The
inauguration of Barack Obama as the
44th President of the United
States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.
The
inauguration, which
set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C.
, marked the commencement of the four-year term of
Barack Obama as President and Joseph Biden as Vice President.
Based on combined attendance numbers, television viewership and
Internet traffic, it was among the most observed events ever by the
global audience.
"A New Birth of Freedom", a phrase from the
Gettysburg Address, served as the theme
for the 56th inauguration of the President of the United
States to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth year
of
Abraham Lincoln. In his speeches
to the crowds, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about
renewal, continuity and national unity as he stressed the need for
shared sacrifice and a new sense of responsibility to answer
America's challenges at home and abroad.
Obama and others paid homage to Lincoln in the form of tributes and
references during several of the events, starting with a
commemorative train tour from to Washington, D.C. on
January 17, 2009. The inaugural events held in
Washington, D.C. from January 18 to January 21, 2009
included concerts, a national day of community service on
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day, the swearing-in ceremony, luncheon and parade, inaugural
balls, and the interfaith
inaugural
prayer service. The presidential oath as administered to Obama
during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20 strayed from the
oath of office prescribed in the
United States Constitution, which
led to its re‑administration the next evening.
In addition to a larger than usual celebrity attendance, the
Presidential Inaugural
Committee increased its outreach to ordinary citizens to
encourage greater participation in inaugural events compared to
participation in recent past inaugurations.
The committee opened
for the first time the entire length of the National Mall
as the public viewing area for the swearing-in
ceremony, breaking with the tradition of past inaugurations.
Selected American citizens participated in the train tour and other
inaugural events, and a philanthropist organized a "People's
Inaugural Ball" for disadvantaged people who otherwise would be
unable to afford to attend the inaugural festivities. Among the
celebrations for the inauguration, the committee hosted a
first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball with free or affordable
tickets for ordinary citizens.
Planning
The inauguration was planned primarily by two committees: the
Joint
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the
2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Although the election
was November 4, 2008, the congressional committee kicked off
construction of the inaugural platform on September 24, 2008.
Joint Congressional Committee
The swearing-in ceremony and the inaugural luncheon for
President-elect Obama
and Vice President-elect Biden were planned by the Joint
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a committee
composed of
United States
Senators Dianne Feinstein,
committee chair,
Bob
Bennett and
Harry Reid, and
United States Representatives
John Boehner,
Steny Hoyer and
Nancy
Pelosi. The committee is overseen by the
U.S. Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies chose the
inaugural theme, "A New Birth of Freedom", a phrase from
Abraham Lincoln's
Gettysburg
Address from the
Civil War
era. The theme, which was selected by the committee to mark the
inaugural occasion and honor the 200th anniversary year of
Lincoln's birth, expressed "Lincoln's hope that the sacrifice of
those who died to preserve the United States would lead to 'a new
birth of freedom' for the nation.'" In his reliance on the
inaugural theme, Obama wanted "to give Americans reassurance that
today, as in Lincoln's time, the country would find its way through
any crisis".
The congressional committee released the full schedule of the
January 20 inaugural events on December 17, 2008. The
inauguration schedule referred to the President‑elect as
"Barack H. Obama", even though Obama specified previously that
he wanted to use his full name for his swearing-in ceremony,
including his middle name
Hussein, in
"follow[ing] the tradition, not trying to make a statement one way
or the other". During the
election campaign,
Obama's detractors tried to use his middle name to imply falsely
that he was a Muslim.
The
District of
Columbia City Council used the occasion to help bars and
restaurants increase sales by staying open around‑the‑clock to
provide hospitality services to the hordes of people planning to
attend the inaugural festivities. After reaching an agreement with
the congressional committee, District of Columbia
Mayor
Adrian Fenty signed
legislation to temporarily allow bars and restaurants to operate
24‑hours during the weekend leading up to the inauguration, but
with 4:00 a.m. EST as the cut‑off for alcoholic beverage
service. The Hotel Association of Metropolitan Washington agreed to
pay for extended train service provided by the
Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority on January 19 to
accommodate visitors attending inaugural events and workers
providing support for those events.
Presidential Inaugural Committee
The 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee organized several
other inauguration‑related events at the direction of the
President‑elect and Vice President‑elect of the United States, such
as the train ride, concerts, parade, balls and prayer
service.
For the
first time in history, the Presidential Inaugural Committee opened
the full length of National
Mall, which extends from United States
Capitol
to the Lincoln Memorial
, as the public viewing area for the swearing-in
ceremony. The presidential committee set aside a section of
the mall close to the U.S. Capitol for people holding reserved
tickets for the inaugural event. The committee directed the opening
of the entire National Mall to make the event "'the most open and
accessible in history,' allowing those who [could not] get the
[reserved] tickets to the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol
grounds to fill the mall". To enable people in attendance to see
and hear the swearing-in ceremony, the committee arranged for
placement of
JumboTrons at points along
the entire mall.
Despite criticism that such a large event could not be
carbon-friendly, the presidential committee
incorporated
environment-friendly
measures in its planning of the inaugural events. The environmental
measures included the use of recyclable carpet for the platform,
retrieval of recyclable items from outdoor areas after an event,
and the use of recycled paper for invitations and inaugural ball
tickets.
