We tend to treat the president as royalty. Not having a king ourselves, we bestow upon the president many of the honors a monarchy would bestow upon a king.
The president is the head of state in addition to being the head of government. Its a subtle distinction and one we don’t normally make in the US, but it is a distinction. For example, in the UK, the Prime Minister is the head of government, but the Queen is the head of state. In some countries, they have an elected President who is the head of state, and a prime minister who is the head of government.
So Reagan is getting a state funeral, which in most countries would be reserved for royalty. Nixon didn’t get a state funeral when he died, but he could have if the family wanted to. LBJ was the last person to have a state funeral, and other than Nixon, the last president to die.
Intellectually, I’m lothe to treat the president like a king. Personally, I really want to watch the funeral. I do enjoy watching the pomp and circumstance. I’ve always said that I’d like to go to Rome when the Pope dies. They is a 70mm movie from the 60s that has some great scenes of the papal succession ceremonies “The Shoes of the Fisherman” starring Anthony Quinn.
Trivia: Here is a list of presidents going backwards in the order they died:
- Living: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Carter, Ford
- Ronald Reagan – 2004
- Richard Nixon – 1994
- Lyndon Johnson – 1973
- Harry Truman – 1972
- Dwight Eisenhower – 1969
- Herbert Hoover – 1964
- John Kennedy – 1963*
- Franklin Roosevelt – 1945*
- Calvin Coolidge – 1933
- William Taft – 1930
- Woodrow Wilson – 1924
- Warren Harding – 1923*
- Theodore Roosevelt – 1919
- Grover Cleveland – 1908
- William McKinley – 1901*
- Benjamin Harrison – 1901
- Rutheford Hayes – 1893
- Chester Arthur – 1886
- Ulysses Grant – 1885
- James Garfield – 1881*
- Andrew Johnson – 1875
- Millard Fillmore – 1874
- Franklin Pierce – 1869
- James Buchanan – 1868
- Abraham Lincoln – 1865*
- Martin Van Buren – 1862
- John Tyler – 1862
- Zackary Taylor – 1850*
- James Polk – 1849
- John Quincy Adams – 1848
- Andrew Jackson – 1845
- William Henry Harrison – 1841*
- James Madison – 1836
- James Monroe – 1831
- Thomas Jefferson – 1826
- John Adams – 1826
- George Washington – 1799
