Mike Pence and Joe Biden pay their respects to Rep John Lewis at the Capitol as the civil rights icon becomes first black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda while guard of honor collapses in 96 degree heat
Vice President Mike Pence and presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden paid their respects to Rep. John Lewis at the Capitol in Washington DC on Monday as the famous civil rights activist became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state beneath the Rotunda.
Lewis died on July 17, aged 80 - the last surviving member of the Big Six, who together organized the 1963 March on Washington.
He was among the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South in 1961 to challenge segregation in public transportation.
The riders were attacked and beaten, and one of their buses was firebombed. But the rides changed the way people traveled, and set the stage for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
From Monday, Lewis will lie in state in the Capitol - the first black politician to receive one of the highest of American honors.
Donald Trump, asked on Monday if he would be attending, replied: 'I won't be going. No.'
A member of the honor guard fainted in the 96 degree heat on Monday afternoon while waiting for the hearse outside the Capitol. The guard was revived at the scene but was taken for medical treatment, meaning the coffin had one fewer pallbearers than intended.
Vice President Mike Pecnce and his wife, Karen Pence, visited the U.S. Capitol's east steps on Monday to pay their respects to John Lewis after his casket was moved outside the Rotunda
Mike Pence's appearance at the Capitol comes after President Donald Trump said he would not be visiting the Rotunda to view Lewis' casket
Mike and Karen Pence were joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson (right) while viewing John Lewis' casket
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were among the final visitors to approach John Lewis' casket on Monday
Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden with his wife Dr Jill Biden, touches the flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a key figure in the civil rights movement and a 17-term congressman from Georgia, as he lies in state, at the US Capitol Rotunda, in Washington, DC
The Bidens, both wearing black face masks, briefly spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (far left) in the Capitol beneath the rotunda ahead of a public viewing Monday evening
Both Joe and Jill Biden placed a hand over their hearts and stood next to John Lewis' casket in silence for several seconds as they paid their respects to the civil rights activist and politician
Pelosi blows a kiss toward the casket of Congressman John Lewis (D- GA) in the Rotunda as the Senate and House leaders paid their respects together, from left to right: Rep. James Clyburn, Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Chuck Schumer, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Steve Scalise
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (left) and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (right), pay their respects at the casket of civil rights pioneer and longtime U.S. Representative John Lewis
Lewis's motorcade passing through Black Lives Matter Plaza, in Washington DC. The site was renamed earlier this summer
Pictured: People pay their respects to Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) as his flag-draped casket sits at the top of the U.S. Capitol East Front Steps
A pallbearer, dressed in the white of the Navy, collapsed in the heat on Monday as he waited for the hearse
The man was aided by other officers, who rushed to check that he was not badly hurt
Lewis's body will lie beneath the dome of the Rotunda, before the commemorations are moved outside, for public safety.
A third wreath from the Executive Branch was added to the Rotuda as a sign of respect to Lewis.
Last year Elijah Cummings, another civil rights advocate, became the first black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol, though he was honored in Statuary Hall, not in the Rotunda, where presidents and other statesmen have lain.
The site is reserved for the nation's most revered figures, most recently including President George Bush and Senator John McCain.
Rosa Parks, the civil rights pioneer, lay in honor there in 2005, receiving the highest honor afforded to a private citizen.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, around 7:30pm arrived to the East Front Steps of the Capitol to recognize the long-lasting legacy Lewis left behind.
They were joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, but not President Trump.
At 5:30pm, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi escorted Joe and Jill Biden to the Rotunda to honor the late congressman.
The Bides approached the catafalque, where they bowed their heads in tribute and paced around the casket.
U.S. Capitol Police place the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis at the top of the East Front Steps in Washington D.C. on Monday evening
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (far right) wave to people gathered to see the flag-draped casket of US congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis
Men hold hands as people gather to see the flag-draped casket of US congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, guarded by a joint services military honor guard outside the US Capitol
During the 10 minutes that the Bidens stayed in the Rotunda, Biden reached out to touch the American flag-covered casket before both he and Jill made the sign of the cross.
Biden briefly spoke to Pelosi throughout his visit and touched Lewis' casket one more time before leaving the Capitol.
Biden and Lewis became friends over their two decades on Capitol Hill together and Biden´s two terms as vice president to Barack Obama, the nation's first black president who awarded Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Lewis endorsed Biden and actively supported the former vice president during the final weeks of his life.
'It is my belief that we need Joe Biden now more than ever before,' said Lewis in April. 'We need his voice. We need his leadership now more than ever before.
'We need someone who is going to get our country on the right side of history and help save our planet.'
The Bidens were followed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Secretary Mark Esper some minutes later. They circled the casket and bowed their heads in silent tribute.
This appeared to be the Pence's first visit to pay respects to Lewis as several staffers and congress members did so throughout the day
Pictured: U.S. Capitol Police officers salute the casket of civil rights pioneer and longtime U.S. Representative John Lewis on Monday
Family members watched as the seven pallbearers carried the coffin in to the Capitol for the historic service to begin
When the hearse arrived, the remaining seven pallbearers retrieved the coffin, maintaining their planned positions
A visibly emotional Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pays her respects to John Lewis after the ceremony on Monday afternoon
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pay their respects at the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus pay their respects as Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) lies in state
Each military leader saluted the Lewis' casket one-by-one before exiting the Rotunda.
