With Donald Trump swearing-in Friday, the United States of America has now gone through the inauguration of its 45th president, a ceremony that began in 1792 when George Washington swore his oath in New York City, then the nation’s capital, on April 30. It was supposed to happen on March 4, but a harsh winter and travel troubles for members of Congress pushed the date back.
The Recorder didn’t exist at the time, but the newspaper’s lineage starts with the Impartial Intelligencer in 1792, and so was around for Washington’s second inauguration in 1793 then under the Greenfield Gazette nameplate.
The public became a larger observer of the inauguration in 1817, when James Monroe made a speech before an assembled crowd. His speech and a couple of introductory sentences on the inauguration were published in the Franklin Herald two weeks after the March 4 ceremony.
The switch of day from March 4 to Jan. 20 occurred in 1932 with the swearing in of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd president.
Besides the news coverage of these inaugurations, the editorial page has for decades now been offering the newspapers’ voice on the inauguration and what awaited each president.
When Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected in 1952, for his inauguration the Greenfield Recorder-Gazette noted he was the first Republican to sit at the president’s desk since 1933, and said “President Eisenhower will bring a new kind of leader to our 48 states.” As a nod to the reality of politics and life, the editorial stated, “On this day, perhaps the only one throughout his regime, he has the best wishes, the cooperation and the full support of the entire nation; we might even say, of the world. The rest is in his hands, and those of God.”
In 1960, The Greenfield Recorder said of John F. Kennedy, our former U.S. senator and Democrat:
“He made it, but the odds were against him all the way.
John F. Kennedy today is the president of the U.S.A. If, however, history records him as a good president, it must also acknowledge that no man ever faced greater obstacles …”
Twenty years later, the newspaper weighed in after the swearing-in of Ronald Reagan, saying his election as 39th president was bringing in “an era of natural renewal for the nation, with new leadership and new direction. As Reagan takes charge, a new expectancy grips the nation that yearns for imaginative but steady leadership from Washington …”
The editorial also stated that the new president was burdened by “many of the same problems that haunted his predecessors.”
In 1993, The Recorder welcomed William Clinton, a Democrat, to the White House, reminding him that it was a momentous day in his life and in the life of the republic and that his inauguration was part of a “proud moment for the country as a whole. Never forget that the smooth transfer of power that took place today is a miracle of democracy. The peaceful transition is an institution based on faith in the system, hope for the future and charity toward the defeated …”
Eight years later, it was Republican George W. Bush who was inaugurated on a Saturday. The 43rd president, The Recorder stated on Monday “… hasn’t wasted any time getting down to business, and we’re not talking about the desert-hued color scheme of the Oval Office.
Upon his inauguration in 2005, The Recorder recognized that “Winning a presidential re-election is a special achievement, one that is deserving of a special and public celebration. People get dressed up and the various venues are decked out. It’s glimmer and sparkle with a speech or two thrown in for good measure.”
The inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009, the nation’s first black president, had The Recorder joining the rest of the U.S. in recognizing the significance. We wrote, “Barack Obama’s inauguration as 44th president of the United States may be remembered by some as a time when it seemed the Earth stood still, as a collective holding of breath.
“More than 2 million people, it’s estimated, turned out on the capital’s Mall, with many additional millions paying close attention to the events by television, radio and the Internet. They were drawn to Obama’s inauguration to personally take part in the turning of the page in our country’s history. … His eloquent speech, steeped in the past, present and future, was one that was right for the first African-American president and for the challenges that the United States faces immediately and in the future.”
Finally, as we look ahead toward the next four years, a time that many people see filled with uncertainty, we can reflect back to what was said in connection with Kennedy’s inauguration:
“There will be many storms in the next four years. But we shall still be here when 1965 rolls in. And if youth can be taken as a criterion, we shall be even stronger and more determined.”