I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR

JANUARY 20TH:  FROM JFK TO TRUMP

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th POTUS fifty-seven years ago, January 20, 1961.  It has been one year since the 45th POTUS, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated.  Between the two, eight POTUS* have been inaugurated on this date.

In 1933, the date of presidential inaugurations was moved from March 4th to January 20th**, but the first inauguration held on the new date was not until 1937 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in for a second term.

Julia Guilardi explains the reason for moving up the inaugural date.  In 1933, the nation was in the worst economic depression in its history.  The times required immediate action, but FDR, elected in November 1932, could not do anything for four long months.  Moving the date of the inauguration back more than a month would help remedy that problem in the future.

Presidential inaugurations held on January 20 from 1937 to 1977 were held on the East Portico of the United States Capitol here in Washington, D.C. with the exception of 1945 when FDR's 4th inaugural was held on the South Portico of the White House.

Presidential inaugurations held on January 20 from 1981 to 2017 were held on the West Front of the United States Capitol with the exception of 1985 when Ronald Reagan's 2nd inaugural was held in the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid temperatures.

*LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, & Obama.

**The change was made with ratification of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution on Jan 23, 1933.  The amendment moved the beginning & ending dates for the terms of the President & Vice-President from March 4 to Jan 20 & members of Congress from March 4 to Jan 3.

SOURCE

"This is why Inauguration Day is held on January 20", by Julia Guilardi, January 18, 2017, www.boston.com/

JFK Takes Oath of Office
January 20, 1961

Photo by Chief Signal Officer

DJT Takes Oath of Office

January 20, 2017

White House Photo

JFK INAUGURAL

JFK INAUGURATED 53 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-three years ago today, January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated 35th President of the United States on the East Front of the Capitol here in Washington.

John F. Kennedy

Delivering Inaugural Address

January 20, 1961

Associated Press Photo

Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair describes it this way...

"Washington had never seen anything like it:  the tidal wave of glamour, promise, and high spirits that descended on the capital for the 1961 inauguration of the youngest president ever elected, John F. Kennedy--a movable, star-studded bash that couldn't be stopped even by a massive snowstorm."

To open the historic proceedings, Marian Anderson sang the National Anthem after which Mr. Kennedy's priest, Richard Cardinal Cushing, delivered the opening prayer.

Geoffrey Perret describes a tense moment during the prayer when...

"blue smoke begins curling from under the rostrum into the 10-degree air."

A heater under the rostrum had an electrical short.  JFK's television adviser, J. Leonard Reinsch, quickly reached under the rostrum and pulled "out a plug."  

The event marked the 1st inaugural in which a poet was invited to participate.  

Eighty-six year old Robert Frost attempted unsuccessfully to read a poem that he wrote specifically for the historic event.  The bright sun reflecting off the Capitol dome along with the snow covered roofs of surrounding buildings made it impossible for the poet to see.

Not to be outdone, Mr. Frost recited one of his poems that he knew 'by heart,' "The Gift Outright"...

"The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours

In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.

Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,

Such as she was, such as she would become.

And for this occasion, let me change that to: what she will become."

Robert Frost and JFK

The White House

Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office as the youngest elected president in history was sworn on the Fitzgerald family Bible.

JFK Takes Oath of Office

Photo by Chief Signal Officer

JFK Takes Oath of Office

from Chief Justice Warren

United States Capitol

January 20, 1961

President Kennedy's Inaugural Address, considered one of the best of the 20th century, included the following words...

"We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation," a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.  My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

Todd Purdum writes...

"From Kennedy's opening words to his last, the speech was one for the books, ranking, by broad consensus, with FDR's first inaugural as the most stirring of the 20th century.... 

And unlike some speeches whose greatness was appreciated only much later, Kennedy's was widely seen as great from the moment he delivered it."

Geoffrey Perret tells us that while JFK speechwriter Theodore Sorensen "crafted many of the words" of the address, "the tone...is pure Kennedy."

Perret continues...

"Standing in the sunshine, hatless and coatless, he gives a performance not even he could have forseen,"

Later in the Rotunda, Jacqueline Kennedy will touch her husband on the check and say...

"Oh, Jack, you were wonderful. What a day!"


SOURCES

"From That Day Forth,"  by Todd S. Purdum, Vanity Fair, February 2011.

"Jack:  A Life Like No Other," by Geoffrey Perret, Random House, New York, 2001.

FORMING A GOVERNMENT VI

JUNE 17, 2012

FORMING A GOVERNMENT VI

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today we conclude our report of Chapter 9 of the book by Kenneth P. O'Donnell & David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy.  It is published by Little, Brown & Company.

The title of Chapter 9 is FORMING A GOVERNMENT.


Kenneth O'Donnell tells us than on the day before the Inauguration, Jackie "threw (JFK) out of the house on N Street" so she would be able to move their things to the White House & complete fittings for her Inaugural gowns.


JFK visited President Eisenhower in the Oval Office.  Ike demonstrated how easy it was to get a helicopter to land outside his window with the push of a button.


In their discussion about the state of affairs in the world, Kenny says that JFK learned "things were just as bad as I had said they were during the campaign."


A heavy snowstorm hit the Nation's Capital & by nightfall Washington, D.C. was blanketed in snow drifts & traffic was at a virtual standstill.


On Friday, January 20, 1961, JFK attended church in Georgetown & at 10:40 a.m. the President-elect & his wife headed to the White House for coffee with the Eisenhowers.


Kenny says that JFK was pleased with his inaugural address & enjoyed the Inaugural Parade from the reviewing stand in front of the White House.


JFK attended 5 Inaugural Balls in the evening & would spend his FIRST NIGHT in the White House sleeping in the LINCOLN BEDROOM.*


*I was 13 years old in 1961 & at school on Friday, January 20.  We watched the Inauguration of JFK on a large screen black & white TV set in the school auditorium.  I can't remember what I thought about it at the time, but I could not have imagined what an impact this President would have on my life.