Evening Star Newspaper, March 5, 1933, Page 77

Each Inauguration Symbolic of Its Period, Gay in Peace, Somber in War—The Spirit of Yesterday’s Ceremonies Was Optimistic as the Country Prepares for a “New Deal.” Martin Van Buren, was a secondary figure at his own elevation to the presidency. Jackson rose from a sick bed to ride up the Avenue with him and take the cheers of the crowd. It was all his .doings, after all, In the dead of Winter, a few days after the electoral vote was announced, William Henry Harrison started from his home in North Bend, Ind, for Washington. March 4, 1841, was & gala day in Washington in spite of the heavy rain. The greatest crowd ever to attend an inauguration up to that time was in the city. There was a salute of 26 guns at daybreak. A carriage drawn by four white horses called for Harrison at his hotel. The old soldier in- sisted on riding horseback. He rode to and from the Capitol, mounted on a white charger, holding his hat in his hand and waving it in acknowledgment of the cheering along the route. He was attended by an escort of mounted marshals. A crowd estimated at 50,000 heard his inaugural address from the east portico. That was a rather pretentious parade for those days. Tippecanoe clubs from Virginia and Maryland were represented with log cabins mounted on wheels, each with its hard-cider barrel and coonskin nailed to the door. George- town students marched down the Avenue, headed by the faculty in birettas and black Tobes. It was a hard day for the aged conqueror of Tecumseh, but he stuck it out like a soldier. All the afternoon he received at the White House. That night there were three inaugural balls. He attended all three of them. Th& exertion and the excitement killed him. A month later John Tyler was President of the United States. Shects of rain drenched the crowd which listened to the inaugural address of James K. Polk. For a half hour he spoke over a Sea of umbrellas. A miracle was wrcught that day. Prof. S2amuel S. B. Morse had set up his mag- netic telegraph on the portico and he sent to Baltimcre a running account of what the Presi- dent said. The day of Zachary Taylor's inauguration was warm and sunny. Cannons roared and the city church bells pealed at dawn. The old soldier, dressed in a black suit, rode to the Capitol in a carriage drawn by four black horses. There were 12 companies of soldiers in the parade. They were followed by “Rough and Ready” clubs of Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria. A delegation from Baltimore had four bands in line. There was a con- tingent of feathered and blanketed Indians. Wild cheering followed the administration of the oath by Chief Justice Taney. Zachary Taylor was a soldier and not a scholar. His inaugural address was short and blundering. He told his cheering admirers that ths “United States was at peace with all the world and with the balance of mankind.” That night there were three inaugural balls. The Presi- dent and Vice President attended them all Old Zachary even tried to dance. His wife would take no part in the gayety. He was at- tended by his daughter Betty, in a simple white dress with a single white rose in her hair. The big ball at a temporary structure in . Judiciary Square remains a gala event in the social history of Washington. There was a raw northwest wind and the Avenue was covered with slush the day Prank- lin Picerce was inaugurated. The weather was in keeping with the gloom in the heart of the new President. His only son had been killed in a railroad wreck in Connecticut a few days - before while on the way to Washington to see his father take the oath of office. There were six military- ccmpanies and the Marine Band in the parade. It was a colorless affair. The new Vice President, Willlam R. King of Alabama, was not even present. He took the oath in a Cuban plantation house, where he had gone for his health. While Pierce was speaking from the east portico snow began to fall and tha storm was almost a blizzard before he finished. HE next inauguration was & much more colorful affair. James Buchanan was escorted to the Capitol by more than 30 mili- tary and uniformed civic organizations. The retiring President and his successor rode in an open carriage drawn by two gray horses. ‘The great inaugural ball, held in a temporary annex to the City Hall, lasted all night. North and South danced together. There are always soldiers in an inaugural parade. But on March 4, 1861, they marched grimly and with guns loaded. A week before Abraham Lincoln and his family had stolen into the seat of the national government, filled with Southern sympathizers, under cover of the chill damp of a Winter morning. There were muttered threats that Lincoln never would live te take the oath. The morning dawned warm and sunny. - Lincoln and Bu- SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C, MARCH 5 1933 : a U ¥ 7 - vew, Py ¥V (g G IRERRAA XN ",-V v_!,«,'JA""vg > v Bl 1ohB b 8 T AR roruon of the brilliant parade at Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration in 1913. chanan rode together in an open carriage. On each side of the carriagse was a double file of cavalrymen, ready for action. Companies of infantry marched ahead and behind. Sharp- shooters were stationed at the upper windows of most of the houses on Pennsylvania avenue. Cavalry patrols guarded the street crossings. A regiment of the District of Columbia militia was drawn up on the Capitol steps. On Capi- tol Hill was a battery of light artillery. The procession reached the Capitol without incident, Lincoln walked down the aisle of the House leaning on the arm of his oldest friend in Washington, Senator Baker of Ore- gon., A few months later Baker was killed at Balls Buff at the head of his regiment. They