Death and state funeral of Richard Nixon

On April 22, 1994, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, died after having a stroke four days earlier, at the age of 81. His state^[1] funeral followed five days later at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in his hometown of Yorba Linda, California. His death was the first Presidential death in 21 years, since President Lyndon B. Johnson's death in 1973.^[2]

Presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford at the funeral

Nixon's funeral service

Background

His body was flown to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Orange County, California, via SAM 27000, the presidential plane used as Air Force One while Nixon was in office.^[3] His body was transported to the Nixon Library and laid in repose. A public memorial service was held on April 27, with world leaders from 85 countries and all five living Presidents of the United States, the first time that five U.S. presidents attended the funeral of another president.

Nixon's state funeral is unique among recent presidential state funerals in that he wanted his funeral not to be held in Washington, D.C..^[4][5]

Nixon's wife, Pat, had died ten months earlier on June 22, 1993.