BackStory

Four More Years: Presidential Inaugurations

President Grant taking the oath of office, 3/4/1873. [Library of Congress]

President Grant taking the oath of office, 3/4/1873. [LOC]

As the rest of Washington looks forward to the next four years, BackStory is looking back — at the last 224 years of presidential transitions. On today’s show, the History Guys focus in on several of the most high-stakes presidential inaugurations, and ask what these moments tell us about the social and political forces at work around them.

Why was Washington’s voice trembling when he took the Oath of Office? Why did Lincoln’s contemporaries greet his now-famous second inaugural… with a shrug? What incoming president in the 1870s feared the specter of a rival inauguration by armed opponents? And in the larger scheme of things, why do inaugurations really matter, anyway?

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Guests Include:

  • Joanne Freeman, Yale University, on the incredibly high stakes of the nation’s first U.S. presidential inauguration.
  • Tim McBride, former personal aide to George H.W. Bush, on how to project the right inaugural image.
  • William J. Cooper, Louisiana State University, on the three inaugurations of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
  • George Rable, University of Alabama, on Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, an extraordinary speech that garnered a collective shrug in its own time.
  • Greg Downs, City College of New York, on the specter of a two dueling inaugurations after the hotly disputed election of 1876.

Show Segments:

Listen to individual segments from the episode.

Further Exploration:

Read the listener discussion that helped shape this episode.

Become an expert! Check our further readings on presidential inaugurations.

4 Responses

  • The Lincoln voice in you program was Orson Wells.

    From what we know of Mr. Lincoln’ voice & delivery, Orson was incorrect. Lincoln had a higher pitched almost reedy voice & he spoke slower than most folks of his age. Plus Wells needed to throw in a little Kentucky & Southern Indiana accent to be more authentic.

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    Robert Brugler
    1/19/2013 at 4:52 pm

  • I suspect the recording of Welles (no relation to Gideon) was from the Mercury Theatre Broadcast, “Abraham Lincoln” from August 15, 1938.

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    Bruce Pencek
    1/20/2013 at 4:46 pm

  • I am not sure why the segment on Jefferson Davis was included in this piece. Davis was not the President of the United States. He was an outlaw who lead an outlaw movement. His inauguration was not legitimate. It was illegal. We fought a war over this. Seceding from the Union was not & is not an option. Don’t give the idea legitimacy…then or now…

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    Larry Grieco
    1/21/2013 at 2:04 pm

  • Orson Welles, I believe. And what a wonderful reading. As with every week, thank you kindly for the show.

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    Dave
    1/22/2013 at 8:19 am

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