At Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony today, as well as the private one held yesterday, his 2009 Inauguration as President and his 2005 oath as a United States Senator, it was not just his wife but his two daughters Malia and… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘United States presidential inauguration’
Chaplin, Streisand, Sinatra & More: The Inaugural Gala That Was
For half a century, it was a quadrennial display of the performing arts, a time capsule of the nation’s pop culture, a snapshot too of the varied entertainment tastes of the President about to assume office. It was called the… Read More ›
The Very First Inaugural Ball: Hot for Her, Not for Him
Of all the traditional events associated with a Presidential Inauguration, the most frivolous one of the Ball is often equated with as much importance in the public imagination as the Inaugural Address, in which the new leader outlines his vision… Read More ›
Reagan’s 1985 Big Chill Sunday Inauguration with Videos, Part 7
Unlike Eisenhower’s private Sunday swearing-in ceremony in 1957, which banned television cameras and limited the recording of the event to two still black-and-white pictures, the first of Reagan‘s two second-term oath-taking on that day of the week was carried live… Read More ›
Bomb Threats, Suffragists & Wilson’s Broken Pledge: The 1917 Sunday Inauguration, Part 5
Swear on a Sunday? No problem, if your Sunday Inauguration happens to also be your second Inauguration. Six of President Obama’s predecessors also had Inauguration Days which fell on a Sunday, but only three were also being inaugurated for a… Read More ›
The Secret Ceremony of Hayes & a First Lady Who Wouldn’t Leave: The 1877 Sunday Inauguration, Part 4
The fact that the 1877 Inauguration fell on a Sunday was a pale factor in making it the most compelling stories of these historic occasions, compared to the drama leading up to it. By the time the calendars had fated… Read More ›
A Day With No President & Lincoln’s Lost Coat: Zach Taylor’s 1849 Sunday Inauguration, Part 3
When Warren G. Harding was a candidate for the highest office in the land, his manager Harry Daugherty enthused that Harding might win simply because “he sure looks like a President!” Nobody ever said that about Zachary Taylor. In fact,… Read More ›
Monroe’s Inaudible Address & a Small Ball: The 1817 Sunday Inauguration, Part 2
After President Washington became so ill in his first term that many feared he might die, Congress realized it needed some sort of back-up plan beyond just a Vice President. On March 1, 1792, Congress sought to forestall an occasion… Read More ›
The Double Rarity of Obama’s 2013 Sunday Second Inauguration, Part 1
The ceremonies to be held two weeks from this coming Sunday and Monday, on January 20, 2013 (and January 21, 2013) marking the second Inauguration Day of President Barack Obama is only the seventh time in American history that the… Read More ›
You must be logged in to post a comment.