Fraternity-Testvériség, 1953 (31. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1953-01-01 / 1. szám

2

TESTVÉRISÉG

Our presidential inaugurations

January 20, 1953, the day of the inauguration of the new president of the United States will always be a memorable date. This was the fifth such occasion witnessed by the office force of our Federation. (Inauguration is a legal holiday in the capitol, so we did not have to sneak out of the office to get a glimpse here and there.)

There was always some difference which distinguished each inauguration from the others. The main difference was the weather, which was indescribably abominable at the second inauguration of F. D. Roosevelt (1937) and very pleasant four ago when to everybody’s astonishment, Pres. Truman was given the first office of the land.

The first few occasions happened according to the old rule in March, which recently was changed by law to January. The place for the presidential oath was almost always the same at the Capitol, but the length of the wonderful parade following this ceremony varied. It was shorter or longer according to the wisdom of the committee on preparations, which of course made a great difference with us.

We witnessed only one inauguration (in 1937) while our Home Office was located in rented quarters. These quarters were not near the route of the parade so we had to station ourselves somewhere on the streets, if we wanted to see and hear something, no matter how terribly the weather behaved.

After moving our offices to the “Kossuth Building” on Pennsylvania Ave., N. W., very near to the White House, our prospects of seeing much more of the parade improved considerably. We were able to see some of it from our own windows, but there was a fly in the ointment even then, because the parade did not actually pass our building. About a block or so ahead, it either turned in an other direction, or was disbanded altogether. We were hanging out of our windows, but this precarious situation naturally did not allow any comfort or real satisfaction.

Four years ago the situation changed in our favor. The route of the parade was lengthened

and it was to pass our building. (I tried to impress our people with the innocent fiction that the change was decided upon for the only reason that we should be able to review the whole parade from our own windows, as a silent tribute to the rapid growth of our Federation — but hardly anybody believed this.)

The parade, however, really passed our building, but this time most of us disdained the comfort of the office windows and went up to the flat roof of the building, from where a really magnificent view unfolded itself before us, to the old State Dept. Building, the White House, and the old Treasury, with that straight and wide section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of these stately buildings, where the presidential reviewing stand is always located.

To go out the third floor roof was a somewhat hazardous undertaking, especially for the ladies. The first phase of it was easier: stepping on a chair, the climbing out to the roof of the second floor through a window was not particularly difficult, — but no ;hing was visible from there. The hardly souls who really wanted to see as much as possible, ,’iad to climb up a high and steep ladder to the third floor roof. Some awkward scenes in connection with this undertaking were almost as enjoyable as the unparalleled spectacle of the parade itself.

Anyway, most of us perched on the high flat roof, and saw and enjoyed everything, including cheering of some of the passing dignitaries and ignoring others. It was easy to identify them since every auto had a large sign, giving the names of the occupants.

As this is being written before the inauguration of the new President, we can only hope that we will be able to see enough, in spite of the fact that our new building, the “Kossuth House” is far from the scenes of the festivity. To our regret, the days are gone forever when we were able to review the parade from our own office windows.

Edmund Vasvary