State funeral of John F. Kennedy
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The state funeral of John F. Kennedy took place during the three days that followed his assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.
The body of President Kennedy was brought back to Washington and placed in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours. On the Sunday after the assassination, his coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket. Representatives from over 90 countries attended the state funeral on Monday, November 25. After the funeral service at St. Matthew's Cathedral, the late president was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Preparations for the state funeral
After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, his body was flown back to Washington, D.C.. At the same time, military authorities started planning his state funeral. Officials at the Military District of Washington (MDW) planned the funeral, working with the president's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, and an aide to the president. Because Kennedy had no funeral plan in place, much of the planning rested with the commanding general of the MDW, Army Major General Philip C. Wehle.House Speaker John W. McCormack said that the president's body would be brought back to the White House to lie in the East Room the following day and then taken to the Capitol to lie in state in the rotunda all day Sunday.
The day after the assassination, the new president, Lyndon Johnson, issued proclamation # 3561, declaring Monday to be a national day of mourning, and only essential emergency workers to be at their posts.
White House Repose
After the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Kennedy's body was prepared for burial and returned to the White House at nearly 04:30 a.m., Saturday, November 23. His casket was placed in the East Room for 24 hours, as he lay in repose; (then, the term "lying in repose" meant private, as opposed to a public lying in state). The motorcade bearing the remains was met by a Marine honor guard. Jackie Kennedy, still wearing the raspberry-colored suit she wore in Dallas, had refused to leave the side of her husband's body since his death. Only after his casket was placed in the East Room, now sadly decorated with black crepe, did she retire to her private quarters.A private Mass was said at 10:30 a.m.. After that, other family members, friends, and other government officials came to mourn. There were specified times members of the family, top officials in the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, members of Congress, and members of the diplomatic corps were advised to come to the White House to pay their respects.
He lay where, nearly 100 years earlier, Lincoln had lain. An honor guard stood vigil over the remains. Two priests, kneeling, also kept vigil. Outside, people stood in the rain, many still refusing to believe what had happened. As the day wore on, the late president's personal belongings were quietly removed from the Oval Office. The catafalque that the remains rested on was the same one used in 1958 during the funerals of the Unknown Soldiers from the Korean War and World War II at Arlington.
Lying in state
On Sunday afternoon about 300,000 people watched a horse-drawn caisson, which had borne the body of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Unknown Soldier, carry Kennedy's flag-covered mahogany casket down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol rotunda to lie in state. The only sounds on Pennsylvania Avenue as the cortège made its way to the Capitol were the sounds of the muffled drums, the clacking of horses' hooves, and people weeping on the avenue.
The widow, holding her two children, one in each hand, led the public mourning for the country. In the rotunda, Mrs. Kennedy and her daughter Caroline knelt beside the casket, which rested on the same catafalque that had supported Lincoln's bier. Three-year old John Jr. was briefly taken out of the rotunda so as not to disrupt the service. Mrs. Kennedy maintained her composure as her husband was taken to the Capitol to lie in state, as well as during the memorial service.
Brief eulogies were delivered inside the rotunda by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and Speaker McCormack.
Public Viewing
In the only public viewing, hundreds of thousands lined up in near-freezing temperatures to view the casket. Over the span of 18 hours, 250,000 people, some waiting for as long as 10 hours in a line that stretched 40 blocks up to 10 persons wide, personally paid their respects as Kennedy's body lay in state. Many of them were weeping when they viewed the bier. Capitol police officers politely reminded mourners to keep moving along in two lines that passed on either side of the casket and exited the building on the west side facing the National Mall.
The doors were supposed to close at 9:00 p.m. and reopen for an hour at 9:00 the next morning, However, because of the long lines, police and military authorities decided to keep the doors open until 9:00 a.m. Jacqueline Kennedy was happy about it, because at 9:00 p.m., she and brother-in-law Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy visited the rotunda again.
Arrival of Dignitaries
As Kennedy lay in state, foreign dignitaries -- including heads of state and government and members of royal families -- started to converge on Washington to attend the state funeral on Monday. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other State Department personnel went out to both of Washington's commercial airports, to personally greet foreign dignitaries.Some of the dignitaries that arrived on Sunday to attend the funeral included French President Charles de Gaulle, West German President Heinrich Lübke, The Duke of Edinburgh representing Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Irish President Eamon de Valera, and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Many of the heads of state and government led delegations. For example, Lübke was accompanied by Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder, Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel, and West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt. De Valera was accompanied by External Affairs Minister Frank Aiken, and his son, Major Vivian De Valera. Queen Frederika of Greece, and King Baudouin of Belgium were just some of the other members of royalty attending.
