Lou Cannon
Reporter, Reagan Biographer
Age at the Time: 47

Originally published Jan. 13, 2001

We'd been having these cold, crummy days, and then that morning, a southern wind came through and warmed it up. People were sitting there shedding their winter coats. It was like it was a Hollywood production, and the weather was ordered by Reagan.

If something can be simultaneously cheerful and serious, that's what Reagan's inauguration was. It was a big change in government, and a lot of people, including me, wondered if Reagan was up to this job. But Reagan never doubted it. His poll numbers soared between election and inauguration, partly because he projected this amiable confidence. When he'd come to Sacramento, we reporters had asked him what kind of governor he was going to be, and he had quipped, "I don't know, I never played a governor before." Well, there was no question he wasn't going to play a President. He was going to be president -- and he conveyed that.

You could hear the police sirens as the motorcade wound up Pennsylvania Avenue. Both presidents wanted the hostages released on Carter's watch, but in the end, it didn't matter, because the United States was speaking with one voice. This may be corny, but I remember thinking, as the entourage came into sight, that it's kind of wonderful how we transfer power. We have these hard campaigns, and then they ride up together. Carter had been very gracious to Ford, and now Reagan was being gracious to Carter. I thought it was super. It's the way we do things. I thought of it again this year, because we've had such acrimony in the election.

People were in a good mood. People would wave to friends... There were people scared of Reagan, but Reagan wasn't scared of the job -- and that day, he wasn't the least bit scary. In the speech, Reagan made it clear he was becoming president of the United States, not president of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. It wasn't Lincoln's second inaugural address -- or JFK's only one -- but it felt right. Treptow wasn't buried in Arlington. But so what? The next day, we wrote about that, we did our "gotcha" thing, but Reagan didn't care that we got him. His heroes had always been heroes.

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