Presidential Inaugurations

Highlights Of Every Inauguration Since FDR's First In 1933, Including Audio, Video, First-Persons And A Summary Of Each President's First 100 Days

Friday, Jan. 9, 2009


43rd President George W. Bush

"If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led," Bush said in his first inaugural address. "If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most."

42nd President Bill Clinton

The 1993 inauguration marked the passing of the torch to a new generation of Americans. For 40 years, the nation had been governed by men who had worn a uniform during World War II.

41st President George H.W. Bush

Stepping out of Reagan's shadow, Bush took the oath of office in 1989 with his right hand raised and his left resting on two open Bibles -- one belonging to his family, the second used by George Washington.

40th President Ronald Reagan

Reagan was 13 years older than Carter, the incumbent he had defeated, but on the day Reagan was sworn, "the Gipper," as he was widely called, seemed the younger man.

39th President Jimmy Carter

Carter, a peanut farmer and former Georgia governor, was sworn in at an inaugural ceremony that closely followed the populist themes and poignant symbolism of his winning Democratic campaign.

38th President Gerald Ford

"Our long national nightmare is over," Ford told the nation on Aug. 9, 1974. For the previous two years, the Watergate scandal had consumed America. To Ford, his goal seemed clear: His first 100 days would be spent attempting to heal the nation.

37th President Richard Nixon

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.

36th President Lyndon B. Johnson

At a pivotal moment in American history, Johnson was sworn in for a full four-year term on Jan. 20, 1965. The assassination of his predecessor, Kennedy, 14 months earlier was an unavoidable subtext.

35th President John F. Kennedy

Kennedy, a World War II veteran who had survived a brush with death in the South Pacific and who lived with debilitating physical ailments, ignored the cold on his inauguration day to issue one of the more memorable inaugural speeches in history.

34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower

The GOP had high expectations in 1953 as Eisenhower took office as the first Republican president in 20 years following the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the start of the Cold War.

33rd President Harry S. Truman

Truman inherited World War II, a fraying alliance with Stalin, and something called the "Manhattan Project" that no one had bothered to brief him on. "He spent his first hundred days reacting," one scholar said.

32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

No president has moved as boldly or accomplished as much as Roosevelt did during his first 100 days in office, so it is no surprise that successive presidents often plan out their administrations with this time frame in mind.

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