George W Bush leads tributes to father with emotional eulogy at state funeral
George W Bush broke down briefly at the end of his eulogy to his father, the 41st president of the United States.
George HW Bush has been celebrated with praise and loving humour as America bade farewell to the country’s 41st president and the last to fight for the US in wartime.
Three former presidents looked on at Washington National Cathedral as a fourth – George W Bush – eulogised his father.
George W Bush broke down briefly at the end of his eulogy while invoking the daughter his parents lost when she was three and his mother Barbara, who died in April.
For all the sombre tributes to the late president’s public service and strength of character, laughter filled the cathedral time after time.
Mr Bush’s eulogists – son included – noted his tendency to tangle his words and show his goofy side.
But he also said that Mr Bush, campaigning in a crowd in a department store, once shook hands with a mannequin.
Rather than flushing in embarrassment, he simply cracked: “Never know. Gotta ask.”
The congregation, filled with foreign leaders and diplomats, Americans of high office and others touched by Mr Bush’s life, rose for the arrival of the coffin, accompanied by clergy of faiths from around the world.
In their row together, President Donald Trump and former presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton stood with their spouses and all placed their hands over their hearts.
Mr Trump had mocked “1,000 points of light” last summer at a rally, saying: “What the hell is that? Has anyone ever figured that one out? And it was put out by a Republican, wasn’t it?”
The national funeral service capped three days of remembrance in Washington before Mr Bush’s remains return to Texas on Wednesday for burial on Thursday.
Mr Bush will lie in repose at St Martin’s Episcopal Church before burial at his family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station.
His final resting place will be alongside Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years, and Robin Bush, the daughter they lost to leukaemia in 1953.
On Wednesday morning, a military band played Hail To The Chief as Mr Bush’s coffin was carried down the steps of the US Capitol, where he had laid in state.
His hearse was then driven in a motorcade to the cathedral ceremony, slowing in front of the White House.
Mr Bush’s route was lined with people much of the way, in winter hats and taking photos.
Waiting for his arrival inside, Mr Trump shook hands with Mr Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who greeted him by saying “Good morning.”
Mr Clinton and Mrs Obama smiled and chatted as music played, while Mr Carter was seated silently next to Mrs Clinton in the cavernous cathedral.
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the day marked “a celebration for a great man who has led a long and distinguished life”.
The president and his wife took their seats after the others, briefly greeting the Obamas seated next to them.
On Tuesday soldiers, citizens in wheelchairs and long lines of others on foot wound through the Capitol Rotunda to view Mr Bush’s coffin and honour a president whose legacy included World War military service and a landmark law affirming the rights of the disabled.
Former senator Bob Dole, a compatriot in war, peace and political struggle, steadied himself out of his wheelchair and saluted his old friend and one-time rival.
As at notable moments in his life, Mr Bush brought together Republicans and Democrats in his death, and not only the VIPs.
Members of the public who never voted for him waited in the same long lines as the rest, attesting that Mr Bush possessed the dignity and grace that deserved to be remembered by their presence on a cold overcast day in the capital.
“I wasn’t the biggest fan of his presidency, but all in all he was a good, sincere guy doing a really hard job as best he could.”
Mr Bush’s service dog Sully was taken to the viewing as well – his main service in the last few months since Barbara Bush’s death in April has been to rest his head on her husband’s lap, which service dogs are trained to do.
“After Mrs Bush’s death, general companionship was a big part of Sully’s job,” John Miller, president and chief executive of America’s VetDogs, said.
“One of the things that I think was important to the president was the rest command, where Sully would rest his head on the president’s lap.”
Mr Trump’s relationship with the Bush family has been tense.
The current president mocked the elder Bush for his “thousand points of light” call to volunteerism, challenged his son’s legacy as president and trounced “low-energy” Jeb Bush in the Republican presidential primaries en route to office.
The late President Bush called Mr Trump a “blowhard”.
Those insults have been set aside, but the list of funeral service speakers marked the first time since Lyndon Johnson’s death in 1973 that a sitting president was not chosen to eulogise a late president.
Mr Clinton did so for Richard Nixon, and George W Bush eulogised Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
