Why didn't FDR get a state funeral? DU historians help me out

[irisblue]

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/franklin-d-roosevelt-funeral
snip..."
The Ferdinand Magellan train returned the president to Washington on April 14 and his coffin was carried on a caisson in a military procession from Union Station to the White House. At least a 500,000 people watched silently in the hot April sun. The coffin was brought into the East Room where it would remain for about five hours. Hundreds of mourners gathered in the East Room where he lay in state. Thousands more gathered outside along the iron fences. After a simple funeral service the caisson returned to Union Station and the coffin was placed aboard a train to be taken for burial at Hyde Park, New York."

War time is my guess

Wikipedia has a gap in state funerals 1930 WH Taft -1948 J.J.Pershing.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. It was decided before his death they'd forgo a state funeral due to the US being at war...

And they felt the ceremonial display would not look good as G.I.'s were dying overseas.

[hlthe2b]

2. I seem to remember seeing footage from service men all over the world hearing the news--

AND, preceding the famous scene of RFK's last train journey, the people lined up as the train carrying FDR to his final resting place passed. So, yeah, I'm sure it was the wartime sensitivity. Certainly people grieved openly and came out to show their respect.

[PSPS]

5. You're right

More than 1,000 Charlottesville-area residents arrived at the Southern Railway Station before dawn on April 14, 1945, to catch a glimpse of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s casket.

[dawg day]

3. there was a war going on--

FDR wouldn't care for a bunch of pomp at that point.

[Srkdqltr]

4. FDR died in 1945 very late in the war.

A lot of things were rationed by this time , gas and tires mostly, for everyday folks. I assume they didn't want to be seen using resources for his funeral.

[Aristus]

6. I don't think any state funeral could equal the impact of that poor Navy petty officer

at Warm Springs, playing the accordian and weeping at the departure of the train bearing FDR's body.

Just overwhelming.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. His name was Graham Jackson Sr. and he was a close friend of the Roosevelts. He was a gifted

musician and became nationally known throughout his career.

[Aristus]

8. I first saw that pic in a collection of photos from LIFE magazine when I was six or so.

Never knew the man's name or his exact relationship with FDR.

Thank you. It's so good to finally know that.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. I, too, saw it for the first time in a "best of" book of LIFE photos. It's interesting to me that

the image is so iconic, but for years I carried an association of race relations with that photo -- "Oh, even this unknown black military guy loved FDR!" Knowing they were close friends who collaborated on creative projects changes the photo for me. He's mourning a friend, not necessarily the president, but the photo was presented to me as "mourning the president."

[irisblue]

10. Who I was thinking of as I researched, briefly.

Iconic image.

[Dennis Donovan]

11. War time, per wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_funerals_in_the_United_States#History_of_presidential_state_funerals

Due to active military participation of the United States in World War II, it was decided ahead of time that Franklin D. Roosevelt, who experienced a progressive deterioration of his health due to heart disease, would not be given a state funeral as any public display of ceremonial pomp undertaken in Washington, D.C. during a time of war was deemed inappropriate while American G.I.'s were dying overseas. After Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, his remains were taken from his presidential retreat, the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, and sent back to the White House to lie in repose in the East Room. A private funeral service was conducted in the East Room where only family members, close friends, high government officials, members of both chambers of the Congress, and heads of foreign missions attended. There was no lying in state in the Capitol rotunda. However, flags were lowered to half-staff at the White House and the Capitol, an honor that had last gone to Harding in 1923. After private funeral services were held in Washington D.C., Roosevelt's remains were transported on a funeral train to his Hyde Park, New York residence, Springwood Estate, for interment.

[Generic Other]

12. FDR had bigger crowds at his funeral

than Trump had at his Inauguration.