Inouye given rare honor as final tribute in nation's capitol

As Hawaii and the nation continue to mourn the loss of Daniel Inouye, who passed away on Monday at the age of 88, the late senator is being memorialized with honors that are reserved for presidents and eminent historical figures.

On Thursday morning, Inouye's casket was carried into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda ahead of memorial services attended by the senator's family, Vice President Joe Biden and numerous other members of Congress.

Inouye was remembered fondly by those who spoke at the service, including Biden, who talked about the impact Inouye had on himself and his children.

"I never met a man with as much loyalty to his family, to his country, and to his friends," said Biden. "There wasn't one single attribute of Danny's character that I didn't want my own sons to possess."

Biden, who credited Inouye with helping him early in his political career, also discussed the respect that fellow members of Congress had for the late senator.

"Danny gave me confidence. If Danny believed in me, I must be worth something," said Biden. "No one, ever once, doubted he would do what he said he would."

During the service, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke about Inouye's legacy and said farewell to a friend and colleague.

"His last words were, aloha," said Reid. "It is with a heavy heart that we bid aloha to a friend."

As the most senior member of the U.S. Senate and third in line to the presidency, one of the final tributes to Inouye in Washington will be to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda until 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Members from the four branches of the United States military will stand at the four corners of Sen. Inouye's casket for the duration of his time in the Capitol. Inouye, who was also a World War II veteran with the 442nd Regiment Combat Team, will be the 32nd person given that honor in 160 years.

Since 1852, only 31 people have been honored by lying in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The tribute has been bestowed upon eleven U.S. presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

The following is a list of those who have lain in state:

Henry Clay
July 1, 1852

Abraham Lincoln
April 19-21, 1865

Thaddeus Stevens
August 13-14, 1868

Charles Sumner
March 13, 1874

Henry Wilson
November 25-26, 1875

James A. Garfield
September 21-23, 1881

John A. Logan
December 30-31, 1886

William McKinley, Jr.
September 17, 1901

Pierre Charles L'Enfant
(re-interment) April 28, 1909

George Dewey
January 20, 1917

Unknown Soldier of World War I
November 9-11, 1921

Warren G. Harding
August 8, 1923

William Howard Taft
March 11, 1930

John Joseph Pershing
July 18-19, 1948

Robert A. Taft
August 2-3, 1953

Unknown Soldiers of World War II and the Korean War
May 28-30, 1958

John F. Kennedy
November 24-25, 1963

Douglas MacArthur
April 8-9, 1964

Herbert Clark Hoover
October 23-25, 1964

Dwight D. Eisenhower
March 30-31, 1969

Everett McKinley Dirksen
September 9-10, 1969

J. Edgar Hoover
May 3-4, 1972

Lyndon Baines Johnson
January 24-25, 1973

Hubert H. Humphrey
January 14-15, 1978

Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam Conflict
May 25-28, 1984

Claude Denson Pepper
June 1-2, 1989

Jacob Joseph Chestnut and John Michael Gibson
July 28, 1998, lay in honor

Ronald Wilson Reagan
June 9-11, 2004

Rosa Parks
October 30-31, 2005, lay in honor

Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
December 30, 2006-January 2, 2007

The schedule of services for the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye are as follows:

Thursday
Washington, D.C.

9:50 a.m. (4:50 HST) Casket arrives at U.S. Capitol Rotunda

10 a.m. (5 a.m. HST) Memorial service with remarks from Congressional Leadership

12:00 – 8:00 p.m. (7 a.m. – 3 p.m. HST) Public viewing, Sen. Inouye's body to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda

Friday
Washington, D.C.

9:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. HST) Sen. Inouye's casket escorted to Washington National Cathedral

10:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. HST) Public memorial service at Washington National Cathedral

Saturday
Honolulu

5 p.m. – midnight (HST) Public viewing, Sen. Inouye's body to lie in state at the State Capitol

Sunday
Honolulu

10 a.m. (HST) Public memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl

More information from the Capitol can be found here.

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