Location | Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California, U.S. |
---|---|
Participants | Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton Spiro Agnew Bob Dole Henry Kissinger Pete Wilson Sir Edward Heath (former UK Prime Minister) Zou Jiahua (Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China) |
On April 22, 1994, Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died after suffering a significant stroke four days earlier, at the age of 81.
His state [1] funeral followed five days later at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in his hometown of Yorba Linda, California. He was the first former president to die in 21 years since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, while Nixon was president.
Nixon's wife, Pat, died on June 22, 1993. Just under ten months later, on April 18, 1994, Nixon had a cerebrovascular accident at his home in Park Ridge, New Jersey, and was taken to New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center. [2] After an initial favorable prognosis, Nixon slipped into a deep coma and died four days later at the age of 81. His body was flown to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Orange County, California, via SAM 27000, the presidential plane used as Air Force One while Nixon was in office. [3] His body was transported to the Nixon Library and laid in repose. A public memorial service was held on April 27, attended by world dignitaries from 85 countries and all five living presidents of the United States, the first time that five U.S. presidents attended the funeral of another president.
Nixon's state funeral is unique among recent presidential state funerals in that, in accordance with his own wishes, none of the elements of the state ceremonies occurred in the nation's capital. [4] [5]
Nixon suffered a significant stroke at his Park Ridge, New Jersey home, while preparing to eat dinner on Monday, April 18, 1994, at 5:45 p.m. EDT. [6] An ambulance was called and he was taken to New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center. He was conscious but unable to speak, and his vision was impaired. [7] It was determined that a blood clot resulting from his heart condition had formed in his left atrium (upper heart), then broke off and traveled to his brain. His condition was determined to be stable the following day, [2] as he was alert but unable to speak or move his right arm and leg. [6] Nixon's prognosis was hopeful, and he was moved from the intensive care unit into a private room. His condition worsened that Tuesday night, however, complicated by symptoms of cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain. [6] Nixon's living will stipulated that he was not to be placed on a ventilator to sustain his life. [6] On Thursday, April 21, Nixon quickly sank into a deep coma. The following night, he died at 9:08 p.m., April 22, 1994. He was 81 years old. [6] [7] His daughters, Tricia and Julie, were by his side. [6] The Vander Plaat Funeral Home in Wyckoff, New Jersey handled the funeral arrangements for President Nixon, just as they did for his late wife.
U.S. President Bill Clinton announced Nixon's death in the White House Rose Garden and proclaimed a national day of mourning five days later. Clinton stated that Nixon was "a statesman who sought to build a lasting structure of peace" and praised his "desire to give something back to this world." [6] Clinton said that he was "deeply grateful to President Nixon for his wise counsel." [6] Tributes also came from former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. [6] Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former South Dakota Senator George McGovern (who ran against Nixon in the 1972 election), former Senator Howard Baker, Senator Bob Dole, Senator John McCain and Senator Ted Kennedy also reflected on Nixon's death. [6] Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad extended his condolences to Bill Clinton on the death of Nixon. [8]
Following the news of Nixon's death, tributes were placed at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, the site of his birthplace. [3] On April 26, the casket was placed into VC-137C SAM 27000, a member of the presidential fleet used as Air Force One while Nixon was in office, and flown from Stewart Air Force Base in Orange County, New York, to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Orange County, California. [9] [3] The body was transported in a motorcade, by hearse, to the Nixon Library.
Carried by eight military pallbearers representing all branches of the United States military, Nixon's body was placed in the library lobby and lay in repose from the afternoon of Tuesday, April 26 to the afternoon of Wednesday, April 27. [3] Despite severe rain, police estimated that roughly 50,000 people waited in lines up to 18 hours to walk past the casket and pay their respects. [3]
The funeral service was held on Wednesday, April 27, on the grounds of the Nixon Library. The service was attended by over 4,000 people, including family members, President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, former Presidents and First Ladies George and Barbara Bush, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and Gerald and Betty Ford. [3] Former Vice President Spiro Agnew, who served with Nixon throughout most of his presidency, also attended along with former Vice President Dan Quayle. Former First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lady Bird Johnson both did not attend due to illness (Onassis died three weeks later from non-Hodgkin lymphoma). A congressional delegation consisting of over one hundred members was present, and a foreign diplomatic corps of over two hundred. [3] Other members of Nixon's administration who attended included Elliot Richardson, James R. Schlesinger, William P. Rogers, James Thomas Lynn, George W. Romney, Alexander Haig, Herbert Stein, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Other guests included Nixon's opponent in the 1972 election George McGovern, Charles Colson, who served time in prison due to his part in the Watergate Scandal, Robert Abplanalp, Bebe Rebozo, and California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. [10]
International guests included:
The service was officiated by the Reverend Billy Graham, a friend of Richard Nixon's, who called him "one of the most misunderstood men, and I think he was one of the greatest men of the century." [6] Eulogies were delivered by Graham, Henry Kissinger, Senator Bob Dole, California Governor Pete Wilson and President Clinton. [3] Dole could not hold back his tears at the end of his speech. [11]
Following the service, Nixon was buried beside his wife; Pat had died on June 22, 1993. They are buried only steps away from Richard Nixon's birthplace and boyhood home.
His funeral also marked the last major public appearance of former President Ronald Reagan, whose Alzheimer's disease was announced in November later that year. [12] Reagan would become the next former president to die, ten years later, on June 5, 2004.
