politics
Analysis: Why presidents stumble in this most solemn task
After ordering US troops to execute a regime change in Panama in 1989, President George H.W. Bush held a press conference at the precise moment the first US casualties were arriving on US soil.
TL;DR
- President George H.W. Bush held a press conference during the arrival of first US casualties from the Panama invasion.
- President Carter attended the arrival of remains from a failed Iran hostage rescue and eulogized the fallen.
- President Reagan attended the arrival of Marines killed in Beirut, an event later overshadowed by the Iran-Contra affair.
- George H.W. Bush's administration instituted a ban on media coverage of dignified transfers during the first Gulf War, a policy expanded by George W. Bush.
- President Obama's Pentagon allowed media coverage of dignified transfers with family permission and he began attending these events.
- President Biden faced criticism for checking his watch during a dignified transfer of service members killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
- Donald Trump has attended dignified transfers and criticized Biden's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
- Trump has faced accusations from former Chief of Staff John Kelly of making disparaging remarks about fallen soldiers.