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| Inauguration of the 43rd President |
January 23, 2001 |
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Dear Friends,
My good husband and I went to Washington together for the inauguration. (For those of you who have asked, I didn`t buy a new gown, but I wore a very pretty teal black tie dress that I`ve had for a while. Don`t expect to see me on the pages of Washington Style.)
In addition to seeing some friends -- some delightfully unexpected -- there were some special moments that I won`t forget.
On Friday afternoon the Vice President had a salute to America`s veterans in an auditorium at George Washington University. 101 of America`s 150 living Medal of Honor winners were there and thousands of men and women who have served this country as well as most of the incoming President`s new cabinet.
The Airmen of Note -- the Air Force`s Big Band -- brought us back to the Glenn Miller days and then I came onto the stage to narrate the POW/MIA
ceremony.
It`s a simple ceremony that explains the significance of an empty table on the stage set for America`s missing. The salt representing the tears of the families, the lemon representing their bitter fate, the single yellow rose for remembrance, the red ribbon around the vase for their love of country.
It is a reminder for all of us to remember and for some of us to keep working to account for the missing. Many in the audience were weeping.
On inauguration day the sky over Washington was gray and drizzling. I joined my colleagues on the floor of the House at 10 am. Father Coughlin led us in prayer and we turned toward the flag to say the pledge. The sergeant at arms lifted the mace -- the silver and ebony symbol of the authority that stands to the Speaker`s right when the House is in session -- and we followed him onto the West front of the Capitol.
The House arrived first on the platform, and then the Senate, the Supreme Court, the incoming cabinet, the Joint Chiefs. We were out in the rain for nearly an hour before the ceremony began, but I didn`t mind. I sat with Denny Rehberg, a rancher from Montana. He got a new duster for the occasion. And Ciro Rodriquez from San Antonio who shared is poncho. And John Sweeney from New York who wished he had worn a second pair of socks. And Jesse Jackson, Jr. from Illinois on the aisle.
We watched former Presidents arrive. Jesse was the one to recognize the tiny lady being helped down the steps as Lady Bird Johnson. John Sweeney was the first to see the Presidential motorcade starting down the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol.
The drizzle continued, but it still didn`t matter.
As the Bush family and the Cheney`s and the Gore`s and the Clinton`s came onto the Capitol steps, you couldn`t help but marvel at what we were seeing. The peaceful transfer of power by a simple oath administered by a supreme court justice that made a decision in a close election. The father of an incoming President who had been defeated by the current outgoing President. A Vice President who had been defeated by the incoming President. And all of this changing in a simple ceremony in front of thousands assembled in the rain and millions more watching on television in accordance with a 225 year old piece of paper called the Constitution.
And when the inaugural address was over a soldier came to the front of the platform. A soldier who did not carry a gun. A soldier with a golden voice who sang the national anthem. All of us -- former Presidents and a brand new one, a junior soldier and supreme court justices, the three branches of governments assembled and the Joint Chiefs of staff -- turned to face the flag waving in the mist above the West front of the Capitol dome and sang Francis Scott Keyes anthem with the rolling echo of thousands assembled on the mall.
Then Jesse and Ciro and Denny and John and I shuffled off the platform and went inside to get dry. I won`t forget that moment for a long time. We are blessed to live in a wonderful country. May God bless it.
Wish you were here,
Heather |
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