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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
George W. Bush: The Road Ahead
Aired January 20, 2005 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
A day like today is not simply a celebration of a political victory. Even in these times it should also be a celebration of the continuity of our government. We should not lose sight of that celebration as we go along in our coverage tonight. Much of it, as you would expect, focuses on the words the president spoke, what he said, what they might mean for you and him and history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Preserve, protect and defend...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST: The Constitution of the United States.
BUSH: ...the Constitution of the United States.
BROWN (voice-over): Simple words meet a complicated world on a cold day with the country at war.
BUSH: The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
BROWN: Lofty words meet a risky world. How will they translate into dollars, diplomacy and American lives?
Angry words herald a divided world. Can the wounds be healed abroad and at home? Do Americans think the president can heal them?
BRENITA JACKSON-BROWN, DIRECTOR, GENESIS SHELTER: I think our greatest challenge is our country finding common ground.
BROWN: And, in the end, a look at how it was in the beginning and how the picture has changed since then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN Special Report, George W. Bush, the Road Ahead.
BROWN: On this Thursday night, a chilly night in Washington, all through the evening we'll check in on the kind of nightlife the capital sees but once every four years.
But we begin tonight with where the day began, as it has 55 times before in our country's history. John King, our Senior White House Correspondent, starts us off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Left hand on the family Bible, second inaugural address shaped by the defining day of the first term, September 11th a day of fire the president called it.
BUSH: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
KING: The self-described war president said his second term mission will be using American power and influence to end tyranny and promote democracy.
BUSH: It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security and the calling of our time.
BUSH: No specific mention of Iraq where critics suggest Mr. Bush's zeal for promoting democracy is failing its first big test. But without singling out any one government, Mr. Bush promised an aggressive second term approach that could, if he follows through, strain relations with governments with whom critics say Mr. Bush has been far too cozy, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia among them.
BUSH: The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know to serve your people you must learn to trust them.
KING: Here at home, Mr. Bush said a freedom agenda would give individuals more power and government less and promised as he pushed controversial ideas, like revamping Social Security, to reach across party lines.
BUSH: We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes and I will strive in good faith to heal them.
KING: Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the oath but his frail condition, amid a battle with cancer, was a reminder a Supreme Court nomination could soon test any hope of bipartisanship.
And, even as they joined the ceremonies, Democrats fired a symbolic early warning shot blocking confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state until next week.
Protests along the parade route were another reminder that Mr. Bush begins his second term as he did the first a polarizing figure. The security was unprecedented and only at the very end did the president and first lady leave the limousine to enjoy a bit of the parade route on foot before joining family members, the vice president and others in the VIP reviewing stand to savor the moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And while there was no mention of Iraq, no direct mention anyway in the inaugural address, the president was clearly mindful the wavering support for the war here at home and the political cloud that casts over the beginning of his new second term the president spoke of accepting obligations that are "difficult to fulfill" but he also said they would be dishonorable to abandon.
And, Aaron, the president on his way back to the White House due here momentarily, well ahead of schedule. He visited all nine balls with the first lady very quickly.
BROWN: Well, he's a guy who likes to get to bed early even on a big night. Legislatively, what's the first big deal the president will send to the Hill?
KING: Well, assuming the chief justice does not retire in the short term, the first big fight will most likely be over an issue that's perhaps not very sexy but liability reform, the president trying to reform medical liability laws. They worked on that some in the last term, so Senate Republicans in the Bush administration ready to go forward with that one right out of the box.
Social Security will follow but medical liability reform doesn't have a lot of sexiness to it but it does divide the parties. They will fight over that and quite fiercely. Already we see partisanship.
BROWN: John, thank you, John King our Senior White House Correspondent with us tonight throughout the night.
Jeff Greenfield our Senior Analyst who has put in a full day's work already, so we appreciate your being here. The speech today I wrote down as I was watching it audacious, not in the pejorative in the sense that here was a guy that four years ago talked about not wanting to be involved in nation building and today talked about rebuilding the world.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: This, it was almost a startling inaugural speech, at least the first half. The second half, when he turned toward home, I thought it was essentially modular. Almost any president or conservative president could have given it.
But to say as clearly and as tough mindedly as he did to set down a policy in an inaugural address is by itself unusual and to say, look, here's what we figured out after 9/11. The extension of freedom, of liberty is not an idealistic notion, like Liberty Enlightening the World, which is the name of the Statue of Liberty, it is essential to our survival.
Therefore, it's out policy to do this, to end tyranny anywhere and tyrannical governments are on notice that we will use our considerable influence to make this happen. We will encourage the dissidents in your country recognizing them as the future leaders. We believe a just God, he said to outlaw regimes, will not let you survive in this form.
I think the most interesting thing is yet to be found, which is how is this speech going to be played in all the different corners, in our allies that are repressive, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, you might count Russia there?
How is it going to play in Europe, which always believes that the United States' professions of democracy is old power politics gussied up in moralistic terms. Or, are they going to say, you know what, he's right about this? We got to help him on this?
BROWN: Well, you know, in a kind of broad sense who can be against freedom? I mean we all...
GREENFIELD: Right.
BROWN: But what means tyranny is where it gets -- is the Saudi royal family which the Saudi government earlier this week or late last week, I forget, sentenced seven dissidents and their dissent was fairly minor to 100 public lashings and years in prison. Is that what the president referred to today?
GREENFIELD: Well, he did make a distinction. I want to be clear about this because I think you got to read something like this more closely than normal inaugurals because it's so, it's so potentially potent.
He distinguishes between rulers of outlaw regimes, which he basically says your day is done and then he talks about the leaders of governments with long habits of control and they need to know we'll walk with you as you learn to be better. So, he seemed to be making a distinction between governments that...
BROWN: For North Korea it's a slam dunk.
GREENFIELD: Yes. Yes, they're out of there and I think when he talks about reformers and Democrats in jail who are the next leaders, boy I think they're going to hear that in Tehran directly at them.
So, I think there are distinctions but, to use a cliche which I don't normally like to do, the devil is in the details. How do you do this? How do you tell a repressive government that is an ally, like Pakistan, you know they're supposedly helping us fight the war on terror but they don't have elections and they repress their dissidents, what do you do?
BROWN: Or, how do you deal with a country like China who we have this most complicated economic relationship with that is essential to us or seems essential to us and to them and is surely a repressive regime in any sense of the term?
GREENFIELD: You know, I think the model that I think a lot of -- that this administration may be thinking of is what Reagan did in Eastern Europe and he never invaded Eastern Europe, never sent troops there. He encouraged the dissidents. He told them we were listening to them. He believed, and there was some success here, that in places like Poland and Czechoslovakia those corrupt regimes would wither from within. The question is can you actually perceive that happening in a place like Iran, Pakistan, or even a place like Saudi Arabia? I think -- that's why I think the speech was, in my view, so startling. It is such an expansive goal the end of tyranny everywhere. It is such a goal that Americans embrace in principal because, you know, Ronald Reagan was right about this I think. Free nations don't make war on each other. Democracies don't foster terrorism but then the question is how to you get from point A to B?
And, one last thing this is why Iraq, I think, is now, if it was a big deal before this speech, it's going to be an even bigger contentious deal after because Bush's critics are going to say, "Fine, we know your theory. The first place you tried this is in Iraq. How's that working out?"
BROWN: Stick around with us through the evening. We've got conversations to go. Thank you.
GREENFIELD: You bet.
BROWN: Jeff Greenfield with us.
In a moment how Americans around the country see the president and his plans for the nation. We'll take a break first.
From Washington at the end of Inauguration Day our special coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The president made some news a few days ago when he said his accountability moment had come and gone on Election Day. Strictly speaking, barring an impeachable offense, he's right.
But people, we think, take the measure of the president more than once every four years and frankly pollsters take the measure of the public opinion about twice an hour, so we've done it again, a snapshot, if you will.
CNN's Bill Schneider joins us tonight to talk about what the numbers say about the day and the road ahead, good evening sir.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening. And what they say is that people were receptive to the president's speech and, in fact, they thought that the ceremonies were appropriate.
The issue, of course, was one that the president raised in his remarks. He said that essentially the best way to protect U.S. security is to promote democracy in other countries. I find that very interesting. I find it arguable.
Let's see what people think. Do they think spreading democracy is essential to the security of the United States? And, on that point, he got them by about two to one. They say, yes, it is essential to our security to spread democracy.
BROWN: In broad ways as we were saying with Jeff. I mean it's hard to argue, although there are some interesting arguments... SCHNEIDER: I could make an argument.
BROWN: There are some interesting arguments against the notion of freedom. The question then becomes this is a grand goal, a huge vision. Does the public believe it is a doable proposition?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, there's the rub. Do people think that the United States really can export democracy? Can we achieve that goal? We asked them, "Do you think the United States can achieve the goal of ending tyranny in the world" the way the president said in his speech when he said "It is the policy of this country to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny," so there, big goal, achievable?
Here's the answer, not really. By about the same margin, 60 percent said no they don't think the United States can do that, 35 percent said yes. And, as for the goal itself, I think a lot of people might say would we be better off with Saudi Arabia or Pakistan as democracies? Would they be more friendly to the United States, unclear.
BROWN: A different question. Let me move you to one more, more of an internal domestic political question. There was a wonderful headline. I'm not sure the headline writer intended it quite that way but it said, "Public divided on whether president is uniter or divider."
SCHNEIDER: Exactly.
BROWN: Does the public as we poll them believe the president can bring a pretty fractured political country together?
SCHNEIDER: Well, that's what we asked them. "Do you think the president can achieve the goal that he set out today to become a uniter, a healer, something he said he would strive to do? Will he heal the political divisions of this country in the next four years" and the answer is a majority of those polled today said no, 53 percent said no, 42 yes.
You know it's interesting that Americans did see President Bush as a uniter in 2000 when he first ran. Remember he wasn't part of the Newt Gingrich crowd in Washington. He had nothing to do with impeachment. He had worked with Democrats in Texas. When he was elected they saw him as a uniter.
But now they're not so sure and when we asked them just last week, that poll you just talked about, "Do you think President Bush is more a uniter or a divider" people were split. They were divided over whether he was a divider of the country.
BROWN: There's a lot of water that's gone over the dam in the last four years. It's been a difficult time and I think people have good and bad I suppose, a different measure of the man than they had four years ago. SCHNEIDER: Yes, absolutely. For one year he did unite the country but I'm not sure he did it, 9/11 did it. But it was remarkable for one year after 9/11, Americans were united and they were behind the president and his policy in Afghanistan in that war.
But once he rolled out the Iraq policy, starting in September, 2002, one year after 9/11, everything fell apart and all these old divisions that go all the way back to Vietnam came out again and now the country is more bitterly divided than it was even after Clinton.
BROWN: It's good to see you on this inauguration night. Thank you, sir, Bill Schneider with us.
Behind the numbers in every poll, of course, are actual human beings, each one with a story, so we spent some time today listening to Americans starting in New York and working our way west.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): At a firehouse across the street from Ground Zero, a company that lost six men on 9/11, the television was on and the battalion chief said if he could he would urge the president to do just one thing.
GENE KELLY, FDNY BATTALION CHIEF: I just wish he would take care of the war, just finish it off, just let's not do any more holding activities. Let's just get the war finished. Let's get our troops back again. Let's get the country online over there.
BROWN: Up town a bit at Aster (ph) Place Haircutters, customers didn't pull any punches about the state of their country as they see it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans think that everyone wants to live here and everyone wants to be like Americans and that's really not the case. A lot of people, you know, they don't really mind America but they really dislike the way America kind of shoves itself down their throat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I work for a major brokerage firm and I'm not as concerned about my job as I was four years ago but like many people I bought a house two years ago. I'm concerned about keeping my job.
