The Fifty-Seventh Presidential Inauguration on January 21, 2013 presented by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Swearing-In Ceremony for President George W. Bush

Fifty-Fourth Inaugural Ceremonies, January 20, 2001

 

Program

Prelude

The United States Marine Band; Colonel Timothy W. Foley, Director

Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks

  • Mitch McConnell

Invocation

  • The Reverend Billy Graham

Musical Selection

duPont Manual High School/Youth Performing Arts School Choir of Louisville, Kentucky; David Brown, Director

Vice Presidential Oath of Office

Administered to Dick Cheney by the Honorable William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

An American Medley

  • Staff Sergeant Alec T. Maly

Presidential Oath of Office

Administered to George W. Bush by the Honorable William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Architect of the Capitol/Library of Congress

  • Bible Used: Family Bible, closed
  • Attire: Dark business suit

Inaugural Address

‘ Thank you all.’

Read the address
(Words: 1571)

Benediction

  • Pastor Kirbyjon H. Caldwell

The National Anthem

  • Staff Sergeant Alec T. Maly

  • Location

    West Front,
    U.S. Capitol
    Washington, DC

    Weather

    Cold and rainy, with temperature around 35°F.

  • Facts, Firsts & Precedents

    George W. Bush had hoped to use the Masonic Bible that had been used both by George Washington in 1789, and by his father, George H. W. Bush, in 1989. This historic Bible had been transported, under guard, from New York to Washington D.C. for the Inauguration but, due to inclement weather, a family Bible was substitued instead.

  • Inaugural Committee

Video

U.S. Senate Recording Studio

The first inauguration of the 21st century and the new millennium followed one of the most contested elections in U.S. history, which hinged on a few thousand disputed ballots in Florida. Vice President Albert Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush took their case to the Supreme Court. More than a month after the election, Bush was declared the winner following the Supreme Court's decision that the state's different systems of recounting in different counties violated the Constitution's equal protection provision. Governor Bush, the son of former president George Bush, took the oath of office from Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who had also sworn in his father.