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First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson

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Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force One by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. To the left of Johnson is Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of Kennedy; to his right is Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, and sitting down near the airplane window is Jack Valenti, founder of the MPAA.

The 1963 presidential inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson occurred on November 22, 1963 in the wake of the Kennedy assassination.

Details

At the time Johnson was the Vice President of Presient John F. Kennedy, having won the 1960 presidential election. At 12:30 pm Central Standard Time on November 22, Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas while Kennedy riding with his wife in the presidential motorcade. Johnson was riding behind the president with his wife, Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough. After shots were fired, the president and vice president's cars sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital.[1]

In the hospital Johnson was surrounded by Secret Service agents, who encouraged him to return to the capital in case he too was targeted for assassination. Johnson wished to wait until he knew of Kennedy's condition; at 1:20 pm was told Kennedy was dead. At this point arrangements were made to provide Secret Service protection of the two Johnson daughters, and it was decided that he would leave on the president's aircraft because it had better communication equipment. Johnson was driven by unmarked police car to Love Field, and kept below the car's window level throughout the journey. Johnson waited for Jacqueline Kennedy Aboard Air Force One, who in turn would not leave Dallas without her husband's body. Kennedy's casket was finally brought to the aircraft, but takeoff was delayed until Johnson was sworn into office.[1]

The Warren Commission's report detailed the inauguration:[1]

From the Presidential airplane, the Vice President telephoned Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who advised that Mr. Johnson take the Presidential oath of office before the plane left Dallas. Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes hastened to the plane to administer the oath. Members of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential parties filled the central compartment of the plane to witness the swearing in. At 2:38 p.m., e.s.t., Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office as the 36th President of the United States. Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Johnson stood at the side of the new President as he took the oath of office. Nine minutes later, the Presidential airplane departed for Washington, D.C.

The swearing-in ceremony administered by Judge Hughes in an Air Force One conference room represented the first time that a woman administered the presidential oath of office as well as the first and only time it was conducted on an airplane.[2] Instead of the usual Bible, Johnson was sworn in upon a missal found on a side table in Kennedy's Air Force One bedroom.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Chapter 2: The Assassination". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964.
  2. ^ "Inauguration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963". Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  3. ^ Lin, Joanna (2009-01-18). "Bible has a storied role in inaugurations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
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