claim: Barack Obama was the only U.S. president not to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
origin: Memorial Day, now observed on the last Monday of May, is the day of the year set aside for Americans to commemorate the men and women of the United States who died while in the military service. On Memorial Day the President of the United States traditionally visits Arlington National Cemetery, where Americaâ€™s honored dead are interred, to deliver a speech in remembrance of those who died in service to their country and to lay a memorial wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. President Obamaâ€™s decision to spend the 2010 Memorial Day weekend in Chicago rather than attending memorial services in Arlington engendered claims that he thus became the first U.S. president to skip the Arlington wreath-laying ceremony since the inception of Memorial Day: < Mike Savage stated that President Obama was not going to Arlington this Memorial Day but is sending VP Biden in his place. Obama is going to Chicago instead. Savage stated that this is the first time in history that a President has not laid a wreath at Arlington on Memorial day. > This claim was inaccurate: On several occasions in just the last thirty years, U.S. presidents have been elsewhere on Memorial Day (either vacationing or attending to different presidential duties) while other administration officials represented them at the wreath-laying ceremony: On Memorial Day 2010, President Obama was scheduled to honor Americaâ€™s fallen heroes with a speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago, while Vice-President Joe Biden took his place at Arlington; however, a thunderstorm in Illinois interrupted the former ceremony, and President Obama returned to Washington to deliver his speech at Andrews Air Force Base. With the exception of that one year, President Obama has participated in wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery every Memorial Day (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016) during his administration.