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Speaking

by Tom Morrow

Who’s Buried in Grant’s Tomb?

just a few feet from his brother, Robert F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. Up a gentle sloping hill from the Kennedys is the mansion of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, whose plantation Arlington Cemetery is sited. (That’s a story for another time).

Of those I visited there were “libraries” at four sites: Reagan, Eisenhower, Ford, Truman filled with historic papers and artifacts, all open to the public.

In the year 2000, historians Richard Norton Smith and Douglas Brinkley compiled a book, “Who’s Buried in Grant’s Tomb?” With the help of Brian Lamb and his CSpan staff, the book lists the locations of each presidential gravesite. Among their notes are the “final words” of many presidents before they passed. Here are some of the more interesting comments:

Thomas Jefferson uttered as he lay dying: “Is it the fourth?”

Hours apart on the same day, July 4, 1826, John Adams laid on his deathbed saying, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”

President Ulysses S. Grant

It began in the early 1950s on the “You Bet Your Life” radio program starring the late great Groucho Marx. By the end of the program if the contestants hadn’t won any money, Groucho would ask as a final question, “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Surprisingly a good many didn’t know the answer, losing out on fifty bucks.

Locating and visiting the various gravesites is an interesting, educational and fun thing to do. Such an activity is not only rewarding but when you take along your children and grandchildren it gives you a feeling of not only being a part of our nation’s history but a realization each grave represents a man who rose to our highest political position from being an ordinary citizen like the rest of us.

I’ve had the honor of visiting and paying homage to seven presidential gravesites: Ronald Reagan, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy. All of these men lived, served, and died during my lifetime. I voted in six of the elections that resulted in their presidency. All Gravesites are impressive, but President Reagan’s in Simi Valley, Calif., is at the top of my list. The simplest site: President Kennedy’s Kennedy lies with an eternal flame

The ironic point of history is their two deaths mark the day which was the 50th anniversary of our nation’s birth. Adams and Jefferson were the two key figures that pushed through the Declaration of Independence. In spite of some bitter conflicts, they ended their lives as good friends. Adams was aged 90 and Jefferson was 83, exactly 50 years to the day.

As James Madison lay dying, he said “Tiz nothing more than a change of mind.”

Andrew Jackson, who is buried at his beloved Hermitage plantation near Nashville, Tenn., said: We shall all meet in heaven.”

Martin Van Buren: “There is but one reliance.”

While he was only president for 30 days, William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia from a down pouring rainstorm while giving a long-winded inaugural speech. As a result, our ninth president had the most to say at his end. Harrison uttered, “I wish you to understand the true principles of government. I wish them carried out. I ask for nothing more.” You could say President Harrison died from talking too much.

President John Tyler on his death bed: “Perhaps it is best.”

James K. Polk: “II love you, Sarah, for all eternity, I love you.”