Hodding Carter III*
Campaign Coordinator in Atlanta, Later State Department Spokesman
Age at the Time: 41

Originally published Jan. 13, 2001

It's interesting to me that one of the things that immediately sticks out is the effect of the weather. I was cold as hell. Carter's walk was a little like Kennedy standing there bare-headed at the reviewing stand in 1961. It showed he was a vigorous guy who was ready for almost anything. It also showed that he was a guy who understood the importance of symbolism in the office.

The particular inaugural ball I went to was in the old Union Station building, which was in one of its many failed attempts at renewal. At that moment, they had done several things to try to restore it. I had been a little boy growing up in D.C. during World War II, and I was thrilled to be using a derelict building as the site of a ball. I thought it was a nice symbol that we were going to make things new again.

As with most inaugurations, I was taken more by the scene than by the words that were spoken. The only words I ever remembered were the words of John F. Kennedy in the 1961 inauguration.

*Image courtesy of TarHippo under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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