State officials • National days of mourning are typically declared for
presidents of the United States, usually on the day of their funerals. Beginning with the November 25, 1963, mourning of
John F. Kennedy following his
assassination, these days are also considered federal holidays. There was no official day of mourning for
Herbert Hoover. • In the
Soviet Union, an official mourning period was reserved for the deaths of leaders or former leaders, with
Alexei Rykov,
Nikita Khrushchev and
Georgy Malenkov being notable exceptions after Rykov was executed during the
Great Purge and the other two were relegated to obscurity. Khrushchev's death was announced only hours before he was buried without full state honors, while Malenkov's death was publicly announced more than 2 weeks after he died. This custom changed in 1968 when a national day of mourning was declared for Soviet cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space. In the final years of the Soviet Union, official mourning was declared for 2 disasters: the
1988 Armenian earthquake and the
Ufa train disaster. •
Presidents of Mexico, usually on the day of their funerals. These days are usually considered municipal and religious holidays in
Mexico City and federal holidays in the rest of
the republic.
Miguel de la Madrid in 2012 was the most recent. == International days of mourning ==