The Fifty-Seventh Presidential Inauguration on January 21, 2013 presented by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Swearing-In Ceremony for President Richard M. Nixon

Forty-Seventh Inaugural Ceremonies, January 20, 1973

 
 

Program

Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks

  • Marlow W. Cook

Invocation

The Reverend Dr. E.V. Hill

Courtesy of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

Musical Selection

"Inaugural Fanfare" performed by the United States Marine Band under the direction of Lt. Col. Dale Hooper

Prayer

Rabbi Seymour Siegel

Vice Presidential Oath of Office

  • Administered to Spiro T. Agnew (Resigned October 10, 1973)
  • Administered to Gerald R. Ford (Appointed October 12, 1973)

Prayer

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakavos

Courtesy of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

Musical Selection

"America the Beautiful" by the Combined Service Academies Chorus

Presidential Oath of Office

Administered to Richard M. Nixon by the Honorable Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States.

Architect of the Capitol

  • Bible Used: Two brown leather family Bibles, open to Isaiah 2:2-4 (same Bibles used at his 1969 Inauguration)
  • Attire: Club jacket, striped trousers, and four-in-hand tie

Inaugural Address

‘When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit, depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive conflict at home.’

Read the address
(Words: 1668)

Benediction

Cardinal Terence James Cooke

Courtesy of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

The National Anthem

Performed by Ethel Ennis

Location

East Portico,
U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC

Weather

Cloudy and windy, with a noon temperature of 42°F.

Facts, Firsts & Precedents

Richard Nixon became the first President to resign on August 9, 1974.

Inaugural Committee

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Video

U.S. Senate Recording Studio

The election of 1972 consolidated the gains that the President had made with the electorate in 1968. Although the Democratic Party maintained majorities in the Congress, the presidential ambitions of South Dakota Senator George McGovern were unsuccessful. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger on a pavilion erected on the East Front of the Capitol.