BROWN: In Miami, senior citizens reflected on a blend of optimism and pragmatism about where the country finds itself today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I wasn't for George Bush but now he's our president. I hope he'll do the right thing. I'll support what he does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm optimistic because we got tax breaks. We got -- it seems that I think we're going in the right direction.
BROWN: At a center for homeless families in Atlanta other concerns. JACKSON-BROWN: I think our country's greatest challenge right now is our divide as you saw in the election. There was some very obvious divides. There's still a very strong racial divide. There's a strong between the haves and the have nots.
BROWN: Out west in Montana, passions and issues are framed against a breathtaking backdrop. Tracy Brewer (ph) works on a dude ranch and worries about the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it don't pick up, then we don't have -- my family won't have food. We won't have the necessity things that it takes to live.
BROWN: For Brewer, 9/11 and its aftermath are part of the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they have the terrorist alerts on the high end of things or even the medium end people do not want to travel.
BROWN: In downtown Bozeman we caught up with some self-described community curmudgeons.
NICK DAVIS, LAWYER: No one likes to see our boys getting killed. I got children too and I don't want them to get killed in Iraq. But, on the other hand, we have a phenomenal country that's doing a great thing and I applaud it.
JANICE WHETSTONE, ATTORNEY: On the international level I'm obviously concerned about the war and I don't believe we have an exit strategy and I'm concerned that no one else in Washington seems to be able to communicate what that strategy is.
GREG MORGAN, ATTORNEY: I'm afraid that we are destroying the Constitution, the protection of the individual and the privacy and that's bothering me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't as pessimistic four years ago because we weren't in war and we were reducing our national debt.
BROWN: And at Montana State University the future feels bright to some students there.
ANNIE SPRINGER, STUDENT: I come from a military background. I'm going into the Air Force as soon as I graduate and so coming from a military standpoint I think that President Bush is doing a great job with our military and I believe that we're taking all the correct precautions and procedures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree the biggest concern with the future is definitely the war on terrorism. Like I said earlier, with the post September 11th that is the biggest threat to Americans on the homeland and abroad.
BROWN: Farther west in Pasadena, California this morning the inauguration went hand-in-hand with some early morning workouts and musing about the nation is facing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the greatest challenge is how do we provide for people that are baby boomers like me that are going to be retiring and expecting to be supplemented by Social Security.
AMY PRESSMAN, BAKER: I've never been happy about Bush because I don't -- just in terms of war I'm against war. The only good thing I think that ever comes out of war is the end of it.
BROWN: And, in a diner in Los Angeles, the concerns mirrored many of the others we heard expressed across America on this inauguration day.
LINDA NAPORI, HOMEMAKER: I think the country's biggest challenge today is just trying to find our place in the world. I think there's just so much negative feeling toward the United States locally that I just hope we can remain or become again a country that's respected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The voices of Americans on this day a president was inaugurated.
Coming up on this special two-hour edition, putting their words into action a look at policy choices and political realities.
Our special coverage continues in a moment. You're watching the Liberty Ball, one of many going on in Washington today. The president has made the rounds of most of them and is back at the White House tonight but the dancing goes on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The White House tonight, the president back inside beginning officially now his second term. In some respects the clock ticking. He's a lame duck already.
Four more years, one could argue, are exactly that, four more years, 1,460 days. But for second term presidents, the math and the reality are a bit more complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): This may be the last easy day the president has in his second term. From here on out he will be pressed from the right to deliver on promises made and pressed by history to deliver a legacy, conservatives first.
EDWIN FUELNER, PRESIDENT, THE HERITAGE SOCIETY: I'd say most conservatives that would be the biggest area of disappointment with the administration in the first term is the level of government spending, the fact that spending went up 25 percent in just three years. That really does concern conservatives.
BROWN: To conservatives, the cost of the war is one thing. It is the billions the president pushed for on drugs for seniors they still struggle with.
FUELNER: And he had great principles that he set out but, boy, by the time it came through our people were very upset with the final version.
BROWN: Social conservatives are already upset that the president seems to have cooled to the idea of pushing hard for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. They want that. They want tighter restrictions on abortions. They want conservative judges and they are likely to get much but not all of what they want but it will not come without a fight and it will come with a backdrop.
TOM OLIPHANT, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": The variable is not who had the best sound byte last night. It's not who bought off which pressure group with what cute little amendment yesterday. It's what's the situation on the ground in two very basic senses, how is the war going in Iraq and is the economy continuing to grow at a pace people consider healthy?
BROWN: Will Iraq stabilize? Will Americans start coming home? But it isn't just Iraq that will challenge the president abroad.
PATRICK CLAWSON, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: I'm worried that Iran's leaders seem to be over confident to the point of being cocky. If Iran were to miscalculate and think that it could develop nuclear weapons without there being an international reaction, we could be in the midst of a serious crisis quite quickly.
BROWN: If the first term was largely defined by 9/11 and the wars that followed, the early fights of the second term are likely to be major battles over important domestic programs and here not even conservatives agree on what the right course is.
FUELNER: Because this president campaigned so assertively on the domestic policy agenda in terms of Social Security, in terms of bringing federal spending under some kind of control, in terms of tax reform that he is going to try to push that.
Now that's not typical for a second term where typically it's easier for an incumbent to go out and be president and be a world statesman and be remembered as that. But this president seems to really want to keep domestic policy to the front as much as he can.
BROWN: Tonight, the president can celebrate. Tomorrow the clock starts ticking. In a year his congressional allies will be more worried about their own reelection than his legacy. Second terms are no shorter than the first in reality but practically and politically the president is already a lame duck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We're joined now by Nina Easton of "The Boston Globe," John Harwood of "The Wall Street Journal," old friends of the program. They were with us throughout the campaign and the election that brought us to this moment, good to see you both.
Nina, a quick take just first on the speech today and then we'll move beyond.
NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Well, the speech today was a very clear Bush doctrine, manifest destiny, very clear. I think he used liberty, he used the word liberty 15 times, used the word freedom 29 times. This is a president who was saying very clearly not only is freedom something that's an ideal and something we should strive for in the world but something that actually affects America's survival. And he was laying down the gauntlet. I thought it was a very strong speech, if you agree with Bush. He laid it out. If you disagree with him, the lines were drawn in that speech today.
BROWN: The folks at the editorial page of your paper, "The Wall Street Journal," must have loved the speech today.
HARWOOD: Well, I'm sure they did, but a lot of people were surprised about it, Aaron.
We had an interview with George W. Bush a week ago and he said he was going to sound these themes of liberty and advancing freedom, but I don't think anybody quite expected a vision as expansive as the one he laid out today, some elasticity in how exactly he implements this vision.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: That's the point. It's like an outline in a sense. And we haven't gotten to the A and the subnumbers yet. How do you actually implement this? How do we, as a nation -- because, as we said a couple of times, who can be against human freedom, for goodness sakes? But it's complicated stuff to actually export it.
HARWOOD: Well, what does it exactly mean in practice? He said this isn't a matter primarily as a force of arms, but he didn't say it wasn't a force of arms. Then, in another portion of the speech, he said we're going to clarify what regimes stand for and who is advancing liberty and who is repressing it.
So, is it rhetorical or is it something more? Is it really the application of American force in a determined way? He is going to translate that over the next few months. But it's potential extremely consequential for the country.
EASTON: And I would say that the test cases in this of course are Iran and North Korea. Iran is a nuclear power. Both sides of the aisle agree that this is a danger. It's a nuclear threat.
Both sides of the aisle agree that North Korea is a threat. But how do you deal with those countries? And, as John said, he did not say that military force is necessarily the answer, but there's no doubt from this speech that he is going to take aggressive, at least diplomatic, action in these areas.
HARWOOD: One thing he has got to keep in mind is there's rising support right now for bringing American troops home from Iraq.
BROWN: Just one more point on this. I really do want to move on. Yes, North Korea and Iran are obvious, center of the bullseye. But the Egyptian government is no walk in the park where human freedom is concerned. The Saudis are no walk in the park where human freedom is concerned.
There's a lot of countries we -- the Chinese, for goodness sake. There's a lot of countries that we do business With -- and, in fact, one of the grievances, as you know, in the Middle East, is that we have propped up governments that repress because it's in our interests, we have argued, that repress their own people. How does he deal with those?
HARWOOD: I think it's really tough.
Are the conversations between the United States and China going to be about trade, textiles, the imports that are coming in and hurting American manufacturers? It's a huge part of the world economy. Or is it going to be about human rights issues? And he is going to have to decide on how that gets translated and it matters of lot.
BROWN: All right, we'll move on to domestic stuff.
I was struck this week that, on the week the president is inaugurated, one of the most powerful members of Congress where tax and fiscal policy is concerned, came out and I think he described the president's Social Security idea as a dead horse. This is a Republican. A second prominent Republican basically said, yes, I agree with that. So, the president is talking about this massive change in Social Security. And his own party is not exactly eager to jump on board, or at least important people in his own party.
HARWOOD: And, Aaron, if you talk to some Republicans around town, they will say he led off with ending tyranny around the world and saved the tough stuff for the end of the speech, changing Social Security, expanding freedom at home.
In our "Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll this week, a third of Republicans that said changing Social Security to invest private accounts in the stock market is a bad idea. This is a president who got more than 90 percent of the votes of Republicans. He has got to have a united party to move forward. That's critical to the way he governs.
BROWN: And where, if anywhere, are the Democrats in all of this?
EASTON: Democrats are lost. I think the Democrats are extremely good at being an opposition party at this point, but right now what's going on is this race for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
And there's very much a struggle right now over visions for the Democratic Party and how to do things like make inroads in the South, which you need to do if you want to recapture the Oval Office. But going back to this question, not only are economic conservatives restive. Social conservatives are. They're extremely angry with George Bush earlier this week for making the comment that he is not going to push for an amendment to ban gay marriage, an amendment to the Constitution.
This is something that conservatives feel like they were -- social conservatives feel like they were owed in this election and...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: But, look, they're going to get the judges they want.
EASTON: They are going to hold his feet to the fire on that. And I don't know if they're going to get the judges they want.
They were passing out leaflets today, one of the groups, asserting that Republican Supreme Court justices cannot be relied upon on issues like abortion. And if you look at the numbers, that isn't always -- if you look at some of the nominees from past Republican presidents, they can't rely on them all the time. So, definitely, they're going to look for -- we don't want another David Souter, for example.
BROWN: Yes.
EASTON: They're going to look to this president and really try to hold his feet to the fire on this issue.
HARWOOD: Aaron, a majority of Republicans in our poll said they would prefer the president would concentrate on moral and family issues, rather than the economy. So, he has got to decide where all this political capital gets spent. He has got a lot of places to spend it.
BROWN: It's good to see you.
One of the great things about the Supreme Court, I have always thought, is you never know what your David Souters of the world are going to turn out to be or your Earl Warrens turn out to be. You think they're one thing and either over time or for whatever reason, they become something else.
Nice to see you guys.
EASTON: That's right. It's nice to see you.
BROWN: Thank you and John.
Up next, for a town more concerned with ways and means than fun and games, tonight is a departure. We'll go to the party for the party after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Dwight Eisenhower once said things are more like they are now than they have ever been before. Then millions of English teachers threw down their chalk and took up basket weaving. For years, no one could figure out what the president was talking about.
Here is a thought. Maybe he was talking about Inauguration Day. Just a thought.
Here is CNN's Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they more lavish than they used to be? Oh, yes. Thomas Jefferson in 1801 walked from Conrad and McMunn's boarding house to the Capitol, took the oath of office, and then, with some friends, walked to the White House. A parade? Maybe.
