Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all together again on Thursday to pay their respects to civil rights icon and longtime Rep. John Lewis, who died at on July 17.
Lewis, 80, was the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington and was a prominent figure in many key moments during the civil rights movement. The Democratic lawmaker was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in December.
Bush, Clinton and Obama all spoke at Lewis' funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
"He's been called a living saint," Bush, 74, said during his eulogy, which touched on Lewis' childhood in Troy, Alabama, and highlighted Lewis' life's work advancing civil rights.
Bush said "we live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis and his abiding faith in the power of God and the power of Democracy" and added that Lewis will "live forever in the hearts of Americans."
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At 23, Lewis was the youngest speaker at 1963 march on the nation's capitol and was also the youngest of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement.
Lewis also led the march in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965 — which led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
He was then elected to Congress in 1986 as a representative from Georgia and continued civil service throughout the rest of his life, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
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