An inauguration day to remember

An inauguration day to remember

Pete Whyte
Jan. 15, 2009

The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama reminded me of something that happened a few years ago.

I was born in Washington D.C. in 1927. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt was elected for the first time. My dad wanted to go to the inauguration. So on a cool day in 1933, he bundled me into a heavy coat and woolen hat. We walked up Allison Street to Georgia Avenue to catch a streetcar. In those days, you could ride one of them for 10 cents or buy three tokens for 25 cents and use them to get aboard. We transferred to a Pennsylvania Avenue car toward the Capitol.

Dad and I got off the car and started walking toward the front of the Capitol. I had never seen so many people in my life. Dad picked me up and put me on his shoulders and kept on walking. When we got near the stand where the inauguration would take place, I can remember seeing someone with a black cape on and holding up his hand. But I was more intrigued by all of the people there. When we got home, mom asked me what I saw and about all I could tell her was about the people.

In the middle 1930s at Easter time, President Roosevelt would open the White House lawns and invite all the moms in the D.C. area to bring their kids down and roll their Easter eggs on the lawn. Mom took my sister, Joan, and myself down two or three times. In the afternoon, the president and Mrs. Roosevelt would come out on the porch and wave to the crowd. Then, Mrs. Roosevelt would come down and wander through the crowd for a while. One year, she walked by us, said hello to my sister Joan and me and then talked with mom for a couple of minutes. Mom was thrilled to think that she talked with the president’s wife.

In 1939, I joined the Boy Scouts. That summer, just prior to the start of WWII, King George and Queen Elizabeth took a trip to Washington. President Roosevelt invited the Boy Scouts to come to the White House and form an Honor Guard around all of the roads at the White House. When I was in position next to the road, the car carrying them came around the grounds. I can remember that car had the back sawed off so that the king and queen would be in the open. They passed me with a clearance of about four feet while I stood there saluting. Quite a day.

In 1940, I got a job delivering the Evening Star, a now-defunct newspaper. I delivered about 175 daily papers and 200 Sunday papers. My route was my neighborhood.

A family across the street from our house was named Scott. And Mrs. Scott’s father, Mr. Geber lived with them. He was a very nice person, always dressed in a shirt and tie, and carried a cane. He would put on a coat and walked around the neighborhood about every day.

In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to his third term of office. He was the first president to be elected to a third term. You can believe that the newspaper the next day was a big one with lots of stories in it.

As I walked along that day, I was carrying the papers in a canvas bag. As I approached the house, I would twist the paper, making a biscuit of it. That was an easy way to toss them. As I came by the Scotts’ house, Mr. Geber was out on the porch. I walked up the stairs and handed him the paper.

“Hi, Mr. Geber,” I said.

He replied, “Hi, Pete.”

I then said, “The paper sure is full of stories about Mr. Roosevelt winning a third term of office.”

Mr. Geber replied, “Yes, I can imagine it is full of stories.”

I then told him about my dad taking me downtown to the Capitol to see Mr. Roosevelt sworn in for the first time. He thought that was great.

He replied, “That was very nice of your dad to do that for you. My dad did the same thing for me.”

I looked at him and asked, “When was that, Mr. Geber?”

He replied, “Well, I was 6 or 7 years old at the time. I think it was 1861.”

“Who did you see inaugurated?” I asked.

“Why, it was Abraham Lincoln,” he said.

Small world.