Several arriving dignitaries commented on the assassination. Police officials said that it was the biggest security nightmare they ever faced.
The Soviet Union was the only communist nation to send a representative, sending First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan. There was no representation from Communist China, with which the U.S. did not maintain relations due to its diplomatic ties with Nationalist China, or Cuba, whose leader, Fidel Castro, accused Kennedy for taking the world "to the brink of nuclear war," and said that the administration was "characterized by hostile and implacable policies toward us. Cuba was a victim of attacks of all kinds that cost blood."
Funeral
As people were viewing the casket, military authorities held meetings on Monday's events. First, they decided that the public viewing should end at 09:00 EST (14:00 UTC).
Unlike Sunday's procession, which was led by only the muffled drum corps, Monday's was expanded to include military units. They also agreed on what the widow requested. They included two foreign military units: pipers from the Scottish The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) and a group of 24 Irish cadets. Military officials agreed that the pipers march in the procession, doing so from the White House to St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Cathedral, and that the cadets perform at the grave site.
The line waiting to view the casket was stopped at 08:25 EST (13:25 UTC) on Monday morning because a large group of people, many waiting for 5 hours, tried to crash the line. About 10,000 people who were in line were told that they would not be allowed into the rotunda. About a half hour later, the doors to the Capitol closed, ending the lying in state.
Approximately one million people lined the route of the funeral procession, from the Capitol back to the White House, then to St. Matthew's Cathedral, and finally to Arlington National Cemetery. Millions more across America followed the funeral on television. People in the crowd covered their heads in sorrow, and many were weeping. The television audience was particularly high, as the entire nation was at home viewing the proceedings.
At 10:00 a.m., both houses of Congress met to pass resolutions expressing sorrow. In the Senate, moderate Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith laid a single rose on the desk Kennedy occupied when in the Senate.
Procession to Cathedral
The procession began just before 11:00 (16:00 UTC), when the coffin was carried out of the rotunda and placed on the caisson, which then made its way back to the White House. Most of the music selected for the funeral procession, including "Hail to the Chief", was played in dirge-like tempo.
At the White House, the procession resumed on foot to St. Matthew's Cathedral, led by Kennedy's widow and his two brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The two Kennedy children rode in a limousine behind them. The rest of the Kennedy Family, apart from the president's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., who was ill, waited at the cathedral.
Not since the funeral of Britain's King Edward VII in 1910, had there been such a large gathering of presidents, prime ministers, and royalty at a state funeral.
In all, 220 foreign dignitaries, including 19 heads of state and government, and members of royal families, from 92 countries, including the Soviet Union, attended the funeral. Most of the dignitaries passed unnoticed, strolling respectfully behind the former first lady during the relatively short walk to the cathedral along Connecticut Avenue.
NBC transmitted coverage of the procession by satellite to twenty-three countries, including Japan and the Soviet Union.
As the dignitaries marched, there was a heavy security presence because of concerns for the potential assassination of so many world leaders. Under Secretary of State, George Ball, did not attend the funeral and manned the operations center at the State Department, as a security measure.
The widow, wearing a black veil, and holding her two children, John Jr., who celebrated his third birthday on the day of his father's funeral, on her left, and Caroline, on her right, led the way up the steps of the cathedral.
Funeral service at cathedral
About 1,200 invited guests attended the funeral service in the cathedral. The Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing, celebrated the Requiem Mass; the service was a Low Mass, meaning it was said, not sung.Cardinal Cushing was a close friend of the family who had married Senator Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. He baptized their two children, gave the invocation at President Kennedy's inauguration, and also officiated at the recent funeral of their infant son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.
Rather than a formal eulogy, the Auxiliary Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, the Most Reverend Philip M. Hannan, decided to read selections from Kennedy's writings and speeches. The readings included several of his addresses that had quoted the Bible, such as this text from Proverbs: "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and where there is no vision the people perish".
Rev. Hannan concluded his remarks by reading the entire Inaugural Address. (The first presidential funeral in which there was a eulogy was that of LBJ in 1973).
