TIM MAGUIRE

President George Washington was inaugurated as the first
president of the United States on this day in history, April 30,
1789.

In his address, which he delivered at New York City’s Federal
Hall, Washington expressed his anxiety over the prospect of
leading a new nation.

At the time, New York City’s Federal Hall served as the U.S.
Capitol, according to the National Archives. 

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

President Ronald Reagan, wife Nancy and Chief Justice
Warren Burger during the 1981 oath of office ceremony.

On January 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration
as the 40th president of the United States (above) the 52 U.S.
captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran (above)
were released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian
students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the
ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical
treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran.

On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the
United States. In his famous inaugural address, delivered outside
the east wing of the U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt outlined his “New
Deal”—an expansion of the federal government as an instrument
of employment opportunity and welfare—and told Americans that
“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Although it was a
rainy day in Washington, and gusts of rain blew over Roosevelt
as he spoke, he delivered a speech that radiated optimism a
nd competence, and a broad majority of Americans united
behind  their new president and his radical economic proposals
to lead the nation out of the Great Depression.

On December 12, 1963, a vinyl long-playing record (“LP”) called
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Memorial Album set a record for
album sales. A total of 4 million copies sold in the first six days
of its release.

The album included recordings of some of Kennedy’s most
memorable speeches, as well as memorial tributes to the
president broadcast in the aftermath of his assassination on 
November 22, 1963. The recordings included excerpts from his
inaugural address and his campaign debates with Richard Nixon
as well as highlights from speeches on a variety of topics.

Each copy of the album cost 99 cents and the proceeds went to
the Joseph Kennedy, Jr., Foundation for Mental Retardation.