South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died this month at 71, is remembered July 28 at a funeral at Washington National Cathedral, as seen in the cathedral’s livestream.
[Episcopal News Service] President Donald Trump paid tribute to the late-South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 28 at a funeral service held at Washington National Cathedral. A long list of other conservative leaders and global dignitaries, from Fox News host Sean Hannity to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, joined in honoring Graham, who died July 11 at 71.
“Today, we gather in the deepest gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend, a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate, a true American original who left us much too soon,” Trump said. “And that can only be the one and only Lindsey Graham.”
The Episcopal cathedral in Washington, D.C., has a long tradition of hosting funerals for U.S. presidents and other prominent political figures as part of its founding vision, authorized by congressional charter in 1893, as “a sacred home for all Americans in the nation’s capital.” Past presidential funerals have included services for Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and, most recently, Jimmy Carter in January 2025.
Other American leaders honored with funerals at Washington National Cathedral in recent years have included Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Arizona Sen. John McCain and, in November 2025, Vice President Dick Cheney.
Graham was a Southern Baptist who never married and had no children. He had served his native South Carolina in the Senate since 2003 and previously served in the House of Representatives. At the time of his death, from an aortic tear caused by cardiovascular disease, he had just returned from a trip to Ukraine in support of Ukraine’s military efforts against Russia.
“We bid farewell to a man much beloved by many,” the Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, Washington National Cathedral’s dean, said in brief welcoming remarks. “Lindsey Graham was a man of faith, a longtime public servant who devoted his life to his country and to his cherished South Carolina.
“His untimely death leaves a void in both places, and we gather this afternoon to honor his life and commend his soul to God in firm and abiding faith that he now rests in the life hereafter.”
The service leaflet is available here, and video of the service can be viewed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel.
President Donald Trump eulogizes South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 28 at Washington National Cathedral. Photo: Associated Press
Other eulogies were given by Hannity and Emillie Boggs Roberts, Graham’s niece. Passages from Scripture were read by Tony Perkins, president of the conservative policy organization Family Research Council; Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Franklin Graham, president of the evangelical relief organization Samaritan’s Purse.
Others reported to be in attendance included Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, former Vice President Mike Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump, in his tribute, called Graham a “fixture of American politics at the highest level and a force to be reckoned with all over the world.”
“He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself just gave out,” Trump said. “There can be no doubt that he lived absolutely to the fullest. He died doing the work he was born to do. He was truly a great politician serving the country he loved to serve so deeply.”
Earlier in the day, Graham was honored in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. A funeral service in South Carolina is planned July 29 at First Baptist Church of Columbia, followed by a private burial.
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.