Fundraising
The 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee attempted to raise more
individual contributions in smaller dollar amounts compared with
the
second
inauguration of George W. Bush in 2005. The 2009
contribution limit was set at $50,000 for donations by
individuals, whereas individuals and companies were able to give a
maximum of $250,000 apiece for the 2005 event. As of
January 30, 2009, the presidential committee raised more than
$53 million, with at least 458 people giving the
committee-imposed maximum of $50,000, including celebrity donors
such as
George Soros,
Halle Berry,
Jamie
Foxx and
George Lucas. Emphasizing
a change to business as usual, the committee set stringent
guidelines for campaign contributions, barring donations from
corporations,
political
action committees, registered federal
lobbyist,
labor and trade
unions,
registered
foreign agents and non-
U.S. citizens. The
committee did accept donations from people with active lobbying
interests before the federal government, but not registered as
federal lobbyists, such as
Google executive
Eric Schmidt and
Microsoft executive
Steve
Ballmer.
Based on its fundraising efforts and crowd estimates for the Obama
inauguration, the presidential committee set its budget at
$160–$170 million for the inauguration, including about
$45 million for the gala events. The
federal government
contributed about $49 million, including $1.2 million to
cover the actual swearing-in ceremony.
The District of
Columbia and the neighboring states of Maryland
and Virginia
projected
costs to provide support for inaugural events at more than
$75 million alone for police, fire and medical
services. To help fund the efforts, President
George W. Bush
declared a federal
state of
emergency as a precaution so that funds could be sought from
Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Invitations and tickets
The
Presidential Inaugural Committee and members of the 111th U.S. Congress
distributed invitations and color-coded tickets to both dignitaries and ordinary citizens for
the reserved sections on or near the U.S. Capitol grounds to view the swearing-in ceremony.
Invitations
and tickets were sent to ambassadors and chiefs of diplomatic
missions to the United States and their spouses, but not to other
representatives of foreign countries, and invitations were
distributed to U.S. politicians and an array of dignitaries
across the spectrum of business and industry.
House and
Senate congressional members
distributed free tickets for the inaugural ceremony to the public
by lottery or on a first‑come, first served basis because of
overwhelming requests to attend the event.
Because of high demand and limited availability of the reserved
tickets, some people planned to offer their tickets for sale
through ticket brokers, Internet auctions and classified listing
services.
Sales offers for tickets reached as high as
$1,750 each for the reserved standing room section behind the
Capitol
Reflecting Pool
, $5,500 each for the reserved standing room section
in front of the Reflecting Pool and $20,000 each for the VIP
section on the Capitol grounds. In one case, a former
legislative aide to Representative
Ted Poe
was exposed by a prospective buyer after the former aide used
Craigslist and e‑mail to offer five
tickets to the buyer for $4,500.
Federal and state officials became concerned about
ticket scalping and fraud related to sales of
the tickets for the swearing-in ceremony. Senator Dianne Feinstein,
chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies,
introduced legislation in mid-November 2008 to ban sales of tickets
to the swearing-in ceremony. At the same time, the joint
congressional committee contacted online auction operators, ticket
resellers and classified listing services to block sales of the
tickets. To address the committee's concerns,
StubHub and
eBay agreed to ban
ticket sales for the swearing-in ceremony on all of its sites.
Senator Feinstein re-introduced legislation in December 2008 to ban
ticket sales for the swearing-in ceremony after amending the bill
to exempt tickets issued by official presidential inaugural
committees for inaugural event fundraising. The U.S. Senate
failed to pass the final bill, which caused the bill to die in the
closing days of the
lame duck legislative
session.
Pre-inaugural events
Train ride: Commemorating Lincoln
On January 17, 2009, Obama hosted a
whistle stop train tour in honor of
the 200th anniversary of the birth year of Abraham Lincoln.
Obama
reenacted the final part of Lincoln's 1861 train tour from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. to capture the
mood of the 1861 Springfield
to Washington train tour traveled by Lincoln to his
own inauguration.
For his train ride to the nation's capital, Obama rode in the
Georgia 300, a vintage railroad car
used by past presidents and the same one he used for touring
Pennsylvania during his
presidential
primary campaign. On the tour, Obama was accompanied by his
wife Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha, and a host of
friends and guests.
For the train ride to Washington, Obama invited 41 selected
citizens, described in the press as "everyday" Americans, that he
met during his presidential campaign to accompany him on the tour
and attend other inaugural events, including the swearing-in
ceremony, the parade and an inaugural ball. The group of citizens
who joined the tour shared stories with then-candidate Obama about
themselves and their families during the presidential campaign.
Citizens invited on the tour by the president‑elect included Matt
Kuntz and
Lilly Ledbetter. Kuntz,
who lost his own step‑brother to
suicide
after returning home from the
Gulf War, dedicated his efforts to improve
mental health screening for
Iraq War
veterans. Ledbetter, who learned years later that her employer
discriminated against her in pay based on gender, lost her case
before the Supreme Court because she did not file her claim within
180 days of the discriminatory act. Nine days after his
inauguration, Obama as president signed into law the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act, allowing claims filed against employers not only within
180 days of the pay discrimination, but also restarting the
180-day period for claims upon receiving any paycheck based on a
discriminatory pay action.
Obama
commenced the tour in Philadelphia by holding a town hall meeting
at 30th Street
Station
with a few hundred supporters. At the first stop in
Wilmington
, Delaware
Vice President‑elect Biden and his family joined
the tour. Biden, dubbed "Amtrak Joe" for his daily commutes
on
Amtrak between Wilmington and Washington,
built a reputation as a supporter of increased funding for U.S.
commuter
rail transportation.