Former members of Congress and their spouses, as well as staff members also arrived to the Rotunda.
Board members from the Faith & Politics Institute, of which Lewis was once the board's co-chair, arrived around 6pm to lay their hands on the casket and pray.
The Faith & Politics Institute helped organize the annual congressional trips to Selma and Montgomery, two key cities in the Civil Rights Movement.
Additionally, Congressowoman Karen Bass of California visited the Rotunda twice on Monday and made her final viewing just after 6pm.
Members of the public can pay their respects in Washington DC from 6pm on Monday until 10pm on Tuesday.
On Wednesday the commemorations move to Atlanta, where Lewis lived. He served as a representative for the city for 17 consecutive terms, from 1986.
Earlier Lewis's body was pictured arriving in Washington DC, ahead of his lying in state beneath the Rotunda of the Capitol
The flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-GA, is carried by a joint services military honor guard, as he arrives to lie in state
The member of the honor guard fainted in the 96 degree heat as he waited for Lewis's convoy to arrive
Lewis' flag-draped coffin is carried into the Capitol
Lewis's flag-draped coffin was carried out by members of a joint services military honor guard in Washington DC on Monday
People gather to see the flag-draped casket of US congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, guarded by a joint services military honor guard outside the US Capitol
Lewis was the last surviving member of the Big Six, who organized the 1963 March on Washington
He will be brought to the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Ceremonies will conclude on Thursday, with a private funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta - a church with strong ties to the civil rights movement.
The commemorations began in Alabama on Saturday, in the town of Troy where he was born - the third of 10 children born to sharecroppers.
Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who is Senate majority leader, pays tribute to Democrat Congressman John Lewis
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus reach in and touch the casket of civil rights pioneer and longtime U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA)
US Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pays her respects as the body of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) lies in state during a ceremony inside of the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 27
Rev. Wintley Phipps sings during a memorial service for Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday, in the Rotunda
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) pays her respects as the Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) lies in state
Congressman Juan Carlos Vargas (D-CA) kneels before the casket as he pays his respects to the Rep. John Lewis
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., touches the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday
At a service on Saturday in an arena at Troy University in Alabama, the state of his birth, his surviving siblings and others paid tribute.
His sister, Ethel Mae Tyner, recalled the days long ago when family members worked together in the cotton fields near Troy and storm clouds would pass over. Young John Lewis was fearful of storms but would not budge.
'He would start singing - and preaching. He always was a fighter,' she said.
His brother, Samuel Lewis, said that Lewis's famous idea of 'good trouble' began young.
'I remember the day that John left home,' he said.
'Mother told him not to get in trouble, not to get in the way... but we all know that John got in trouble, got in the way but it was good trouble.
A hearse carrying the flag-draped casket with the body of Lewis stops in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Lewis's funeral cortege was surrounded by outriders and well-wishers lined the route to the Capitol
The 80-year-old announced in December that he was suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer
The motorcade is seen heading towards the Capitol in Washington DC, for an invitation-only ceremony
'And the troubles that he got himself into would change the world.'
Seven-year-old Jaxson Lewis Brewster, John Lewis' young great-nephew, said: 'John Lewis was my uncle and my hero, and it is up to us to keep his legacy alive.'
While attending segregated schools in Alabama, Lewis was inspired by the peaceful protests of rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and he eventually rose to join their ranks.
After the ceremony Saturday in Troy, commemorations moved to Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama for a private remembrance followed by a public viewing.
Lewis is pictured with the Obamas in March 2015, on the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march
Lewis following his arrest in Mississippi in May 1961 for using a restroom reserved for white people during the Freedom Ride
Lewis, photographed in his office in Washington DC in 2009, was known as the 'conscience of Congress'
Nancy Pelosi is pictured arriving at the Capitol, ahead of Lewis's memorial service. Donald Trump is not expected to attend
Pelosi looks over the steps of the Capitol where the flag-draped casket of the Lewis will arrive
Monday's tributes inside the Capitol will be invitation-only, and held beneath the Rotunda.
The Rev. Grainger Browning Jr. of Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, will give the invocation, followed by remarks from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader.
There will be a presentation of wreaths by Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader; Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader; Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader; and Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina.
The vocal artist Wintley Phipps will sing the Christian hymns Amazing Grace and It Is Well.
Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina and the majority whip, will give the benediction.
Trump is not expected to attend.
After the ceremony, from 6pm on Monday members of the public will be able to line up in a socially distanced way to see him lying in state from the plaza below.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., (center) is escorted into a mass meeting at Fish University in Nashville. His colleagues are, left to right, John Lewis, national chairman of the Student Non-Violent Committee and Lester McKinnie, on of the leaders in the racial demonstrations in Nashville.
A program is seen on a seat inside of the Capitol Rotunda prior to a service honoring Lewis, on Monday afternoon
A man waits alone, sitting with a box of tissues, prior to the memorial service in the Rotunda - where Rosa Parks was honored
Notably absent from the ceremonies was Trump, who publicly jousted with Lewis.
