Famed opera singer Renee Fleming sang “Danny Boy” at McCain’s funeral.
McCain will be buried with military honors following a private service at the U. S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday.
Then on Friday, McCain lay in state at the U. S. Capitol Rotunda, where top elected officials paid their respects. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence all gave remarks honoring McCain at a morning ceremony. The public had the opportunity to pay respects on Friday afternoon.
The “maverick” senator was previously honored at a memorial ceremony in his home state of Arizona Thursday, where he was eulogized by friend and luminaries such as former Vice President Joe Biden. Thousands of citizens paid respect as he lay in state at the Arizona Capitol.
The service began at around 10:00 a.m. and ended shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET.
Both men defeated McCain in his two campaigns to become president, in 2000 and 2008. President Trump is not attending.
(CBS) — A memorial service for Sen. John McCain took place in Washington Saturday. Former President George W. Bush and former President Barack Obama gave eulogies at the service at the Washington National Cathedral.
The memorial service for McCain ended around two and a half hours after it began at 12:30. A military guard escorted his casket out of cathedral.
Famed opera singer Renee Fleming sang “Danny Boy” at McCain’s funeral. McCain requested that the song be performed at his funeral because he often listened to it while sitting on his porch in Arizona as he battled brain cancer.
Fleming, who is currently starring in “Carousel” on Broadway, and took the day off from the show to perform at McCain’s funeral, per CNN.
Former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte read from the Book of Wisdom during the service.
“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace,” Ayotte read.
“So we are always con dent; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord–for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord,” McCain read.
Sen. Lindsay Graham read the final Bible passage of the service.
“Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,”” Graham read.
“We come to celebrate an extraordinary man: a warrior, a statesman, a patriot,” Mr. Obama said.
He referred to his former competition against McCain during the presidential election of 2008.
“He made us better presidents, just as he made the Senate better, just as he made the country better,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama talked about how he was surprised but honored to be invited by McCain to speak at his funeral, saying it showed his contrarian and mischievous streak and his “largeness of spirit.
“After all, what better way to get a last laugh than to get George and I say nice things about him to a national audience,” Mr. Obama joked, to laughter. “But for all our differences, for all the time we sparred, I never tried to hide – and I think John came to understand – the longstanding admiration that I had for him.”
Mr. Obama discussed McCain’s commitment to service, and how that inspired others to be better.
“He did understand that some principles transcend politics, that some values transcend party,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Obama also gave an implicit rebuke to Mr. Trump, who has been criticized for his breaking of political norms, saying that McCain understood that “those institutions, those rules, those norms are what bind us together.”
Mr. Obama said McCain held the belief that citizenship was “based not on our bloodline, not what we look like or what our last names are, or where our parents and grandparents came from, or how recently they arrived.” He also referred to when McCain defended him during the 2008 campaign. “He saw himself as defending America’s character, not just mine,” Mr. Obama said.
He discussed unpublicized private meetings he and McCain would occasionally have at the White House during Mr. Obama’s presidency.
“Our disagreements didn’t go away during these private conversations. Those were real and they were often deep. But we enjoyed the time we shared away from the bright lights, and we laughed with each other, and we learned from each other,” Mr. Obama said. “We never doubted we were on the same team.”
Mr. Obama compared McCain to Teddy Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” speech, describing a man who always fought to be and do better.
“So much of life, our public life, our public discourse, can seem small, and mean, and petty,” Mr. Obama said in another veiled criticism of the Trump administration. “It’s a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born in fear. John called on us to be bigger than that.”
“May God bless John McCain. May God bless this country he served so well,” Mr. Obama said at the close of his speech. Like Mr. Bush, he was embraced by Cindy McCain at the end of his tribute.
Former President George W. Bush spoke at McCain’s funeral after a performance of “Amazing Grace” by the United States Naval Academy Glee Club. Mr. Bush famously defeated McCain in the Republican primaries in the 2000 election.
“Some lives are so vivid, it’s difficult to imagine them ended,” Mr. Bush said about McCain. “His absence is tangible like the silence after a mighty roar.”
Mr. Bush alluded to his former rivalry with McCain.
“Back in the day, he could frustrate me. And I know he’d say the same about me. But he made me better,” Mr. Bush said. He said the rivalry melted into friendship.
Mr. Bush also contrasted McCain with current leaders in the country and across the world.
“Perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power. He could not abide bigots and swaggering despots,” Mr. Bush said. “To the face of those in authority, John McCain would insist ‘we are better than this. America is better than this.’”
“The world is smaller for his departure,” Mr. Bush said, adding that America will remember him as “unwavering, undimmed, unequaled.”
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger spoke at McCain’s funeral, offering the late senator up as a paragon of how America should conduct its foreign affairs.
“Our country has had the good fortune that at times of national trial a few great personalities have emerged,” Kissinger said. “John McCain was one of those gifts of destiny.”
Kissinger is a controversial figure who was critical in shaping America’s foreign policy in the Vietnam War during the Nixon administration.
“He was an engaged warrior, fighting for his causes with ebullience, with courage, and with humility,” Kissinger said at the memorial service. “John was all about hope.”
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, a close friend of McCain, was the second speaker to eulogize McCain. Although Lieberman was a Democrat, and the running mate of Al Gore in 2000, McCain reportedly considered him as a running mate in 2008.
Lieberman decried the “tribal politics” that have “recently characterized our life,” but said that the “last great gift that John McCain gave to America” was reminding Americans of values such as service to one’s nation.