The train
continued to Baltimore
, Maryland, its second stop, where Obama spoke to a
crowd of about 40,000 people.
During his speeches to the crowds, he emphasized the theme "A New
Birth of Freedom" using phrases associated with Lincoln such as
"better angels" and "a new declaration of independence". Obama
referred to
patriotic
forebearers in his speech when he reminded the crowds that "we
should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of
patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all
seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the
power to make the world anew." Thousands of well‑wishers gathered
at various points along the train route taking pictures, cheering
and waving
American flag
and homemade signs, with Obama reciting his trademark rejoinder
"I love you back" to the enthusiastic crowds.
The
one-day train tour concluded at Union
Station
in Washington, D.C.
"We Are One" concert
On
January 18, 2009, the day after Obama arrived in
Washington, D.C., an inaugural concert, "We Are One", took
place at the Lincoln
Memorial. The
concert featured performances and readings of historical passages
by more than three dozen celebrities. Attendance at the concert was
free to the public, and
HBO broadcast the
concert live on an open feed, enabling anyone with cable television
to watch the event. An estimated 400,000 people attended the
concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Washington Metro
recorded 616,324 passenger trips during the
day, breaking the old Sunday ridership record of
540,945 passenger trips set on July 4, 1999.
King Day of Service
The eve of the Inauguration Day, January 19, 2009, fell on
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday
in recognition of
Dr.
King's birthday. Obama called upon communities everywhere
to observe the King Day of Service, a day of citizen volunteer
service honoring the human rights leader. More than
13,000 community service events took place across the nation
on the day, the largest participation in the 14 years since
Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act and more than
double the previous year.
Obama
spent an hour at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center
meeting privately with the families of troops who
were recovering from wounds sustained in the Iraq War and the War in
Afghanistan. After visiting the medical center, he,
along with
Martin Luther
King, III, headed to the Sasha Bruce House
homeless shelter for teens to participate
with others in service activities.
Joe Biden hung
drywall at a
Habitat for Humanity home in
N.E. Washington, D.C.
Biden's
wife, Jill, their daughter, Ashley Biden,
Michelle Obama and the Obamas'
daughters, Malia and Sasha, spent the morning at Robert
F.
Kennedy Stadium where they helped thousands of volunteers prepare
more than 85,000 care packages destined
for U.S. troops overseas. Later that evening, the
president-elect hosted three separate bipartisan dinners to honor
the service of
John McCain,
Colin Powell and
Joe Biden.
Kids' Inaugural: "We Are the Future"
On the
evening of January 19, 2009, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden hosted
the "Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future" event at the Verizon
Center
. Miley Cyrus and
the
Jonas Brothers honored military
families in concert. The show was broadcast live on the
Disney Channel and on
Radio Disney. Other celebrity participants
included
Demi Lovato,
Bow Wow,
George Lopez,
Corbin Bleu,
Queen Latifah,
Billy Ray Cyrus,
Shaquille O'Neal and
Jamie Foxx. In keeping with the service theme of
the day, Michelle Obama issued a call for children to become
engaged in public service by volunteering in homeless shelters,
visiting elderly people or writing letters to
U.S. troops.
Inaugural events
Ceremony: "A New Birth of Freedom"
The inaugural ceremony took place at the West Front of the United
States Capitol on January 20, 2009. The ceremony opened with
the playing pre‑recorded music and a live performance by the
"The President's Own"
United States Marine Band, followed by live performances by the
San Francisco Boys
Chorus and
San Francisco Girls Chorus.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Joint Congressional
Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the first woman to preside
over a U.S. presidential inauguration, acted as the day's
Master of Ceremonies.
Evangelical pastor
Rick Warren delivered the
invocation for the inaugural ceremony, followed
by a performance by vocalist
Aretha
Franklin, who sang "
My
Country, 'Tis of Thee". The program featured a performance of
John Williams' composition "
Air and Simple Gifts", which was both
pre-recorded and performed live synched with the recording by
cellist
Yo-Yo Ma, violinist
Itzhak Perlman, pianist
Gabriela Montero and clarinetist
Anthony McGill.
National Public Radio described the
performance by the quartet as "a transporting moment that
moved many with its beauty and calm", while
The New York
Times called it the "classical-music equivalent of
lip-syncing". Aretha Franklin made a fashion statement by wearing a
hat with a distinctive
Swarovski
crystal-studded bow.
Vice President‑elect Biden took his oath from
Associate
Justice John Paul Stevens, and
the oath for Biden was followed by the first playing of four
ruffles and flourishes and
the anthem "
Hail, Columbia". After
the performance of "Air and Simple Gifts",
Chief
Justice John Roberts
administered the
oath of
office to President‑elect Obama shortly after noon. Although
the inaugural ceremony ran longer than scheduled, which delayed the
administering of the oath that finished around
12:05 p.m. EST (17:05 UTC), Obama assumed the
presidency at the expiration of President Bush's term at noon
under the
Twentieth
Amendment to the United States Constitution. The oath for Obama
as the new President was followed by a
21-gun salute by members of the
armed forces, along
with the first playing of four ruffles and flourishes and the march
"
Hail to the Chief".
Obama delivered his inaugural address to the crowds as the
President of the United States following his swearing-in ceremony.
Poet
Elizabeth Alexander
then delivered the inaugural poem, "
Praise Song for the Day", and civil
rights activist
Joseph Lowery,
minister of the
United Methodist
Church, delivered the
benediction.