But James Madison, his successor, had the first official parade. You can bet, by the way, that there was more security around the Jefferson Memorial this week than there was around Jefferson himself back then.
Warren Harding revived inaugural balls. Woodrow Wilson had suspended them. And when Congress wouldn't foot the bill, Harding raised private money to pay for them, a tradition which continues. This president is having nine. Bill Clinton had 14 and played the saxophone at some of them.
Does wartime matter? At Abraham Lincoln's second, the Civil War was winding down. And people were so happy, one story goes, that women kept coming up to reviewing stand to kiss the president. Mrs. Lincoln had that stopped. John Wilkes Booth was at the Capitol and at the reviewing stand. He was a very popular actor. Could John Travolta, say, get in without a credential today?
Franklin Roosevelt's fourth inaugural, as World War II was nearing its end, was held at the White House and was short, a six- minute speech and a 15-minute ceremony. But that was probably more because Roosevelt was ill than for security reasons.
Security comes and goes. Andrew Jackson opened the White House to the crowd. They got drunk and trashed the place. The Jacksons finally got their house back by putting tubs of whiskey punch on the lawn to lure the crowd outside.
Lyndon Johnson road from the Capitol to the White House in a closed car. His predecessor, John Kennedy, had been killed riding in an open one. But a few years later, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter walked the route.
And, of course, inaugurals and the speeches presidents give at them matter more than they used to. When Jefferson spoke, only a few people could hear him. Word of James Polk's swearing-in was telegraphed around the country. Theodore Roosevelt was the first to be filmed, Herbert Hoover the first to be filmed with sound.
Calvin Coolidge's speech was broadcast on radio, Harry Truman's in 1949 broadcast to on TV to maybe 10 million people. When George W. Bush spoke today, his voice and picture traveled all around the world.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And a bit later in the program, Jeff Greenfield returns with a look at perhaps the best remembered inaugural address of moderate times, some would say the inaugural that ushered in modern times, the last one that sounded like the kind of speech Shakespeare might have written. Ask not what the program can do for Greenfield. Ask what Greenfield can do for the program. That's later in our special coverage.
Also ahead, we'll go to the parties when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: No matter what it was that brought you here to Washington today, whether it was to celebrate or to protest, the one thing you notice is the town has been locked down tight. The unprecedented security continues at the Capitol. Fair to say the first inauguration of the post-9/11 era has been an exercise in extreme and extraordinary caution.
Here is CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If anything goes wrong, this high-tech mobile command center would get as close to the incident as possible and serve as the operational center for the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fox 3, this is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) relay to Whiskey 1.
ARENA: CNN was allowed an exclusive look, but the agents inside did not want their faces shown for security reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here, these are the radio operators for the tactical operation center. They'll be talking to the units we have in the field.
ARENA: Armed with satellite feeds from key locations and an ability to communicate in real time with every law-enforcement agency in Washington, it sits at the ready outside the FBI's Washington field office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a large group been trying to make an unlawful pass through the checkpoint.
ARENA: Inside that building at the main command center, agents are monitoring protesters, watching for trouble along the parade route and running down any and all leads.
MIKE ROLINCE, FBI COMMAND CENTER DIRECTOR: We have the capability to take in information literally from around the world, whether it's FBI, legal attaches posted overseas, CIA officers, Department of Defense entities, so any information that we believe would be relevant to the inauguration and to our coverage of the inauguration and follow-on investigation.
ARENA: The FBI points out it is playing a support role to the lead agency, the Secret Service. For the first time, FBI agents are at pedestrian checkpoints. They're also on the streets surveilling. But the rest of its force remains in the wings.
JIM RICE, NATIONAL CAPITAL RESPONSE SQUAD: From joint hazmat teams to joint bomb squads to tactical teams on the parade route.
ARENA: Jim Rice commands all those units and says there are as many as 1,400 FBI agents and support staff ready to go at a moment's notice. He says, so far, it's just another day in the nation's capital.
RICE: We've had to deploy our HAZMAT and our EOD personnel and some of the intelligence personnel throughout the day, as we get suspicious package calls and reports of containers of unknown liquids and things like that on the parade route. All have been cleared without incident.
ARENA: The command center will remain in operation 24/7, until the official celebrations are safely concluded.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Across Washington tonight, parties are going on. Tens of thousands of people have come in to celebrate. Before we're done, we'll take you to them, talk about the style of the Bushes, how it has changed over time. Much to do in a special two-hour edition, as CNN wraps up its election coverage.
We'll take a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, the road ahead starts after the party.
Washington isn't exactly known for its night life, but every four years, the city does go to town. Across the city tonight, the inaugural balls are under way. The lines are long in many places, celebrating expected to go on for some time.
CNN's Ed Henry joins us now from the Patriot Ball.
Ed, good evening.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.
That's right. Washington is not known for glitz and glamour. But that changes once every four years. This is almost the capital city's version of the Oscars, where everyone is dressed to the nines. They're partying. You can hear the music pounding behind me, some 50,000 people celebrating the second inauguration of George W. Bush at balls all around Washington. There is, though, and there has been throughout the night, a more solemn tone, despite that loud music. That's because people know the nation is at war. President Bush noted that at all of his remarks at the various balls.
Now, even though the president did not mention Iraq directly during his inaugural address, he did refer to the war earlier in some remarks at the Salute to Heroes Ball across town. He said that millions in Iraq will be voting in just over a week from now. He said that the transition to democracy is starting to work. It will not be easy, but he said, in years ahead, America will be able to look back with pride that it did its duty in trying to bring democracy to Iraq.
Then the president came here to the Patriot Ball, which is to celebrate the state of Ohio. And he reiterated the basic theme of his inaugural address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm going to work as hard as I can to spread freedom around the world, so our children and our grandchildren can grow up in peace.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The president then asked the first lady to join him in a dance. The president then asked the first lady to join him for an inaugural dance, and the crowd went wild.
The people of Ohio here obviously behind me are fired up, because they know that it was this state of Ohio that helped deliver the election for George W. Bush. They're very fired up about that. No Republican has ever been elected president without first winning the state of Ohio. Vice President Cheney was here before President Bush. And he said obviously he would not be here tonight without the state of Ohio. The vice president also joked that he wanted to stay longer, but he had to go, because the boss, the president, wanted him at his desk bright and early tomorrow.
Obviously, some partying tonight, Aaron, but they know that they have a big agenda on Capitol Hill that they want to get to right away tomorrow -- Aaron.
BROWN: From beginning to end, how long was the president and the first lady in the room?
HENRY: The president and first lady were here for a maximum of five minutes, Aaron. It's basically a very quick hello. As you know, this president likes to be in bed by 9:00 or 10:00 in the evening. He doesn't like to burn the midnight oil. He made it very quick.
In fact, he was about 45 minutes ahead of schedule in getting here. We were expecting him to be here about 10:00 Eastern time. He was here just after 9:00 p.m. He was way ahead of time, because he was rushing through these inaugural balls.
BROWN: And are there other prominent or celebrity types? Are the Bush daughters making the rounds today or tonight?
HENRY: We have not seen the Bush daughters here. I can tell you, mostly, it's politicos, the governor, Governor Taft of Ohio, Senator Voinovich, Congressman Rob Portman, who helped deliver the state of Ohio. That's more of what you're seeing here.
There's also been a lot of music. Clearly, it's a very festive environment, but not really a lot of celebrities that we've seen tonight. We haven't seen the Bush twins out, to answer your question directly. It's been more some of the politicos hobnobbing. This is a chance for the president and vice president to directly thank a lot of those campaign volunteers that helped deliver the White House once again, Aaron.
BROWN: Well, thank you, Ed -- Ed Henry out there tonight.
Those are all fine people, the senator. But I'm not sure that I necessarily want to party with them all night long.
Having neither royalty nor established religion, this is not a country that's especially keen on pomp and circumstance or any public ritual, beyond going home for the holidays. We all do that, don't we, when we can? But we do, do this every four years, perhaps as a reminder of what we're missing or maybe to remind us of what we have.
So, for those of you who have just joined us, those of you who worked today, instead of watching TV, here is how the day played out in your capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Mr. President, and repeat after me.
BROWN (voice-over): It was the second time the president had taken the oath of office and the first time in months the nation was able to see a decidedly frail chief justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, the chief justice, suffering from thyroid cancer, speaking through a tracheotomy tube in his throat.
Preserve, protect and defend.
REHNQUIST: ... preserve, protect and defend...
BUSH: ... preserve, protect and defend...
REHNQUIST: ... the Constitution of the United States.
BUSH: ... the Constitution of the United States.
REHNQUIST: So help me God.
BUSH: So help me God. BROWN: There was the traditional salute of 21 guns. And shortly thereafter, the president spoke of freedom and liberty spreading across the globe. He never specifically mentioned Afghanistan, Iraq or terror.
BUSH: There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BUSH: We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
(APPLAUSE)
The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
(APPLAUSE)
The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations.
The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.
America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.
BROWN: There were no specifics, but details are not what inaugural addresses are about.
BUSH: I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes.
You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs.
Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character. To give every American a stake in the and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools and build an ownership society.
(APPLAUSE)
We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance, preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society by making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny. We will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and make our society more prosperous and just and equal. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth
(APPLAUSE)
And our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.
BROWN: After the speech, the parade. Thousands watched. There were knots of angry protesters along the way. The pushing and shoving were at times intense, and it was difficult to see the president behind the windows of his limousine.
But at the end, the last couple of blocks, he and the first lady took a walk. The final steps to the White House, the beginning of a second term.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It's a sign of changing times. I saw a picture today of FDR's inauguration, riding down the parade route in an open car. Of a different time.
Ahead on the program, history, yes. But what today's celebration says about the style of the Bush family over the next four years. Ann Gerhart joins us. And we'll take a look at some of the partying going on as well.
We'll be right back as our inauguration coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. When I look into your eyes, my dear...
BROWN: It's the Liberty Ball, one of many going on in Washington tonight. Lots of bands, lots of dancing, and I suspect a fair amount of drinking going on, too.
Ann Gerhart is with us. She writes for the style section of "The Washington Post." She's also the author of the "The Perfect Wife: The Life and Times of Laura Bush."
Good to see you.
ANN GERHART, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thanks for having me.
BROWN: You were out -- and this is work for you -- you were out -- you were out doing the parties tonight. Any interesting tales to tell?
GERHART: Well, I went to the Texas & Wyoming Ball, which, of course, was supposed to have 11,500 people in a huge cavernous room.
BROWN: Where was it?
GERHART: It was in the convention center, along with several other balls.
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: It was quite the scene. Lots of people wandering around this building, never knowing exactly where to go, in poofy skirts and tuxedos.
But the president came around 8:25. Everybody rushed to the stage. And one of the things I noticed that was really different from four years when I went to balls is this time everybody's got a digital camera.
And so you would see this sea of people holding their cameras up. And in each camera you could see a tiny little President Bush and a tiny little Laura Bush. And they were all taking these snapshots.
BROWN: And is it -- is there a kind of lockdown security feel to all these events?
GERHART: Yes, I actually ran into a number of people who had missed the president and couldn't get through security, had waited 40 minutes or an hour to get through the manometers...
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: ... and didn't get a chance to see him. But they were happy anyway. They were just happy to be there.
BROWN: Who are they?
GERHART: Well, they're all kinds of people. I mean, I had a hard time finding some Texans and Wyomingans (ph), or however we call people from Wyoming. A number of people from Connecticut, some New York Republicans who were happy to be among their own kind because they felt so battered living in a blue state as they did. A couple guys who were ranchers from Nebraska wearing big beaver hide hats that were custom made.
