John F. Kennedy, America’s youngest elected president and the first Roman Catholic elected to the post, began his term of office with his inauguration on this day in 1961.
The ceremony took place on the eastern portico of the Capitol building in Washington DC, and was presided over by US Chief Justice Earl Warren – the man who, four years later, would chair the commission into Kennedy’s assassination.
Kennedy had won the 1960 presidential election for the Democratic Party by the narrowest of margins – a little under 113,000 votes country-wide – over his Republican counterpart Richard Nixon.
Temperatures in the capital had dropped significantly the day before the inauguration, with eight inches of snow falling overnight. A massive operation to clear the parade route for the event and make the Capitol accessible to spectators was carried out by US Army Corps of Engineers.
Following prayers, the swearing-in of Vice President Lyndon Johnson and a reading by 86-year-old poet Robert Frost (pictured below), the 43-year-old Kennedy took the oath of office then began his inaugural address.
His speech, which lasted 13 minutes and 42 seconds, is considered one of the greatest of the 20th century. It combined the themes that would feature in his presidency: improving international relations from a position of US strength, and the creation of a freer, fairer America.
He ended the address asking that his nation show energy, faith and devotion in achieving these aims, adding perhaps its most famous quote: “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
[May 25, 1961: Kennedy ramps up the Space Race by pledging to put a man on the Moon]
[November 22, 1963: President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas]
Kennedy’s inauguration – Did you know?
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Aged 43 years and 236 days, Kennedy is still the youngest US president elected to office. The youngest person to assume office was Theodore Roosevelt (42 years and 322 days), who became president following William McKinley's assassination. The oldest president to assume office was Ronald Reagan (69 years and 349 days).
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Since the passing of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, US Presidential inaugurations have always occurred on January 20, or January 21 of the 20th is a Sunday.
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The only Constitutionally-obliged element of the event is swearing the oath of office; over the years, traditions have arisen that have expanded inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to a day-long event, including parades, speeches, and balls.
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Kennedy actually won fewer states than Nixon in the 1960 election, though the states he did win gave him a comfortable winning margin in Electoral College votes. Nixon was the first Presidential candidate to win a majority of states but lose an election.
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Vice President Lyndon Johnson had run a hard campaign against Kennedy for the presidential nomination. Kennedy advisor Kenneth O’Donnell was said to be angry at the choice of Johnson as running mate, but he was selected to help win states in the South.
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Frank Sinatra and fellow ‘Rat Pack’ member Peter Lawford (Kennedy’s brother-in-law) organised a pre-inauguration ball the previous evening. Performers included Nat King Cole, Tony Curtis, Gene Kelly, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte and Sinatra himself.
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Weather was so bad overnight and on the morning of the inauguration that flights at Washington National Airport were suspended and 1,400 cars were abandoned on the parade route – all of which had to be removed by the Engineer Corps.
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Kennedy’s presidency lasted just 1,036 days, from this inauguration until his assassination in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
