AP News, December 31st, 2006
Greenspan, Kissinger, Scowcroft, Dole. Average age: 82.
Awaiting President Ford's casket in the Capitol Rotunda Saturday was a tableau of elder statesmen from a political era past, some forced to stand for more than an hour in near-silence before an honor guard carried the flag-draped coffin to the center of the towering room.
Finally, the wail of the motorcade arriving drifted over the crowd of current and former members of Congress; Supreme Court justices and Cabinet members. The boom of cannons thundered into the room. The coffin was carried up the stairs and placed in repose at the door of the House chamber, whose doors were open in a salute to Ford's 25 years of service there.
And when the casket finally was placed on the catafalque at 7:40 p.m. and the service begun, a casualty: Former Rep. William Broomfield, 84, collapsed.
At first there was a stirring in the section behind and to the right of Betty Ford, 88. Then it seemed everyone nearby was bending over, their attention focused on the floor. Finally someone thrust a hand in the air, signaling to outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a doctor, to come help. Frist jogged over.
Frist later indicated that the former Michigan congressman, who was taken out in a wheelchair, was OK.
Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., 83 _ Ford's running mate in 1976 and an honorary pallbearer _ was one of a row of famous old political bulls. Next to Dole sat former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, 81. To Scowcroft's right, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, 83. And rounding out the row, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, 80.
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Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 74, who served as Ford's first chief of staff and later his defense secretary, had been designated by Ford prior to his death as an honorary pallbearer, but was not able to make it to the Capitol ceremony.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said Rumsfeld couldn't get a flight out of New Mexico, where he was spending the holidays, because of weather. A winter storm Saturday spread snow from New Mexico to the Dakotas. Ruff said Rumsfeld was trying to return to Washington Sunday.
