Who was the dead president?

Factual Questions
1

I was a small child, so it must have been in the late-1960s. It was early in the morning, probably on a weekend, in San Diego. I watched news coverage that showed the back end of a train with, I think, a Presidential seal on it. It was raining where the train was.

So who was the guy in the box?

Might it have been Robert F. Kennedy? (Not a president, but in the right timeframe.) Or am I misremembering how young I was, and was it Lyndon B. Johnson who died in 1973?

All I can remember clearly was that it was morning in San Diego, and it was raining where the train was.

2

Harry S Truman is another possibility, died in 1972.

3

I would have guessed Eisenhower, but what would he be doing in San Diego?

4

He was watching the TV in San Diego. The train was somewhere else, where it was raining.

5

Hoover died in 1964, Eisenhower in 1969, Truman in 1972. List of presidents of the United States by date of death - Wikipedia

6

Oh. I definitely did not read the question that way.

Then Eisenhower. He was taken by train from DC to … kansas? in 1969.

7

I said, ‘It was raining where the train was.’ :wink:

As IvoryTowerDenizen says, I was in San Diego. I don’t know where the train was, but I’m pretty sure the coverage was live because it wasn’t just a clip. I don’t remember the time I was watching, but it was early; before anyone else was up. I’m guessing maybe… 0600? I’ll make an assumption that the train was in a different time zone, because 0600 seems a little early for an event like the transportation of a President’s body to take place. Not that bodies haven’t been transported at all hours, or that it was orchestrated for viewing convenience. But given what I remember to be a train that was stationary for quite a long time, I’d guess that it was the start of the journey and that the departure was scheduled for a ‘respectable’ hour.

Eisenhower sounds like a likely candidate (so to speak). The year seems right, and it’s the first time I’d heard (AFAIKR) of a President dying. Was it raining in D.C. when the train left? Were there any stops where the train may have sat for a while, and it was raining? Is it possible I’m mis-remembering the rain? (I’ll answer that one. Yes. But I do remember it.)

8

I recall seeing Eisenhower wave from a hospital room on TV.
I was young enough to send him a get well card (it didn’t work, obviously) and got a reply with a stamped signature.
I remember thinking, Asshole. :slight_smile:

9

Here’s a description of Eisenhower’s (rather elaborate) funeral, which includes a rather grainy picture of the train.

Looks like it was raining in DC the day of the funeral (the day before the train left) and was clear in Kansas when the train arrived. I can’t really see if it mentions rain when the train actually left DC (though I just skimmed, so I might’ve missed it), but it seems possible, and its also possible the news report cut to images of the waiting train while the funeral was going on, in which case it definitely would’ve been raining.

10

I just googled images for Eisenhower funeral train and saw a picture from Newport, Kentucky, with several umbrellas interspersed among the viewers.

11

My mom was 8 at the time, and she remembers my grandpa taking her to see Eisenhower’s funeral train as it went (I guess) through St. Louis on the way from Washington to Abilene.

Does anybody know where I can find a map of the route? It would be pretty cool to see where exactly they might have seen the train.

12

It says ‘All passengers were aboard by 1840 and the train left Washington a few minutes later.’ 1840 hours in D.C. would have been 1540 hours in San Diego, which doesn’t fit with my memory. However, I may be mis-remembering the time. It occurs to me that it may have been early-afternoon, and my mom was at work. (You could leave kids at home back then.) If it happened to be a gloomy day in San Diego, that might be why I’m remembering it as morning.

13

RFK certainly was transported by train and it was a big deal. I’m sure it got a lot more press coverage than presidents long out of office. But it doesn’t look like it was raining.

14

It couldn’t have been Ronald Reagan (d. 2004). He got taken cross-country by flyingmobile, with it’s every mile breathlessly followed by live news coverage, then by motorcade from Oxnard to Simi Valley, for which they shut down the highway just for him.

15

From the previous link:
During the last half hour before 1000, the honorary pallbearers who had participated in the Washington ceremonies assumed positions at the door of the funeral car; just before the beginning of the ceremony, the members of the Eisenhower family took their places.So, some time around 09:30, (6:30 Pacific time), the train was the site of the beginnings of the final funeral procession.

16

Eisenhower left office in January 1961 and died in March 1969. That’s not exactly asking people to stretch their memories.