BROWN: Are they big-money people, or are they average folk? Or are they somewhere in between? Where -- what...
GERHART: They're somewhere in between. There were a number of people who had worked for the president, had been very active in campaigning and volunteering.
I met a man from Nebraska who was very proud to tell me that not a single county in Nebraska had gone for President Bush. There had just been two precincts, and he said, "We're going to get them next time."
BROWN: For John Kerry. GERHART: For John Kerry, I'm sorry, yes. So very red state. Very red state.
BROWN: How quickly we forget. The Bush daughters out there. You wrote about the Bush daughters today. They're quite different, the two women.
GERHART: Yes, they are. You know, Barbara is named, of course, for her grandmother, Barbara Bush.
BROWN: Barbara's the brunette.
GERHART: Yes. She's -- she's -- someone said to me, "I can't keep them straight. I just call them Blondie and Brownie."
Jenna is the blonde, and she's named for her mother's mother. But their personalities are switched, so that Jenna is most like her father and his mother. And...
BROWN: Have they changed? I mean, they've really -- they were, what, 19, I guess, when they...
GERHART: Yes.
BROWN: Eighteen or 19 when the president was elected first. That's a kind of -- that's not the easiest age.
GERHART: Right.
BROWN: I'm not sure 23 is. But 19 certainly isn't. Do you notice a change in them when you look at them, how they move?
GERHART: I do. You know, they had gone off to college. So Laura Bush was an empty nest mother for the first time, and she had moved into the White House, which was a big empty next to be in.
And I noticed at the swearing in, in 2001, they weren't quite sure when to stand up, when to stand up. And I remember President Clinton kind of pushing them forward and saying, "Get up there" with the chief justice. This time I think they know that drill and they seem fairly assured.
They've been out and about in town this week. I did not see them out tonight. And I didn't hear that they'd been to any balls. But Tuesday night they were out, and they've made their goings. And they seem to have now answered their father's call to community service for young people, which is something he's been pushing.
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: Barbara is going to work with AIDS children in Africa, and Jenna is now teaching here in D.C. She's an assistant teacher to Charter School.
BROWN: The -- and finally, the first lady, who we're seeing in the break. Probably the most popular political figure, if, in fact, the first lady is a political figure, in the country. Is she happy in her role, do you think?
You've written about her. You've talked to lots of people about here. Does -- is she looking forward to going back to Texas?
GERHART: I think she's always had -- she has that rare quality of being able to bloom where she's planted, if you'll pardon that old cliche.
BROWN: But it's a wonderful way to describe her, I think.
GERHART: So she's -- she's happy now. She says she wants another four years. I think she would have been happy to go back to Texas if this hadn't worked out the way they wanted it to. She's able to find a quiet place for herself wherever she is.
BROWN: She does have that nice sort of centered quality about her. I hope it's real. I mean, you'd like to believe it's real. That she is, in fact, that she can, in fact, find her place in almost any situation.
GERHART: You know, I think that Laura Bush is very sure of who she is. And everything she is perceived from that secure and self- assured place.
She was an only child who was doted on by her parents. And she grew up with a great deal of self-confidence. And I was noticing today when they got out and walked on the route, and I was thinking, gee, you know, think of first ladies who have done this and the horrible things that have befallen them. And there was no sign that she had any anxiety whatsoever.
She just smiled and she waved. And she seemed perfectly comfortable being on Pennsylvania Avenue.
BROWN: Nice to meet you finally. Thank you. Thanks for coming in.
GERHART: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Go out and do the rest of the parties if you want. Or go home to bed. Whichever.
GERHART: No, there's more parties for me. There's more work to be done.
BROWN: My goodness. What a job. Thank you. Ann Gerhart of "The Washington Post."
Ahead on the program, one for the ages. Perhaps the best inaugural address since Lincoln's.
We'll take a break first. Our coverage continues from Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: There's a great piece in "Slate" titled, "Ask not why inaugural addresses are so rotten." It was published yesterday, so the author couldn't comment on the speech today, which everyone seems to agree was a pretty fair piece of work. A strong speech, but whether it's one for the ages remains to be seen. Very few are.
The fact is, writing is not easy, nor is speaking, nor these days is sitting still for a lot of lofty talk. Times have changed. We've all changed.
Chances are, when you hear a politician with a Boston accent, you think more of Mayor Quimby from "The Simpsons" than President Kennedy. Some thoughts on that now from Jeff Greenfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses hope.
JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are not just my goals.
RICHARD M. NIXON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And riders on the earth together, let us go forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But always try, and always gaining (ph).
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): The world little notes nor long remembers what most presidents say at their inaugurals. Only a handful still echo.
Lincoln's second, pledging to bind up the wounds of the civil war. And FDR in 1933, rallying citizens by a great depression.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
GREENFIELD: And, of course, this one...
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We observed today not a victory of body, but a celebration of freedom.
GREENFIELD: On a wintry noon 44 years ago, an improbably young president, the first of his faith elected by an improbably narrow margin, stood on the east front of the Capitol. For the tens of millions who watched that day, the memories come from the stark black and white TV images. Images that capture a dramatic changing of the guard from the oldest president ever to the youngest ever elected.
KENNEDY: Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
THURSTON CLARKE, AUTHOR, "ASK NOT": People only had to look at their television sets and see that line illustrated by the people on the platform.
GREENFIELD: Thurston Clarke, author of "Ask Not," a book about Kennedy's inaugural.
CLARKE: There is Eisenhower. He looks small and shrunken into this big overcoat. And there was Kennedy.
Now, Kennedy had taken great care with his personal appearance. He was aware of the importance of looking good on television.
GREENFIELD: In the first weeks after the election, Kennedy was focused more on who would be serving with him than on what he would be saying.
TED SORENSEN, JFK'S CHIEF SPEECHWRITER: So we both had a lot on our plate. And it wasn't until around the holiday season that we began to talk about the inaugural.
GREENFIELD: Ted Sorensen was JFK's chief speechwriter and a key policy adviser. He sent out a telegram to well-known Democratic thinkers asking them for their ideas, then sat down for a conversation with Kennedy.
(on camera): And when you did, where did the conversation go?
SORENSEN: First of all, he wanted it to be short. He believed in brevity and asked me to find out how short it would have to be to be the shortest in the century.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): Sorensen scribbled down Kennedy's instructions, then went to work measuring the length of past inaugurals. When he finished a draft of his own, he pointedly noted how short his draft was.
But what about the substance of the speech? Sorensen says its intended audience was clear.
SORENSEN: Khrushchev made a speech, the leader of the Soviet Union, threatening the west with what he called wars of liberation. So we knew that had to be the focus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the one hand, it was holding out an olive branch to Khrushchev and the Russians.
KENNEDY: Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, to counterbalance that, he had to let the Soviets know that he wasn't going to be bullied.
KENNEDY: We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
GREENFIELD: There was also the question of authorship. When Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for his "Profiles in Courage" book, there were charges it had, in fact, been written by Sorensen. In the case of JFK's inaugural, there is convincing evidence that many, if not most, of its most memorable themes and phrases were authored by Kennedy himself, dictating many of them to his longtime secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, aboard the Caroline, his private plane.
KENNEDY: This must we pledge, and more.
GREENFIELD: Moreover, as Thurston Clarke points out, there were 36 changes in the speech that Kennedy made as he was delivering it. Listen to what he said as opposed to what was written and you'll see.
KENNEDY: Tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace. Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
GREENFIELD: The inaugural itself was memorable on many counts. The night before, Washington was hit by a blizzard that made travel to the balls almost impossible. Newsman Sander Vanocur covered the inaugural for NBC News.
SANDER VANOCUR: It was terrible, but the next day, as it were, the clouds parted. It was a brilliant day, cold, but there was nothing against television coverage because there was no snow.
GREENFIELD: And because Kennedy's speech was a sustained, unified piece, there were no obvious applause lines.
(on camera): I can't imagine you and the president sitting down and saying, "That's a great sound bite."
VANOCUR: No, we didn't write in sound bites in those days. Nor -- just to show you how much the world was changed -- did we write in applause lines.
I sat up there on the platform behind him, getting nervous because for the first, oh, I would say 25, 30 percent of the speech, there was no applause at all. And I thought maybe this is a flop.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): But by the time Kennedy came to the central message of the speech, the crowd was cheering.
KENNEDY: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
(APPLAUSE)
GREENFIELD: In fact, the speech was an instant hit, even for a prominent conservative columnist of the day, like "The New York Times" Arthur Crock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kennedy was seated next to him at dinner and said, "Well, what did you think of the speech?" And Crock said, "I think it was one of the greatest presidential speeches since Woodrow Wilson, if not the greatest."
GREENFIELD: There was one other notable event that day. When the Coast Guard contingent marched by, Kennedy noticed it was all white and pointed this out to Dick Goodwin, a young Kennedy aide.
RICHARD GOODWIN, FMR. KENNEDY AIDE: He says, "There wasn't a black face in there." He said, "So" -- he said, "I want you to get on that." Which was his command, which is do something about it.
GREENFIELD: By the time the next class was admitted, segregation among students and the faculty was over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: And, Aaron, one of the questions is, could such a speech be written today? And, if it was, would people receive it?
I think there's a real doubt about that in -- in large part, because we've heard this often that it will sound (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But, more important, we don't -- the country doesn't trust politicians the way it did 44 years ago. And that kind of high-level elegance to a country that's gone through so many decades of disillusionment just doesn't resonate, doesn't sound believable, I think.
BROWN: First of all, the reality that was 44 years ago is enough to shake you a little bit. How much do you think the fact that it was television, and that we who are now doing this work were of a certain age, a very impressionable age, changes the way we see the speech?
GREENFIELD: You know, I can understand that, but I think the reason why not is that the generation covering Kennedy, older people, pre-television...
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... who were listening to the speech as it was delivered thought it was a resounding success. This was a very well put together speech. And it was surprising people because he was 43 years old when he was inaugurated...
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... he was considered in the Senate somewhat callow, a playboy a little bit. The campaign did not strike observers and strike sounding (ph) great themes. And suddenly there was this young, new, barely elected president in this almost Roman style of, you know, like Cicero, an orator.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: Talking at a very high level to the country. Also, we live in a conversational age, a television age, when presidents tell us whether they wear boxers or briefs.
This is a heroic speech. And we don't tend to think our leaders can be heroes. Look, if we had known that -- if we had known then about Kennedy's private life, he might not gotten away with that speech.
BROWN: Just one other observation for a speech where they wrote no sound bite in, it had one of the all-time great sound bites.
GREENFIELD: Except that, as Thurston Clarke said, it's the master sentence. The whole speech is constructed to lead up to, "And so, my fellow Americans..."
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: It's just like Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, where that's the phrase we remember. The whole King speech leads up to "I have a dream." And the problem -- I'm a retired speechwriter -- is that today, old curmudgeon complaining, people sit there and they write focus group-tested one-liners, not sustained speeches, which is why you don't hear that kind of rhetoric much anymore.
BROWN: That's fun. Thank you.
GREENFIELD: All right.
BROWN: Jeff Greenfield, thank you.
Ahead, a closer look at the style and the substance of the words the president spoke today. A couple of presidential historians join us as well to talk about how we ought look at those words.
We'll take a break first as our special coverage of the inauguration of George W. Bush and a look at the road ahead continues from Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Traditionally, second inaugurals run more to a laundry list than the lyrical or the muscular, traditionally. But these are untraditional times. So today's speech breaks a pattern in a number of ways.
Here's a look at a portion of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve and have found it firm.
(APPLAUSE)
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation. The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.
(APPLAUSE)
America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty. Though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt.
