Were All President's Funerals This Creepy?

[THUNDER HANDS]

This is the first one I've been alive to witness. Nixon didn't have one when he died that was like this (thank goodness).

Were the Kennedy or Johnson funerals this...kinda....weird.

Anyone around who remembers those?

How is this one different, if it is?

[Rick Myers]

1. I recall

Kennedy, Johnson and Truman (I think?) and they were all this creepy!!!

[Rick Myers]

2. I love it

The band plays as they take old Ronnie up the steps, and some idiot's car alarm is going off in the background!

[DNA]

3. Lived through

JFK's, Truman's, Eisenhower's, Johnson's, Nixon's. (Am I forgetting anyone?) I can't remember a more mawkish, ridiculous, contrived display than the one we're currently suffering. I don't watch television as a rule, but I had to turn it on to see the gaudiness for myself. Everyone complaining is right: this is way over the top.

[mzmolly]

8. Kennedy was murdered in the prime of his life, it's a bit different

then a man who lived to the ripe ol' age of 93? I honestly haven't watched the 'fanfare' ...

[vpigrad]

14. Nice word

> gaudiness

That's a very good way to describe this repug love fest. Those guys in uniform are moving waaaaay to slowly. They're just trying to get as much air time as possible. Now that is tacky!

[LTR]

4. Nixon's got pretty creepy when...

...he jumped out of the casket and yelled "I've never been a quitter!"

[MisterP]

9. your sig pic is making me laugh

while making me frightened at the same time!

[Carolina]

16. LOL

with his arms outstretched and a V for victory wave.

[Piperay]

5. This is the creepiest yet...

all funerals are creepy to some extent but this one seems downright bizarre. x(

[David Zephyr]

6. Nixon's Was Creepier.

Much creepier.

[shraby]

7. Jack Kennedy's was

done in very good taste. Real class.

[David Zephyr]

15. Yep.

[Carolina]

17. truly!

The Kennedy state funeral was done with such grace and class that it was both spellbinding and beautiful. A fitting tribute to a special man cut down in the prime of life, promise unfulfilled ... It was not creepy at all.

[Tosca]

10. JFK's funeral

was poignant. Considering the circumstances of his death.

[Blue Wally]

11. I have seen a few

Kennedy's funeral (1963), we were all in shock and sadness because of the suddeness of the funeral (and were in "offcial mourning" for a month afterwards. We probably didn't notice the creepiness.

Truman's funeral (1972) I don't remember (I was in Vietnam at the time).

Eisenhower (1969) got a state funeral like this as did LBJ, I don't recall them being more creepy than other funerals.

The big difference between these earlier presidential funerals and now is the explosion of news outlets to include a number of 24/7 news stations. Back then there was just the three network news operations and they only went 24/7 for major news stories.

You have to compare the coverage of the Reagan funeral with the coverage given to Princess Diana a few years back.

[H2O Man]

12. I've lived through those on DNA's list, too.

I thought that was a very good post. The point I would make is this: a funeral is a ceremony with a very specific purpose and goal. It is generally to celebrate a person's life. When that life has been cut short -- especially in a violent manner, such as JFK -- it is also to deal with the psychic trauma. Thus, the funeral of JFK was far more like that of Lincoln, as far as presidents go .... and, of course, even more like that of MLK anf RFK in that decade. Remember, when JFK had died, there was a general feeling of anxiety ... because very few people knew what had actually occured. Many worried that our nation was under attack from a foreign force.... and it was not actually foreign. The Warren Commission would later do as accurate a job as Fox News is now on the "Reagan Legacy." But this - in part because of the cable tv, and mindless popularity of American Idol-type crap - is a new type of lie on the part of those powers that control the media, etc. It is odd, even sick, to compare the death of any 93-year old, very ill man, with that of a man in his mid-40s, shot to death in public.

[I thought so.]

13. Lincoln.

His body traveled by train from DC to Springfield,Ill. pausing at each stop so people could pay their respects.

[GoldenOldie]

18. FDR, and Kennedy died in office

FDR was heard on the radio and extremely sad...he had played such an important role during WWII with his fireside chats and he and Eleanor gave the sense that together we could do anything...people sat beside their radio's and followed the elaborate ceremonies and wept as a Nation. John Kennedy a young man with a young family and a wife who gave grace to the Whitehouse and who died tragically in her arms....the elaborate ceremonies of JFK gave the Nation a chance to mourn and heal. These elaborate ceremonial services seemed appropriate. Poor Truman deserved an elaborate service afterall, when he departed the Whitehouse, he had to take out a loan to ship his belongings back to Missouri.....now they leave as millionaires. I cannot understand why they should be done for Presidents that have left office and returned to their home States. They all have enormous plush libraries with waiting plots and it certainly would be more appropriate and cheaper to the taxpayers. The political blowhards can still give their longwinded speechs and pretend that they dearly loved and respected the dead guy in the box.

[UTUSN]

19. Nope. n/t