Democracy's Big Day by Jim Bendat

A Must Read Recount of our Nation's Inauguration Dayby David-the-Reader

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January 03, 2009: I just finished reading the latest edition of Jim Bendat's "Democracy's Big Day: The Inauguration of our President 1789-2009".

The way he dovetails the history of our presidential transitions of power, while outlining the morning, afternoon, and night's events (on the day of the inauguration) is fascinating. In some situations, he even describes the private ceremony on the Sunday prior to the public inauguration, and in one situation he even describes the need to repeat the private ceremony two weeks after the first swearing in (as is the case of President Coolidge).

I especially like the way he compares and contrasts the differences and similarities between the inaugurations, while also showing how the President's themselves differ in how they interact with the inauguration (and the tradition of it). He even goes so far as to recap how the weather interacts with the inauguration (I really liked the "Inauguration Chart" at the end, it encapsulates each inauguration with the President, their age, their party affiliation, the site of the inauguration, the weather conditions, the number of inaugural balls, etc ...).

As time passes, things like President Jackson being considered the "People's President" is forgotten. Sure, it was an election from the first half of the 1800's, but the importance of a prior President playing this role is not forgotten by Mr. Bendat. After all, it was President Jackson who started the tradition of holding the inauguration outside.

One last note, my favorite chapter is "One-Day Wonders". Did you know that there have been President's whose term lasted one day? I did not, until reading Mr. Bendat's book.