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McCain's Final Farewell

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The body of Senator John McCain is now buried on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy from which he graduated as a young man. NPR's Shannon Van Sant reports.

SHANNON VAN SANT, BYLINE: Yesterday's burial for McCain followed a week of observances in Arizona and Washington, D.C. McCain became the 31st American to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol en route to a Saturday memorial service where official Washington and McCain's family paid tributes. His daughter, Meghan, gave a powerful eulogy that did not name President Trump but seemed to be aimed at him.

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MEGHAN MCCAIN: The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.

(APPLAUSE)

VAN SANT: Senator McCain had asked two of his former political rivals to speak, Barack Obama and George W. Bush. They urged the nation to rise above partisanship and division.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BARACK OBAMA: It's a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GEORGE W BUSH: John's voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder, we are better than this, America is better than this.

VAN SANT: As McCain's coffin made its way to Annapolis on Sunday, mourners waved American flags and cheered the procession. The memorial there was private. Among the speakers were Sen. Lindsey Graham and McCain's son, Jack, bidding farewell to an American hero who was laid to rest at the place where his life of public service began. Shannon Van Sant, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.