"I Do Solemnly Swear...": Presidential Inaugurations

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"I Do Solemnly Swear . . .": Presidential Inaugurations, contains diaries, poems, and drafts of historic speeches that lend themselves to discussions of personal and formal accounts of historic events. These primary sources provide an opportunity to investigate subjectivity in personal narratives and public speeches as well as to develop an understanding of the role of the printed word as part of the inaugural ceremony itself.

For more fun ways to use the collection, including online activities, see Inaugurations in the features section.

Diaries and Memoirs

A search on diary yields the recollections of presidents, other politicians, and general citizens that provide the opportunity to examine how personal writings contribute to the documentation of inaugurations. For example, Pennsylvania Senator William Maclay’s April 30, 1789 journal entry recalls George Washington’s first inaugural address. Maclay describes the president as being “agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled cannon or pointed musket.” Sarah Ridg’s 1809 Diary describes life in Alexandria, Virginia, near the beginning of the nineteenth century and includes an account of James Madison’s inauguration as well as a description of the Capitol building that was later destroyed by the British. A president's own personal writings are also available in President James Garfield's March 4, 1873 entry describing President Grant’s inauguration and his March 3 and 4, 1881 entries, written as he prepared for his own inauguration.

Irwin H. Hoover worked as an usher at the White House for forty-two years. His March 4, 1913 memoir provides an opportunity to examine a personal writing style. Hoover recounted the last day of President Taft’s administration from inside the White House, including such details as the replacement of one American flag with a new one, the departure of the Tafts, and concerns of White House employees about their status in Woodrow Wilson’s incoming administration: For four long months this time that was now so near at hand had been looked forward too, talked about and in a measure been dreaded. Still it was here and everyone must make the best of it. Employees who had been around the place for 12, 16, 18, 22 years and longer were no different from those who had been there but a few years and some only months.

Memoir of Irwin H. Hoover, March 4, 1913.

• How do these diary entries contribute to an understanding of the inaugurations they describe?
• What does a diary convey that speeches, photographs, and newspaper articles do not?
• How does the private nature of a diary affect the way that it is read? Why?
• Would these writers have changed their styles or the content of these pieces if they had been going directly to a public audience? What would they have left out, rephrased, or added? Why?

Creative Writing

President William Henry Harrison, ca. 1841.

An illustration or photograph can serve as the basis for writing a diary entry, newspaper article, or short story describing a presidential inauguration. Choose a president, examine some of the primary sources in this collection, and imagine what it was like to attend a past inauguration. Was George Washington as nervous as Pennsylvania Senator William Maclay describes in his April 30, 1789 journal entry recalling the first presidential inauguration? How did it feel to stand out in the rain for forty-five minutes in 1841 as William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in American history? What was the prevailing mood in 1865 when Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address in the midst of the Civil War?

Inaugural Speeches and Speech Writing

This collection affords an excellent opportunity to examine the art of speech writing. A search on draft results in a number of drafts of inaugural addresses either written in the hand of the president, such as a draft of Jefferson’s address from 1801, or containing their personal corrections, such as a draft of Taft’s speech from 1909. These pieces illustrate how speeches are edited during the writing process until they are polished into the final versions presented to an audience. How does being able to see corrections and changes add to an understanding of a speech? For example, when Taft discusses revising the Dingley Act, an 1897 tariff on imports, he adds the phrase “to labor and” on page five of his speech, when describing the benefits of an amendment: This should secure an adequate revenue and adjust the duties in such a manner as to afford to labor and to all industries in this country, whether of the farm, mine or factory, protection by tariff equal to the difference between the cost of production abroad and the cost of production here. . . .		Draft of Jefferson's 1801 Address.
Why does Taft make a point of adding "to labor and" and distinguishing between “labor” and “industries”? What does this addition indicate about Taft’s concerns and his sense of audience? Why does he include workers on farms and in mines and factories?

A February 28, 1873 diary entry of Hamilton Fish, President Grant’s Secretary of State, identifies one of the goals of that year’s inaugural speech. He briefly recalls Cabinet members’ reactions to a rough draft of the inaugural, “Several suggestions are made to avoid debate of statement to limit it more to general statements. It will probably be reduced in length by the adoption of this suggestion.

Draft of Taft's 1909 Inauguration Speech.

