Poet Maya Angelou read this, her poem, during the inauguration of former president Bill Clinton in 1993.
Someone should be tasked to record the inaugurations throughout the country so that we don’t have just a simple list of presidential inaugurals. As it is, the presidential list simply says where the inauguration was held; it doesn’t say what else went with the swearing-in.
As it is, there is just a list of presidential inaugurals.
Aguinaldo had his inauguration in Cavite and Malolos. Quezon in his first term was sworn in at the Legislative building in Manila, at the start of World War II in Corregidor, then in simple ceremonies in Washington D.C. Osmeña’s inaugural was also in Washington D.C.
The Legislative building in Manila would later be used often, and also the Quirino Grandstand. Aquino had the swearing in at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, Estrada in a church in Malolos. GMA had it at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, interestingly the first inaugural in the country outside Luzon.
But what were the activities put in? You’d have, of course, the swearing in, the benediction, a musical selection and the address. In the US in the earlier years, they would have a classical singer to offer an operatic number. But later, they’d put up rhythm-and-blues singers.
A Nebraska governor-elect, whose wife was a ballroom dance instructor, showed off a swing with her. In the case of Cebuano official-elects, there’s the Sandiego troop to teach them. And the dance could be Sinulog, why not?
There’s a meaning to everything done during such occasion, like in using the bible to swear in, which is not required but most do it. Five presidents swore on the same bible that George Washington, the first US president, used decades ago.
Something more interesting is the museum for inaugural gowns of wives of Arkansas governors collected from an inaugural fashion show in 1943. The gowns, some of which through time have lost their sheen, are restored skillfully.
There are parades and balls, of course. But in Albany in a gubernatorial inaugural, there was a pre-dawn jog. In Tampa, a barbecue for children in a baseball training camp. For the youth in Massachusetts, there was “a conversation with the governor-elect.”
As for the gubernatorial balls, there are more than one, the proceeds of which usually go to those in need, like one where the invitees were asked to donate shoes for poor children.
For presidential inaugurals, there are grand balls or charity balls---among them five balls in Kennedy’s inaugural, 11 in 1993 and then 14 balls in 1997 in Clinton’s inaugurals.
As for inaugural addresses, the shortest was Washington’s, at 135 words. The longest, close to two hours, was done by a president who died a month after, of pneumonia, possibly from having stood addressing a crowd on the coldest day of the coldest inaugural of all.
The meaning and intent of each official-elect should be in the inaugural address. It should be meaningful and honest, his sincerity showing in his past work, in the bills he authored or the programs he championed without let. It’s easy to write a speech or read poetry in inaugurals but difficult to prove it.
Wouldn’t you want to tell the story of inaugurals to your children?
