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Cortege Honors a Quiet Dignity
Capitol officials have brought out the famed pine board catafalque on which Abraham Lincoln's body lay and prepared it to receive Ford's closed coffin.
(By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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Reagan's grand services befit his popularity and outsize personality. His rites were also the first presidential funeral services in the city since those for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, which also had a military flyover and a horse-drawn caisson.
Officials said presidential funerals often are prepared years in advance. Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian of the Senate, said the military, which choreographs the events, offers an array of scenarios from which a family may pick.
Capitol officials said yesterday they have brought from storage the famed pine board catafalque on which Abraham Lincoln's body lay and prepared it to receive Ford's closed coffin later today. Most people who lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda do so on the Lincoln catafalque.
The Ford family's decline of the horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol might have been due in part to the season, Yonts said. The arrival at the World War II Memorial is expected to be about 6 p.m., well after the sun sets at 4:56 p.m.
Reagan's body was carried through the city at almost exactly the same time. But his journey was in early June, with sunset about 8:30 p.m. and plenty of daylight ahead.
It was not clear yesterday whether Ford's lower presidential profile would affect public attendance.
"A lot of people have a lot of respect for this man," Yonts said. "The opportunity, that if you're a tourist in this town at this time, to come by and show your respect plays into it."
But Ed Rudzinski, chairman of the board of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C., said that, compared with Reagan's funeral, Ford's probably will be "a five versus a 10. Reagan was more pomp and circumstance. That was huge."
Still, he said, the thousands of people coming to attend will boost business during a time when rooms aren't in heavy demand.
Colleen Evans, a spokeswoman for Marriott International, said the Ritz-Carlton is experiencing a "big pickup" in reservations from foreign dignitaries and media groups.
"We'll have a book in the lobby for guests to sign -- they can put in their thoughts and recollections of the great healer."
In addition, the hotel's dinner special will include one of Ford's favorite dishes, Evans said: pot roast and red cabbage.
Staff writer V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report.