The
United States Navy Band "Sea
Chanters" chorus concluded the ceremony with a performance of
the United States national anthem,
The Star-Spangled Banner.
Oath of office
Chief Justice
John Roberts administered
the oath of office of the President of the United States to Obama.
Michelle Obama held the
Bible used by
Abraham Lincoln at his 1861 inauguration as Barack Obama, placing
his hand on the Bible, recited the presidential oath.
During the swearing-in ceremony, Obama did not recite, and Roberts
as the administering official did not execute, the 35‑word oath of
office exactly as prescribed by the United States Constitution. The
first misstep occurred during the first part of the oath. Roberts
had not yet completed the first phrase when Obama began reciting
the oath. After the correct recitation of the first phrase of the
presidential oath, Roberts recited incorrectly the next part of the
oath by saying "that I will execute the Office of President
to the United States
faithfully", rather than
"that I will
faithfully execute the Office of President
of the United States". Obama recited the words "I will
execute", and then paused. Roberts then tried to correct his
mistake in administering the oath by reciting "faithfully the
Office of President of the United States", followed by Obama
repeating Roberts' first incorrect phrase.
Roberts ended the presidential oath by appending the phrase "so
help you God" to the end of the constitutionally prescribed oath,
and Obama responded "
so help me
God" when he was prompted. Obama had asked previously to
include "so help me God" after the oath. Roberts then congratulated
Obama as the new President.
Much public discussion arose about the missteps in administering
and reciting the oath, with one constitutional scholar observing
that "it's an open question whether [Obama is] president until he
takes the proper oath."Although
Robert
Gibbs,
White House press
secretary, indicated at first that President Obama did not plan
to retake the oath, Chief Justice Roberts agreed to re‑administer
the oath at the request of
White
House counsel.
The second oath ceremony took place on the
evening of January 21, 2009 in the Map Room of the White House
before a small audience of presidential aides,
reporters and a White House photographer. According to White
House counsel
Greg Craig, the
presidential oath was re‑administered out of an abundance of
caution over concerns about the legality of the oath as it was
administered by Roberts on Inauguration Day. Craig added that "the
oath of office was administered effectively and ... the
President was sworn in appropriately ... But the oath appears
in the Constitution itself."
Inaugural address
A central theme of President Obama's inaugural address was a call
to restore responsibility—both in terms of accountability in
Washington and the responsibility of ordinary people to get
involved. Obama's address did not have memorable sound bite
phrases. Instead, he used traditional references to connect his new
administration with the nation's history in a speech that was
understated deliberately, according to rhetoric expert James
Mackin.
Obama concluded the second paragraph of his address by saying, "we
the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our
forebears and true to our founding documents." The speech
reinforced words such as "legacy" and "heritage", as well as values
such as "honesty", "courage" and "patriotism", which "are old"
values. Near the end of the speech, Obama referred to words written
by
Thomas Paine in
The American Crisis, which were
ordered by
George Washington to be
read to his troops: "Let it be told to the future world ...
that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could
survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one
common danger, came forth to meet [it]." Because Obama's
campaign message
focused on the need for change, Mackin noted that Obama sought to
reassure Americans that he would operate as President within the
margins of the nation's traditions.
As part of Obama's call for responsibility, he said "what is
required of us now is a new era of responsibility—a recognition, on
the part of every American" and "those of us who manage the
public's dollars will be held to account." Obama quoted the lyrics
of the
Jerome Kern and
Dorothy Fields song "
Pick Yourself Up" from the
musical comedy
Swing Time, saying
that "starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves
off, and begin again the work of remaking America." In an article
for the
The New York Times, columnist and former drama
critic
Frank Rich noted the link to the
lyric in Field's song from the movie, writing that Obama offered in
his address "one subtle whiff of the
Great Depression".
Obama's inaugural address received mixed reviews, with some
describing the tone of the speech a praiseworthy one of restraint
and plain speaking, while others described the speech as low-brow
and cliched. Despite his optimism, Obama was critical of former
Presidents George W. Bush and
Bill Clinton.
David E. Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for
The New York Times,
described the speech as the harshest rebuke of an outgoing
President during an inaugural address since
Franklin Roosevelt's call for restoration
of American values. The Bush administration was upset about the
tone of the speech, saying that the speech veered from that of a
ritualistic but respectful thanks to that of a public diatribe.
Members of the Republican party viewed the speech as a missed
chance to seek unity, while
Rahm
Emanuel, Obama's
White
House Chief of Staff, described the speech as a reflection of
the mandate of the people. In an analysis of the inaugural address,
one reporter described the speech as one that emphasized the
burdens of the moment and the cloudy future whose challenges may be
met with the resolve that is part of our American heritage.
Prayers
Obama's selections of Warren and Lowery to deliver prayers for the
inaugural ceremony were controversial. Warren had a history of
vocal opposition to
same-sex
marriage, and Lowery had a background as a
civil rights activist. Neither Obama nor Warren
made references during the inaugural program to issues of direct
concern to the gay community. In the invocation, Warren asked for
"forgiveness for Americans 'when we fight each other' and 'civility
in our attitudes even when we differ.'" Warren mentioned
Dr. Martin Luther King and Jesus in the invocation, and
he concluded the invocation with the
Lord's Prayer. Lowery used both humor and
sincerity as he delivered the benediction. One of his sincere
messages was the statement that "as we leave this mountaintop, help
us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our
family." Lowery concluded the benediction with a humorous message
of anticipation for the day "when
brown
can stick around, when
yellow will be
mellow, when the
red
man can get ahead man and when
white would embrace what is right".