Americans of all people should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery.
(APPLAUSE)
Liberty will come to those who love it. Today, American speaks anew to the peoples of the world. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty we will stand with you.
Today I also speak anew to my fellow citizens. From all of you I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet, because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.
And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts we have lit a fire as well, a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress. And one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.
A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause: in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives, and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.
All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile and evil is real and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The president today. With that as a talking point, we're joined here in Washington by reporter and historian, Haynes Johnson, and out of Seattle tonight, presidential scholar Thomas Cronin. We're glad to have you both with us.
Professor Cronin, words I've heard about the speech today, almost messianic, crusading. Do you agree with that?
THOMAS CRONIN, PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR, WHITMAN COLLEGE: Yes. It transcended Ronald Reagan's freedom fighter rhetoric. It transcended Wilsonian idealism, and it really was a remarkable liberationist kind of talk about a worldwide crusade or campaign to fight terrorism and to support lovers and fighters of freedom and liberty everywhere.
BROWN: Mr. Johnson, it really goes beyond terrorism, a word that in fact, he never used today that I recall. He talked about tyrants. He talked about governments that oppress their own people, its own people. So in that sense, he took the fight another step.
HAYNES JOHNSON, REPORTER AND HISTORIAN: Oh, yes. This is radical. I think this is a radical speech. In the sense that the president has laid out a marker now. If you believe what he says, and I do, that he means what he says, that we are now expanding freedom around the world at any price. More than Kennedy, more than Harry Truman in 1947 and the Truman Doctrine that laid open the Cold War, that we'll stop communism at any price.
He says that we're -- it is the policy of the United States now to expand and to freedom and liberty everywhere in the world. That's -- that's something we haven't heard before.
BROWN: Help me, both. Mr. Cronin, why don't you start? Tell me how it's different in that sense, than any American president standing up there, saying we stand, we Americans stand for democracy, and we stand for freedom wherever it flourishes. Because that's what the president said today.
CRONIN: That's a huge commitment, and I think he was very sincere, but the question is how serious is he? How much will we actually put resources and investments in this? There's no talk, as we wouldn't expect to be, about expanding the Peace Corps or more foreign aid or working with traditional allies. It was all about more platitude or high rhetoric, a fight for liberty and freedom around the world. In that sense, it was very unusual.
And there is one thing that's interesting here. What won him reelection was the fact that he was a wartime president. What won him reelection was he was very good in the war on terrorism. And so I think he chose to dwell on those issues, because the rest of the issues that his administration is caught up with -- Iraq, Social Security, judicial nominations, tax reform -- are issues that generally divide the nation.
So I think he took the high road in some ways about those issues that he believes that united his campaign and won his reelection.
BROWN: Can you imagine this speech being given, Haynes, four years ago?
JOHNSON: Oh, no. That's -- that's what's to me staggering. Really, if you look back four years ago. There he was, he was not going to build alliances around the world. He was refraining himself from all of that.
And now here's this man with this incredible strength of vision, and he's laying out the boldest presidential address in my lifetime, really. I think more than Kennedy, more than that at any price, because he's saying it's the policy of the United States. The implications are we would go into tyrants, bad guys, wherever they are, not just communists or even terrorists. It's whoever -- we don't like them because they're not liberal, democracy, whatever it may be. And that way we -- we will stop it. We -- I mean, it's the policy of the United States to end that in the world.
BROWN: And is that a combination of the changing time, 9/11, and the changing time and also a changed, more confident, somewhat more worldly, I think one might argue, president?
JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely. I was so struck -- I suppose you were, too -- looking at Bush today. He had that look of somebody -- just four years ago he didn't look sure of himself. He had a look in his eyes.
Today he was strong. The voice was clear, and he had that look. The jaw was out. He is the commander in chief of the world now. He is the president of the United States in all terms. And he means what he says. And therefore, I think we've got to take him seriously.
Now, how you implement it, what the implications are of them, that's a whole other question.
BROWN: Professor Cronin, I hear you wanting to jump in. Jump in.
CRONIN: It's a very different kind of talk than what his father would have given. Also, a very different talk from old line Republican isolationism. Very different from his debates with Al Gore in October of 2000, where he talked, really, very much against nation building.
Now he's very much involved in that. And it's a huge departure. And it will be fascinating to see whether he can marshal congressional support and the American public to put more funds into defense funds and -- and perhaps other commitments around the world.
The one worry, I think, that a lot of critics will have about this particular talk is excessive unilateralism and the degree to which, on the one hand, paradoxically, we support a strong president and a strong war on terrorism. We want to prevent 9/11. On the other hand, we worry very much about the coming back of the imperial precedent. We worry about unilateralism. We worry about doing things ourselves, rather than through the United Nations or with traditional allies.
So that's a major concern that was raised today.
BROWN: Well, I -- as I think we've all sort of said today, we've seen the outline.
JOHNSON: Yes.
BROWN: And now we're seeing what the implementation of the outline is, and the implementation is what it's all about in the end. JOHNSON: That's the key. If the president means what he says, and we have tyrants that we need to unseat or get rid of, that means military force. And then what do you do with who -- where do the troops come from? We've got Iraq. We've got Iran. We've got all these other nations. We're stretched thin with military forces, no money at home.
So it's -- he's taking on an enormous task. And it's bold and big.
BROWN: Good to have you both with us. Thank you.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
BROWN: It was an interesting speech and an interesting analysis. Thank you.
When we come back, a woman who started life where democracy began now has a close up view of democracy here. She is in Washington tonight, and we'll have her story after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Most Americans watch inaugurations unfold on television. A sliver of others, and not just journalists, get a seat on the sidelines. It's the sidelines of history.
Inaugurations are a time to reward the party faithful and Cathy Televaris is among them. She came to this country from Greece as a child. She lives in Orange County, California, and until recently was executive director of the Republican Party there. Today, she's in the capital in the thick of the crowd to see the culmination of her hard work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHY TELEVARIS, BUSH SUPPORTER: Coming to inauguration day is like scoring the additional point after a touchdown.
I was a delegate for the Republican National Convention in New York City. And in between then and now, all I've been doing is working hard for the president. And just going to inauguration day is going to be great full circle to complete.
We're in section 16 here, in the red section of the house. And I'm really lucky to have seats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States, George Walker Bush.
TELEVARIS: I knew he was going to wear a blue tie.
BUSH: I, George Walker Bush...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Do solemnly swear... BUSH: ... do solemnly swear...
TELEVARIS: Since I wasn't born in this country, I get all teary- eyed and I'm just so lucky to live here.
I'd love to see him take the oath and be there with his wife and his family.
BUSH: Fellow citizens...
TELEVARIS: We're the fellow citizens.
BUSH: ... survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
(MUSIC)
TELEVARIS: We just finished the inauguration, swearing in, and we're on our way to the parade with 250,000 of my closest friends.
I love it when the military comes by. Look at that picture.
Inauguration Day is a special day in America, and it's something about being in the middle of history. You want to experience it, something you're always going to say that you did. You can tell your kids and your grandkids, "I was there."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: She was there.
When we come back, "Morning Papers," going back 100 years, how inaugurations made the front page.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The rooster's over the Capital tonight. Time to check "Morning Papers" from around the country and around the world, and as it turns out, around the centuries or so, thanks to our friends at the Newseum. That's Newseum, here in Washington. It's a very cool place if you like journalism. They sent us over some newspapers from inaugurations past, and I do mean past.
Here's "Harper's Weekly," "journal of civilization," which by the way, may be the best slogan ever. CNN, the network of civilization. That's President Lincoln, a sketch of President Lincoln taking the oath on his second inauguration. This was printed on Saturday, March 18, 1865. Get a good shot of that.
I love this. This is the "New York Journal," OK? The now defunct "New York Journal." Printed on Friday, March 5, 1897, 14 pages. How President McKinley was inaugurated. But the big story in the paper -- I don't know if you can see this or not -- "illustrated by pictures made on the spot and brought to New York on a special train that broke the record." That's actually a train that the paper commissioned to get actual photographs of the event of the McKinley inauguration in the "New York Journal."
The "New York Tribune," printed on Sunday, March 5, 1905, "Roosevelt and Fairbanks Inaugurated." You remember Charles W. Fairbanks, of course. He was the vice president for Teddy Roosevelt. We all remember Vice President Fairbanks, don't we? Perhaps we don't.
Anyway, up on top, it says -- I'll just read it to you -- in President Roosevelt's handwriting, Theodore Roosevelt, "All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong anyone, and do not let him be wronged." Theodore Roosevelt in 1905.
The "Red Wing Daily Republican," that's in Red Wing, Minnesota. I actually know where that is. "William Howard Taft Inaugurated President of the United States." And then this is an editorial on the front page there, big picture of President Taft, who is a big guy. And they're convinced, the "Red Wing Daily Republican," that President Taft was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I'd like somebody to write that way about me sometime.
Now this one I just found fascinating. This is the "San Francisco Chronicle." On January 21, 1949, the day Truman is inaugurated he's not even in the big headline. The big headline is, "Chiang Quits." That's Chiang Kai-Shek leaves China. So the Chinese got the headline.
And then, oh, yes, "Truman Inaugurated" down here.
That's a look at "Morning Papers." We should mention the weather in Chicago tomorrow: "enough already." I'm with you on that. Enough of this cold.
We'll take a break and wrap it up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, we wonder what the road ahead will be like. Rituals are reminders of what we share and what bears repeating, so we leave you tonight with a collection of moments, the 20th of January, 2005.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, George Walker Bush.
(MUSIC)
BUSH: I, George Walker Bush...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Do solemnly swear...
BUSH: ... do solemnly swear...
REHNQUIST: ... that I will faithfully execute...
BUSH: ... that I will faithfully execute...
REHNQUIST: ... the office of president of the United States...
BUSH: ... the office of president of the United States...
REHNQUIST: ... and will, to the best of my ability...
BUSH: ... and will, to the best of my ability...
REHNQUIST: ... preserve, protect and defend...
BUSH: ... preserve, protect and defend...
REHNQUIST: ... the Constitution of the United States...
BUSH: ... the Constitution of the United States...
REHNQUIST: ... so help me God.
BUSH: ... so help me God.
(MUSIC)
BUSH: On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution and recall the deep commitments that unite our country.
When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still.
America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world and to all the inhabitants thereof.
Renewed in our strength, tested but not weary, we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.
(MUSIC)
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: The University of Texas Band.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Washington tonight. It's hard, as we said at the beginning, sometimes to separate the politics of our time with the celebration that should be an American inauguration, any inauguration. It was beautiful in Washington today. You could feel the democracy, if you will.
You look at the Capital. The Capital looked beautiful today. It all felt good to be here.
Well, tomorrow will begin the fights over policy once again, but on this day, at least, it was reason to celebrate, and we're glad that you joined us throughout the day for the celebration the inauguration was.
See you tomorrow. Good night for all of us from Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 20, 2005 - 22:00 Â ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
A day like today is not simply a celebration of a political victory. Even in these times it should also be a celebration of the continuity of our government. We should not lose sight of that celebration as we go along in our coverage tonight. Much of it, as you would expect, focuses on the words the president spoke, what he said, what they might mean for you and him and history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Preserve, protect and defend...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST: The Constitution of the United States.
BUSH: ...the Constitution of the United States.
BROWN (voice-over): Simple words meet a complicated world on a cold day with the country at war.
BUSH: The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
BROWN: Lofty words meet a risky world. How will they translate into dollars, diplomacy and American lives?
Angry words herald a divided world. Can the wounds be healed abroad and at home? Do Americans think the president can heal them?