Lewis once called Trump an an illegitimate president and chided him for stoking racial discord. Trump countered by calling Lewis's Atlanta congressional district 'crime-infested.'
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Reps. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Karen Bass of California, were seen sporting 'Good Trouble' face masks, a nod to one of Lewis's favorite pieces of advice.
'Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic,' Lewis tweeted in 2018.
'Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.'
Just ahead of the ceremonies Monday, the House passed a bill to establish a new federal commission to study conditions that affect black men and boys.
At that moment, the motorcade was passing along the newly-named Black Lives Matter Plaza.
The hearse carrying moves along a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington
Crowds gathered along the route of the cortege, as it passed through central Washington DC
A bystander was heard playing the hymn Amazing Grace on the harmonica.
While at Black Lives Matter Plaza, members of Lewis's family were presented with commemorative signs.
The street was renamed by Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, at the beginning of June.
Bowser renamed the street in front of the White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza' and had the slogan painted on the asphalt in massive yellow letters.
City officials said the actions were meant to honor demonstrators who are urging changes in law enforcement practices after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Trump sparked anger by clearing demonstrators with tear gas and pellets to make way for him to stage a photo op in front of the White House.
'There was a dispute this week about whose street it is, and Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear whose street it is and honor the peaceful demonstrators who assembled,' said John Falcicchio, the mayor's chief of staff.
Bowser presented a Black Lives Matter Plaza street sign to a representative of the family of John Lewis
A large crowd greeted the cortege as it made its way along Black Lives Matter Plaza, near the White House
As the motorcade drew up the the Capitol, one member of the military honor guard fainted in the head.
The man collapsed, and then was swiftly taken from the scene before the hearse arrived.
There was one man missing as the coffin was carried up the steps and in to the Capitol building.
Inside the Capitol Rotunda, members of the House and Senate and other invited guests sat six feet apart in concentric circles.
The honor guard carried Lewis' casket to the center of the rotunda and, with bowed heads, placed it on the catafalque constructed in 1865 to support Abraham Lincoln's casket.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed Lewis as 'a titan of the civil rights movement and then the conscience of the United States Congress.'
She continued: 'John was revered and loved on both side of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol.
'We knew that he always worked on the side of the angels. And now we know that he is with them.'
Referring to Lewis' civil rights fight, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, 'John Lewis lived and worked with urgency because the task was urgent.'
He added: 'History only bent toward what's right because people like John paid the price,' referencing Martin Luther King's famous saying.
McConnell addressing the gathering on Monday afternoon, with Pelosi pictured sitting to his right
A wreath is placed inside the Rotunda, to celebrate the life of John Lewis
Rep. Cedrick Richmond (D-LA) reads a program inside of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda prior to the memorial service
When the ceremony ended, the House and Senate sergeants at arms coordinated a receiving line in which the VIP crowd could pay their final respects to Lewis, beginning with his son - John-Miles Lewis - standing before his father's coffin.
The rest of the Lewis family, accompanied by his longtime chief of staff, Michael Collins, then circled the casket and said goodbye.
Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who represents South Carolina, said the service was incredibly moving.
'It was a beautiful ceremony,' he told CNN.
'Just a life well lived. You know, the quintessential Matthew 25:21 - "Well done my good and faithful servant."
'He sacrificed so much for people that he had never met to make this country strive towards a more perfect Union. And it's a hero's farewell and earned, deserved in every way.'
Scott said that Lewis had reached out to him when he first entered politics.
'He was the first person - one of the first individuals - to invite me to the office and share with me his experience. And that really helped me to understand what I was walking into and, frankly what I would be forced in the future.
'As an African American Republican, I was probably going to have some hard times.
'And he reminded me before I even knew I needed to know it, to never grow bitter. No matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, no matter the challenges, never grow bitter.'
'And always believe that love will come to favor.'
Lewis's coffin rested on a catafalque constructed in 1865 to support Abraham Lincoln's casket
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus wore face masks printed with Lewis's slogan: 'Good trouble'
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (L) and Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina (R) stand at the casket
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus saying their final goodbyes to John Lewis
After Lewis’ family exited the Rotunda, the next group led up to the catafalque to pay their respects consisted of members of the U.S. Senate. They stood quietly in a circle.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the sign of the cross as she stood with members of the Congressional Black Caucus around Lewis’ casket.
Most of them leaned in to touch the flag that drapes the caskets. A few saluted.
After all the members of Congress who were guests at the ceremony paid their respects, a group of staff members, including several people who worked for Lewis, surrounded the casket.
They stood around the casket for a prolonged period of time, wiping tears and consoling one another. One woman sobbed as she walked out of the rotunda.
After the invited guests had all exited, members of the House were escorted in small groups to the Rotunda.
When the room was nearly empty, Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican representing Utah, walked alone to the casket. He held his hand over his heart and bowed his head.
He then walked in a circle around the catafalque, his eyes on the casket the entire time.
He stopped and bowed his head again before exiting the Rotunda.
Mitt Romney paying his respects to John Lewis on Monday afternoon
