The Catafalque
I had the honor of working for a US Congressman in 1977. I was twenty, a young “politician” with “all the answers.” I interned in Tom Luken’s (D-Cincinnati) office, and had a pass that gave me free rein in the US Capitol. While most know the four main floors of the building, there are several floors below, each with passageways and chambers. There’s a barbershop, and stores, and in one anxiety filled moment, the power plant with armed guards. That was the time to push the “up” button on the elevator!
In my wanderings I found the “Washington Crypt.” It was designed for the internment of George and Martha Washington, a fitting national site for their graves. However, their heirs determined that Mt. Vernon would be there final resting place (still there today) so the crypt is empty. Stored in the room was a catafalque, the base caskets are placed upon when they are displayed “in state” in the Capitol rotunda. The catafalque was first used to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and in 1977, you could walk in and touch it.
In these days of high security, you probably can’t get to the Crypt anymore and certainly not touch things. The Lincoln Catafalque has been moved to the new Visitors Center. But it still is used; for over one hundred and fifty years it has supported our honored dead. In August it supported John McCain, and this week, it held the casket of President George HW Bush.
It is easy to feel like our Democracy is at risk. We are in a constant state of crisis; either the “Resistance” is a threat to the Presidency, or the President is a threat to democracy. It feels like we are facing an extra-Constitutional chasm, a crisis not foreseen by the founding fathers, and one that our “…one nation, indivisible…” might not survive.
But yesterday we had the opportunity to remember our America again. The death and celebration of the life of President George HW Bush gave us an opportunity to all be “Americans:” to see the people and the institutions that continue to function even as we struggle with events of the day.
Our structure survives. We can see it: in the young soldiers who so proudly escorted the casket, in the old friends who cried in the Cathedral, and in the crowds that waited for hours to pay their respects. We see it in Bob Dole saying goodbye to his friend and rival, and in the pew of Presidents sitting awkwardly together.
The celebration of George HW Bush’s life pushes us to take the long view, because of the scope of his long life. Born “with a silver spoon,” Bush was the product of upper class society with education at Andover Academy and Yale. But he also was the product of his sense of duty, leaving high school to join the Navy, and risking his life daily at that young age to fight in World War II.
President Bush forces us to take a wider view, raised in Northeast, he moved to make his own way in the oilfields of Texas. The son of a US Senator, he didn’t run for public office until he had become accomplished in business, waiting until he was forty to step into the political limelight.
And President Bush makes us look at the wide scope of our recent history. He was a warrior in World War II, but became a Cold War leader as CIA Director, UN Ambassador and Ambassador to China. As President he helped orchestrate the peaceful end to the Cold War, and began to deal with the complications of our current world.
And, of course, the ceremonies make us look at the contrast with our current politics. When former Senator Alan Simpson talked of political courage, of Bush sharing his political popularity and then taking a political “gut punch” of increased taxes to support a bipartisan economic package; his example is a rebuke to our current politics of “bullying by tweet.”
Our structure remains. Our institutions, the military, the government, even the church; continue to function regardless of the seeming chaos at the surface. The establishment of America, like the Lincoln Catafalque, is still there, supporting our nation, even in our time of peril. The near future will be rough, we will face fear and crisis, but in the long view, that view from a lifetime of public service, our America will survive.
