WASHINGTON—Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States yesterday before a record crowd of onlookers, taking his place in history as the first black commander-in-chief while calling on Americans to join together to confront the deepening financial crisis.
Obama, a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, took the oath of office just after noon on a chilly and crowded day in the nation’s capital.
“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come,” Obama told a crowd of well over one million people who packed the National Mall to witness the inauguration.
“Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end,” Obama said during his inauguration speech, which lasted about 20 minutes.
Obama was sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts ’76, a fellow Harvard Law graduate.
Obama and Roberts, both of whom were high-ranking editors on the Harvard Law Review, provided one of the lone gaffes of the day by botching the wording of the oath: Roberts twice recited the worth “faithfully” out of order, causing Obama to pause momentarily before he too recited the oath with the word out of place.
The inauguration was studded with former Harvard luminaries, as Obama was joined on the Capitol steps by former University President Lawrence H. Summers and former Vice President Al Gore ’69.
Obama began his speech by continuing the bipartisan tone of his two and-a-half month transition, congratulating former President George W. Bush for “the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.”
But he quickly pivoted to address the rising number of jobs lost in a flagging economy, asking the crowd to look forward by deferring to the resilience shown by Americans in the past.
“Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends—honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism—these things are old,” Obama said.
Obama stressed support for countries in need and retribution for terrorist foes who intend to harm Americans.
“For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken,” Obama said. “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
“To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy,” he added.
After the ceremony, and before he embarked on the ceremonial parade from the Capitol to the White House, Obama attended a traditional congressional luncheon in Statuary Hall of the Capitol building.
The event turned somber when Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56 reportedly suffered a seizure and was taken to nearby Washington Hospital.
Kennedy was reported to be in good spirits, though he was expected to stay in the hospital overnight.
The Obamas concluded the evening by attending 10 official inauguration balls, with the new president giving a speech and the first couple dancing at each one.
—Malcom A. Glenn contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.
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