Sen. John McCain had carefully lain funeral plans in place before his death, including requests to former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush to give eulogies.
McCain passed away on Saturday, after a prolonged battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. According to a report by CBS News, the McCain family is already preparing his funeral according to his wishes including speeches from two of the presidents McCain worked with.
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The news first surfaced back in May, when McCain began getting his affairs in order. As friends and colleagues visited him in his Arizona home, he requested speeches from the two former presidents. Few more details on the service have been released since then, though what is available represents a powerful statement from the senator.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will reportedly speak at a smaller, more private service for McCain in Arizona. The two were close friends, even after running a presidential campaign against one another. According to NBC News, McCain also instructed his staff to invite Vice President Mike Pence to the service in Washington, but not President Donald Trump himself.
“I want — I want — when I leave, that the ceremony is at the Naval Academy. And we just have a couple of people that stand up and say, ‘This guy, he served his country,’” McCain said on 60 Minutes back in September.
It is unclear whether former presidents Obama and Bush have accepted the requests for speeches. Both issued public statements, honoring McCain for his years of service.
“Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did,” Obama wrote. “But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt.”
“Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended,” Bush wrote in his own release. “Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled.”
McCain was an Arizona senator for many years, and he worked closely with a number of presidents. He had a well-documented respect for the office, even when his direct political opponents, such as President Obama, held it.
However, he clashed with President Trump on a number of issues, and was widely considered one of the few prominent republicans who would dare to speak out against him. His decision not to invite the embattled commander-in-chief is a break from tradition.
