Published: January 21, 2009 09:13 am      

How did Obama’s inauguration compare to others?

The inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. President appeared on television screens as if it was some kind of rock concert. Over a million people pushed their way into a huddled mass filling the streets of Washington D.C., just to be a part of this historic event: welcoming in the country’s first black president.

Screaming fans, snapping photos to immortalize the moment. News analysts giving updates on Obama’s every move. Prime-time specials and colorful merchandising logos. As inaugurations go, Obama’s is one that won’t soon be forgotten.

But how does it compare to other significant inaugurations to come before it?



George Washington

As far as the presidential welcome wagon goes, it doesn’t get more historic than Washington — the nation’s first president (with apologies to John Hanson). It was also the first to be held in New York City — but not the only one. Chester Arthur had a private swearing in at his residence In New York before his public ceremony in the nation’s capital. Theodore Roosevelt was ushered into the presidency in Buffalo New York.

Washington also gave a second address in Philadelphia, which is where John Adams said his piece. Thomas Jefferson was first to have an inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., which is where every inaugural address since has been given — save for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s at the White House.

It’s difficult to say exactly how many people showed up in New York — the temporary U.S. capital — on April 30, 1789 (it wouldn’t be until FDR’s second inauguration in 1937 that the ceremony was held in January), but history suggests the streets were pretty well packed with citizens of the brand-new country wanting to be a part of this installation of their new leader — a man who refused to be king, but rather opted for a limited term in office. In the 18th century equivalent of the modern media blitz, It supposedly took Washington a week to travel from Mt. Vernon, his home in Virginia, to New York, and the party stretched pretty much the whole way. Men nattily attired in white rowed Washington in on a barge, which was greeted by a 13-gun salute. Folks got dressed up, bells rang out, military bands played — it was a pretty raucous scene for 1789.



Abraham Lincoln

If there’s one president Obama has been compared to, it’s Lincoln — from their Illinois roots, to status in the nation’s struggle with race relations, to unexpected rises out of seemingly nowhere.

Lincoln began his tumultuous time as president — Obama can only hope that he doesn’t have a civil war on his hands — on March 4, 1861. Unlike Obama, Lincoln wasn’t especially popular coming in — the Kentucky native had to don a disguise in order to avoid would-be assassins on his way into D.C. Security detail for Lincoln’s ceremony on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol was pretty tight — including quite a few soldiers — largely because of hostility surrounding the impending secession of southern states from the Union.

Lincoln’s second inauguration in 1865 was the first to include blacks in the ceremonial parade. However, there were a few guests the president might have been less-than-eager to welcome had he known what the future would hold — John Wilkes Booth, along with a number of others involved in the conspiracy to kill Lincoln only a month later. It wasn’t much fun for anyone to attend, actually — it was reportedly a damp, muddy affair. If Obama’s inauguration held the one-in-a-lifetime event feel of Woodstock, Lincoln’s festivities were more like the sloppy, muck-soaked Woodstock ‘94.



Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR had more inaugural ceremonies than any other president — and all but one were on the East Portico at the Capitol. Roosevelt’s last, on Jan. 20, 1945 was on the South Portico of the White House, because World War II America had to stay-budget minded and a more subdued ceremony than normal wouldn’t be as expensive. The ailing Roosevelt’s health was also a factor — the president died only three months later.

Obama’s task to lead the nation out of an economic crisis is reminiscent of the situation Roosevelt inherited from Herbert Hoover, with both Democrats seeking government spending projects as a means to this end. FDR’s first inauguration was in the midst of an even more dire environment than his last — the “Great Depression” and its astronomical rates of unemployment and industrial losses set the backdrop for Roosevelt’s entry into power. Roosevelt’s speech from that March 4, 1933 inauguration lends American culture one of its most well-known quotes, as part of FDR’s call to battle back against hopelessness: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”





John F. Kennedy

Obama’s reputation is one of a charismatic media-age politician, but the camera was never friendlier than it was to Kennedy, who won in 1960 partly because he came across so much better on television than opponent Richard Nixon. Before Obama, Kennedy was a fresh-faced, energetic, highly-popular Democrat — and even though at 47, Obama’s considered young for the Oval Office, Kennedy had him and everyone else beat at 43 years of age when he was made president.

Much like FDR, JFK’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1961, contained a line pretty much everyone is familiar with — “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Though inviting poets to read at the inauguration has been an occasional practice in the years since — perhaps most famously, Maya Angelou’s words for President Bill Clinton’s 1993 ceremony — Robert Frost was the first poet to do so with his work, “Dedication,” for Kennedy.

Like Lincoln’s second inauguration, weather was a factor — heavy snowfall had some considering the cancellation of the event. Eight inches of snow fell, blanketing Kennedy’s big day in a crisp white winter wonderland but playing havoc with traffic and plans to attend the dawning of “Camelot.” Obama dealt with cold weather — temperatures hovered in the 20-30 degree range in the nation’s capital Tuesday — but Frosty the Snowman couldn’t make it to the party like he did for Kennedy.



Ronald Reagan

Stuck with the task of fixing a broken economy, Obama could look to the late President Reagan for pointers. The Reagan era was known for — what else? — ”Reaganomics,” based on tax cuts and supply-side economics. The big-business era that followed stood in contrast to an environment of high unemployment and economic uncertainty when Reagan took over.

The Republican Reagan’s economic philosophy, also known as “laissez-faire,” or “let do,” implies a laid-back, easy-going mood. That also reflected Reagan’s own attitude toward his inauguration. As mentioned in the Richard Reeves book, “President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination,” Reagan wanted to sleep in before his defining day in 1981. An aide knocked on Reagan’s door at 8 a.m. and told the president he needed to get up — he was to be inaugurated within a few hours. Reagan’s reply? “Do I have to?”

Obama’s supporters have said he can bridge both sides of the political divide, but Reagan’s inaugurations featured extremes in weather — his 1981 inauguration was the warmest in January at 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and the 1985 festivities were January’s coldest — a high of 17 degrees, and into negative numbers that morning. The weather that date forced the event inside the Capitol Rotunda. Reagan’s first was a little unusual too, in that it was the first held on the West Front of the Capitol, as all have been done since.