her funeral. He responded that Michelle Obama would attend, but not the president as he would be traveling in Texas on Friday. The first lady did attend the funeral; the president attended the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where he spoke about civic engagement, entrepreneurship and technology.
FactCheck.org looked at the last five funerals for former first ladies from 1982 to 2016 and found that usually first ladies attended such services, but a sitting president attended only one.
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Obama did not attend Betty Ford’s funeral in 2011. First lady Michelle Obama did attend, along with former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Reagan. Former first lady Barbara Bush attended a church service in Michigan, where Ford was buried.
President George W. Bush did not attend the funeral for Lady Bird Johnson, who died in 2007. First lady Laura Bush did attend, as did former presidents Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and former first ladies Carter, Barbara Bush, Clinton and Reagan.
Bill Clinton attended graveside services of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994, and delivered an address. First lady Hillary Clinton attended a funeral Mass earlier in New York City.
Clinton did not, however, attend the funeral of former first lady Pat Nixon, according to The Los Angeles Times. That funeral was held in Yorba Linda, Calif., on June 26, 1993 – the same day that Clinton ordered an attack on Iraq in retaliation for an assassination attempt on President George H.W. Bush.
President Ronald Reagan did not attend former first lady Bess Truman’s funeral in 1982, according to The Washington Post as reported by FactCheck.org. First lady Nancy Reagan did attend, along with former first ladies Carter and Ford.
FactCheck.org reports that firstladies.org states that President Zachary Taylor attended Dolley Madison’s funeral in 1849, and President Theodore Roosevelt attended the funerals of Julia Grant in 1902 and Ida McKinley in 1907. Also, President John F. Kennedy attended Eleanor Roosevelt’s funeral in 1962.
Although President Obama did not attend the funerals of either Scalia or Reagan, he is not the first president not to attend the funeral of a sitting justice, and there is little historical precedent for presidents to attend the funerals of former first ladies, FactCheck.org found.
Carole Fader: (904) 359-4635
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
