| Michael Beschloss
Announcer: Boeing presents another in a series of essays from
contemporary opinion leaders. Today, author, TV commentator
and Presidential historian, Michael Beschloss.
Mr. Beschloss: It was the morning of Ronald Reagan’s
first inauguration in 1981. Reagan and the outgoing President,
Jimmy Carter, got into the Presidential limousine for the ride
up to the Capitol. The car was filled with tension. Reagan
had defeated Carter by a landslide. The two men regarded each
other with barely concealed contempt – and Carter was
distracted. All night he had stayed up trying to win the release
of fifty American hostages from Iran.
Throughout the ride, Carter’s conversation with Regan
was interrupted by telephone calls about the hostage crisis.
By the time they reached the Capitol building for the ceremony,
the two men hadn’t connected any more than when they
had climbed into the limousine.
Inaugurals aren’t always happy occasions. In 1801, President
John Adams was so upset about his defeat by Thomas Jefferson
that he left town early to spare himself the ordeal of watching
Jefferson take the oath. On Inauguration morning 1953, Dwight
Eisenhower refused to get out of his car for the traditional
White House coffee with the outgoing President, Harry Truman.
An aide was sent to find out why. Truman was furious to be
told that Eisenhower was so angered by some of Truman’s
campaign remarks about him that he was refusing to set foot
in the Truman White House.
But at their best, inaugurations bring us together. That’s
what happened with Reagan and Carter in 1981. On Inauguration
Day, soon after taking his oath of office, Reagan had the pleasure
of announcing “the planes bearing our prisoners have
left Iranian airspace and are now free of Iran.” Moved
by the sight of a country united in its jubilation over the
hostages’ release, Reagan chose a personal envoy to greet
them when they arrived in Europe. The envoy’s name, Jimmy
Carter.
Announcer: Boeing. Forever New Frontiers.
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