First inauguration of Barack Obama
The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The 56th inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in the city, marked the commencement of the first term of Barack Obama as president and Joe Biden as vice president. Based on combined attendance numbers, television viewership, and Internet traffic, it was one of the most-observed events ever by the global audience at the time.
Date
January 20, 2009
Barack Obama
44th president of the United States
— Assuming office
John Roberts
Chief Justice of the United States
— Administering oath
Joe Biden
47th vice president of the United States
— Assuming office
John Paul Stevens
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
— Administering oath
"A New Birth of Freedom", a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, served as the inaugural theme to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of the birth year of President Abraham Lincoln. In his speeches to the crowds, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about renewal, continuity, and national unity. Obama mentioned these ideals in his speech to stress 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 events, starting with a commemorative train tour from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C., on January 17, 2009. The inaugural events held in Washington from January 18 to 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 by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to Obama during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20 strayed slightly from the oath of office prescribed in the United States Constitution, which led to its re‑administration the next day.
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 with participation in recent past inaugurations. For the first time, the committee opened 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. A philanthropist organized a People's Inaugural Ball for disadvantaged people who otherwise could not 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.
Context[edit]
By definition, the inauguration marked the formal culmination of the presidential transition of Barack Obama that began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the president-elect.[1] In accordance with Article I, Section 6 of the United States Constitution, Obama resigned from the United States Senate effective November 16, 2008.[2][3] He was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008.[4] The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 8, 2009.[5]
Obama, who originally campaigned using the slogan "Change We Can Believe In" and later "Change We Need",[6] was widely celebrated as the first African American president of the United States and a symbol of change from his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama also represented a generational change as the first man elected president who was born in the 1960s. He inherited what Peter Orszag termed an "economic mess" that became known as the late-2000s financial crisis.[7] Obama was 47 years, 169 days old on the day of taking the office, which makes him the fifth youngest person to be inaugurated to date.
Pre-inaugural events[edit]
Train ride: Commemorating Lincoln[edit]
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.[47][48] to capture the mood of the 1861 Springfield to Washington train tour traveled by Lincoln to his own inauguration.[49][50] 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.[51] On the tour, Obama was accompanied by his wife Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha, and a host of friends and guests.[51]
Attendance[edit]
Dignitaries, family and celebrity guests[edit]
Outgoing President George W. Bush, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney, former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, and former vice presidents Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle, and Al Gore, along with their respective wives, attended the inauguration, including Hillary Clinton (Obama's choice to succeed Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state), who had been Obama's main opponent in the Democratic primaries (Clinton was attending as a former First Lady, not as the losing candidate).[171] Cheney was in a wheelchair because of an injury that he suffered while moving boxes.[171][172]
Congressman John Lewis, the only living speaker from the historic 1963 rally at the March on Washington, was present on the stage during the inauguration.[173] More than 180 of the Tuskegee Airmen attended as invited guests for the inauguration.[174][175] 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 five days earlier.[176]
Eighty-seven-year-old Sarah Obama led a group of Obama's Kenyan relatives from his father's home village of Kogelo.[177] Other relatives who traveled from Kenya as guests included Obama's aunt, Maggie Obama, his uncle, Sayid Obama, as well as his half-brother Malik Obama.[177][178] Also, Kenya youth activist and Chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr Africa Foundation, Mwangi Mukami, attended the Inaugural events.[179] Mukami had served as Chair of the Obama Worldwide Supporters Campaign though it was unrelated to the official campaign. 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.[180]
Celebrity guests included the actors Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, talk show host Oprah Winfrey, singer Beyoncé Knowles, director Steven Spielberg, Colombian singer Shakira, boxer Muhammad Ali, and golfer Tiger Woods.[181]
Speeches