BRENITA JACKSON-BROWN, DIRECTOR, GENESIS SHELTER: I think our greatest challenge is our country finding common ground.
BROWN: And, in the end, a look at how it was in the beginning and how the picture has changed since then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN Special Report, George W. Bush, the Road Ahead.
BROWN: On this Thursday night, a chilly night in Washington, all through the evening we'll check in on the kind of nightlife the capital sees but once every four years.
But we begin tonight with where the day began, as it has 55 times before in our country's history. John King, our Senior White House Correspondent, starts us off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Left hand on the family Bible, second inaugural address shaped by the defining day of the first term, September 11th a day of fire the president called it.
BUSH: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
KING: The self-described war president said his second term mission will be using American power and influence to end tyranny and promote democracy.
BUSH: It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security and the calling of our time.
BUSH: No specific mention of Iraq where critics suggest Mr. Bush's zeal for promoting democracy is failing its first big test. But without singling out any one government, Mr. Bush promised an aggressive second term approach that could, if he follows through, strain relations with governments with whom critics say Mr. Bush has been far too cozy, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia among them.
BUSH: The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know to serve your people you must learn to trust them.
KING: Here at home, Mr. Bush said a freedom agenda would give individuals more power and government less and promised as he pushed controversial ideas, like revamping Social Security, to reach across party lines.
BUSH: We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes and I will strive in good faith to heal them.
KING: Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the oath but his frail condition, amid a battle with cancer, was a reminder a Supreme Court nomination could soon test any hope of bipartisanship.
And, even as they joined the ceremonies, Democrats fired a symbolic early warning shot blocking confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state until next week.
Protests along the parade route were another reminder that Mr. Bush begins his second term as he did the first a polarizing figure. The security was unprecedented and only at the very end did the president and first lady leave the limousine to enjoy a bit of the parade route on foot before joining family members, the vice president and others in the VIP reviewing stand to savor the moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And while there was no mention of Iraq, no direct mention anyway in the inaugural address, the president was clearly mindful the wavering support for the war here at home and the political cloud that casts over the beginning of his new second term the president spoke of accepting obligations that are "difficult to fulfill" but he also said they would be dishonorable to abandon.
And, Aaron, the president on his way back to the White House due here momentarily, well ahead of schedule. He visited all nine balls with the first lady very quickly.
BROWN: Well, he's a guy who likes to get to bed early even on a big night. Legislatively, what's the first big deal the president will send to the Hill?
KING: Well, assuming the chief justice does not retire in the short term, the first big fight will most likely be over an issue that's perhaps not very sexy but liability reform, the president trying to reform medical liability laws. They worked on that some in the last term, so Senate Republicans in the Bush administration ready to go forward with that one right out of the box.
Social Security will follow but medical liability reform doesn't have a lot of sexiness to it but it does divide the parties. They will fight over that and quite fiercely. Already we see partisanship.
BROWN: John, thank you, John King our Senior White House Correspondent with us tonight throughout the night.
Jeff Greenfield our Senior Analyst who has put in a full day's work already, so we appreciate your being here. The speech today I wrote down as I was watching it audacious, not in the pejorative in the sense that here was a guy that four years ago talked about not wanting to be involved in nation building and today talked about rebuilding the world.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: This, it was almost a startling inaugural speech, at least the first half. The second half, when he turned toward home, I thought it was essentially modular. Almost any president or conservative president could have given it.
But to say as clearly and as tough mindedly as he did to set down a policy in an inaugural address is by itself unusual and to say, look, here's what we figured out after 9/11. The extension of freedom, of liberty is not an idealistic notion, like Liberty Enlightening the World, which is the name of the Statue of Liberty, it is essential to our survival.
Therefore, it's out policy to do this, to end tyranny anywhere and tyrannical governments are on notice that we will use our considerable influence to make this happen. We will encourage the dissidents in your country recognizing them as the future leaders. We believe a just God, he said to outlaw regimes, will not let you survive in this form.
I think the most interesting thing is yet to be found, which is how is this speech going to be played in all the different corners, in our allies that are repressive, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, you might count Russia there?
How is it going to play in Europe, which always believes that the United States' professions of democracy is old power politics gussied up in moralistic terms. Or, are they going to say, you know what, he's right about this? We got to help him on this?
BROWN: Well, you know, in a kind of broad sense who can be against freedom? I mean we all...
GREENFIELD: Right.
BROWN: But what means tyranny is where it gets -- is the Saudi royal family which the Saudi government earlier this week or late last week, I forget, sentenced seven dissidents and their dissent was fairly minor to 100 public lashings and years in prison. Is that what the president referred to today?
GREENFIELD: Well, he did make a distinction. I want to be clear about this because I think you got to read something like this more closely than normal inaugurals because it's so, it's so potentially potent.
He distinguishes between rulers of outlaw regimes, which he basically says your day is done and then he talks about the leaders of governments with long habits of control and they need to know we'll walk with you as you learn to be better. So, he seemed to be making a distinction between governments that...
BROWN: For North Korea it's a slam dunk.
GREENFIELD: Yes. Yes, they're out of there and I think when he talks about reformers and Democrats in jail who are the next leaders, boy I think they're going to hear that in Tehran directly at them.
So, I think there are distinctions but, to use a cliche which I don't normally like to do, the devil is in the details. How do you do this? How do you tell a repressive government that is an ally, like Pakistan, you know they're supposedly helping us fight the war on terror but they don't have elections and they repress their dissidents, what do you do?
BROWN: Or, how do you deal with a country like China who we have this most complicated economic relationship with that is essential to us or seems essential to us and to them and is surely a repressive regime in any sense of the term?
GREENFIELD: You know, I think the model that I think a lot of -- that this administration may be thinking of is what Reagan did in Eastern Europe and he never invaded Eastern Europe, never sent troops there. He encouraged the dissidents. He told them we were listening to them. He believed, and there was some success here, that in places like Poland and Czechoslovakia those corrupt regimes would wither from within. The question is can you actually perceive that happening in a place like Iran, Pakistan, or even a place like Saudi Arabia? I think -- that's why I think the speech was, in my view, so startling. It is such an expansive goal the end of tyranny everywhere. It is such a goal that Americans embrace in principal because, you know, Ronald Reagan was right about this I think. Free nations don't make war on each other. Democracies don't foster terrorism but then the question is how to you get from point A to B?
And, one last thing this is why Iraq, I think, is now, if it was a big deal before this speech, it's going to be an even bigger contentious deal after because Bush's critics are going to say, "Fine, we know your theory. The first place you tried this is in Iraq. How's that working out?"
BROWN: Stick around with us through the evening. We've got conversations to go. Thank you.
GREENFIELD: You bet.
BROWN: Jeff Greenfield with us.
In a moment how Americans around the country see the president and his plans for the nation. We'll take a break first.
From Washington at the end of Inauguration Day our special coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The president made some news a few days ago when he said his accountability moment had come and gone on Election Day. Strictly speaking, barring an impeachable offense, he's right.
But people, we think, take the measure of the president more than once every four years and frankly pollsters take the measure of the public opinion about twice an hour, so we've done it again, a snapshot, if you will.
CNN's Bill Schneider joins us tonight to talk about what the numbers say about the day and the road ahead, good evening sir.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening. And what they say is that people were receptive to the president's speech and, in fact, they thought that the ceremonies were appropriate.
The issue, of course, was one that the president raised in his remarks. He said that essentially the best way to protect U.S. security is to promote democracy in other countries. I find that very interesting. I find it arguable.
Let's see what people think. Do they think spreading democracy is essential to the security of the United States? And, on that point, he got them by about two to one. They say, yes, it is essential to our security to spread democracy.
BROWN: In broad ways as we were saying with Jeff. I mean it's hard to argue, although there are some interesting arguments... SCHNEIDER: I could make an argument.
BROWN: There are some interesting arguments against the notion of freedom. The question then becomes this is a grand goal, a huge vision. Does the public believe it is a doable proposition?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, there's the rub. Do people think that the United States really can export democracy? Can we achieve that goal? We asked them, "Do you think the United States can achieve the goal of ending tyranny in the world" the way the president said in his speech when he said "It is the policy of this country to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny," so there, big goal, achievable?
Here's the answer, not really. By about the same margin, 60 percent said no they don't think the United States can do that, 35 percent said yes. And, as for the goal itself, I think a lot of people might say would we be better off with Saudi Arabia or Pakistan as democracies? Would they be more friendly to the United States, unclear.
BROWN: A different question. Let me move you to one more, more of an internal domestic political question. There was a wonderful headline. I'm not sure the headline writer intended it quite that way but it said, "Public divided on whether president is uniter or divider."
SCHNEIDER: Exactly.
BROWN: Does the public as we poll them believe the president can bring a pretty fractured political country together?
SCHNEIDER: Well, that's what we asked them. "Do you think the president can achieve the goal that he set out today to become a uniter, a healer, something he said he would strive to do? Will he heal the political divisions of this country in the next four years" and the answer is a majority of those polled today said no, 53 percent said no, 42 yes.
You know it's interesting that Americans did see President Bush as a uniter in 2000 when he first ran. Remember he wasn't part of the Newt Gingrich crowd in Washington. He had nothing to do with impeachment. He had worked with Democrats in Texas. When he was elected they saw him as a uniter.
But now they're not so sure and when we asked them just last week, that poll you just talked about, "Do you think President Bush is more a uniter or a divider" people were split. They were divided over whether he was a divider of the country.
BROWN: There's a lot of water that's gone over the dam in the last four years. It's been a difficult time and I think people have good and bad I suppose, a different measure of the man than they had four years ago. SCHNEIDER: Yes, absolutely. For one year he did unite the country but I'm not sure he did it, 9/11 did it. But it was remarkable for one year after 9/11, Americans were united and they were behind the president and his policy in Afghanistan in that war.
But once he rolled out the Iraq policy, starting in September, 2002, one year after 9/11, everything fell apart and all these old divisions that go all the way back to Vietnam came out again and now the country is more bitterly divided than it was even after Clinton.
BROWN: It's good to see you on this inauguration night. Thank you, sir, Bill Schneider with us.
Behind the numbers in every poll, of course, are actual human beings, each one with a story, so we spent some time today listening to Americans starting in New York and working our way west.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): At a firehouse across the street from Ground Zero, a company that lost six men on 9/11, the television was on and the battalion chief said if he could he would urge the president to do just one thing.
GENE KELLY, FDNY BATTALION CHIEF: I just wish he would take care of the war, just finish it off, just let's not do any more holding activities. Let's just get the war finished. Let's get our troops back again. Let's get the country online over there.
BROWN: Up town a bit at Aster (ph) Place Haircutters, customers didn't pull any punches about the state of their country as they see it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans think that everyone wants to live here and everyone wants to be like Americans and that's really not the case. A lot of people, you know, they don't really mind America but they really dislike the way America kind of shoves itself down their throat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I work for a major brokerage firm and I'm not as concerned about my job as I was four years ago but like many people I bought a house two years ago. I'm concerned about keeping my job.
BROWN: In Miami, senior citizens reflected on a blend of optimism and pragmatism about where the country finds itself today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I wasn't for George Bush but now he's our president. I hope he'll do the right thing. I'll support what he does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm optimistic because we got tax breaks. We got -- it seems that I think we're going in the right direction.
BROWN: At a center for homeless families in Atlanta other concerns. JACKSON-BROWN: I think our country's greatest challenge right now is our divide as you saw in the election. There was some very obvious divides. There's still a very strong racial divide. There's a strong between the haves and the have nots.
BROWN: Out west in Montana, passions and issues are framed against a breathtaking backdrop. Tracy Brewer (ph) works on a dude ranch and worries about the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it don't pick up, then we don't have -- my family won't have food. We won't have the necessity things that it takes to live.