As he did during their wedding ten years earlier, Luigi Vena sang "Ave Maria". Jackie Kennedy had requested it and for a few moments she lost her composure and sobbed as this music filled the cathedral.
Burial
The casket was borne again by caisson on the final leg to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Moments after the casket was carried down the front steps of the cathedral, Jackie Kennedy whispered to her son, after which he saluted his father's coffin.Her children were deemed to be too young to attend the final burial service, so this was the point where the children said goodbye to their father.
Virtually everyone else followed the caisson in a long line of black limousines passing by the Lincoln Memorial and crossing the Potomac River. At the end of the burial service, the widow lit an eternal flame to burn continuously over his grave. At 3:34 p.m. EST, the mahogany casket containing his remains was lowered into the earth. Kennedy thus became only the second president to be buried at Arlington, after William Howard Taft.
Aftermath
Theodore White, a very close friend of the assassinated president, devoted the entire first chapter of his second book in the Making of the President series, The Making of the President, 1964, to the assassination and funeral, which he covered extensively for Life.The state funeral has been detailed more than any other in the U.S., both in pictures and words. Scenes from the funeral have been replayed over and over again on television and have been published in books, newspapers, and other publications.
Life of Jacqueline Kennedy afterwards
The courage of Jackie Kennedy during the assassination and state funeral won her admiration around the world, and many Americans remember her best for her gallantry during those four days in November, 1963. Following the assassination, she and her children remained in their quarters in the White House for two weeks, preparing to vacate. After living briefly in the Georgetown section of Washington, she purchased a luxury apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York. She spent a year in mourning, making no public appearances, then zealously guarded her privacy. She perpetuated her husband's memory, however, by visiting his gravesite on important anniversaries and attending selected memorial dedications. These included the 1967 christening of the USS John F. Kennedy Navy aircraft carrier in Newport News, Virginia, and a 1966 memorial in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In May 1965, Jacqueline Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II jointly dedicated Britain's official memorial to President Kennedy at Runnymede, England. This memorial included several acres of soil given in perpetuity from Britain to the USA on the meadow where the Magna Carta had been signed by King John in 1215.The assassination of her brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, on June 6, 1968 led her to believe that the Kennedy family was being targeted and that, for her children's safety, she needed to leave the USA. This led her to accept an offer of marriage by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who broke off his long affair with opera diva Maria Callas to marry Jackie.
For a time, the marriage brought her adverse publicity and seemed to tarnish the image of the grieving presidential widow. However, others viewed the marriage as a positive symbol of the "modern American woman" who would not be afraid to look after her own financial interests and to protect her family. The marriage initially seemed successful, but stresses soon became apparent. Divorce proceedings were at the point of being initiated when Aristotle Onassis died in 1975. Jackie accepted a settlement offered by her stepdaughter, Christina Onassis, and returned to the U.S., settling in New York, where she still maintained her Fifth Avenue home.
She oversaw plans for the establishment of the John F. Kennedy Library, which is the designated repository for official papers from the Kennedy Administration. Original plans to have the library situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Harvard University proved problematic for various reasons. The library, designed by I.M. Pei, was eventually dedicated in 1979 by President Carter with a view of Boston Harbor and the city's skyline, nearly 16 years after his assassination. The governments of many nations donated money to erect the library, in addition to corporate and private donations. Mrs. Onassis also made an appearance in 1993 when President Clinton re-dedicated the library after its museum was redesigned.
In the late 1960’s she led the historic preservation campaign to save New York's beloved Grand Central Terminal from demolition. In the 1980's she was a major figure in protests against a planned skyscraper at Columbus Circle which would have cast large shadows on Central Park.
She served as an editor for Doubleday and continued to live quietly, guarding her privacy as zealously as she had prior to her marriage to Onassis. Thirty-one years following the assassination, she was buried at her first husband's side. She died of cancer in 1994 at age 64. The two Kennedy children laid flowers on her flower-draped mahogany casket as she was buried in a service that was essentially private, but telecast live nationally and attended by President and Mrs. Clinton.
External links
- [BBC article on Kennedy's funeral]
- [Accurate listing of funeral music]
- [Universal International News: "The World Mourns"]
References
- [United States Army, The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funerals, 1921-1969 Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971].
- White, Theodore H., The Making of the President, 1964, New York: Atheneum, 1965.
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