Why would the president wish to avoid debate in his inaugural speech? Who is the target audience of an inaugural speech? Do you think that avoiding debate is a common goal for most speeches? For all inaugural speeches? Might there have been something about the historical context of Grant’s speech that made it a particularly important goal for him? In his 1909 inaugural address, William Taft said that the president’s first speech was intended “to give a summary outline of the main policies of the new administration, so far as they can be anticipated.” What other goals are reflected in this collection’s speeches?

Multiple drafts help to polish a speech into something that can communicate to and move people in a powerful way. Two inaugural addresses from the twentieth century contain two of the most famous presidential lines of all time. Franklin Roosevelt’s 1933 inaugural address contains the memorable phrase, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In 1961, John Kennedy’s inaugural address was celebrated for the sentiment, “ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.”

• Why do you think these statements made such an impact at the time?
• Are these statements still appealing and powerful? Why?
• What does each phrase contribute to the speech as a whole? What role does it play? How does the rest of the speech contribute to the meaning of the celebrated phrase? Does the meaning of the phrase change when it is taken out of the context of the rest of the speech? If so, how?
• Are Roosevelt and Kennedy’s sentiments similar in nature?
• What role did media (radio and television) play in transmitting and preserving these quotes?
• Do these statements reinforce the policies of the president (as Taft suggested) or do they provide some other value to the speech?

Poetry

Poetry is sometimes featured prominently in inaugural ceremonies. The poem, "Ode in Honor of the Inauguration of Buchanan and Breckenridge" from 1857 is based on the melody of the "Star Spangled Banner" and celebrates the new president:

Encircled with glory our Jackson retir'd,
Who led us in safety through war's dread commotion.
While the spirit that raised him another inspir'd,
To watch o'er our rights with equal devotion. Buchanan will preside,
His Countrymen's pride,
The Patriot, the Statesman, the Farmer well tried,
And thus shall the fourth day of March ever yield,
A harvest of glory in Liberty's field.

"An Inaugural Poem" was printed on a press in a wagon during Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural parade. This piece dramatizes the Civil War and celebrates the Union: No scowling traitors in this hour Will dare to thwart the people’s power; No forsworn plotters can implore That Freedom’s temple may run o’er With the heart’s blood of him who won The post twice filled by Washington.		"An Inaugural Poem," March 4, 1865.
How do these poems describe the presidents? What do the imagery, language, and rhyme scheme add to the meaning and effect of each poem? How do the imagery and language differ between the poem for Buchanan, who was inaugurated during a time of peace and prosperity, and the poem for Lincoln, who was inaugurated in the midst of the Civil War? Why would a poem be based on the melody of the "Star Spangled Banner"?

Almost a century later, Robert Frost was asked to read a poem at John Kennedy’s inauguration. Frost composed “Dedication” for the ceremony, but the glare from the snow-covered ground prohibited the poet from being able to read his text.  Instead, he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory.

• How does “Dedication” compare to “The Gift Outright”? What are the similarities and differences?
• Is it important that a work is written specifically for the inauguration?
• What is the goal and purpose of such a poem?
• What does the reciting of a poem add to an inaugural ceremony? What is the value of having a poet participate in the ceremony?
• Does the meaning of having a poet read at an inauguration change when the poet is unable to read his intended poem? Why or why not?
• Examine the style of one of these poems (meter, rhyme, etc.) and write an imitation for the most recent inauguration.

Scriptural Passages

Lincoln Taking the Oath at his Second Inauguration, March 4, 1865.

The Bible is a common feature of the inaugural oath but the passage that the book is open to differs for many presidents. This collection’s Special Presentation, “Bibles and Scripture Passages,” lists the passages used by the various presidents when they took the oath of office. A review of some selections may provide insight into the subject matter and tone of a president’s inaugural address and even into the presidency, itself. For example, for Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, he selected Matthew 7:1 (“Judge not, that you may not be judged.”), Matthew 18:7 (“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling blocks comes!”), and Revelations 16:7 (“And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”)

• Why did Lincoln select passages that discuss judgment? What do these passages suggest about Lincoln’s thoughts as he recommitted himself to the responsibilities of president in the midst of a civil war?
• How do these selections relate to Lincoln's statement in his speech that both parties fighting in the Civil War “read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other”?
• What role does this kind of use of Scriptural passages play in an inauguration ceremony? What is its value to the president? To the audience? To the ceremony?
• Has there always been meaning behind the presidents’ selections of biblical passages?
• Why do some presidents keep the Bible closed?
• Should a president have to select a passage? Why or why not?