Second presidential inauguration of Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon takes theoath of office for his second term
Date	January 20, 1973; 52 years ago (1973-01-20)
Location	United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.
Organized by	Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
Participants	Richard Nixon 37th president of the United States — Assuming office Spiro Agnew 39th vice president of the United States — Assuming office Warren E. Burger Chief Justice of the United States — Administering oaths
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This article is part of a series about Richard Nixon
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The secondinauguration ofRichard Nixon aspresident of the United States was held on Saturday, January 20, 1973, at the East Portico of theUnited States Capitol inWashington, D.C. This was the 47thinauguration and marked the commencement of the second and final term of both Richard Nixon as president andSpiro Agnew asvice president. Both Agnew and Nixon resigned within two years of this term. In December 1973,Gerald Ford replaced Agnew as vice president and in the following year, replaced Nixon as president. This made Nixon the first and, as of 2025, only person to be inaugurated four times as both president and vice president.Chief JusticeWarren E. Burger administered both thepresidential andvice presidential oaths of office.^[1] During the ceremony,Look With Pride On Our Flag, a song dedicated to President Nixon and composed byHank Fort, was played.^[2]

Weather conditions for 12 noon atWashington National Airport, located 3.1 miles (4.8 km) from the ceremony, were: 42 °F (6 °C), wind 16 mph (25 km/h), and cloudy.^[3]

The inaugural theme was "The Spirit of '76". The 1973 Inaugural Committee's chairman wasJ. Willard Marriott. Other officers of the committee and its working groups includedJeb Magruder,Mark Evans, Ken Rietz, Ed Cowling,Ann Dore, Pam Powell.H. R. Haldeman was not officially part of the committee but was involved in many of the committee's important decisions.^[4]

When former presidentLyndon B. Johnson, whom Nixon succeeded four years earlier, died two days after the inauguration, several events planned were cancelled to allow for astate funeral.^[5][6] Also, Johnson's casket traveled the entire length of the Capitol, entering through the Senate wing when taken into therotunda tolie in state, and exiting through the House wing; this was due to inauguration construction on the East Front steps.^[5]

Three simultaneous inaugural concerts were planned: a Symphonic Concert (a "show for financial contributors") held atKennedy Center Concert Hall, a Youth Concert ("a show for young people", to feature the Osmonds and the Carpenters), and an American Music Concert ("a show for all others", to feature country, folk, jazz, Dixieland, etc).^[4]

The committee decided to programEugene Ormandy, Nixon's favorite conductor (Nixon had awarded Ormandy thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 1970), and the Philadelphia Orchestra for the Symphonic Concert, breaking the tradition since the 1930s of hiring the National Symphony Orchestra for the inauguration.^[4] In early December 1972 the committee considered askingDimitri Tiomkin for a new work to accompany a reading of Lincoln's2nd inaugural address for the concert (possibly at the suggestion of Nixon's friend and supporterTex Ritter,^[7] for whom Tiomkin'sThe Ballad of High Noon became a signature tune).

But with fears that Tiomkin would work too slow, and at Ormandy's suggestion,Vincent Persichetti was approached to write the work.^[4] Persichetti completed the work in two weeks, it became hisA Lincoln Address, opus 124. During the time that Persichetti was composing; the Vietnam War'sChristmas Bombings began. The committee developed reservations about the appropriateness of Lincoln's address at the inauguration in the climate of war, and pulled Persichetti's composition from the program after it had been announced.^[4]

The Symphonic Concert's program consisted of:^[4]

• National Anthem
• Copland'sFanfare for the Common Man
• Beethoven's5th symphony
• a choral medley of patriotic American music, including portions of the Declaration of Independence read byCharlton Heston, and ending with America the Beautiful, led by Robert Wagner and theLos Angeles Master Chorale
• Grieg'sPiano Concerto played byVan Cliburn
• Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture.

Just like during Nixon's first inauguration, there were protests over theVietnam War.^[8]

• Presidency of Richard Nixon
• First inauguration of Richard Nixon
• 1972 United States presidential election

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