The body of Senator Daniel Inouye, the Hawaiian war hero who was the longest-serving member of the chamber when he died this week at age 88, will lie in state in the US Capitol on Thursday.
Members of the public will be able to pay their final tributes to Inouye, who will be accorded the rare honor in the Capitol Rotunda, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced late Tuesday.
Inouye, a Democrat, died Monday from respiratory problems, ending a remarkable half-century in the US Senate, where he served longer than anyone except Robert Byrd, who died in 2010 after 51 years in the chamber.
As its longest-serving member, Inouye was president pro tempore of the Senate, making him third in line for the presidency after the vice president and speaker of the House.
Inouye, who lost an arm in an act of World War II heroism that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, became a member of Congress on the very day in 1959 that Hawaii was inducted as the nation’s 50th state. He was elected to the Senate in 1962.
“Daniel Inouye’s life of service and sacrifice was dedicated to the preservation of democracy, so it is right and fitting that he will lie in state under one of its most enduring symbols, the Capitol Dome,” Boehner said.
“It will be our honor to join the American people in paying final respects to this great senator and statesman.”
Reid described his friend as “one of the noblest souls this body has ever seen.”
“He was an institution unto himself, and he deserves to spend one more day in this institution to which he dedicated his life’s work,” Reid added.
Inouye, a Japanese American, witnessed the attack on the Hawaii port of Pearl Harbor, and he joined the US Army in part to overcome discrimination and prove his allegiance to the United States.
Only about 30 people have been accorded the honor of laying in state in the Capitol, including presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and most recently Gerald Ford, when he died in 2007.
Byrd lay in repose on the Senate floor after his death in 2010.
Inouye’s funeral service is set for early Friday at Washington National Cathedral. His remains will then be flown to Hawaii for burial.
Senator Inouye's body to be on view at US Capitol