Conservatives, including
Rush Limbaugh
decried Lowery's benediction, which quoted from "
Lift Every Voice and Sing" (the
"Black National Anthem"), as racist, while Democrats disagreed.
Another of Lowery's rhymes, "When
black will not be asked to get in back",
particularly offended the likes of Limbaugh who felt that Obama's
ascension on that day symbolized the fact that America had come to
that point already.
Post-ceremony traditions
After the inaugural ceremony, President Obama,
First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe
Biden and Dr. Jill Biden escorted former President
George W. Bush
and former First Lady
Laura Bush to a
departure ceremony on the east side of the U.S. Capitol.
Before the luncheon and in keeping with tradition, President Obama
signed his first
presidential orders in the
President's Room at the Capitol, and then signed the guest book for
the luncheon. The first order signed by Obama was a proclamation
declaring his Inauguration Day a "National Day of Renewal and
Reconciliation", in which he called "upon all of our citizens to
serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation
for our new century". Obama signed orders to officially present the
nominations for his
Cabinet
and several sub‑Cabinet officials to the U.S. Congress for its
approval.
The Obamas and Bidens then attended an
inaugural luncheon at the U.S. Capitol before traveling from
there to the presidential reviewing stand at the White House to watch the parade.
Luncheon
As former
President and Mrs. Bush began their journey to their Texas
home, the
Obamas and Bidens joined several congressional guests for the
inaugural luncheon in National
Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. Guests included
top Washington lawmakers as well as former Presidents and Vice
Presidents. Commemorating the
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial,
the red and white china used during the luncheon were
replicas of those used in the Lincoln White
House.
A luncheon at the U.S. Capitol has been part of the inaugural
program since 1953 (before that time, the luncheon was usually held
at the White House and hosted by the outgoing President and First
Lady). The menu for the 2009 inaugural luncheon, which often
features dishes representative of the home states of the new
President and Vice President, included seafood stew, duck and
pheasant entrees with
Pinot noir wine, and a dessert of apple cinnamon
sponge cake with sweet cream
glacé. Since 1985, a painting has served as a
backdrop for the head table. For the 2009 inaugural luncheon, the
featured painting was
Thomas
Hill's 1865
View of the Yosemite Valley, a painting
that commemorated Abraham Lincoln's 1864 signing of the
Yosemite Grant, which
was the first time the federal government protected park lands for
public use.
During the luncheon, Senator
Ted Kennedy
collapsed after suffering a
seizure, and he was transported to a
hospital for medical treatment and recovery. Early reports about
the medical emergency suggested erroneously that Senator
Robert Byrd, the oldest member of the Senate,
also fell ill during the luncheon. These reports were later denied,
and Byrd, a longtime friend of Kennedy, eventually explained that
the Kennedy incident disturbed him and caused him to leave.
Parade
The
inaugural parade route ran along Pennsylvania Avenue
, N.W. from the U.S. Capitol,
ending at the north face of the White House. During most of
the parade, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama traveled
in the new armored
limousine because of
potential security threats. The President and First Lady twice
exited their limousine, walking on Pennsylvania Avenue for portions
of the parade. Vice President Biden and his wife Jill walked the
parade route at several points with their children
Beau, Hunter and Ashley.
The parade lasted more than two hours during the afternoon and
early evening following the inaugural ceremony. Parade participants
included 15,000 people, 240 horses, dozens of marching
bands, two drum and bugle corps and a
mariachi band.
President Obama invited the Virginia
Military Institute
corps of cadets, Drum Corps International, Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps,
Colts Drum and Bugle
Corps from . Obama invited the marching band from
Punahou
School
, his high school in Hawaii, to perform in the
parade along with the marching unit of its Junior Reserve Officers'
Training Corps.
Vice President Joe Biden invited several groups from Delaware to
march in the parade.
The Delaware section was led by the Delaware Volunteer
Firemen's Association of which Biden is an honorary member, the
Fightin' Blue Hen Marching Band, The Pride of Delaware, from
Biden's alma mater, the University of Delaware
, and the Delaware State University Hornets
Approaching Storm marching band.
Inaugural balls
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended 10
official inaugural balls during the evening of January 20,
2009.
Barack Obama wore a new tuxedo made by Hart
Schaffner Marx, a Chicago
-based menswear company. Michelle Obama wore a
white, one-shouldered, sleeveless gown designed by 26 year-old
New York
-based designer Jason Wu, breaking with the recent practice
set by former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, who showcased designers
from their hometowns.
The Neighborhood Inaugural
Ball, one of six balls held at the Walter
E.
Washington Convention Center, was the first stop of the evening for the
President and First Lady. The Obamas danced their first song
as
Beyoncé Knowles serenaded
them with her rendition of the
Etta James
classic,
At Last. According to the
Presidential Inaugural Committee, the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball
was the first ball ever with free or affordable tickets, a contrast
to recent history in which "inaugural balls generally have been
closed to everyday Americans, populated instead by an exclusive
circle of dignitaries and donors." A portion of the tickets for the
ball was reserved for Washington D.C. residents.
The nine other official inaugural balls attended by the Obamas that
evening included:
- The Commander-in-Chief's
Ball, National Building Museum
, held only for the second time, included active and
reserve duty members of the United States
military, the families of American service members currently
deployed overseas, the families of military personnel killed in
action and recipients of the Purple
Heart.
