Paying respects to a revered statesman
Six-term senator lies in state, marking start of celebration of life
Members of the public view longtime U.S. Sen. John McCain’s flag-draped casket as he lies in state Friday in the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington. McCain was honored by Vice President Mike Pence and other prominent leaders in a ceremony reserved for the country’s most revered figures.
Sen. John McCain lay in state Friday in the Capitol whose halls he prowled for decades, hailed as a war hero, a principled lawmaker and a restless fighter for his beliefs — and honored with a ceremony reserved for the country’s most revered figures.
On a day when President Donald Trump was conspicuously absent — by McCain’s own design — the senator lay in an American flag-draped coffin under the Capitol dome, as the vice president, congressional leaders and prominent lawmakers past and present from both parties, military and Cabinet officials, and members of the public took turns participating in a bipartisan show of respect.
The remembrances of McCain, whose death has underscored the demise of his particular brand of pragmatic and civil politics, served as a counterpoint to the discourse surrounding the sitting president and a reminder of the Arizona senator’s place in U.S. history.
“Half a world away, wearing our nation’s uniform, John McCain stood up for every value that this Capitol building represents,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader. “Then he brought that same patriotism inside its walls, to advocate for our service members, our veterans and our moral leadership in the world. So it is only right that today, near the end of his long journey, John lies here.”
‘Abiding affection’ of country
The day’s solemn events marked only the beginning of an elaborate celebration of McCain’s life by official Washington, which will culminate Saturday with a memorial service at the National Cathedral, where he will be eulogized by the two presidents who denied his own quests for the White House — Barack Obama and George W. Bush — in an event that is expected to draw a remarkable, bipartisan cast of characters. McCain meticulously planned the events with an eye toward drawing an implicit contrast with Trump.
McCain was the 31st person and only the 13th senator to lie in state at the Capitol, his coffin atop the black crepe-draped catafalque that was constructed for Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In their remarks about the six-term senator, who won the Republican nomination for president in 2008, his former colleagues reflected on the significance of his life and what he meant to Americans.
“Though the highest office eluded him,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, “he attained what is far more enduring: the abiding affection of his fellow citizens, and an example for future generations.”
The proceedings began on a somber note. As McCain’s coffin was removed from a black hearse by uniformed military pallbearers, a steady downpour began, soaking the Capitol steps as the senator was carried, slowly and silently, into the rotunda with his family looking on. But the day was not all pomp and ceremony; thousands of people clogged the streets bordering the Capitol and formed lines snaking into the Visitor’s Center, as members of the public waited for their chance to enter and pay respects to McCain.
Trump, who remained at the White House during the ceremony, was nonetheless present as a constant metaphor.
“The president asked me to be here on behalf of a grateful nation, to pay a debt of honor and respect to a man who served his country throughout his life,” said Vice President Mike Pence, who
“I myself, from time to time, found myself on the receiving end of John’s distinct brand of candor — happily so. I remember thinking more than once, ‘Yeah, he really does talk like a sailor.’ ”
House Speaker Paul Ryan
had the awkward assignment of eulogizing a man whom the president openly mocked during life and has studiously avoided praising after his death.
With McCain’s grief-stricken daughter Meghan looking on with an icy gaze, Pence mustered one positive quote from the commander in chief, referencing a remark Trump made Thursday during an interview with Bloomberg. “As President Trump said yesterday,” he offered, “we respect his service to the country.”
For his own part, Pence praised McCain for his “iron will” and called him a “patriot,” while alluding to the fact that they had many differences.
“In my years in Congress and as vice president, we didn’t always agree either, and he almost always noticed,” Pence said. “But his support for limited government, for tax reform, and support for our armed forces surely made our nation more prosperous and more secure, and he will be missed.”
As they reflected on McCain’s long years of service, his work ethic and his passion for public service, his former colleagues also uniformly recalled with rueful smiles his hot temper, counting dressings-down by the late senator as badges of honor.
“I myself, from time to time, found myself on the receiving end of John’s distinct brand of candor — happily so,” Ryan said. “I remember thinking more than once, ‘Yeah, he really does talk like a sailor.’ ”
“With John, it was never feigned disagreement,” he added. “The man didn’t feign anything — he just relished the fight.”
McConnell said he would often joke that McCain’s captors in Vietnam, where he was held as a prisoner of war for five years, probably needed “group therapy” once McCain was finished with them — and that senators sometimes felt that they did as well.
Mourning Democrats
After the ceremony, John McCain’s wife, Cindy, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of his closest friends, made their way to the Senate chamber to spend a few moments at McCain’s desk, which bore a vase of white roses marking the passing of its former occupant.
Out of the range of news photographers who captured the day’s every ceremonial flourish, Graham sat at his desk, Cindy McCain next to him, as they talked quietly for a few minutes in the same spot where McCain delivered his final Senate floor speech last year. Graham pulled out two of the roses and gave them to his friend’s widow.
McCain’s remembrance drew many mourners who identified themselves as proud Democrats and said they had never voted for the senator and had frequently disagreed with his policies. With sharp criticism of the current administration and the polarization in Congress, they said he was among the last politicians willing to take bipartisan steps.
“We lost a good one in John,” said Kitt Rodkey, 64, who took a personal day from work to pay his respects to McCain. “No one is perfect, but he came pretty close.”
McCain is to be buried Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.