We've already established that proper salute protocol is not always followed. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, all while in civilian clothes, rendered salutes. Reagan is often credited with starting the trend, BUT there's evidence of Eisenhower doing it, perhaps this has something to do with my questions and theories about the military flags in the Oval Office... Ike started that too.
Truman and FDR most typically removed their hats and put them over their hearts. Very hard to find photos of either rendering salutes, but I did find a few. In addition to a playful returned salute to a child, there's another instance from Truman and one from FDR... granted, we assume the men in the photos are the real people, and it's not a hypothetical double making an oopsie a la Inglorious Basterds.
Interestingly starting with Truman, all future presidents until Obama and then Trump, had some type of prior military service. Also keep in mind, a former POTUS isn't exactly your typical civilian... he's a retired CiC, still gets secret service detail and state protection. Also the question over Executive Privilege has been talked about recently re: Trump and Obama... granted, constitutionally speaking, privilege only applies to matters WHILE in office.
So point is that protocol alone, tradition alone, doesn't exactly mean anything. Trump could have been breaking protocol. The salute could have been nothing. But it also could have meant everything. The scene was clearly set up, focused on and promoted with obvious purpose. Remember the scene of Bob Dole standing and saluting HW Bush at his funeral? That was turned into media gold. And who could ever forget arguably the most memorable salute in US History?
Speaking of salutes...
We've already established that proper salute protocol is not always followed. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, all while in civilian clothes, rendered salutes. Reagan is often credited with starting the trend, BUT there's evidence of Eisenhower doing it, perhaps this has something to do with my questions and theories about the military flags in the Oval Office... Ike started that too.
Truman and FDR most typically removed their hats and put them over their hearts. Very hard to find photos of either rendering salutes, but I did find a few. In addition to a playful returned salute to a child, there's another instance from Truman and one from FDR... granted, we assume the men in the photos are the real people, and it's not a hypothetical double making an oopsie a la Inglorious Basterds.
Interestingly starting with Truman, all future presidents until Obama and then Trump, had some type of prior military service. Also keep in mind, a former POTUS isn't exactly your typical civilian... he's a retired CiC, still gets secret service detail and state protection. Also the question over Executive Privilege has been talked about recently re: Trump and Obama... granted, constitutionally speaking, privilege only applies to matters WHILE in office.
So point is that protocol alone, tradition alone, doesn't exactly mean anything. Trump could have been breaking protocol. The salute could have been nothing. But it also could have meant everything. The scene was clearly set up, focused on and promoted with obvious purpose. Remember the scene of Bob Dole standing and saluting HW Bush at his funeral? That was turned into media gold. And who could ever forget arguably the most memorable salute in US History?