photo credit: David J. Phillip/AP, taken at Lady Bird Johnson's funeral in 2007
On the day of Barbara Bush's funeral, the Washington Post does a deep-dive into the phenomenon of current and former First Ladies attending each other's funerals:
In 1979, Pat Nixon joined her husband at the funeral of Mamie
Eisenhower. But first lady Rosalynn Carter also attended, solo, despite having
only met Eisenhower once. It’s Carter’s apparent gesture of solidarity that
seems to have codified the convention, according to the library.
A few years later,
Carter attended the funeral of Bess Truman, along with Nancy Reagan and Betty
Ford. Nixon’s 1993 first lady funeral delegation fell along party lines (only
fellow GOP first ladies Ford and Reagan attended), though probably by accident.
Jacqueline Kennedy had requested a small, family-oriented service, but in 1994,
Lady Bird Johnson and Hillary Clinton still made the cut.
Five first ladies attended Johnson’s funeral in 2007, and four
each went to Ford’s and Reagan’s. (Barbara Bush missed Reagan’s funeral but
attended the burial.)
The article doesn't mention it, but there's also a traveling band of presidential daughters that attends First Lady funerals. That's Caroline Kennedy sitting next to Mrs. Bush in the picture above; Caroline was in Houston today, too, along with Lynda and Luci Johnson, Susan Ford, Chelsea Clinton and Tricia Nixon. Amy Carter, daughter of Rosalynn, and/or Patti Davis, daughter of Nancy Reagan, may have been there too but I didn't spot either of them.
And what about Melania? What was she thinking as she listened to the tributes for Barbara Bush? Was she struck by the contrast between the Bush family and her own? I certainly was. Was she struck by the contrast between the degenerate pig she's married to and the kind, thoughtful, devoted husband and gentleman that was seated to her left? I certainly was.
Was Melania considering what might be said about her at her own funeral? Was she anticipating what might be said about her husband during the garishly tacky gangster's funeral that will serve as his final sendoff from this world? Perhaps. (I certainly was.) As I'm writing this post, I assume Melania is on an Air Force plane, winging her way home and soon to be face-to-face with her husband. After a day spent surrounded by museum-quality authenticity, dignity, grace, service to country and overwhelming demonstrations of genuine love from family, friends and former political opponents, can you imagine what it would feel like to be going home to Donald Trump? I certainly can't.
Sunday morning update: An historic picture from yesterday, with lots of interesting dynamics about who is, and who is not, there, and note that I'm not referring to the Carters, the only other living presidential couple. Jimmy Carter is out of the country and Rosalynn is recovering from surgery. I've seen several comments from people noting that in this picture, and the one above, Melania seems a lot happier and more at ease with these people than she usually appears to be with her husband. As I'm writing on Sunday morning I'm still pondering how wretchedly awful it must have been to have to go home to Donald Trump.
photo credit: @PaulMorsePhoto
Sunday afternoon, update #2: Great minds think alike? I don't know anything about Benjamin Hart, but his article about this picture, at NYMag.com, had thoughts similar to mine, and no, I hadn't read his article when I wrote the paragraph above:
It
must be said, though, that the warm and fuzzy feelings engendered by the
picture were thrown into particularly sharp focus because of the president who wasn’t in it. And we don’t mean Jimmy Carter. Read it here.
Monday morning, update #3: Still thinking about presidential funerals. I like this tweet from Matthew Yglesias:
Monday morning, update #3: Still thinking about presidential funerals. I like this tweet from Matthew Yglesias:
One has to pity the future president who will be called upon to deliver a tasteful eulogy for former president Trump.— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 22, 2018
I would add that our two 93-year-old former presidents, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, are probably horrified at the thought that they could potentially be eulogized by Donald Trump. Hopefully both have many years of life ahead of them but if not, I'm guessing that both families are already strategizing how to tactfully disinvite Trump from speaking.
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