By Aidan Allman
On January 20, 2017, I attended the Inauguration of our 45th President, Donald Trump.
This is the 58th presidential inauguration. It took place at the U.S Capitol. The Capitol was decorated with flags, colors and hundreds of thousands of people. The Inauguration is a ceremony that swears in the president of the United States and officially makes him the president. He gives a speech after it telling people what he will do, what will be fixed and much more. The Inauguration was on January 20, 2017 and started around 11:30.
The speech was only 15 minutes and was very short compared to many other presidents (45 min to 2 hours). The Inauguration happened because Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote and beat Hillary Clinton by over 50 votes from the Electoral College.
Even the trip to Washington D.C. was an experience. On the way we stayed at a hotel in Indianapolis which featured artifacts from Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Abraham Lincoln. In the lobby hung one of the Eagles which hung over Lincoln’s casket as it lay in the Capitol Rotunda.
It was clear this was going to be an historical trip!
I left after school on Wednesday January 18 to drive there because it was easier. We got into D.C. at around 3:00 on Thursday. We left the hotel early knowing there were streets blocked off. Good thing! It took us 2 hours to walk to our seats! We got there and at 11:30 they presented the color guards. After that they formally walked all the inaugural committee in and then I saw every former living President except George HW Bush who was sick. Presidents Carter, Clinton, GW Bush, President Obama and soon to be President Donald J. Trump.
Some Senators gave speeches and during one the crowd growled at him because they were annoyed by him! Then around 12:30 they swore Donald Trump in and he became president. He gave a great speech! I liked it because it seemed a more simple speech. It was great for me because I had had the privilege of shaking his hand at a rally in St. Louis. At the time I said “ I hope you become President” and he responded “I hope you become President too.” So it was very cool to see him take the Oath of office after seeing him in St. Louis.
It was also cool because we were really close to the podium. And I could look out to the masses towards the Washington Monument much the way his view was when he gave his Inaugural speech.
The next day we went to Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, The JFK Eternal flame, The Lincoln Memorial and Mt. Vernon. It seemed a good idea after seeing the 45th President to go and honor the 1st President, George Washington.
On both days we were able to see a variety of demonstrators. They were protesting the Inauguration and the Presidency of Donald Trump. But even though some caused trouble we even got our pictures taken with two nice people from Saturday’s protest.
I think we managed to see all the awesome aspects of our great Republic all in one weekend !