came out on the east portico. Rather faint cheers fcllowed Baker's introduction. Lincoln held in his hands his gold-headed cane and his tall silk hat. He drew the manuscript of his address from his pocket and laid the cane on the table. He could find no place to put the hat and continued to hold it. His old enemy, Stephen A. Douglas, was on the plat- form. Noting Lincoln’s predicament, he stepped forward and took the hat, which he held through the address. There were 5,000 dancers at the inaugural ball that night. But Wash- ington society was not there. It was in no mood for dancing. Its heart was across the Potomac. A few days later Lincoln called on the North for volunteers. Pour years later the inauguration was a simple and solemn affair, The hospitals of Washington were filled with wounded. The cots of sick men filled the aisles of the churches, By a curlous coincidence the sun broke through the clouds of the somber, drizzly, muddy day as Lincoln stepped on the platform. He de- livered one of those addresses such as auto- matically become a part of history. The tide of war had cast up a villagé tailor to be Vice President with Lincoln. Andrew Johnson suf- fered a chill on the way to the Capitol. He asked an attendant in the Vice President’s room for some whisky. He drank two glasses, The Senate_listened in amazement at the dis- connected, incch:rent speech he delivered. The whole inaugural ceremony was thrown off schedule, On March 4, 1869, the city was filled with men in slightly faded blue uniforms., On this gray day, full of rain and vaporous mists, was an inauguration which surpassed any that had gone before. The veterans of the Civil War had come back to see their old battle leader, Grant, made President. The sides of the Ave- nue were packed to their capacity. Roof tops were black with spectators. Second and third story windows rented at from $25 to $50. Grant looked worn and sad as he drove to the Capi- tol, seated beside President Johnson in an open carriage drawn by four horses. He waved his hand respectfully in acknowledgment of cheers. Facing the great throng at the Capitol, he drew the manuscript of his inaugural addres from his pocket and began to read with grea: deliberation. The cheers were deafeninz, His little daughter became confused and frighicned. She ran out of the group on the platform and clutched her father’s arm. He took her hand in his and continwed reading. Thus they continued, hand in hand, for a few mo- ments, until somebody brought her a chair. The inaugural ball was held that night in the north wing of the new Treasury Building. The capacity of the hall was greatly overtaxed. No adequate arrangements had been made for checking wraps. It was bitter cold out- side, and when the dancers had to go hcme without their wraps there followed a scene of tremendous confusion;— which was the most colorful feature of the inauguration. There followed a succession of Civil War Presidents—Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, McKin- ley. Their old regiments came back to Wash- ington to escort them from the Capitol to the White House. The inaugurations were of the same type as those of Grant, but with increas- ing splendor and larger crowds, exemplifying the growing population and wealth of the Na- tion and the increasing ease of transportation. A great historical pageant accompanied the inauguration of Garfield, marred by a snow- storm. When he completed his addr:ss he folded his old mother, in her black silk dress, in his arms and kissed her. HERE were 500,000 visitors in Washington the day Cleveland was inaugurated. For the first time since the Civil War the South took part in the celebration. A colorful part of the parade was the 69th New York Regi- ment, its band "playing the “Wearing of the Green.” The Society of Tammany was in line, its officers carrying tomahawks, Washington and the Nation outdid them- selves in the inauguration of Theodore Rcose- vent. In addition to the regular Army escort there were militia contingents from all the Eastern States. Their ranks were filled with veterans of the Spanish War. Rough Riders, cowboys and mounted Indians were colorful ad- ditions to the parade. There was practically a replica of this occasion four years later when William Howard Taft succeeded to the presi- dency. Then came the two inaugurations of Weod- row Wilson. The first was a great Democratic victory dance. It was the end of an era of peace and prosperity, but nobody suspected what was to follow as the colorful military parade escorted the liberal college professor -down the Avenue, The shadow of war was :not yet darkening Europe. But Wilson's sec- ond inauguration found the country almost on the verge of war. There._was a showing of Naticnal Guard companies from all over the country, the marchers already beginning to wonder when they would be called for quite another kind of marching. The Harding inauguration, coming just after .the war, was a simple and impressive affair. There was no ostentation, no inaugural parade. Harding opened the Bible as if by accident and his lips rested on the words of the prophet Micah, which he repeated in a voice which will linger long in the memories of all who heard him: “Whatsoever shall the Lord ask of a man than that he act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly in the ways of his God.” ‘The Coolidge inauguration was almost equally without ostentation. The President was continu- ing in office, where he had been placed by the death of his predecessor. The inauguration of Herbert Hobver was the first return since the war to the glamour of the old-time inaugurae tion, but unfortunately its impressiveness was marred by the foul weather which lowered the spirits of the rain-drenched marchers and spectators.