President Ronald Reagan’s Funeral Procession

President Ronald Reagan’s Funeral

Washington, DC

June 9-11, 2004

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mourner received at the Capitol

President Ronald Wilson Reagan died on June 5, 2004, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Reagan had arranged to have a full state funeral upon his death, and on June 9, his body returned to Washington to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

The funeral motorcade started at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and wound its way toward Washington. At Constitution Avenue at 16th Street, NW, Mr. Reagan’s casket was transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for a slow procession to the Capitol, accompanied by military marching bands and honor guards. Thousands of people lined Constitution Avenue in sweltering 90-degree heat to pay their respects to the 40th president. The crowd comprised a mix of local residents, government and private sector workers who got off early, tourists from out-of-town who just happened to be there, and those who made the trip to DC just for this event.


At noon, there were already people staking out spots in front of the Smithsonian’s Natural History museum	Looking east toward the Capitol about an hour before the procession…	…and looking west toward the Washington Monument. Those trees in front of the Justice Department became a popular spot.	The police escort. The one in the middle looks a lot like DC Police Chief Charles Ramsey.	A sailor in the procession	Marchers	Remember, it was over 90 degrees that day.


Limos carrying Reagan family and friends	The caisson approaches slowly from the west.	A closer look	Passing by	One final salute	Funeral hearses	Flag in front of the Justice Department flying at half-staff

Some interesting stuff I saw during the procession: servicemen and women in full uniform handing out free water bottles, people plastered up against windows in the Justice Department, one of the limos in the procession stalling out about 30 yards west of me, and at least one person needing medical attention from the heat. I also ran into an old friend from college who I hadn’t seen in 9 years.

Mr. Reagan lay in state from June 9 through June 11. The line to enter the Capitol to view the casket was excessively long, especially after midnight on the 11th when the wait was over 8 hours. I stood in line for over 6 hours, finally viewing the President’s casket at around 2 AM on the 11th. Tens of thousands of ordinary Americans of all ages, creeds and colors had a chance to pay their final respects.


The line at Third Street, NW. Just to give you an idea, the wait at the end of this line was about three hours.	People gathering on Third Street, SW. That evening, the line wound all the way back to Seventh Street, and each block segment was completely filled with people.

No cameras were allowed in the Capitol for the lying in state, so the pictures of my experience in line are limited to a few shots with the low-resolution camera in my PDA.


The wait at this point was about four hours.	The middle of the line at Fourth Street, SW, at around 2:30 AM. This was about where I entered the line at 8:30 PM.	The end of the line. Wait time here: nine hours.	Another view of the end of the line. The National Park Service actually had another section of the Mall fenced in for even more people.

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