BROWN: For Brewer, 9/11 and its aftermath are part of the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they have the terrorist alerts on the high end of things or even the medium end people do not want to travel.
BROWN: In downtown Bozeman we caught up with some self-described community curmudgeons.
NICK DAVIS, LAWYER: No one likes to see our boys getting killed. I got children too and I don't want them to get killed in Iraq. But, on the other hand, we have a phenomenal country that's doing a great thing and I applaud it.
JANICE WHETSTONE, ATTORNEY: On the international level I'm obviously concerned about the war and I don't believe we have an exit strategy and I'm concerned that no one else in Washington seems to be able to communicate what that strategy is.
GREG MORGAN, ATTORNEY: I'm afraid that we are destroying the Constitution, the protection of the individual and the privacy and that's bothering me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't as pessimistic four years ago because we weren't in war and we were reducing our national debt.
BROWN: And at Montana State University the future feels bright to some students there.
ANNIE SPRINGER, STUDENT: I come from a military background. I'm going into the Air Force as soon as I graduate and so coming from a military standpoint I think that President Bush is doing a great job with our military and I believe that we're taking all the correct precautions and procedures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree the biggest concern with the future is definitely the war on terrorism. Like I said earlier, with the post September 11th that is the biggest threat to Americans on the homeland and abroad.
BROWN: Farther west in Pasadena, California this morning the inauguration went hand-in-hand with some early morning workouts and musing about the nation is facing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the greatest challenge is how do we provide for people that are baby boomers like me that are going to be retiring and expecting to be supplemented by Social Security.
AMY PRESSMAN, BAKER: I've never been happy about Bush because I don't -- just in terms of war I'm against war. The only good thing I think that ever comes out of war is the end of it.
BROWN: And, in a diner in Los Angeles, the concerns mirrored many of the others we heard expressed across America on this inauguration day.
LINDA NAPORI, HOMEMAKER: I think the country's biggest challenge today is just trying to find our place in the world. I think there's just so much negative feeling toward the United States locally that I just hope we can remain or become again a country that's respected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The voices of Americans on this day a president was inaugurated.
Coming up on this special two-hour edition, putting their words into action a look at policy choices and political realities.
Our special coverage continues in a moment. You're watching the Liberty Ball, one of many going on in Washington today. The president has made the rounds of most of them and is back at the White House tonight but the dancing goes on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The White House tonight, the president back inside beginning officially now his second term. In some respects the clock ticking. He's a lame duck already.
Four more years, one could argue, are exactly that, four more years, 1,460 days. But for second term presidents, the math and the reality are a bit more complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): This may be the last easy day the president has in his second term. From here on out he will be pressed from the right to deliver on promises made and pressed by history to deliver a legacy, conservatives first.
EDWIN FUELNER, PRESIDENT, THE HERITAGE SOCIETY: I'd say most conservatives that would be the biggest area of disappointment with the administration in the first term is the level of government spending, the fact that spending went up 25 percent in just three years. That really does concern conservatives.
BROWN: To conservatives, the cost of the war is one thing. It is the billions the president pushed for on drugs for seniors they still struggle with.
FUELNER: And he had great principles that he set out but, boy, by the time it came through our people were very upset with the final version.
BROWN: Social conservatives are already upset that the president seems to have cooled to the idea of pushing hard for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. They want that. They want tighter restrictions on abortions. They want conservative judges and they are likely to get much but not all of what they want but it will not come without a fight and it will come with a backdrop.
TOM OLIPHANT, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": The variable is not who had the best sound byte last night. It's not who bought off which pressure group with what cute little amendment yesterday. It's what's the situation on the ground in two very basic senses, how is the war going in Iraq and is the economy continuing to grow at a pace people consider healthy?
BROWN: Will Iraq stabilize? Will Americans start coming home? But it isn't just Iraq that will challenge the president abroad.
PATRICK CLAWSON, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: I'm worried that Iran's leaders seem to be over confident to the point of being cocky. If Iran were to miscalculate and think that it could develop nuclear weapons without there being an international reaction, we could be in the midst of a serious crisis quite quickly.
BROWN: If the first term was largely defined by 9/11 and the wars that followed, the early fights of the second term are likely to be major battles over important domestic programs and here not even conservatives agree on what the right course is.
FUELNER: Because this president campaigned so assertively on the domestic policy agenda in terms of Social Security, in terms of bringing federal spending under some kind of control, in terms of tax reform that he is going to try to push that.
Now that's not typical for a second term where typically it's easier for an incumbent to go out and be president and be a world statesman and be remembered as that. But this president seems to really want to keep domestic policy to the front as much as he can.
BROWN: Tonight, the president can celebrate. Tomorrow the clock starts ticking. In a year his congressional allies will be more worried about their own reelection than his legacy. Second terms are no shorter than the first in reality but practically and politically the president is already a lame duck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We're joined now by Nina Easton of "The Boston Globe," John Harwood of "The Wall Street Journal," old friends of the program. They were with us throughout the campaign and the election that brought us to this moment, good to see you both.
Nina, a quick take just first on the speech today and then we'll move beyond.
NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Well, the speech today was a very clear Bush doctrine, manifest destiny, very clear. I think he used liberty, he used the word liberty 15 times, used the word freedom 29 times. This is a president who was saying very clearly not only is freedom something that's an ideal and something we should strive for in the world but something that actually affects America's survival. And he was laying down the gauntlet. I thought it was a very strong speech, if you agree with Bush. He laid it out. If you disagree with him, the lines were drawn in that speech today.
BROWN: The folks at the editorial page of your paper, "The Wall Street Journal," must have loved the speech today.
HARWOOD: Well, I'm sure they did, but a lot of people were surprised about it, Aaron.
We had an interview with George W. Bush a week ago and he said he was going to sound these themes of liberty and advancing freedom, but I don't think anybody quite expected a vision as expansive as the one he laid out today, some elasticity in how exactly he implements this vision.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: That's the point. It's like an outline in a sense. And we haven't gotten to the A and the subnumbers yet. How do you actually implement this? How do we, as a nation -- because, as we said a couple of times, who can be against human freedom, for goodness sakes? But it's complicated stuff to actually export it.
HARWOOD: Well, what does it exactly mean in practice? He said this isn't a matter primarily as a force of arms, but he didn't say it wasn't a force of arms. Then, in another portion of the speech, he said we're going to clarify what regimes stand for and who is advancing liberty and who is repressing it.
So, is it rhetorical or is it something more? Is it really the application of American force in a determined way? He is going to translate that over the next few months. But it's potential extremely consequential for the country.
EASTON: And I would say that the test cases in this of course are Iran and North Korea. Iran is a nuclear power. Both sides of the aisle agree that this is a danger. It's a nuclear threat.
Both sides of the aisle agree that North Korea is a threat. But how do you deal with those countries? And, as John said, he did not say that military force is necessarily the answer, but there's no doubt from this speech that he is going to take aggressive, at least diplomatic, action in these areas.
HARWOOD: One thing he has got to keep in mind is there's rising support right now for bringing American troops home from Iraq.
BROWN: Just one more point on this. I really do want to move on. Yes, North Korea and Iran are obvious, center of the bullseye. But the Egyptian government is no walk in the park where human freedom is concerned. The Saudis are no walk in the park where human freedom is concerned.
There's a lot of countries we -- the Chinese, for goodness sake. There's a lot of countries that we do business With -- and, in fact, one of the grievances, as you know, in the Middle East, is that we have propped up governments that repress because it's in our interests, we have argued, that repress their own people. How does he deal with those?
HARWOOD: I think it's really tough.
Are the conversations between the United States and China going to be about trade, textiles, the imports that are coming in and hurting American manufacturers? It's a huge part of the world economy. Or is it going to be about human rights issues? And he is going to have to decide on how that gets translated and it matters of lot.
BROWN: All right, we'll move on to domestic stuff.
I was struck this week that, on the week the president is inaugurated, one of the most powerful members of Congress where tax and fiscal policy is concerned, came out and I think he described the president's Social Security idea as a dead horse. This is a Republican. A second prominent Republican basically said, yes, I agree with that. So, the president is talking about this massive change in Social Security. And his own party is not exactly eager to jump on board, or at least important people in his own party.
HARWOOD: And, Aaron, if you talk to some Republicans around town, they will say he led off with ending tyranny around the world and saved the tough stuff for the end of the speech, changing Social Security, expanding freedom at home.
In our "Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll this week, a third of Republicans that said changing Social Security to invest private accounts in the stock market is a bad idea. This is a president who got more than 90 percent of the votes of Republicans. He has got to have a united party to move forward. That's critical to the way he governs.
BROWN: And where, if anywhere, are the Democrats in all of this?
EASTON: Democrats are lost. I think the Democrats are extremely good at being an opposition party at this point, but right now what's going on is this race for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
And there's very much a struggle right now over visions for the Democratic Party and how to do things like make inroads in the South, which you need to do if you want to recapture the Oval Office. But going back to this question, not only are economic conservatives restive. Social conservatives are. They're extremely angry with George Bush earlier this week for making the comment that he is not going to push for an amendment to ban gay marriage, an amendment to the Constitution.
This is something that conservatives feel like they were -- social conservatives feel like they were owed in this election and...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: But, look, they're going to get the judges they want.
EASTON: They are going to hold his feet to the fire on that. And I don't know if they're going to get the judges they want.
They were passing out leaflets today, one of the groups, asserting that Republican Supreme Court justices cannot be relied upon on issues like abortion. And if you look at the numbers, that isn't always -- if you look at some of the nominees from past Republican presidents, they can't rely on them all the time. So, definitely, they're going to look for -- we don't want another David Souter, for example.
BROWN: Yes.
EASTON: They're going to look to this president and really try to hold his feet to the fire on this issue.
HARWOOD: Aaron, a majority of Republicans in our poll said they would prefer the president would concentrate on moral and family issues, rather than the economy. So, he has got to decide where all this political capital gets spent. He has got a lot of places to spend it.
BROWN: It's good to see you.
One of the great things about the Supreme Court, I have always thought, is you never know what your David Souters of the world are going to turn out to be or your Earl Warrens turn out to be. You think they're one thing and either over time or for whatever reason, they become something else.
Nice to see you guys.
EASTON: That's right. It's nice to see you.
BROWN: Thank you and John.
Up next, for a town more concerned with ways and means than fun and games, tonight is a departure. We'll go to the party for the party after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Dwight Eisenhower once said things are more like they are now than they have ever been before. Then millions of English teachers threw down their chalk and took up basket weaving. For years, no one could figure out what the president was talking about.
Here is a thought. Maybe he was talking about Inauguration Day. Just a thought.
Here is CNN's Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they more lavish than they used to be? Oh, yes. Thomas Jefferson in 1801 walked from Conrad and McMunn's boarding house to the Capitol, took the oath of office, and then, with some friends, walked to the White House. A parade? Maybe.
But James Madison, his successor, had the first official parade. You can bet, by the way, that there was more security around the Jefferson Memorial this week than there was around Jefferson himself back then.
Warren Harding revived inaugural balls. Woodrow Wilson had suspended them. And when Congress wouldn't foot the bill, Harding raised private money to pay for them, a tradition which continues. This president is having nine. Bill Clinton had 14 and played the saxophone at some of them.
Does wartime matter? At Abraham Lincoln's second, the Civil War was winding down. And people were so happy, one story goes, that women kept coming up to reviewing stand to kiss the president. Mrs. Lincoln had that stopped. John Wilkes Booth was at the Capitol and at the reviewing stand. He was a very popular actor. Could John Travolta, say, get in without a credential today?
