The events of 6 January this year made me reflect on another January in 1973. Richard Nixon’s Second Inauguration came in the midst of a deeply divided nation. The Vietnam War protest movement was front and center. But other social issues were coming of age. In some ways the protests of that day were a culmination of seven or eight years of frustration with the war on top of civil rights demonstrations, summer riots and assassinations.
So here’s a photo diary of the day. For the technically minded; on that cold and blustery day, I carried two Minolta SLR cameras. One with Tri-X black and white film and the other with Ektachrome color slide film. I had a 70 to 220, f 4.5 zoom lens and a 400 millimeter f3.5 telephoto lens. In addition I had a 2X and 3X optical multipliers that doubled or tripled the focal length of the lens. The only other item was a tripod with a shoulder strap. In those days I did all my own developing including the color slide film. Ektachrome was a “color release” film, so was available to the amateur photographer. The companion, Kodachrome, (like the song) was a “color dye” film with more complex developing chemistry.
Numbers of people who attended the formal inauguration, watch the parade or participated in the demonstrations are all over the place. The high I found was 300,000 total. For the demonstrations on The Mall, numbers run from 30,000 to 200,000. I’ve been in big crowds before and the demonstrators numbered way more than 30,000. The Boston Globe reported over 100,000. That sounds about right. At least 80 congressmen did not attend the inauguration and joined the demonstrators as well. There absence was noted in the Congressional Record.
Context
A little context for January 1973 may help understand the photos. In early December 1972 the Paris Peace Talks to end U.S. involvement in the war had broken down. On 18 December Nixon resumed bombing North Vietnam dropping over 20,000 tons of ordnance in three weeks. During that time the U.S. lost 26 aircraft including 15 B-52 bombers. On 29 December talks resumed. A draft acceptable to all sides emerged that was essentially the same as a draft agreed to the previous October. On 15 January Nixon ordered a halt to offensive action in Vietnam but the Peace Accords remained unsigned. Hence in the photos, there are banners urging Nixon to “Sign the Treaty.” The Peace Accords were signed on 27 January. A week after the inauguration.
Watergate
Meanwhile the shadow of Watergate hung over Nixon. A week before the inauguration, the trial of the Watergate burglars began in a court room overlooking the inaugural parade route. Information that came out during the trial along with press reporting caused the Senate to begin investigating the Watergate break-in three weeks after the inauguration.
Women’s Rights, Gay Rights
Demonstrators for Women’s Rights were in evidence on that day in 1973. The Supreme Court was deliberating Roe v. Wade at the time. The 7-2 decision was rendered on 22 January. Nixon appointed three Justices to SCOTUS: Berger, Blackmun and Powell. Blackmun and Powell voted with the majority and Burger “concurred.” The campus Women’s Rights movement was in full motion and among the signs can be seen the ♀ symbol and references to “50% of the Population, 1% Representation” and “My Body, My Choice.”
Gay rights activists were also represented in small contingents. They foreshadowed the larger movement yet to come.
Civil Rights
While the demonstrations on 20 January were not necessarily Civil Rights related, the Anti-War movement and Civil Rights movement were inter-related. In the middle of the 1960s both Vietnam and Civil Rights dominated the news and political discussion. Lyndon Johnson created the “Great Society” and the “War On Poverty” programs in 1964. VISTA and Head Start still remain from that legislation. His work, coupled with Civil Rights groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and Congress of Racial Equality, leveraged political energy to address race relations and American social/economic inequities. But the Vietnam War dominated the budget process and kept Johnson’s programs from full funding.
The Nixon administration made the shift away from social programs complete. Dr. King painted a vivid picture of the competition between social programs and the war in 1968. He explained the U.S. spent $500,000 to kill one Vietcong while the poverty program spent $53 for every person living in poverty. That’s, “not even a good skirmish against poverty,” he said. Four days later, Dr. King was assassinated.
Flags At Half Staff
Flags in the photos were already at half staff because Harry Truman had passed away on 26 December 1972 and flags were lowered for thirty days. On 22 January, Lyndon Johnson died. A few weeks later, Nixon’s 1973 budget request gutted most of the Great Society programs created in the Johnson years.
To better see the photos PC users may want to use Control — Plus to slightly enlarge the page.
For Mac users it’s View>Zoom.
Morning, Inauguration Day 1973
The plan was for people to rally at the Lincoln Memorial in the morning. Then march down Constitution Avenue to an area between the Washington Monument and the Ellipse. A speakers stand was set up and everyone from the wife of a POW to senators spoke to the crowd. In the afternoon there were musical performances by the likes of Pete Seeger.
Unlike most modern inaugurations, Nixon’s second inaugural was held on the East side of the Capitol. This was done for “security” and to keep Nixon from seeing the throngs of anti-war protesters anticipated. And huge crowds were expected. The campus press across the country carried information about the rally, speakers and demonstration planned for the 20th. No social media to help.
Over twenty groups applied for permits to use the Mall on the 20th. Five trains were charted to bring in demonstrators along with over 500 buses. Trains ! How quaint. You could still charter extra movement passenger trains to move a lot of people around the country.
