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Inaugural To Be Informal

Publication Date
Sunday, January 14, 1945
Historical Event
FDR Delivers His Fourth Inaugural Address
This database includes 552 articles about this event
Tags
Gannett full page downloadable
Article Type
News Article
Newspaper
The Hutchinson News
Location
Hutchinson, Kansas
Page Section and Number
8
Author/Byline
AP
Article Text
Washington (AP) — President Roosevelt's fourth inauguration next Saturday will be a "let's get on with the war" affair — a simple, 15-minute interlude in the martial march of victory.

The chief executive, will be 63 Jan. 30, will just step out on the south portico of the White House —the back porch— to swear for the fourth time to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution."

The nation's first wartime presidential induction in 80 years will be a business suit oath-taking on a spot never before used for such purpose

Hayes took over the presidency from Grant in 1877 in a White House parlor. But this was only because inaugurntion day fell on a Sunday, and the constitutionalists wanted to avoid any possibility of legal challenge. Hayes took the oath bath again the next day on capitol steps.

Almost all the trappings of the past parade will be absent this time. No parade. No inaugural ball. No circus seals along Pennsylvania avenue. No crowds pouring into "to see the man I voted for."

Mr. Roosevelt will stand on an iron-rallinged porch as he places his hand on an old oil-cloth-bound family bible and makes his pledge before Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone. Over the heads of audence will run a vista to the majestic new Jefferson memorial a site in Potomac park picked by the president himself.

Wallace Swears In Truman
Inauguations always have their little ironies. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who failed of renomination after one term, will administer the oath to his successor, Senator Harry S.
Truman of Missouri. That will follow an invocation by the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun, Episcopal bishop of Washington. Then will come the presidential oath and five-minute inaugural address, and benediction by the Rt. Rev. Mons, John A. Ryan, director of the Social Action department, National Catholic Welfare conference.

Because the porch is small, guests there will be limited to the families of the president, vice-president and vice-president-elect, members of the supreme court and cabinet, chiefs of the armed services and dean of the diplomatic corps.

Down on the lawn will be some 5,000 persons against the 100,000 who watched Mr. Roosevelt hailed as the apostle of the "new deal" back on that bitter cold day at the Capitol March 4, 1933.

Selected Audience
Members of congress with one partner each, presidential electors to the same number, diplomats, state governors and their staffs, members of the Democratic National committee and Democratic state chairmen—they will make up the greater part of the audience.

Standing with them will be federal) agency heads, veterans representatives and leaders of women's, foreign language and other groups that took part in the successful fourth term campaign.

If he follows custom, Mr. Roosevelt will go to church before the ceremony. After the inauguration Mrs. Roosevelt will be hosts at a White House luncheon, to be followed by a four o'clock tea.

Thus will come the first great departure in an event that has changed but little since Washington, with "feelings not unlike those of a culprit going to his place of execution," was inducted in New York in 1789.

Fancy Parade In 1932
Nearly 300,000 persons saw the oath-taking and fancy costume parade when FDR became president at the last March 4 ceremony, nearly 12 years ago, Eighteen thousand persons took part in the parade, led by General Douglas MacArthur, then army chief of staff.

Four years later in a torrential rain Mr. Roosevelt took the oath on the Capitol steps for the second time from Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes. His silk hat and morning clothes got soaked (so did Mrs. Roosevelt's new bonnet) but after changing to dry clothes he reviewed the 2½-hour parade.

Another four years passed. A chilled, windswept throng saw the president make history by taking the oath the third, time.

John Garner ended 38 years of congressional service—eight of them in the vice-presidency—by swearing in his successor, Henry A. Wallace.

The crowd's cheers echoed down packed Pennsylavnia avenue as West Point cadets, Annapolis midshipmen and the nation's first peace - time draftees marched ahead of crack units of steel-helmeted soldiers, bluejackets and "devil dog" marines.

And-inside the White House—whined a little black dog, waiting for his master. A pat on the head, and "No, you can't go with me today," Mr. Roosevelt had said, smiling.

This time, all Fala will have to do is run out on the back porch.
History Unfolded Contributor
Donna L.
Location of Research
Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)

Learn More about this Historical Event: FDR Delivers His Fourth Inaugural Address

Bibliography

Breitman, Richard, and Allan J. Lichtman. FDR and the Jews. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Newton, Verne W., ed. FDR and the Holocaust. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

Rosen, Robert N. Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006.

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