When does a US president deliver the eulogy?
Obama has already made public comments since Sen. Edward Kennedy鈥檚 death. But it is Obama's eulogy, to be delivered Saturday at the funeral mass, that could be most revealing.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston where President Obama will eulogize Senator Edward Kennedy Saturday, August 29.
Elise Amendola/AP
Washington
It鈥檚 not unusual for an American president to deliver a public eulogy for a fallen friend, predecessor, or otherwise distinguished citizen.
George W. Bush eulogized two former presidents: and . Jimmy Carter did so for former Vice President . Bill Clinton eulogized former President , Supreme Court Justice , and , an ambassador and Democratic activist.
President Obama鈥檚 first such moment arrives on Saturday, when he will eulogize his mentor and friend, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, at his funeral mass. Mr. Obama has already made public comments since Senator Kennedy鈥檚 death on Tuesday, delivering remarks from Martha鈥檚 Vineyard the morning the news broke.
Obama also issued a proclamation, touting Kennedy as 鈥渘ot only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy鈥� and ordering that US flags be flown at half-staff at all public buildings. Obama鈥檚 political operation, Organizing for America, issued a separate Kennedy tribute via its vast e-mail list.
But it is the eulogy that could be most revealing 鈥� as much a window into Obama as into the man whose presidential endorsement helped galvanize support during the 2008 campaign.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no set script,鈥� says Gerhard Peters of the at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which maintains a database of presidential speeches and documents.
When Mr. Nixon , whom he had served as vice president, 鈥測ou could see reflected in his words his deep admiration and respect for the man,鈥� says Mr. Peters.
One of the most memorable presidential eulogies of modern times was to the seven astronauts of the Challenger space shuttle, who perished in 1986. Delivered at a memorial service at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Reagan鈥檚 words moved the nation and earned him the title 鈥渃omforter in chief.鈥�
Other eulogies entail more complexity. Mr. Clinton鈥檚 remarks on Nixon acknowledged the disgraced former president鈥檚 mistakes but also celebrated his postpresidential years, in which he wrote nine books and was particularly active in the foreign-policy arena. The speech could also come to be viewed ironically: Nixon had resigned before he could be impeached over Watergate. At the time of Nixon鈥檚 death in 1994, Clinton鈥檚 own scandal lay in the future; he was impeached for lying under oath but was not forced from office.
Obama probably will not raise the less-than-flattering aspects of Kennedy鈥檚 past. The president got to know him late in life, after Kennedy had settled down and become a senior statesman of the Senate.
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