Which US presidents have issued national mourning proclamations for non-political figures?

1. What counts as a “national day of mourning” — and who decides?

A national day of mourning is a presidential declaration that commonly accompanies funerals of presidents but has been used for other events; the sitting president issues a proclamation that can close federal agencies, order flags at half-staff and call for public observance ^{[2] [3]}. There are no formal, fixed criteria for when a president should declare such a day, according to scholars cited in reporting: “There are no official criteria,” one academic told Newsday while describing the practice’s history ^[1].

2. Presidents who declared mourning for people beyond sitting or former presidents

Reporting identifies several modern instances where presidents declared a national day of mourning for non-presidential, nationally significant deaths: Lyndon B. Johnson issued national mourning proclamations in 1968 for civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and for Senator Robert F. Kennedy; George W. Bush declared a national day of mourning after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ^[1]. These examples show the instrument’s flexibility: it has been used for assassinations and national tragedies as well as for presidents ^[1].

3. Recent pattern: presidents, funerals and federal closures

It is now routine that the death of a president prompts a proclamation and an observance tied to the funeral — President Biden’s proclamation for former President Jimmy Carter, which designated Jan. 9, 2025, as a National Day of Mourning and ordered federal departments closed that day, follows that modern pattern ^{[3] [4]}. Contemporary news coverage frames these proclamations as part of established rituals that include lying in state, federal closures, and 30 days of flags at half-staff in some cases ^{[2] [4]}.

4. The gray area: “non-political figures” and inconsistent practice

Sources emphasize inconsistency. Hofstra’s overview notes that presidents have sometimes used national mourning for incidents “besides the death of a president” but that practice is sporadic and not governed by codified rules ^[1]. The term “non-political” needs unpacking: Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil-rights leader with profound political impact; 9/11 victims represented a national tragedy rather than a single public figure. Sources do not supply a definitive roster of presidents who have declared mourning for celebrity entertainers, scientists, or other strictly non-political cultural figures ^[1].

5. Records and proclamations: where to look for definitive answers

The federal record of presidential proclamations is publicly archived (the Federal Register and White House proclamations pages); academic and press summaries assemble notable instances, but available reporting in this dataset does not present a single authoritative list of all proclamations for non-political figures ^{[5] [6]}. Researchers seeking completeness should consult the American Presidency Project and Federal Register proclamation tables for text and dates of proclamations ^{[7] [5]}.

6. What this means for claims that “X president issued mourning for Y celebrity”

Because there are no strict rules and the practice has varied by circumstance, any claim that a president “should” or “should not” have declared a national day of mourning is a matter of presidential discretion, precedent and political judgment ^[1]. Available sources document examples (LBJ for MLK and RFK; G.W. Bush for 9/11; Biden for Carter), but do not confirm broader, systematic use for other non-political figures ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

Limitations: sources provided here offer selective reporting and historical summaries rather than a comprehensive dataset. For a definitive, exhaustive list of every presidential national-mourning proclamation for non-political figures, consult primary-proclamation archives cited above ^{[5] [7]}.