George Herbert Walker Bush was an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the 43rd vice president from 1981 to 1989 under Ronald Reagan and previously in various other federal positions.
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.
The 1976 United States presidential election was the 48th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1976. The Democratic nominee, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, narrowly defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. This was the first presidential election since 1932 in which the incumbent was defeated, as well as the only Democratic victory of the six presidential elections between 1968 and 1988.
Robert Joseph Dole was an American politician and attorney from Kansas who served in both chambers of the United States Congress, the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969 and a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to his resignation in 1996 to campaign for President of the United States. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure, including three non-consecutive years as Senate Majority Leader. Prior to his 27 years in the U.S. Senate, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969. Dole was also the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 election and the vice presidential nominee in the 1976 election.
Howard Henry Baker Jr. was an American politician, diplomat and photographer who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. During his tenure, he rose to the rank of Senate Minority Leader and then Senate Majority Leader. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate in Tennessee since the Reconstruction era.
Julie Nixon Eisenhower is an American author who is the younger daughter of former U.S. president Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat Nixon. Her husband, David, is the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie Eisenhower.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is the presidential library and burial site of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States (1981–1989), and his wife Nancy Reagan. Located in Simi Valley, California, the library is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The 1996 Republican National Convention convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996. The convention nominated Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, for president and former Representative and secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, from suburban Buffalo, New York, for vice president.
On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died after having Alzheimer's disease for over a decade. Reagan was the first former U.S. president to die in 10 years since Richard Nixon in 1994. At the age of 93 years, 120 days, Reagan was the longest-lived U.S. president in history at the time of his death, a record which has since been surpassed by Jimmy Carter. His seven-day state funeral followed. After Reagan's death, his body was taken from his Bel Air home to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California, to prepare the body for burial. On June 7, Reagan's casket was transported by hearse and displayed at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, then flown to Washington, D.C., on June 9 for a service, public viewing and tributes at the U.S. Capitol.
Air Force Two is the air traffic control designated call sign held by any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the vice president of the United States, but not the president. The term is often associated with the Boeing C-32, a modified 757 which is most commonly used as the vice president's transport. Other 89th Airlift Wing aircraft, such as the Boeing C-40 Clipper, C-20B, C-37A, and C-37B, have also served in this role. The VC-25A, the aircraft most often used by the president as Air Force One, has also been used by the vice president as Air Force Two.
On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California at 6:45 p.m. local time. At 8:49 p.m. local time, his wife of 58 years, Betty Ford, issued a statement announcing his death. The causes of death listed on the death certificate were arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis.
SAM 27000 was the second of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft that were specifically configured and maintained for the use of the president of the United States. It used the call sign Air Force One when the president was on board, and at other times it used the call sign SAM 27000, with SAM indicating 'Special Air Mission.' The VC-137C serial number 72-7000 was a customized version of the Boeing 707 which entered service during the Nixon administration in 1972. It served all US presidents until George W. Bush and was retired in 2001. It is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
SAM 26000 was the first of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the President of the United States. It used the callsign Air Force One when the president was on board, otherwise SAM 26000, with SAM indicating Special Air Mission.
From January 29 to June 4, 1996, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1996 United States presidential election. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the former Senate majority leader, was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1996 Republican National Convention held from August 12 to 15, 1996, in San Diego, California. Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996 once he became the presumptive nominee to concentrate on his presidential campaign. He chose Jack Kemp as his running mate.
The 2000 United States presidential election in California took place on November 7, 2000, as part of the wider 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose 54 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
In the United States, state funerals are the official funerary rites conducted by the federal government in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., that are offered to a sitting or former president, a president-elect, high government officials and other civilians who have rendered distinguished service to the nation. Administered by the Military District of Washington (MDW), a command unit of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region, state funerals are greatly influenced by protocol, steeped in tradition, and rich in history. However, the overall planning as well as the decision to hold a state funeral, is largely determined by a president and their family.
Frederick Leonard Ahearn was an American political and corporate consultant who served as executive vice president of Potomac Communications Strategies in Alexandria, Virginia. He is best known for his long service as lead advance man for Ronald Reagan, as a candidate in 1979–1980 and for most of his two terms as president; he was standing close to Reagan during his attempted assassination on March 30, 1981. Ahearn was also a senior adviser and planner for the presidential funerals and burials of Reagan and Gerald Ford, as well as Jack Kemp and First Lady Nancy Reagan. In all, he served five U.S. presidents and six vice presidents, and aided 14 presidential campaigns from 1968 to 2016.
On January 20, 1993, following the first inauguration of his successor Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush built a retirement house in the community of West Oaks, Houston. He established a presidential office within the Park Laureate Building on Memorial Drive in Houston. He also frequently spent time at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, took annual cruises in Greece, went on fishing trips in Florida, and visited the Bohemian Club in Northern California. He declined to serve on corporate boards, but delivered numerous paid speeches and served as an adviser to The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. He never published his memoirs, but he and Brent Scowcroft co-wrote A World Transformed, a 1998 work on foreign policy. Portions of his letters and his diary were later published as The China Diary of George H. W. Bush and All the Best, George Bush.
The 1996 presidential campaign of Bob Dole began when Republican Senator and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole formally announced his candidacy for Republican Party nomination in 1995. After beating other candidates in the primaries, he became the Republican nominee, with his opponent being Democratic incumbent President Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election. Dole conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Clinton on November 5, 1996.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)