- The inauguration for the 44th President was the 56th inauguration in U.S. history.
- The theme for the 56th Inauguration was "Renewing America's Promise"
- Sec. of Defense Robert Gates was the cabinet member designated to not attend the inauguration, but instead be kept in a secured location.
- During the inauguration, 92 people (including florists, art curators, chefs, and carpet-layers) had 6 hours to move the Obamas into the White House. The residence only has 2 elevators.
- Because of the large crowds, spectators without tickets had the choice of attending either the inauguration viewing on The Mall or the parade- not both.
- This was the 7th inauguration from the west front of the Capitol. It changed with Ronald Reagan who wanted to face California when he took the oath of office.
- Barack Obama had an 82% approval rating at the time of his inauguration.
- John Paul Stevens (the oldest justice) administered the oath of office to VP Joe Biden. Chief Justice John Roberts (administering the oath for the 1st time) swore-in President Obama... messing up the oath by moving the word "faithfully", thereby confusing them both. Because of the confusion the first time around, at 7:35 p.m. on the day after the inauguration Chief Justice Robert re-administered the oath to President Obama in the White House Map Room. This time, without a Bible or television audience, after being asked "Are you ready to take the oath?", President Obama answered, "Yes, I am... and we're going to do it very slowly."
- The temperature on The Mall was 25 degrees.
- Barack Obama actually became President during the musical interlude prior to the administration of the presidential oath. The event was running a few minutes late, but according to the Constitution, he became President at noon, with or without an oath.
- President Obama's inauguration speech was approximately 18 minutes long.
- A detail error in President Obama's speech: he stated that "forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath." Actually, it's 43... Grover Cleveland took it on two non-consecutive occasions. While he was both the 22nd and 24th President, he was still just one American.
- President Obama was censored on Chinese television when he made references to defeating communism and criticized the "silencing of dissent."
- Immediately following the inaugural ceremony, the Obamas and Bidens escorted the Bushes to the opposite side of the Capitol building, where a helicopter from the Marine One fleet flew the Bushes to Andrews Air Force Base to board an Air Force One plane (now "Executive One") for Texas.
- The Inauguration luncheon in the Capitol's Statutory Hall included a seafood stew, pheasant and duck, and an apple-cinnamon sponge cake for dessert.
- During the luncheon (at 2:35) paramedics were called because Senator Ted Kennedy had suffered a seizure and collapsed. There were mixed reports as to who it was; first reports, Robert Byrd. We only found out it was actually Sen. Kennedy when President Obama began his remarks.
- When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Inaugural Comm. Chair) presented the commemorative bowls to the President and VP, she invited almost everyone over to a special table for the presentation. She forgot one person, the President.
- The DOW closed 332 points down...a record drop for inauguration days.
- The first song the Obamas danced to at their first ball was "At Last", performed live by Beyonce. After slow dancing with Michelle to an instrumental version of the same song at the Youth Inaugural Ball, President Obama explained to the cheering crowd, "That's what's called 'old school'."
- The Obamas made appearances at 10 inaugural balls (1 less than the Clintons who set a record with 11). The most common parting greeting the President gave: "Let's go change the world," (a common phrase from the campaign trail).
- After the inaugural balls, the Obamas returned to the White House where, after 1:30 in the morning, President Obama hosted a small gathering of friends including Oprah Winfrey and some Illinois politicians. First lady, Michelle Obama went to bed.
- Word came out at the end of the week that the musical interlude (during which time Barack Obama became President) performed "live" by Yo-Yo Ma and Yitzak Pearlman was a recording they had made the day before. It was decided that the instruments would not sound their best during the inauguration because of the cold weather. So only those sitting within earshot actually heard the "live" performance; everyone else (on The Mall and on t.v.) heard the recording.
jan 20 2009 ∞
jan 26 2009 +
jan 26 2009 +