January 20, 2009

First inauguration of Barack Obama

Barack Obama Is Inaugurated as the 44th U.S. President

Two constitutional-law experts stumbled through a 35-word oath on the Capitol steps, then did it again the next evening out of an abundance of caution.

Noon, 28 degrees, one word out of order

On 20 January 2009, on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the presidential oath to Barack Obama, who became the 44th president and the first African American to hold the office.

Roberts placed one word of the constitutionally prescribed oath out of sequence. White House counsel said the oath had been effective, and Roberts administered it again on 21 January “out of an abundance of caution.”

The term itself had begun at noon by constitutional operation, even though the outdoor ceremony ran late and the recital finished several minutes afterwards. It was 28°F at the Capitol at noon, with a northwest wind of 13 mph gusting to 23.

Biden first, Lincoln's Bible, 1.8 million people

Associate Justice John Paul Stevens administered the vice-presidential oath to Joseph R. Biden Jr. before Obama's, making Biden the 47th vice president.

Michelle Obama held the Bible used at Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration. Obama then delivered his inaugural address, which noted that his father, less than 60 years earlier, might not have been served in a local restaurant.

An official estimate put 1.8 million visitors on and around the National Mall.

What the first day actually contained

Obama proclaimed 20 January a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel circulated a memorandum directing executive agencies to pause or review pending regulations, subject to stated exceptions — a review-and-withdraw instruction, dated to the day but without any recorded time.

The executive orders on Guantánamo closure, military commissions and interrogation that get folded into Inauguration Day accounts were signed on 22 January.

Obama is conventionally numbered the 44th president though he was the 43rd individual to serve, because Grover Cleveland's nonconsecutive terms were numbered separately.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

Obama’s constitutional term began at noon even though the outdoor ceremony was running late and the public oath finished several minutes afterward.
The first oath’s validity was not officially repudiated. White House counsel said it had been effective; the second oath was precautionary because one word had been out of sequence.
The 1.8-million attendance figure is an official estimate rather than a literal count.