PRIVATE MASS IN THE EAST ROOM
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 23, 1963, the body of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, arrived at the White House.
The flag-draped coffin, borne by an honor guard representing the major branches of the military, was placed in the East Room where President Abraham Lincoln's coffin rested almost a century before.
Following the First Lady's request, the East Room was decorated in black crepe and her husband's coffin was put on the same catafalque used for President Lincoln in 1865.
At 10 o'clock Washington time, a private mass was held for the President's family and close friends at the White House. Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer* describes the scene...
"The family, half a dozen friends...presidential aides and...members of the White House staff gathered for a private mass. The altar and...rows of chairs were moved. Near the coffin, they knelt on the hard oak floor. As friends left, Mrs. Kennedy stood in the hall and thanked each one for coming."
*Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer was a columnist for the Washington Post. She served as war correspondent in the Balkans. MVRT was born in Southampton, Long Island & grew up in NYC.
SOURCES
"Jacqueline Kennedy, The White House Years", by Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Little Brown and Company, Boston 1967.
JFK's Flag-Draped Casket
The White House
Photo by Cecil Stoughton
November 23, 1963
