A slightly ghoulish prospect looms today
When oaths are sworn
Watching the inauguration from Rochester there was the happiness and the hope and the pride and how beautiful we thought Mrs. Kennedy was and then how deeply moving the inaugural address was. Watching on the screen I was sure our President would stand any of the heat to come as he had taken the cold of that day. Each day since I have renewed my faith and tried to understand the practical difficulties of governing he must face as they arise and admire the true courage he brings to them. It is a good thing to have a brave man as our President in times as tough as these are for our country and the world.
Ernest Hemingway
Letter to U. S. President John F. Kennedy
24th January 1961
—Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961
The official world is crazier and meaner than we know. I just got back from Nixon’s inauguration and my head is still jangled from seeing it. Ah … The Horror. Yes …President Nixon … It’s easier to be fair with the [Hells] Angels than with that freak.
Hunter S. Thompson
Letter to Lynne Struggnell
22nd January 1969
—Fear and Loathing In America: The Gonzo Letters Volume II
I envy you the [White House] dinner party, I think, and the [Kennedy] inauguration must have been fun, too. I see bits of it over and over in the newsreels. But I don’t like that Roman Empire grandeur—the reviewing stand, for example, looks quite triumphal. Of course Mrs. Kennedy’s hat looks Byzantine. I wish President Kennedy weren’t so damned RICH.
Elizabeth Bishop
Letter to Robert Lowell
1st March 1961
—One Art: Letters
I am snowed in here in this subarctic region but I expect to warm up next week. I was invited down to Washington to attend the inauguration of President Johnson, which will be exciting but nothing like your Coronation. Rather boisterous and noisy. I’m afraid, and filled with drunk Texans in big hats. A far cry from J.F. Kennedy.
William Styron
Letter to Hope Leresche
14th January 1965
—Selected Letters of William Styron
I thank you for inviting me to your inauguration. I was profoundly moved by this ceremony which I had never seen before and even more moved by your following speech which was not only nobly conceived and excellently written and delivered, but also had that magic undertone of truth which cannot be simulated.
Personally, of course, I am honored to have been invited, but much more sharply felt is my gratification that through me you have recognized the many good members of my profession as existing at all. A nation may be moved by its statesmen and defended by its military but it is usually remembered for its artists. It does seem to me that you, sir, have discovered or rather rediscovered this lost truth.
John Steinbeck
Letter to U. S. President John F. Kennedy
23rd January 1961
—Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
A slightly ghoulish prospect looms today. Andrew & I bugger off to America for Jack Kennedy’s coronation — back Sunday I’m happy to say. I can’t tell you how queer it is getting a visa — they send you a jolly invitation from The President to his crowning & then proceed to ask you all sorts of cheeky questions & insist on seeing you to make sure you’re not a Communist. Well how can they know just by looking at one’s ugly mug. On one of the many forms was printed ORIGIN & the clerk wrote CAUCASIAN. I asked “Look here what’s that” & he said without a flicker of anything “Means you’re white.”
Deborah Devonshire
Letter to Patrick Leigh Fermor
18th January 1961
—In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor
Support Letters of Note…
I'm thinking that the inaugurations should take place in the oval office, along with a polygraph test, a signing over of all assets to a blind trust, mandatory pledge to not hire any family members. And there should be a re-vote every 6 months so the nation can provide a performance evaluation upon which the president's term is either approved or rejected for the next 6 months. Of course, in the first place, no felon should be allowed to take office. Felons belong in prison.
Marvelous collection! My favorite is John Steinbeck. "...magic undertone of truth which cannot be simulated." How true. How lovely. I'll stick to that.