Evening star. [volume], April 13, 1930, Page 3, Image 87

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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One Shrine for All the Presidents
To /«'. grave at Arlington, Va„ where he was eligible to rest by having been Secretary of War and also commader-in-ehief of the Army and Navy While President*
Death of IVilliam Howard Taft Revives
Interest in Proposal to Assemble Within a
Pantheon, at IVishington, D. C., Remains
of All American Chief Executives.
Seven Presidents are buried on the
‘home place"—Washington, Jefferson,
Madison. Jackson, Taylor, PoUc and Wil
liam H. Harrison.
Seventeen lie in their native States,
eight in States of their adoption, one in
the Capital, one in Arlington and one in
New York City. ’
There are six presidential graves in
Virginia, five in New York and five in
Ohio.
Three Presidents are interred in
churches—the two Adamses, beneath the
portico of a church at Quincy, Mass . and
Wilson in a cathedral vault at Washing
ton.
BY KATHLEEN READ.
w- yr tr HENEVER death claims a Prest-
M M / dent or ex-President of the
M/E/ United States, a time-honored
Mr Mr and much - debated question
arises. Will the United States
Government eventually decide on a national
presidential shrine at Washington, to which
may be brought the ashes of its chiefs?
Such a shrine, argue the supporters of the
movement, would serve to heighten the Nation’s
patriotic fervor, besides adding a fitting touch
of majesty to the Capital. It would also enable
the thousands of Americans who yearly journey
to Washington to visit In a single pilgrimage
the last resting places of these lllustrous men.
A traveler in England may, within a few
hours, visit the tomb of every English ruler,
so close together are Westminster, Windsor and
Winchester, the great national shrines. But
when one starts out to visit the graves of our
Presidents he must travel into 11 different
States and into the District of Columbia, and
cover thousands of miles.
Representative Tinkham of Massachusetts,
who is sponsoring the national-fame idea of a
temple honoring the illustrious dead, hopes to
see the building included in the new Federal
building plan. Sooner or later the Presidential
Pantheon may become a reality, but whether
it will receive into its cold white bosom the
earthly remains of many Presidents is another
question. Many of the Nation’s departed great
expressed a desire to be laid to rest in their
home States, and the States which have kept
a jealous guardianship over their illustrious
dead are loath to part with their ashes.
In the Capitol is a crypt marked with a
golden star. This is pointed out to sight-seers
as the place designed for the tomb of our first
. President. Mrs. Washington, accustomed to
the demands of patriotism, to which she had
so often bowed in her life, consented to the
removal of his body from the quiet Mount
Vernon garden, but Virginia refused to ac-
Eutesce to the plan. Virginia had cradled
jeorge Washington in babyhood, nourished
him to young manhood, sent him forth to the
highest offices of the land—his dust must be
forever Virginia’s. And such, no doubt, would
be the sentiment of the other States which are
honored with presidential dead.
'J'HIS homecoming sentiment Is not only re
flected in the States, but In a large de
tached following as weU. In the arguments
against the assembling of the Nation’s illus
trious dead under one dome, the idea Is ad
vanced that such an institution would not be
as much in keeping with the democratic struc
ture upon which this Nation Is founded as is
the present custom of presidential shrines in
the various States.
Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, director of public parks
and buildings of the National Capital and
grandson of the eighteenth President, when
approached upon the subject of an American
Westminster, said: “I am sure that no member
of the Grant family would consent to the re
moval of my grandfather’s body from the New
York tomb under any condition. It was his
THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 13, 19301
, ,■! '• </ 1 > *■"»
- - - - - -*
The late William Howard Taft is the first President to rest in the National Cemetery. Grant's Tomb in New York City ia
one of the most impressive monuments to mark the resting place of a President. The grave of Theodore Roosevelt at Oyster.
Bay, N. Y., is located near the Summer home which he loved so weU.
expressed wish that he be not moved from New
York.”
The Grant Tomb, on Riverside Drive, is one
of the most famous monuments in America.
It was built by popular subscription at a
cost of $600.0000 and is visited each year by
countless thousands. Many of the other presi
dential graves are not so well known, but today
they are all accessible and all fittingly marked.
Several of the Presidents lie within a stone’s
throw of the spot on which they were bom
and reared, and those who argue against any
proposed removal declare that nothing imparts
a greater intimacy with the departed great
than a joint visit to their homes and last rest
ing places.
Since the World War there has been a tre
mendous awakening of patriotic fervor as re
gards historic landmarks. Associations of wom
en and patriotic societies are responsible for
the restoration of many old homes of history
and romance which would otherwise have
passed Into oblivion. Especial interest has been
centered in the homes of our Presidents. Their
birthplaces and later homes have been sought
out and converted into national shrines.
Os the 28 Presidents who have passed on, 17
lie in their native States, 8 in the States of
their adoption, 1 in the Capital, 1 in Arlington
and 1 in New York City.
President Wilson is the only President buried
in Washington. His tomb, in Bethlehem Chapel
of the Episcopal Cathedral of SS. Peter and
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Paul, Is the object of many pilgrimages. The
great cathedral, which will be many yean In
the building, has incorporated within its plans
a section for Illustrious American dead, re
gardless of sect or creed. At first it was thought
that the body of President Taft might join
that of his successor there. Instead, the man
who had received the two highest offices in the
United States and whose lovable smile and hap
py philosophy of life endeared him to all went
to Arlington, the first President to sleep in the
National Cemetery.
In Cincinnati the old Taft home still stands,
although it Is not now in the family. Undoubt
edly, some day It will be added to that ever
increasing list of presidential shrines.
The graves of our Presidents range all the
way from magnificent and Imposing structures
to simply marked tombs in quiet rural church
yards.
A mental pilgrimage to these hallowed spots
might not be amiss at this time, when the
Nation’s tears and flowers have just laid to
rest one of its best-loved Presidents.
SIXTEEN miles from Cincinnati, at North
Bend, stands a bit of the home associ
ated with the two Harrison Presidents. In it
lived President William Henry Harrison after
he came from Virginia, and in it was bom
his grandson Benjamin, the twenty-third Presi
dent. Nearby is the tomb of the first Harrison,
while Indianapolis claims the ashes of the
other.
The cabin in which President Grant was
bom was moved from its original location in
Clermont County, Ohio, and Is now at the
State Fair Grounds at Columbus.
Nearby, in Delaware County, Ohio, was bom
the man who succeeded Grant in the presi
dency, Rutherford B. Hayes. His later home at
Fremont, Ohio, is occupied by his son, OoL
Webb Hayes, who presented to the State the
25 acres which surround the old home and is
known as Seigel Grove—a beauty spot, splendid
ly maintained as a park. On a little knoll in
a quiet thicket is the simple tomb of President
Hayes.
Lawn field, the Mentor, Ohio, home of Presi
dent Garfield, is excellently preserved by his
son, James Garfield, who makes it his home
and who has accumulated an Immense Garfield
collection. The Garfield tomb at Lakeview
Cemetery is one of the treasured sights of
Cleveland.
Part of President McKinley’s birthplace at
Niles, Ohio, is still standing and has been
converted into a small local museum. His tomb
at Canton is one of the most imposing in the
country.
Marion County, Ohio, holds the body of
President Harding in a temporary tomb. When
Continued On Twelfth P age
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