How A Simple Decision Changed The Tradition Of The President Of The United State’s Inauguration Is Revealed In The Selftour™ Washington DC Walking Tour App.
It was a freezing December afternoon in Washington DC when the founder of SelfTour™ Audio Adventures Apps, Ron Miziker, was setting up the Opening Ceremony of Ronald Reagan’s first Presidential Inauguration.
Ron recalls how we didn’t have smartphones then, so he was carrying around a government issued walky-talky and fumbling with it using his thick gloves in the cold to respond to a call from the Reagan transition team.
“They asked if I was busy,” says Ron. “I responded saying I’m standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with two cranes and about 30 workers and six security people trying to resolve a touch issue that may affect how we are going to have this show ready in just four weeks.”
The caller said okay, be at the capitol building’s West entrance in fifteen. The radio went dead. Ron knew the command had been given so he had no recourse but to drop everything and hustle to the Capitol.
A group of others beat him there and were all huddled pointing this direction and that. He joined this key group of Reagan’s team and the key person had been the one that Ron worked with during the last eight weeks of the campaign. On loan to the Reagan-Bush campaign Ron was a Disney television producer with a lot of experience staging mega events.
He was asked his opinion of the idea of moving the Oath of Office Ceremony from the East to West side of the Capitol. As Ron explains in the SelfTour™ Washington DC walking tour app, to him it was a no brainer and he asked why no one had done it before now. Tradition was the answer. Every President since Andrew Jackson in 1829 has taken the oath on the East Front steps. Ron told the group he saw several advantages to the move. First, the East side area is very small by comparison.
This move would allow many more people to witness the event live. Second by building a high podium platform in front of the Capitol, it would create a tremendous visual for the event. And also, Ron reminded them, Reason loved the camera shots from behind him while speaking during the campaign. While it showed him from the back, these shots showed the large audiences listening to him speak. So one can imagine how grand these reverse shots would be overlooking the entire National Mall.
Ron says he only reconfirmed what they already knew, and probably had already decided, but they wanted to hear it again from a television professional. “The Reagan leadership always wanted to do presentations differently. After all, Ronald Reagan was a showman!”
Every President since Reagan has taken the Oath of Office from the Capitol’s West side.
Walking the SelfTour™ GPS guided audio tour of Washington DC reveals many more tidbits and insider information about our nation’s capitol.
Learn more on our Washington DC Walking Tour page.
