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| A Snapshot of Inauguration Day |
January 28, 2005 |
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Dear Friends,
It was cold on the morning of the inauguration, but it wasn`t raining like it was four years ago. The experienced members of the House, and those who had gotten good advice from friends, ignored fashion and dressed warmly. Nobody will see your shoes.
The House goes out onto the west front of the Capitol early. We follow the Sergeant at Arms who carries the eighty pound silver and ebony mace that is the symbol of authority in the House. I asked him, and he told me there is a holder for it outside. I`d hate to have to hold that mace for 2 hours out in the cold.
Four years ago, I had coffee inauguration morning with Joe and Mary Skeen in his office and walked over to the House with him. I still miss him sometimes.
The Capitol was glorious, decked out in red, white and blue bunting. I was just under the U.S. Army Herald Trumpeters and far enough forward to be able to see the performers singing with the capitol dome as a backdrop.
Justice Rehnquist, undergoing treatment for cancer, was there to swear in the President. We could see it was difficult for him.
I sat with Ruben Hinojosa, a colleague from McAllen, Texas. He has two daughters about my kids’ ages and we have worked together on education issues. We will work together again in this Congress on measures to increase the number of Hispanic students going to college.
A few snap shots will stay with me from this ceremony. One was looking down from the platform to the "wives club" section and seeing my family, waving their cowboy hats to catch my eye.
Another was when the President finished the oath of office. You could feel, rather than hear, the booms of cannons from the other side of the Capitol grounds and the herald trumpets played ruffles and flourishes and then the band played "Hail to the Chief". I looked up at the trumpeters and there were three soldiers off to the right of them -- ushers, perhaps. They were saluting. This inauguration ritual governed by a piece of paper written over two hundred years ago reaffirmed that the President is the Commander-in-Chief. And these soldiers accept and respect that. We are a remarkably stable self-governing country.
And the last picture was not on inauguration day, but Saturday. It snowed quite hard. I walked in the silent snowfall down to the Mall. It was all very beautiful.
Wish you were here,
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