May 15, 2019

Pence Expected Among Mourners For Longtime Sen. Lugar

A military honor guard carries the casket of Sen. Richard Lugar into the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Lugar will lay in repose in the Statehouse rotunda until noon Wednesday, followed by his funeral. He died April 28 at age 87. - AP Photo/Michael Conroy

A military honor guard carries the casket of Sen. Richard Lugar into the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Lugar will lay in repose in the Statehouse rotunda until noon Wednesday, followed by his funeral. He died April 28 at age 87.

AP Photo/Michael Conroy

TOM DAVIES Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Hundreds of mourners are expected at the funeral for Richard Lugar, the longtime U.S. senator from Indiana known for leading efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons.

Vice President Mike Pence says he'll give a eulogy during Wednesday's funeral for "an American statesman whose contributions to our nation are countless."

Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis before beginning a 36-year Senate career with his first election victory in 1976. He left the Senate following a 2012 Republican primary loss and died April 28 at age 87.

Lugar was hailed as a peacemaker during a Tuesday ceremony in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda, where he was to lie in repose for 24 hours before his funeral. President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

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