TIME MACHINE: Herbert Hoover comes home for the last time

CEDAR RAPIDS - Herbert Clark Hoover, 31st President of the United States, died Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1964, at the age of 90. Wishing to be buried in his hometown of West Branch, Hoover had selected the gravesite atop a small hill overlooking the Hoover Memorial Park that contained his library and the cottage where he was born.

The Fifth Army turned the Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport into a command post in the days leading to the funeral. Originally the president's body was to be flown to Iowa City, but that plan was changed late on Oct. 20. Cedar Rapids Police Chief George Matias on Oct. 25 canceled all time off for the city's 111 officers, after meeting with the Fifth Army officers about the arrival of the body and the motorcade.

Six booths were set up as a temporary media room at the airport and space near the airport terminal was full as more than 50 small planes parked there after unloading passengers connected to the funeral. A Boeing 727 triple-jet flew in to be ready to take Sen. Barry Goldwater, who traveled with the Hoover family, to his next presidential campaign appearance.

More than 5,000 people started gathering at the airport about 9 a.m. Oct. 25, to see the funeral planes land.

The first of four planes, a Lockheed C-121 Constellation Columbine carrying the official funeral party, landed at 1:49 p.m. Two more planes landed at one-minute intervals. The C-130 Military Transport Service plane carrying the coffin, the body bearers and color guard touched down at 1:54 p.m. They taxied from the runway to the terminal in funeral cadence.

Iowa's National Guard Band played 'Ruffles and Flourishes” and 'Hail to the Chief,” then began the strains of the hymn 'Fight the Good Fight” as the coffin was carried from the C-130 to the waiting hearse.

West Branch funeral director Gil Barker, well-known as the University of Iowa basketball score keeper, drove the hearse from the airport to West Branch.

An estimated 15,000 people lined the route as the motorcade escorted the body to the burial site. The procession's course was Highway 84 to Highway 218 to Interstate 80 to West Branch. Crowds waited at the Swisher, Cou Falls and Oakdale corners. There even were boats anchored near the Highway 218 bridge over the Coralville Lake. Iowa City residents lined the interstate.

'In many places, cars were lined up bumper to bumper along the side of the road. Their occupants queued up along the road, shoulder-to-shoulder, with cameras at the ready,” The Gazette reported. 'Even on Interstate 80, the ‘no parking' rule was relaxed for the day ... People lined the rails of every overpass.”

At news of the former president's death, preparations began immediately in West Branch to accommodate whatever dignitaries might attend the funeral. A cornfield near Hoover Memorial Park was cut down to serve as a landing area for a possible presidential helicopter. That field became parking space for the thousands who attended. Former President Dwight Eisenhower canceled a 2-day campaign trip to San Antonio on behalf of Goldwater to attend.

Several hours before the service, 3,000 people already were waiting in West Branch. One Army officer pointed to the fields full of cars and said, 'When I first came here Wednesday, corn was growing in that field and that one. I understand they picked far into the night to clear the fields for parking.”

The service at the gravesite, conducted by Hoover's longtime friend and Iowa native Dr. D. Elton Trueblood, was simple, honoring Hoover's Quaker faith. The number of people at the site was estimated at 75,000 to 80,000, a number the Cedar County sheriff based on the number of cars parked in the area. The funeral was planned with military precision, every movement done in funeral cadence, but the customary military salutes were omitted to preserve the Quaker tradition.

Military security guards kept the public at a distance from the burial site, but loudspeakers enabled them to hear the words of the funeral sermon. At the close of the service, a wreath sent by President Lyndon Johnson was placed at the head of the coffin, taps sounded and the flag was folded and presented to Herbert Hoover Jr. The family members, who had declined to sit during the service, returned to their waiting limousines and headed for the airport.

The polished mahogany coffin then was lowered into its vault and a temporary covering of wood and canvas was covered with a mound of white flowers and the presidential wreath. The site remained that way until Lou Henry Hoover was moved from her grave in California and placed beside her husband on Oct. 31.

An Army honor guard took up positions at the four corners and two lines of soldiers moved into place to funnel the public by the grave. A young girl dressed in blue and white slipped through the guards and tossed a bouquet of yellow flowers beneath the wreath, where they remained as people filed by in the dry, dusty autumn grass.

'The day had been clear and warm - in the 70s. The sun shone, and everyone agreed that it had been a perfect day for the ceremony,” concluded The Gazette writer.

Thirty days later, at sunset, a bugler sounded retreat over the grave as the nation's formal period of mourning ended. The six-minute retreat ceremony was attended by about 350 who watched as the military guard raised the flag to full staff on the new 30-foot bronze pole, then lowered it for the night. Within the roped off area were members of the 14-man military contingent from Fort Riley, Kan., who had been on duty all month with the site's seven civilian guards.

When the flag was folded and passed to the civilian guard, the soldiers marched away from the site.