Thousands pay last respects to Bush
One by one they came. Parents hoisting toddlers on their hips. Two women from St Louis, in town for a neonatology conference. A doctor from here whose grandmother had worked in housekeeping in the White House complex. Military generals and diplomats, Central Intelligence Agency chiefs and sports stars. And Sully the service dog.
As the body of former President George H.W. Bush lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday, luminaries and unknown mourners from across the country poured in to pay tribute to a man whose inaugural vision of a “kinder, gentler nation” has become a relic of another era.
Among them was Cindy McCain, the wife of the late senator John McCain of Arizona — the last person to lie in state after his death in September.
She bowed her head in silence as she stood before the coffin. Peyton Manning, the retired NFL quarterback, paid his respects, as did Chris Evert, the tennis star, and Jack Nicklaus, the golfer.
Bob Dole, 95, a former Senate Republican leader, was helped from his wheelchair to deliver a final salute to his fellow World War 2 veteran and one-time political rival.
Colin Powell, who served Bush as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served his son, former president George W. Bush, as secretary of state, led a delegation of generals from Operation Desert Storm, the war the elder Bush waged as commander in chief.
Gina Haspel, the current CIA director, an agency Bush once headed, also paid her respects, as did two of her predecessors, John Brennan and George Tenet.
Tuesday’s somber procession in the Capitol was a prelude to Bush’s state funeral at Washington National Cathedral, where current and former heads of state are expected.
Among them are Prince Charles, representing Queen Elizabeth; King Abdullah II of Jordan and his wife, Queen Rania; and Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland.
Yesterday’s service was devoid of the pageantry of some state funerals past. There was, for example, be no riderless horse or horse-drawn caisson carrying the coffin to the cathedral.
The thousands who moved through the Capitol to pay their last respects on Tuesday held memorial cards with Bush’s photo and life highlights, and filled the pages of condolence books with remembrances and prayers.
By Tuesday evening, members of the extended Bush clan — including George and his brother, former Florida governor Jeb — arrived at the Capitol to thank visitors for coming.
Brittan Collett, from Tampa, Florida, was cradling her 5month-old daughter, Sienna, just metres from the elder Bush’s coffin, when George happened by.
George promptly picked up the baby, to a chorus of “aaawws”, and smiled for the cameras.
Collett offered simple words of condolence to him.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said.