Double Deuce

March 8th marks the first of three dates during the year that saw at least two presidents die on the same date. Unfortunately, this first duo is part of the forgotten list of presidents and as such it’s easy to understand why this important date goes by without mention, even among presidential historians and history buffs. So, who are these two men in question? Let’s begin in 1874, when Millard Fillmore (he was known as a dough face in northern quarters during the early 1850s), last of the Whig presidents and the second acting vice-president to assume the office upon the death of his predecessor, passed away at his home on a Sunday in Buffalo, New York and is at rest in Buffalo’s Forrest Lawn Cemetery. Fifty-six years later, in 1930, William Taft, our first one-term president of the 20th century and also the only president to become a chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, passed away on a Saturday at his home on Wyoming Avenue in Washington, D.C. Of the two, Fillmore’s death was mourned in New York, mainly in Buffalo, but attracted scant national attention in newspapers and, much like with the death of Van Buren in 1862, he was a forgotten man whose former title of President brought little acclaim among the inhabitants of the vast fruited plain. Taft, despite being a well-respected president and former chief executive, was also the recipient of modest mourning; his funeral from beginning to end was around 9 or 10 hours (the viewing along was 6 hours so I’m adding a few more to account for the processions, funeral, and burial). His gravesite in Arlington sits at the end of a long and beautiful walkway, not too far from Kennedy’s gravesite. The number of visitors who pay their respects to Taft pales in comparison to Kennedy’s gravesite and it is usually overlooked by the myriad visitors trekking through the vast cemetery. From my personal experience and numerous visits to Arlington, I’ve never seen a visitor at Taft’s gravesite. (And, while I’m at it, Fillmore certainly doesn’t occupy a high position on presidential gravesites to visit. I may not have numbers to support this assertion, but a gut-hunch tells me his repose is visited by those with checklists and history projects, or, in my case, gathering book research.)

We’ll side-step the awesomeness that is the Founding Fathers triple death anniversary on July 4th and save it for our country’s great patriotic holiday and jump ahead nine months to December 26th to cover the second duo. Beginning in 1972, Harry Truman passed away on a Tuesday at Research Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. As the president who followed in the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt, who made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan to usher the end of World War II, and who miraculously secured his own full term in office, his death was widely covered across the nation and came just one month before the death of Lyndon Johnson. Thirty-four years later on a Tuesday, Gerald Ford passed away at home in Rancho Mirage, California. Coverage on his death began immediately and spanned several days concluding with his internment at his namesake museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Despite Ford not serving a full term, not being elected to a term, and being the first vice-president to assume the office due to a resignation, the coverage was extensive. As for their gravesites-unlike Fillmore and Taft-they serve as the last exhibit (or, in my case, the first) after touring their respective museums. And, also unlike Fillmore and Taft, both Truman and Ford receive a steady stream of visitors. Other than these similarities there’s not much more to wax on about but I will leave one more comment and that is, visit these presidential gravesites, marvel at the beautiful gravesites in Forrest Lawn Cemetery, walk the hallowed grounds of Arlington to see the numerous gravesites and memorials to our great dead, tour the Truman and Ford Museums, and one more thing, take lots of pictures.