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 ›
Presidents
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 ›
Ike’s Mid-Century Cold War Show & High Visibility Veep: The 1957 Sunday Inauguration, Part 6
It was precise and orderly, with a sense of Cold War automatism. It was modern and moved along smoothly. It was the Mid-Century version of the Sunday Second Inauguration and it started and ended without a glitch. In fact, from… 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 ›
Five First Families Celebrate New Year’s Eve
If Presidents and First Ladies seem to exclusively spend the Christmas holiday with members of their family, most of those in the last sixty years have celebrated New Year’s Eve with their friends, and almost always away from the White… Read More ›
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