On Thursday, three ex-presidents came together in Atlanta to pay a resounding, inspiring and at times defiant tribute to John Lewis, the Civil Rights leader who died July 17 at the age of 80, while the current president stayed back in Washington, making his usual mischief.
The eulogy was delivered by Barack Obama, who spent roughly 40 minutes extolling the man whom he called “a founding father of that fuller, fairer, better America” and challenging the rest of the nation to continue fighting for the social justice that was Lewis’s life work. He was preceded by Bill Clinton, president from 1993-2001 and George W. Bush, president from 2001-2009, who each mixed personal memories with reflections on the impact that Lewis had made to Black America and the country as a whole.
