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PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATIONS
Richard M. Nixon
37th President Of The United States (1969-1974)
Inaugural Highlights
Date: Jan. 20, 1969
Weather: 35 degrees and cloudy
President: Richard M. Nixon
Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew
Administered Oath: Chief Justice Earl Warren
Notable Speakers: Everett M. Dirksen, the Rev. Billy Graham
Presidential Soundbite: We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment.
Popular-Vote Percentage: 43.4%
Electoral Votes: 301
First Address (Jan. 20, 1969) Second Address ((Jan. 20, 1973)First 100 Days
• Ties with congressional Democrats
• Bombing of Cambodia
• Southern school desegregation delay
On the face of it, Richard M. Nixon's first 100 days as president provided few clues about his administration's future course. He did nothing dramatic on domestic policy -- ending patronage employment at the U.S. Postal Service was probably the most news-grabbing action. He started the ball rolling on a handful of other matters -- appointing a commission on ending the draft, for example. But there were few hints of what would eventually be significant achievements, many worked out in lengthy negotiations with the Democratic Congress, such as major environmental and safety rules.
On foreign affairs, Nixon said little about how he would keep his campaign promise to end the Vietnam War in six months, and he didn't tip his hand on other international priorities. He didn't introduce any sweeping legislation, and his submission of a nuclear nonproliferation treaty to the Senate merely carried forward an agreement reached by another president.
Behind the scenes, though, Nixon's 100 days said everything about his presidency. Like George W. Bush, Nixon undertook a pre-inaugural pilgrimage to meet with his predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson. The two might have been expected to compare notes on the war, but instead Johnson offered his advice on two smaller domestic matters, according to Nixon biographer Joan Hoff: "Watch out for the (antiwar) demonstrators, and watch out for leaks."
On the first point, Nixon made some ineffectual efforts to cultivate youthful supporters, but he never could evade the protesters who formed a permanent encampment in front of the White House. (Hundreds were there to bid him farewell on that last, post-resignation helicopter ride in 1974.)
On Johnson's second point, Nixon was no more effective, but he was much more assertive. In February, he ordered the wiretapping of reporters and columnists who covered the war. It was the beginning of an obsession that helped destroy his presidency.
A fixation with secrecy also characterized Nixon's most important foreign policy decision in his first 100 days, one that the public didn't learn about for months -- the secret bombing of Cambodia. Hoff challenges today's popular image of a bloodthirsty Nixon pushing the expansion of the war after promising to end it. "In fact, the Pentagon had been urging Johnson (More)
Nixon's First Inauguration
Originally published Jan. 13, 2001
When Richard M. Nixon was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1969, as the 37th President of the United States, the day marked a comeback for Republicans, but especially for Nixon himself. Although the former vice president, senator, and congressman had found political success early in life, he'd narrowly lost his first bid for president in 1960 to John F. Kennedy, and in 1962 lost an acrimonious gubernatorial race to California Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. The latter loss prompted the well-remembered and ungracious concession speech in which Nixon said he was leaving public life, bitterly telling the Sacramento press corps that they wouldn't have "Nixon to kick around anymore." But in 1968, he secured his party's nomination for president and pledged to end the Vietnam War, the issue that had torn apart the Democratic Party at its national convention in Chicago that year. Nixon narrowly defeated Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, as well as third-party presidential candidate George C. Wallace, a segregationist, and put Republicans back into the White House after an eight-year absence.
The transition from President Johnson to Nixon was cordial, but with the nation so deeply divided over the war, Nixon's inaugural address, on a cold, cloudy day, was restrained. Thousands of demonstrators gathered along the parade route, but they posed no major threat to the crowd of about 250,000. More than 15,000 security personnel were posted around the city that day, the largest contingent ever assembled for an inauguration. Nixon spoke of his "sacred commitment" to peace and urged Americans to lower angry voices and embrace reconciliation, but he did not offer specifics in his address, which was broadcast worldwide. Later that evening, as rain began to fall, Nixon and his family prepared for the celebrations that were to be held in their honor, including a private reception at the White House and six official inaugural balls.
-- Piper Fogg
First-Persons
Herb Klein, White House communications director: "On the afternoon before the inaugural, I got a call from Tom Johnson, who was Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, and he said that the president wanted to see me."
John C. Whitaker, Cabinet secretary: "All I remember of the inaugural itself was weeping when Nixon was speaking."
Ron Walker, chief of advance: "It was cold, and the president gave an exhilarating speech. It was a much smaller event than it is now."
Paul McCloskey, Republican House member from California: "I think all of us were hopeful that Nixon had a plan to end the Vietnam War. That was the burning issue of the day."
