The Pittsburgh Press (January 21, 1945)
Takes fourth term oath –
Roosevelt warns fear and mistrust can upset lasting peace program
Simple inauguration lasts 13 minutes – Truman is sworn in by Wallace
Washington (UP) – (Jan. 20)
President Roosevelt began his fourth term today in a semi-private, 13-minute inauguration marked by his warning that this nation cannot expect a lasting peace if suspicion, mistrust and fear color our approach to post-war international commitments.
The inaugural ceremony – usually an occasion for colorful splendor – was so brief and simple, and was witnessed by so comparatively few people, that it seemed almost an incident in the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt rather than the unprecedented beginning of his fourth term in the White House.
The President had decreed that it be short and simple so as to be in keeping with the times.
Chief Justice Stone gives oath
Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone administered the oath to Mr. Roosevelt on the South Portico of the White House at 12:03 p.m. EWT. A minute earlier, retiring Vice President Henry A. Wallace had sworn in his successor, Harry S. Truman.
The President followed his oath with a simple, prayerful five-minute speech. Two minutes later – time for the benediction and the “Star-Spangled Banner” by the Marine Band – one of the nation’s most historic occasions was over.
War lesson stressed
Obviously mindful of his meeting soon with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin and of isolationist feeling in this country, Mr. Roosevelt made a forceful point of this nation’s role in a world community in his 540-word inaugural speech.
The war, he said, has taught us the lesson that we must “live as men, not as ostriches, nor dogs in the manger.”
‘Citizens of world’
He said:
We have learned that we cannot live alive, at peace; that our own wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of other nations, far away.
We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.
As he spoke amid his generals and admirals, his Congressional leaders and his political aides, there stretched before him four years more promising of trouble and burdens than any other phase of Mr. Roosevelt’s career.
In those four years, his ultimate role in history probably will be determined – by when and how the war ends and the justice and durability of the peace that follows. And mindful of this, the 62-year-old, graying Chief Executive started what no other man has ever started – a fourth term in the White House.
Stand in snow
White House officials counted 7,806 persons admitted to the mansion’s grounds. They stood in two inches of snow on the south lawn. Several hundred yards away from the portico, an estimated 6,000 spectators stood outside the fence. They heard the President’s address over a loudspeaker system.
There were no seats, no stands – just the snow-covered lawn for most. A tarpaulin was spread over part of the grounds for a select 2,000. An even more select few – most members of the Roosevelt and Treuman families, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court and the Armed Forces chiefs of staff – were on the portico.
The weather was on the miserable side – not very cold, but mushy, drippy. About noon, a pale sun started the snow melting and guests under the trees got wet. The Secret Service allowed no umbrellas in the White House grounds.
Prayer service held
The President’s day began early as members of his family filed into his large bedroom for brief visits. At 10:00 a.m., he went to the red-draped East Room to follow his inaugural custom of praying for strength and Divine guidance before taking the oath of office. With him were his family and leaders of his government – some 300 in all.
At noon, he went out on the portico. The Marine Band broke out a ruffle of drums and a flourish of trumpets, then burst forth – as only it can – with the inspiring “Hail to the Chief.”
A hush settled over the crowd while the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun, Episcopal Bishop of Washington. prayed that this nation would not be “content with any peace save that of a world at unity with itself…”
Truman smiles
Mr. Wallace, whom the President rejected at the last Democratic National Convention in favor of Mr. Truman, stepped up to the battery of microphones in the center or the portico and Mr. Truman faced him. Mr. Wallace seemed serious and Mr. Truman’s face was one big smile. It took only a moment to switch Vice Presidents.
Justice Stone stepped up, and the President faced him. Charles Elmore Cropley, dignified clerk of the Supreme Court, held Mr. Roosevelt’s old Dutch family Bible between them. The President placed his large hand on the thrice-used “Faith, hope and charity” verse of I Corinthians and repeated, after the Chief Justice, the historic oath.
Promising to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” to the best of his ability, the President intoned the oath in a strong, vibrant voice.
Applause muffled
There was no shouting or cheering from the crowd when Mr. Roosevelt had become President again – just a brief burst of muffled applause. The spectators acted as though they were in church, so solemn was the general tone of the entire ceremony.
The President shook hands with the Chief Justice, then faced the crowd and began his brief speech – a lesson on the advantages of open-minded international cooperation and an assurance that America would work as hard for a just peace as it is working now toward sure, total victory.
A brief applause as he ended sounded almost sacrilegious, coming as it did just after he had besought God for vision and strength to meet the nation’s present period of “supreme test… of our courage, of our resolve, of our wisdom, of our essential democracy.”
Stands with son
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. John A. Ryan, director of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, pronounced the benediction and the President stood gravely, bowed and with his hand on the arm of his tall Marine colonel son, James.
The Marine Band began the heavy, strident strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Mr. Roosevelt placed his right hand over his heart and stared out over the heads of the crowd near him to the snow-covered ellipse, and at the Washington Monument whose peak disappeared in the low-hanging clouds.
Waves to crowd
And when the music ended, so did the inauguration. The President waved to the crowd of Congressmen, diplomats, government agency heads, wounded war veterans and bigshots in the Democratic Party, then went back into the White House while the band signaled his departure with “Hail to the Chief.”
Fifteen minutes later, the President joined more than 1,500 carefully-sifted guests for a buffet luncheon of chicken salad, small sandwiches, rolls, cake and coffee. The menu was drastically simple to stay within the $2,000 limit which Mr. Roosevelt set as his goal for the overall cost of the inauguration.
Reception held
In the late afternoon, he and Mrs. Roosevelt held a reception for members of the Electoral College and their wives and other guests who could not be invited to the luncheon.
At each social event the President spent only a short while.
The celebration continued on into the night, but not at the White House. While Mr. Roosevelt studied the latest war dispatches and visited with his family in his study, members of the One Thousand Club – a contribution of $1,000 or more to Mr. Roosevelt’s campaign fund was necessary for membership – held a large dinner party, but the President was not there. They had his best wishes and thanks, however.