Park police placed wooden snow fences around the base of the Washington Monument. They were quickly torn down. The absence of any sort of police was notable. Especially in contrast to events of 2020 and January 6, 2021.
Mid-morning crowds began to gather between the Washington Monument and the Ellipse. The sound system was insufficient to carry all the way to the Washington Monument. During the whole day, I never found a port-a-potty. No one carried coffee cups or bottled water. Except for a couple hot dog vendors there were no food trucks. No tee shirt vendors, no cell phones, no digital cameras, no place to get a Latte or a Macchiato. It was just so; what’s the word? Primitive.
It’s hard to see, but to prevent tampering with the flags, the halyards had been tied to the poles out of reach from the ground. Brave souls shimmied up the poles to get at the ropes. For a while some were upside down. It didn’t take long after that for the American flags to come down altogether and get replaced with Vietcong flags and homemade banners.
The guy pictured above really didn’t blend in. For the photo geeks out there, he is carrying three cameras. The one hanging in front is a Nikon with a motor drive unit. The camera to the left looks like a Pentax with a zoom lens. When I was a working photographer, I crossed paths with stringers and staff photogs for UPI, AP and various newspapers. They all tried to dress for the occasion they were covering. I made up mental stories about this picture that included words like “narc,” “plain clothes,” “FBI,” and “enemies list.” If you recognize this guy, I apologize.
Noon, At the Capitol
Speakers continued at the Ellipse beyond noon. Some demonstrators and a lot of curiosity seekers made their way to the East side of the Capitol. Access to the Capitol grounds was restricted to people with invitations or passes to see the inauguration close up. There was some space on the south side for groundlings with a very oblique view of the proceedings. One report said 60,000 people attended the Second Inauguration. Naaa. I’ll believe 6,000 were packed into the stands erected on that side of the Capitol. Perhaps another six thousand were off the grounds on First Street and on the steps of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. I could be wrong.
(edit) National Guard 82nd Airborne troops and police were placed around the east side of the Capitol on the lawn by the side walk about twelve feet apart. Troops wore Class A uniforms. No night sticks, no guns. Not even long overcoats. For the uninitiated, that would be trousers, shirt and tie with a jacket (tunic) and a garrison hat. Watch the Bill Murray film Stripes for an example.
This is where the tripod came in handy. The sight distance from my vantage point to the Inauguration stage is 930 feet. (Measured it on Google Earth). It was windy and my perch was crowed with people.
Above: This is what an 800mm full Tri-X film frame looks like. Using the 400mm lens with a doubling adapter yielded an 800mm focal length, but also doubled the f stop to f7. Higher the number, the more light is needed to get a decent exposure. So even on a bright sunny day, many of the black and white images feel dull and muddy.
(Edit) In the interests of accuracy, I found and reproduced here a close up of security at the Capitol. The police are on the sidewalk. Fencing was more of the red snow fence. Troops beyond are 82nd Airborne, NOT National Guard as
reported in the original Diary. Although blurry, the jump wings and the Airborne Tab are visible on the Sargent are visible.
Scanners and digital editing are wonderful, if time consuming, things. Most of the B&W frames were scanned at 800 dpi. Scanning more than that would A) take forever, and B) wouldn’t help much with the resolution when displayed on a web page.
Unlike Kodachrome slides, Ektachrome is subject to color sift and fade. Even in a closed box, Ektachrome will “dark fade.” Digital software allows for some color correction and contrast control. Fortunately, these frames required very little exposure adjustment to bring back the original color.
There is a phenomenon called the “accelerated rate of change.” Moore’s Law is an example of that. More to the point is the time between technology advancements. It took almost forty years from the introduction of AM radio to the beginnings of FM radio. It was 14 years between the 45 RPM record and the tape cassette. It was ten years from the regular use of televisions to the introduction of color TV. It was less than 9 years between the introduction of a consumer affordable digital camera and a cell phone with a digital camera. In the last thirty years came PCs, laser printers, color copiers, CDs, flash drives, cell phones, a graphical interface for the Internet, satellite radio and Wi-Fi. Some technology evolved, some was replaced.
Same with human skills. When I was in high school in the late 60s, we were told we needed to prepare for jobs that do not exist yet. If we only knew.
So, in looking back, I can take inventory of all my skill sets that are no longer needed. I can develop color slide film. I know how to push process Tri-X Pan film to 1600 ASA. I can bulk load H&W Control film. I can also use HTML to build a web page from scratch.
I suppose there is a lesson in that for my fellow citizens who look around them and find America changing. Becoming more diverse, more aware, more inclusive. Becoming less judgmental of clothing, body types and life styles. In my view, those who resent and resist these changes are afraid of the future. Like most humans, they fear the unknown. But the arc of civilization swings. The shift to the future means leaving behind some of the past. Preferably the oppressive and limiting parts.
As General Eric Shinseki once said,”If you don’t like change, try being irrelevant.”
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