Inauguration, 1961

Today a new president takes the oath of office.1 Sixty years ago today a new president2 took the oath of office, and Dave Garroway and Today were there to cover the impending transfer of power.

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Here’s Dave talking with Sen. Mike Mansfield, Sen. Everett Dirksen3, Rep. Charles Halleck, and Rep. Sam Rayburn.4 At right is Martin Agronsky of NBC News.

 

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Here Dave is interviewing Pat McMahon, who was a member of the PT-109 crew. McMahon was badly burned in the aftermath of the accident and unable to swim. His commanding officer, John F. Kennedy, saved his life. McMahon and Garroway are standing in front of the Kennedys’ house in Georgetown.

 

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Dave has a cup of coffee and shares a laugh with Joseph Donahue, chairman of the inauguration parade committee, and Maj. Gen. Charles K. Gailey of the Military District of Washington. Kennedy’s inauguration was famously chilly, so I hope there was a lot of hot coffee available all around.

 

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Dave during a break in the program, framed against the Capitol’s pillars.

 

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Dave in the seating for the inauguration parade outside the White House. Here you can see just how deep the snow was prior to the 1961 inauguration. We won’t get that this year, alas.

 

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And here’s Dave visiting the big reviewing platform where the new President would watch the parade. He’s standing with a couple of very special people. Who might they be? Let’s take a closer look…

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…and look who it is! It’s Dave with daughter Paris and stepson Michael, who accompanied him to the inauguration. What a memory to have, no?

  1. It’s the biggest job in the world, and the loneliest too. Send up a prayer for Mr. Biden. He’s got a full plate – several, really – and is going to need all the help he can get.
  2. John F. Kennedy, of course.
  3. I’ve thought fondly of rumpled ol’ Everett Dirksen for a long time, and it has to do with his ongoing campaign to have the marigold declared the national flower. Every year I buy a marigold plant and put it in a pot on my front porch, and I name it “Ev” in honor of Dirksen. And to add to the fun, Sen. Dirksen also had a hit record in 1967. That song, from a poem by H. Paul Jeffers, was set to music and arranged by John Cacavas and Charles Wood. You may know Charles Wood by the name he used as a correspondent for ABC and CBS, Charles Osgood.
  4. The legendary “Speaker Sam.” ’nuff sed.