SMPD represented in presidential motorcade
Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. is one of 800 people invited to attend the private burial of Ronald Reagan today at the grounds of his presidential library in Simi Valley.
Butts will join world leaders, President George W. Bush, and a host of international and national dignitaries at the last ceremony of a week-long farewell for the 40th president of the United States.
Reagan, who died Saturday at his home in Bel Air, will be buried during a sunset ceremony beginning at 6:15 p.m. today.
Butts said he received a fax this week inviting him to the final ceremony.
“Given the limited number of people that can attend, I was very surprised,” Butts said. “This will be a highlight.”
Butts rode in the procession when Reagan’s body was brought to Gates Kingsley & Gates Moeller-Murphy in Santa Monica last Saturday. The SMPD worked side by side with the Secret Service and the CIA to guard the funeral home and the Reagan family while they were there. The SMPD also was in charge of controlling the scene at the funeral home, located at 20th Street and Arizona Avenue. The news event attracted thousands of people over the two days Reagan’s body was there.
“I feel the family and the family’s spokesperson were appreciative of what we did here,” Butts said. “They were extremely grateful.”
Butts said he is honored to be part of the final farewell of a man he respected. Butts met Reagan in 1992 when the president gave Butts a plaque recognizing his protective detail work. Over the years, Butts has worked with Reagan’s secret service agents.
“I’ve had very long relationship with the people who provide protection to the president,” he said.
Butts also accompanied the Reagan family to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Monday, making the SMPD the only marked police vehicle in the procession. Butts added the service held in Simi Valley that day made him cry.
“When they removed the casket and played ‘Hail to the Chief,’it brought a tear to my eye,” he said.
Thousands of people have viewed Reagan’s casket since he left Santa Monica on Monday. He was brought to Simi Valley, where a private ceremony was held at the library. His body sat in repose in the library’s main lobby for the public to pay respects. On Wednesday, Reagan’s body was flown to Washington D.C., where a formal funeral ceremony was held. He then lied in repose in the Rotunda in the U.S. Capitol through Thursday. He will make his final return to California today.
President Bush returned from the Group of Eight meeting of industrial nations in Georgia on Thursday and, with his wife, Laura, called on Mrs. Reagan and visited the casket. Bush and his father, who was Reagan’s vice president and succeeded him in the White House, will be among the eulogists during today’s service.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 11, 2004. Read the original PDF.