- The Eastern Ball, Union
Station, held for guests from the New England states
of Connecticut
, Maine
, Massachusetts
, New
Hampshire
, Rhode Island
and Vermont
and the Atlantic territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
. James Taylor
performed for guests attending the ball.
- The Mid-Atlantic Ball,
Washington Convention Center, held for guests from the District of
Columbia
and the Mid-Atlantic
states of Maryland, New
York
, New
Jersey
, Virginia and West Virginia
. This ball featured the first 2009
appearance by The Dead.
- The Midwestern Ball,
Washington Convention Center, held for guests from the Midwestern states of Indiana
, Iowa
, Kansas
, Michigan
, Minnesota
, Missouri
, North
Dakota
, Nebraska
, Ohio
, South Dakota
and Wisconsin
.
- The President Obama Home States Ball,
Washington Convention Center, for guests from Barack Obama's home
states of Hawaii and Illinois.
- The Southern Ball, D.C.
Armory, held for
guests from the Southern
states of Alabama
, Arkansas
, Florida
, Georgia
, Kentucky
, Louisiana
, Mississippi
, North
Carolina
, South
Carolina
, Tennessee
and Texas.
- The Vice President Biden Home States Ball,
Washington Convention Center, for guests from Joe Biden's home
states of Delaware and Pennsylvania.
- The Western Ball,
Washington Convention Center, for guests from the Western states of Alaska
, Arizona
, California, Idaho
, Colorado
, Montana
, Oklahoma
, Oregon
, Nevada
, New Mexico
, Utah
, Washington
and Wyoming
, and the Pacific territories of American
Samoa
and Guam
.
- The Youth Ball, Washington
Hilton and Towers
, an event held specifically for guests between the
ages of 18 and 35 years old.
President Obama and the First Lady also attended one inaugural ball
during the evening of January 21, 2009.
- The Obama for America Staff
Ball, D.C.
Armory, held for staff members of President Obama's 2008
presidential campaign. The ball featured speeches by
David Plouffe, Joe Biden and Barack
Obama, as well as a performance by Jay-Z.
After they made their rounds at the January 20 inaugural balls, the
Obamas hosted an after-midnight gathering at the White House for
70 of their earliest supporters, close friends and family.
Guests who attended the after hours celebration at the White House
included
Oprah Winfrey,
Valerie Jarrett,
David Axelrod, Chicago
Mayor
Richard Daley,
Representatives
Artur Davis of the state
of Alabama and
Neil Abercrombie of
the state of Hawaii, and Michelle Obama's brother
Craig Robinson. Members of
the Illinois congressional delegation also attended the after hours
event, including Senator
Dick
Durbin and Representatives
Melissa
Bean,
Jan Schakowsky,
Luis Gutierrez and
Jerry Costello.
National prayer service
On
January 21, 2009, President Obama, First Lady Michelle
Obama, Vice President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden,
gathered at the Washington National Cathedral
for a national day of prayer. At the prayer
service, the Obamas and Bidens were joined in front pew by former
President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, who was sworn
in as
Secretary of
State later that day. The prayer service was attended by about
3,200 other invited guests, including members of the
U.S. Congress, diplomats and other dignitaries.
The theme of the interfaith worship service reflected inclusiveness
and religious diversity, with a mix of
Protestant pastors, female
Hindu and
Muslim religious
leaders, rabbis and
Catholic
bishops who delivered scripture readings and prayers throughout the
service. Prayers for the service drew from passages from the
1789
inauguration prayer service of George Washington and the
1865 inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln, including phrases
such as "with malice toward none, with charity for all". The
featured sermon for the inaugural prayer service was delivered by
Reverend Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president of
the
Christian
Church and the first woman to deliver the sermon for the
inaugural prayer service. In her sermon, Watkins integrated
passages from a variety of sources, such as passages summoned from
sources rooted in the Hindu,
Jewish, Muslim
and
Cherokee faiths.
Attendance
Dignitaries, family and celebrity guests
Former Presidents
Jimmy Carter,
George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and
former Vice Presidents
Walter
Mondale,
Dan Quayle,
Al Gore and Dick Cheney, along with their
wives, attended the inauguration. Cheney was
wheelchair-bound because of an injury that he
suffered while moving boxes.
John Lewis, the only living
speaker from the historic 1963 rally at the
March on Washington, was present on the
stage during the inauguration. More than 180 of the
Tuskegee Airmen attended as invited guests
for the inauguration.
The five-person crew of US Airways
Flight 1549
attended the swearing-in ceremony, including
Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot
who landed the
aircraft in the Hudson River near
Manhattan after losing both engines due to a bird strike just after departing LaGuardia
Airport
.
Eighty-seven year old Sarah Obama led a group of Obama's
Kenyan
relatives from his father's home village of
Kogelo
.
Other relatives who traveled from Kenya as guests included Obama's
aunt, Maggie Obama, his uncle,
Said
Obama, as well as his half-brother
Malik
Obama. Joe Biden's son, Beau,
Attorney General for the state of
Delaware and an officer and
Judge Advocate in the
Delaware Army National
Guard, received a special furlough from serving in
Iraq to participate in the ceremonies.
Celebrity guests included the actors
Dustin Hoffman,
Samuel L. Jackson and
Denzel Washington, talk show host
Oprah Winfrey and director
Steven Spielberg.
