Billy Graham Becomes Fourth Citizen To ‘lie In Honor’ At US Capitol 

Billy Graham Becomes Fourth Citizen To ‘lie In Honor’ At US Capitol 

Billy motorcade arrives US Capitol

There are few distinctions in Congress as high as the one afforded the late Rev. Billy Graham at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday and Thursday. Graham will “lie in honor” in the Capitol Rotunda.

Note that Graham will “lie in honor,” not “in state.” We should refer to Graham as “lying in honor” rather than “lying in state.”

There is little which distinguishes someone from “lying in honor” rather that in “state.” Officially, “lying in honor” is one step below “lying in state.” The pomp and circumstance is much the same. But it formally is one level below “state.”

The Capitol Rotunda is considered to be the the most “holy” place in the American political experience. That’s why Congress reserves such ceremonies in the Rotunda for some of the country’s most-eminent citizens.

Former president Bush paid his respects to ‘America’s Pastor.’

Most of those honored in the Rotunda have lain in state. Henry Clay was the first in 1852. In recent memory, others have included President John F. Kennedy, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, D-Minn., Sen. and Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., President Ronald Reagan and President Gerald Ford.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, was the last to lie in state in December, 2012. Inouye represented Hawaii in either the House or Senate since it was admitted to the union until he died in 2012.

President Ford was the last President to lie in state in late December 2006 and January 2007.

There are no official rules to determine who lies in state or in honor. But both bodies of Congress must approve a resolution sanctioning usage of the Rotunda for such an event.

But “lying in honor” appears to be a more recent phenomenon. Graham is the fourth such person to lie in honor in the Capitol. The three others were U.S. Capitol Police Officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson and civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Chestnut and Gibson were killed during a July 1998 shootout at the Capitol. Until 9/11 Chestnut and Gibson were the only persons killed defending the U.S. Capitol. The others who died were aboard Flight 93, the plane which was headed toward the Capitol on 9/11 and crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Parks lay in honor in 2005.

Former president attends public viewing for the late Rev. Billy Graham.

Graham will have a military and USCP honor guard unit on hand inside the Capitol.

Fox News is told that a flight carrying Graham’s body will land tomorrow morning at Dulles International Airport outside Washington and be escorted via motorcade to the Capitol. Fox News has learned the motorcade will come from the Dulles Toll Road to I-66 and then into D.C. across the Roosevelt Bridge and down

The hearse carrying Graham will arrive at the Capitol around 10:30 a.m. ET. Military guards will then lift Graham’s casket and carry it up the East Front Steps of the Capitol and into the Rotunda.

Once inside the Rotunda, Graham’s body will rest on an unsanded, pine platform called the “catafalque.” Workers at the Capitol constructed the catafalque to hold the coffin of President Lincoln in 1865. Officials have used the catafalque used ever since for formal funerals and memorials on Capitol Hill, including Graham’s service.

The Architect of the Capitol used to keep the catafalque in the tomb at the Capitol, two floors below the Rotunda floor. That’s the spot where George Washington was originally to be buried. But instead, Washington is interred at Mount Vernon. They moved the catafalque to the Capitol Visitor’s Center when it opened in 2008.

President Trump will travel to the Capitol tomorrow morning for the service and lay a wreath. Only family members, lawmakers and other dignitaries will be present in the Rotunda for the service tomorrow morning. Members of the public can file through the Capitol to pay their respects beginning at 1 p.m. ET through the evening.