Legal Commentary

Half a century ago, the inauguration of JFK.

It was a bright and blustery day in Washington fifty years ago today for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. An old newsreel reporting the day?s events notes that the city was recovering from a blizzard and that ?battalions of snow fighters kept Pennsylvania Avenue clear for the swearing-in ceremony.? That earnest footage also communicates the enthusiasm that accompanied the event for many in the country. It was ?the smoothest transition of power in history? from Eisenhower to Kennedy, the newsreader informs us. Nixon, recently defeated, even manages to smile brightly. Yet it was a new day, a new age: Kennedy was, at forty-three, then the youngest President and the first born in the twentieth century....

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Full post as published by Althouse on January 20, 2011 (boomark / email).