Crowds and general ticket holders
No official count was taken of the number of people attending the
inaugural ceremony, although multiple sources concluded that the
ceremony had the largest audience of an event ever held in
Washington, D.C. Government agencies and federal officials,
who coordinated security and traffic management, determined the
attendance count to be 1.8 million people based on information
collected by several cameras and individuals on the ground.
The Washington
Post reported the estimated crowd size for the inaugural
ceremony, and the
National Park
Service said it did "not contest" the estimate.
Satellite analyst Allison Puccioni of
Jane's Information Group estimated
a crowd size between 1.031 and 1.411 million people using an
image acquired by the
GeoEye-1 satellite at
11:19 a.m. EST (16:19 UTC). This estimate did not
include an estimated 240,000 people in designated reserved
areas for ticket holders or in federal buildings open to the
public.
Stephen Doig, a professor at Arizona
State University
, estimated that 800,000 people attended the
inauguration ceremony using the same satellite image.
Although the image was taken a little less than 45 minutes
before Obama’s swearing-in ceremony, Doig adjusted his estimate to
include people who were still arriving in the area before the
event. In spite of his crowd estimate, Doig stated that "if I had
to bet, I would say the [Barack] Obama crowd is in fact bigger than
those that showed up for [Johnson] or any of the other
things" ... "I'm wholly prepared to think it was the largest
crowd." Approximately 1.2 million people had attended the
second
inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson in
1965.
Amid the massive crowds that arrived at the U.S. Capitol for
the inauguration, about 4,000 ticket holders were unable to
gain entry to reserved areas on the Capitol grounds after security
personnel closed the gates at the start of the formal ceremony.
Many
ticket holders were stuck in underground tunnels where pedestrian
traffic was directed to and from the National Mall, while others remained stuck in long lines as they
waited to gain entry to the reserved areas. Senator Dianne
Feinstein, in her capacity as chair of the Joint Congressional
Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, launched an investigation to
address complaints by the affected ticket holders. The committee
later announced that ticket holders who were unable to enter the
Capitol grounds to view the ceremony would receive a copy of the
swearing-in invitation and program, photos of President Obama and
Vice President Biden, and a color print of the inaugural
ceremony.
Security
The inauguration took place in an era of enhanced security in the
decade following the
September 11
attacks. Because of the size of the crowds expected in
Washington, D.C. for the inaugural activities, planners raised
concerns about public safety and security.
Army General Richard Rowe, head of the
joint military task force for the Washington, D.C. area, explained
that security forces had to stretch their imagination to anticipate
previously unthinkable security threats, especially in light of the
Mumbai attacks in India
that
occurred in November 2008.
The police presence in the District of Columbia temporarily
doubled, augmented by the addition of 8,000 police officers
from around the United States.
The police force was assisted by
1,000 FBI
agents to
provide security for the event, and the Secret Service Countersniper team was assigned to hidden
locations throughout the area. The
Transportation Security
Administration had over 300 officers from its National
Deployment Force on hand to assist the Secret Service with security
inspections of attendees entering the National Mall. Ten thousand
National Guard
troops were on site, with 5,000 troops providing security duty
in a ceremonial capacity and 1,300 unarmed troops aiding
Park Police in crowd
control at the National Mall. C Company of the
1-175
Infantry provided security
between the first and second public viewing areas of the National
Mall at the 7th Street, N.W. intersection, while the
remaining members performed other security functions. Because the
Secret Service declared the Obama inauguration a special
national security event, the
Federal Aviation
Administration implemented additional airspace restrictions
over Washington, D.C. between 10:00 a.m. and
6:00 p.m. on January 20, 2009.
Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates was chosen as the
designated survivor to ensure
continuity of government in case of
catastrophe, and he spent Inauguration Day at a U.S. military
installation outside of the Washington, D.C. area.
No one from the crowds at the swearing-in ceremony and parade was
arrested as of 6:00 p.m. EST on Inauguration Day. According to
a senior federal agent associated with managing security, the fact
that no arrests were made by any agency during the inaugural events
was unheard of for a record crowd of nearly two million gathering
in Washington, D.C. for the Obama inauguration.
In the 2009 book
In the President's
Secret Service, author and journalist Ronald Kessler said intelligence officials
received information that individuals associated with Al-Shabaab, a Somalia
-based Islamist insurgency
group, might try to disrupt the inauguration. More than a
dozen counter-sniper teams were stationed along the inauguration
parade route in response, and the criminal records of nearby
employees and hotel guests were scrutinized, but no such attack
took place. Kessler also reported a number of perceived
inadequacies in the security during the inauguration, including an
instance in which more than 100 major campaign donors and VIPs were
able to board "secure" buses without being checked.
Viewership
Television audience
Nielson television ratings indicated
that 29.2% of televisions in the 56 largest
media markets in the United
States were tuned to the inauguration, the largest audience since
Ronald Reagan's first
inauguration in
1981 and nearly double the
viewership
of the 2005 inauguration of George W. Bush. The Raleigh-Durham
market had the largest TV audience with more than 51% of
households tuned in to the day's events, a number attributed in
part to a snowstorm that kept people inside and in part to the
large African American population in that community. Of the top
10 media markets in terms of viewership, four were in North
Carolina, two were in Virginia and one was in Maryland, with the
Washington D.C. market ranking second highest in television
viewership. In addition, schools and workplaces across the country
allowed viewing of the inauguration because the event occurred on a
weekday.
