Presidential Inaugurations: Historical Insights |
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George Washington, First Inauguration Thomas Jefferson, First Inauguration Andrew Jackson, First Inauguration William Henry Harrison, Inauguration James Buchanan, Inauguration Abraham Lincoln, First Inauguration, Abraham Lincoln, Second Inauguration,
Ulysses S. Grant, First Inauguration, Ulysses S. Grant, Second Inauguration, William McKinley, First Inauguration, |
Marvin
Kranz, historical specialist in the Manuscript Division of the Library
of Congress, reviews nine inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789
to Theodore Roosevelt's in 1905. The ceremonial traditions associated
with presidential inaugurations-using a Bible when taking the oath of
office, reading an inaugural address, attending an inaugural ball-were
all established by George Washington at his first inauguration and have
been followed until the present day.
Featured among the inaugural artifacts discussed here are: the handwritten inaugural addresses of Washington, 1789, and Jefferson, 1801; an aquatint of the rowdy crowd that attended Jackson's reception of 1829; a lithograph of William Henry Harrison's 1841 inauguration on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol, the earliest known print of an inauguration; a photograph of Buchanan's inauguration in 1857, the earliest known photograph of an inauguration; the Bible used at Lincoln's first inauguration in 1861, as well Lincoln's first inaugural address that ends with the famous last paragraph suggested by William H. Seward, "We are not enemies, but friends . . ."; a photograph of Lincoln's 1865 inauguration that purportedly includes an image of John Wilkes Booth; Grant's 1869 inaugural address, and an image of his inaugural ball in 1873, which took place in freezing weather; an 1897 inaugural ball program featuring an image of the Pension Building seen at night and a 1901 photograph of the atrium of the Pension Building, the site of the inaugural balls for McKinley's first and second inaugurations; and Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 inaugural address, in typescript, with his emendations, on narrow slips of paper, probably his reading copy. Please note: To watch the videos in this presentation, you need the RealNetworks G2 RealPlayer, click here to get it. The "RealPlayer 8 Basic" version is free. |
