You may remember Ronald Reagan’s elaborate state funeral in 2004. All flags were ordered at half-mast for 30 days, music played over a week long event with popular national hymns like “America The Beautiful” and “God Bless America,” international tributes poured in from Canada, France and Britain, an impressive motorcade passed through the streets, 4,000 people attended the service at Washington National Cathedral and 104,684 people passed by the coffin to pay their last respects. State funerals are truly a time of mourning for the entire nation.

William Henry Harrison was the first president to die in office, which required a huge ceremony to make it distinct. Washington merchant Alexander Hunter was commissioned to design a powerful funeral that would soothe the nation. In his design, Hunter draped the White House in black ribbon and had an upholstered black and white carriage transport the body.

Looking back in history, it was Abraham Lincoln’s funeral in 1865 that really set the precedent for elaborate ceremonies. His remains lie in state in the rotunda of the Capitol. He was soon followed by 11 other presidents: James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), Warren Harding (1923), William Howard Taft (1930), John F Kennedy (1963), Herbert Hoover (1964), Dwight Eisenhower (1969), Lyndon Johnson (1973), Ronald Reagan (2004) and Gerald Ford (2006).

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