As measured between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST,
U.S. television viewership for the Obama inaugural events
achieved an average of 37.8 million across 17 broadcast
and cable channels, not including
online
viewers who watched live streaming video of the events. Although
the Obama inaugural events achieved an average U.S. television
viewership of 37.8 million across both broadcast networks and
cable channels, viewership for the events was lower than the
U.S. television viewership for the 1981 Reagan inaugural
festivities, which averaged 41.8 million across the
ABC,
CBS
and
NBC broadcast networks alone.
Measurements of television viewership in
Europe showed that Germany
drew the largest audience for the Obama
inauguration at 11 million viewers, followed by France
at
7 million viewers and the United Kingdom
at 5.1 million viewers.According to the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
6.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom watched highlights
of the inauguration during its early evening news program.
Internet traffic
The Obama inauguration resulted in a surge of Internet traffic to
news and social networking websites and a record number of
video streams.
CNN reported
that it generated more than 21 million video streams by
3:30 p.m. EST that day—an all-time record, in addition to
receiving 136 million
page views that
day. At one point during the surge of
traffic to view the Obama inauguration, the BBC
reported downtime during its own live video feed at its website.
The heavy website traffic caused the BBC video feed to cut out for
30 minutes, with web visitors seeing the message "Please come
back later" instead of the live video footage.
The technology company
Akamai
reported that 5,401,250 web users logged on news sites in less
than one minute, the fifth highest peak among news websites since
the company started tracking data in 2005. During at-peak usage,
news websites served seven million simultaneous video streams,
which was the highest number of simultaneous video streams in
Akamai's history. The Obama inaugural ceremony not only achieved
the highest Internet viewership for a U.S. presidential
inauguration, the inaugural event was the first to feature a live
audio description of a swearing-in ceremony and the first to
include
closed captioning in the
live
webcast of the event.
Unofficial events
In addition to the official events, groups and supporters held an
array of gatherings and celebrations throughout
Washington, D.C. and the surrounding region in the days before
and the evening following the inauguration. One such event, a newly
created "People's Inaugural Ball" was held for economically and
physically disadvantaged people from across the United States who
otherwise would be unable to afford to attend the inaugural
festivities. Earl W.
Stafford, a businessman from Fairfax
County
, Virginia, spent an estimated $1.6 million
dollars through his family's foundation to bring approximately
300 guests to Washington, D.C., hosting the ball on
January 19, 2009 for a total of about 450 people.
Clothing, shoes, tuxedos and hotel rooms for attendees were
provided as part of the invitation.
International reaction
The
international community
paid unprecedented attention to the inauguration of Barack Obama.
Millions of people, including citizens of numerous foreign
countries and American
expatriates living
in those countries, watched the Obama inauguration live on
television and on the Internet. In some countries, the Obama
inauguration garnered as much viewership as the
opening ceremony of the
2008 Summer Olympics.
Celebrations surrounding the inauguration, praise of the event's
significance and congratulations to Obama on his inauguration were
internationally diverse.
In Kenya, the home
country of Obama's father, people celebrated the inauguration as a
public holiday. Indonesians
and Americans in Jakarta
watched the inauguration at a free midnight ball
featuring performances by students from State
Elementary School Menteng 01
, the school that Obama attended as a child.
The city
of Obama in Japan
celebrated the event with fireworks, bell-ringing and hula-dancing
at the Hagaji Temple. Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada
extended
congratulations on behalf of Canadians, while Mexican President Felipe Calderón wished Obama "great
success in the work as the new President of the United
States". Israeli President
Shimon Peres described Obama's
inauguration as a "great day" for the United States, and
British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown noted that "The whole
world is watching the inauguration of President Obama, witnessing a
new chapter in both American history and the world's
history."
Leaders of others countries reserved enthusiasm for the Obama
inauguration, with coverage of the inauguration even muted in some
places.
Cuban President Raúl Castro, brother of former Cuban
president
Fidel Castro, declared that
"[Obama] looks like a good man, I hope he is lucky", while
Ricardo Alarcón, president of the
Cuban
legislature, admitted in his comments about Obama that "the
incoming [U.S.] president 'is a big question mark.'"
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hope for
openness for a new direction, noting that "if Obama chooses the
right path, compensates the past, lifts hostility and
U.S. hegemony, and revises the previous political mistakes, we
will have no hostility."
State-owned Channel One Russia, Russia
's
flagship early evening news show, covered Obama's presidential
inauguration as a minor news story, devoting much of the day's
airtime instead to the gas war with Ukraine. China
covered
the Obama inauguration live on its state‑controlled China Central Television, providing
simultaneous translation into Mandarin
Chinese with a brief delay to allow censoring of
Obama's comments. When President Obama mentioned "earlier
generations faced down
fascism and
communism", Chinese state television officials cut
away abruptly from the televised speech and switched to a
discussion in the studio.
State-controlled print, radio and television
media in North
Korea
provided no coverage or mention of the Obama
inauguration in the hours after the event, opting instead to cover
news about Equatorial
Guinea
welcoming the North Korean ambassador.
Ordinary
citizens in Iraq
even
offered comments about the new president with cautious
optimism. One Iraqi citizen opined that "If [Obama] can do
as well as he talks, then all our problems are over", adding a
belief that "[Obama] is a good man, but many people in Iraq believe
all American presidents are the same and that we are a playground
for their interests." Another citizen noted that "Obama won't get
the same treatment,' ... 'But he won't have too long to prove
himself to us.'"
See also
Notes
- Lawrence, J. (2009-01-20). An inaugural parade they won't soon forget.
USAToday.
Retrieved 2009-01-28.
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