Thread by @ChadPergram

1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) lying in state

The Capitol Rotunda is the most hallowed space in the American political experience.

It’s home to one of the most solemn traditions in US democracy.

2) The late Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda today. He’s just the 33rd eminent American citizen to do so.

3) Other prominent figures include President Gerald Ford, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, President Lyndon Johnson, President George H.W. Bush, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI).

4) House Speaker Henry Clay was the first American figure to lie in state in the Rotunda in 1852.

5) A military honor guard will escort Dole’s flag-draped casket up the 34 steps on the East Front of the Capitol and into the Rotunda for a ceremony with President Biden and Congressional leaders.

6) Dole’s casket will rest atop the catafalque, a crude, wooden platform built for President Lincoln’s funeral. It is only brought out of storage for state funerals.

The honor guard will stand vigil throughout the night over Dole’s casket.

7) The public will not be allowed into the Capitol to circulate past the casket to pay their respects due to the pandemic. Such was the case last year when Lewis lay in state.

Lewis was the last American to lie in state. But not the last to be honored in the Capitol Rotunda.

8) In February and April of this year, late US Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Billy Evans lay in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Lying in honor is similar to lying in state - but one step below.

9) The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the last person to lie in state in the Capitol. However, Ginsburg’s service was not in the Rotunda. It was in Statuary Hall.

Including Dole, a grand total of 35 persons will have lain in state overall inside the Capitol.