MIAMI – President Bush has ordered all U.S. flags flown at half-staff at the White House and other government buildings for former Sen. Strom Thurmond's funeral.
Bush ordered the salute "as a mark of respect for the memory of James Strom Thurmond, the longest serving member and former president pro tempore of the United States Senate," he said Monday in a statement. Thurmond's funeral is Tuesday.
It applies, until sunset, to all public buildings and grounds, as well as military posts, naval stations, naval vessels, U.S. embassies (search), legations, consular offices and other facilities abroad, the White House said.
The longest-serving senator in history when he left the U.S. Senate five months ago, Thurmond was 100 when he died Thursday in Edgefield, S.C. (search) Bush is not going to the funeral, sending Vice President Dick Cheney (search) instead to represent the White House. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also is attending.
Thurmond, who was lying in state in the South Carolina State House on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, was to be buried with full military honors and laid to rest in a family plot.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox