On January 20, 1961, on the newly renovated east front of the
United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated
as the 35th president of the United States.

The ceremony began with a religious invocation and prayers, and then 
African American opera singer Marian  Anderson sang “The Star-
Spangled Banner,” and Robert Frost recited his poem “The Gift
Outright.” Kennedy was administered the oath of office by 
Chief Justice Earl Warren.

During his famous inauguration address, Kennedy, the youngest candidate
ever elected to the presidency and the country’s first Catholic president, 
declared  that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of 
Americans” and appealed to Americans to “ask not what your
country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”