I Froze when Kennedy was Inaugurated
How Much the (Political) Climate has Changed
I fondly remember the day I froze as John F. Kennedy took the oath of office. A college program had taken me from the plains of Minnesota’s Red River Valley to a university in the District of Columbia within a half hour bus ride—no Metro then--from the capitol.
The weather was almost identical to the forecast for tomorrow, 65 years later. But in 1961 not a word was said about moving into the capitol rotunda. Thousands stood outdoors staring at the President-elect, bare-headed, on the East Portico of that marvelous symbol a constitutional democracy. Next to President-Elect stood Robert Frost, the great New England poet, who suddenly looked confused as he was about to read his newly written poem. To those of us looking into the noon-day sun, it appeared Frost had lost the poem in the blustering wind. Those with a better view tell us the sunlight’s glare obscured the writing. Either way, Frost’s substitute, “The Gift Outright.” was deadly appropriate. Anticipating what was to come, the poem reads: “The deed of gift was many deeds of war.”
A foot of snow explains why I was there at all. Airline cancelations precluded a North Dakota delegation from arriving in time, so my college friends and I got the tickets after scouring around Capitol Hill.
Why did I freeze, and no one will tomorrow? Why were so many standing in the wind 65 years ago, but, this time, it will be just a few, privileged folks watching from inside the capitol rotunda? Why did Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy parade down Pennsylvania Avenue together, but Joe Biden and Donald Trump will not?
Differences in age is one answer. At his inauguration, Kennedy was 43, Trump will be 78. Elderly Ronald Reagan ducked inside for his second Inauguration (though it was much colder that day than tomorrow will be). A 68-year-old William Henry Harrison caught a cold and died of pneumonia shortly after his inauguration, probably because he did not wear a hat at the ceremony and shook hands in wet clothes at the subsequent reception.
But I suspect the explanations are more political than gerontological.
The secret service today is vastly more worried about an assassination attempt than it was 65 years ago. When Kennedy paraded, no attempt on the life of a presidential candidate had occurred since Franklin Roosevelt’s first ran for office in 1932. Trump suffered two this past year.
The assassination attempts symbolize the social and political divisions that cost the country a needed unifying experience. Here is a National- Park-Service description of what happened the day my friends and I froze:
January 20, 1961 was a very cold, snow packed day. Ike met with the incoming president for coffee at the White House and they drove together to the Capitol . . . in . . . traditional top hats. . . Robert Frost recited a poem from memory because he was so blinded by the sun's glare he couldn't read the poem he had written especially for the inauguration. Marion Anderson sang the Star Spangled Banner.
In his address, Kennedy challenged me and my classmates: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
I hope for, but do not expect, a similar challenge to today’s youth tomorrow. I do know Trump will have no pre-inaugural coffee at the White House, no communal drive behind marching bands down Pennsylvania Avenue, no courteous passing of the baton from the out-going president to the in-coming one.
The blame does not go in just one direction. Four years ago, Trump refused to attend Biden’s ceremony. To his credit, Biden will show up, though exactly how remains uncertain.
The widening partisan distance is highlighted by the contrasting farewell addresses given by Eisenhower in 1961 and Biden in 2025. Eisenhower warned against the “military-industrial complex” in a speech that foreshadowed the disastrous Vietnam War. Biden’s farewell resembles a campaign speech he was never able to give: “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” This is over-the-top partisanship, literally.
How wonderful for a teen-ager was that cold but sunlit day in 1961. How much the political climate has shifted.