Franklin Roosevelt's fourth inaugural, as World War II was nearing its end, was held at the White House and was short, a six- minute speech and a 15-minute ceremony. But that was probably more because Roosevelt was ill than for security reasons.
Security comes and goes. Andrew Jackson opened the White House to the crowd. They got drunk and trashed the place. The Jacksons finally got their house back by putting tubs of whiskey punch on the lawn to lure the crowd outside.
Lyndon Johnson road from the Capitol to the White House in a closed car. His predecessor, John Kennedy, had been killed riding in an open one. But a few years later, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter walked the route.
And, of course, inaugurals and the speeches presidents give at them matter more than they used to. When Jefferson spoke, only a few people could hear him. Word of James Polk's swearing-in was telegraphed around the country. Theodore Roosevelt was the first to be filmed, Herbert Hoover the first to be filmed with sound.
Calvin Coolidge's speech was broadcast on radio, Harry Truman's in 1949 broadcast to on TV to maybe 10 million people. When George W. Bush spoke today, his voice and picture traveled all around the world.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And a bit later in the program, Jeff Greenfield returns with a look at perhaps the best remembered inaugural address of moderate times, some would say the inaugural that ushered in modern times, the last one that sounded like the kind of speech Shakespeare might have written. Ask not what the program can do for Greenfield. Ask what Greenfield can do for the program. That's later in our special coverage.
Also ahead, we'll go to the parties when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: No matter what it was that brought you here to Washington today, whether it was to celebrate or to protest, the one thing you notice is the town has been locked down tight. The unprecedented security continues at the Capitol. Fair to say the first inauguration of the post-9/11 era has been an exercise in extreme and extraordinary caution.
Here is CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If anything goes wrong, this high-tech mobile command center would get as close to the incident as possible and serve as the operational center for the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fox 3, this is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) relay to Whiskey 1.
ARENA: CNN was allowed an exclusive look, but the agents inside did not want their faces shown for security reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here, these are the radio operators for the tactical operation center. They'll be talking to the units we have in the field.
ARENA: Armed with satellite feeds from key locations and an ability to communicate in real time with every law-enforcement agency in Washington, it sits at the ready outside the FBI's Washington field office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a large group been trying to make an unlawful pass through the checkpoint.
ARENA: Inside that building at the main command center, agents are monitoring protesters, watching for trouble along the parade route and running down any and all leads.
MIKE ROLINCE, FBI COMMAND CENTER DIRECTOR: We have the capability to take in information literally from around the world, whether it's FBI, legal attaches posted overseas, CIA officers, Department of Defense entities, so any information that we believe would be relevant to the inauguration and to our coverage of the inauguration and follow-on investigation.
ARENA: The FBI points out it is playing a support role to the lead agency, the Secret Service. For the first time, FBI agents are at pedestrian checkpoints. They're also on the streets surveilling. But the rest of its force remains in the wings.
JIM RICE, NATIONAL CAPITAL RESPONSE SQUAD: From joint hazmat teams to joint bomb squads to tactical teams on the parade route.
ARENA: Jim Rice commands all those units and says there are as many as 1,400 FBI agents and support staff ready to go at a moment's notice. He says, so far, it's just another day in the nation's capital.
RICE: We've had to deploy our HAZMAT and our EOD personnel and some of the intelligence personnel throughout the day, as we get suspicious package calls and reports of containers of unknown liquids and things like that on the parade route. All have been cleared without incident.
ARENA: The command center will remain in operation 24/7, until the official celebrations are safely concluded.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Across Washington tonight, parties are going on. Tens of thousands of people have come in to celebrate. Before we're done, we'll take you to them, talk about the style of the Bushes, how it has changed over time. Much to do in a special two-hour edition, as CNN wraps up its election coverage.
We'll take a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, the road ahead starts after the party.
Washington isn't exactly known for its night life, but every four years, the city does go to town. Across the city tonight, the inaugural balls are under way. The lines are long in many places, celebrating expected to go on for some time.
CNN's Ed Henry joins us now from the Patriot Ball.
Ed, good evening.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.
That's right. Washington is not known for glitz and glamour. But that changes once every four years. This is almost the capital city's version of the Oscars, where everyone is dressed to the nines. They're partying. You can hear the music pounding behind me, some 50,000 people celebrating the second inauguration of George W. Bush at balls all around Washington. There is, though, and there has been throughout the night, a more solemn tone, despite that loud music. That's because people know the nation is at war. President Bush noted that at all of his remarks at the various balls.
Now, even though the president did not mention Iraq directly during his inaugural address, he did refer to the war earlier in some remarks at the Salute to Heroes Ball across town. He said that millions in Iraq will be voting in just over a week from now. He said that the transition to democracy is starting to work. It will not be easy, but he said, in years ahead, America will be able to look back with pride that it did its duty in trying to bring democracy to Iraq.
Then the president came here to the Patriot Ball, which is to celebrate the state of Ohio. And he reiterated the basic theme of his inaugural address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm going to work as hard as I can to spread freedom around the world, so our children and our grandchildren can grow up in peace.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The president then asked the first lady to join him in a dance. The president then asked the first lady to join him for an inaugural dance, and the crowd went wild.
The people of Ohio here obviously behind me are fired up, because they know that it was this state of Ohio that helped deliver the election for George W. Bush. They're very fired up about that. No Republican has ever been elected president without first winning the state of Ohio. Vice President Cheney was here before President Bush. And he said obviously he would not be here tonight without the state of Ohio. The vice president also joked that he wanted to stay longer, but he had to go, because the boss, the president, wanted him at his desk bright and early tomorrow.
Obviously, some partying tonight, Aaron, but they know that they have a big agenda on Capitol Hill that they want to get to right away tomorrow -- Aaron.
BROWN: From beginning to end, how long was the president and the first lady in the room?
HENRY: The president and first lady were here for a maximum of five minutes, Aaron. It's basically a very quick hello. As you know, this president likes to be in bed by 9:00 or 10:00 in the evening. He doesn't like to burn the midnight oil. He made it very quick.
In fact, he was about 45 minutes ahead of schedule in getting here. We were expecting him to be here about 10:00 Eastern time. He was here just after 9:00 p.m. He was way ahead of time, because he was rushing through these inaugural balls.
BROWN: And are there other prominent or celebrity types? Are the Bush daughters making the rounds today or tonight?
HENRY: We have not seen the Bush daughters here. I can tell you, mostly, it's politicos, the governor, Governor Taft of Ohio, Senator Voinovich, Congressman Rob Portman, who helped deliver the state of Ohio. That's more of what you're seeing here.
There's also been a lot of music. Clearly, it's a very festive environment, but not really a lot of celebrities that we've seen tonight. We haven't seen the Bush twins out, to answer your question directly. It's been more some of the politicos hobnobbing. This is a chance for the president and vice president to directly thank a lot of those campaign volunteers that helped deliver the White House once again, Aaron.
BROWN: Well, thank you, Ed -- Ed Henry out there tonight.
Those are all fine people, the senator. But I'm not sure that I necessarily want to party with them all night long.
Having neither royalty nor established religion, this is not a country that's especially keen on pomp and circumstance or any public ritual, beyond going home for the holidays. We all do that, don't we, when we can? But we do, do this every four years, perhaps as a reminder of what we're missing or maybe to remind us of what we have.
So, for those of you who have just joined us, those of you who worked today, instead of watching TV, here is how the day played out in your capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Mr. President, and repeat after me.
BROWN (voice-over): It was the second time the president had taken the oath of office and the first time in months the nation was able to see a decidedly frail chief justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, the chief justice, suffering from thyroid cancer, speaking through a tracheotomy tube in his throat.
Preserve, protect and defend.
REHNQUIST: ... preserve, protect and defend...
BUSH: ... preserve, protect and defend...
REHNQUIST: ... the Constitution of the United States.
BUSH: ... the Constitution of the United States.
REHNQUIST: So help me God.
BUSH: So help me God. BROWN: There was the traditional salute of 21 guns. And shortly thereafter, the president spoke of freedom and liberty spreading across the globe. He never specifically mentioned Afghanistan, Iraq or terror.
BUSH: There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BUSH: We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
(APPLAUSE)
The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
(APPLAUSE)
The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations.
The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.
America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.
BROWN: There were no specifics, but details are not what inaugural addresses are about.
BUSH: I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes.
You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs.
Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character. To give every American a stake in the and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools and build an ownership society.
(APPLAUSE)
We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance, preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society by making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny. We will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and make our society more prosperous and just and equal. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth
(APPLAUSE)
And our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.
BROWN: After the speech, the parade. Thousands watched. There were knots of angry protesters along the way. The pushing and shoving were at times intense, and it was difficult to see the president behind the windows of his limousine.
But at the end, the last couple of blocks, he and the first lady took a walk. The final steps to the White House, the beginning of a second term.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It's a sign of changing times. I saw a picture today of FDR's inauguration, riding down the parade route in an open car. Of a different time.
Ahead on the program, history, yes. But what today's celebration says about the style of the Bush family over the next four years. Ann Gerhart joins us. And we'll take a look at some of the partying going on as well.
We'll be right back as our inauguration coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. When I look into your eyes, my dear...
BROWN: It's the Liberty Ball, one of many going on in Washington tonight. Lots of bands, lots of dancing, and I suspect a fair amount of drinking going on, too.
Ann Gerhart is with us. She writes for the style section of "The Washington Post." She's also the author of the "The Perfect Wife: The Life and Times of Laura Bush."
Good to see you.
ANN GERHART, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thanks for having me.
BROWN: You were out -- and this is work for you -- you were out -- you were out doing the parties tonight. Any interesting tales to tell?
GERHART: Well, I went to the Texas & Wyoming Ball, which, of course, was supposed to have 11,500 people in a huge cavernous room.
BROWN: Where was it?
GERHART: It was in the convention center, along with several other balls.
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: It was quite the scene. Lots of people wandering around this building, never knowing exactly where to go, in poofy skirts and tuxedos.
But the president came around 8:25. Everybody rushed to the stage. And one of the things I noticed that was really different from four years when I went to balls is this time everybody's got a digital camera.
And so you would see this sea of people holding their cameras up. And in each camera you could see a tiny little President Bush and a tiny little Laura Bush. And they were all taking these snapshots.
BROWN: And is it -- is there a kind of lockdown security feel to all these events?
GERHART: Yes, I actually ran into a number of people who had missed the president and couldn't get through security, had waited 40 minutes or an hour to get through the manometers...
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: ... and didn't get a chance to see him. But they were happy anyway. They were just happy to be there.
BROWN: Who are they?
GERHART: Well, they're all kinds of people. I mean, I had a hard time finding some Texans and Wyomingans (ph), or however we call people from Wyoming. A number of people from Connecticut, some New York Republicans who were happy to be among their own kind because they felt so battered living in a blue state as they did. A couple guys who were ranchers from Nebraska wearing big beaver hide hats that were custom made.
BROWN: Are they big-money people, or are they average folk? Or are they somewhere in between? Where -- what...
GERHART: They're somewhere in between. There were a number of people who had worked for the president, had been very active in campaigning and volunteering.
I met a man from Nebraska who was very proud to tell me that not a single county in Nebraska had gone for President Bush. There had just been two precincts, and he said, "We're going to get them next time."
BROWN: For John Kerry. GERHART: For John Kerry, I'm sorry, yes. So very red state. Very red state.
BROWN: How quickly we forget. The Bush daughters out there. You wrote about the Bush daughters today. They're quite different, the two women.
GERHART: Yes, they are. You know, Barbara is named, of course, for her grandmother, Barbara Bush.
BROWN: Barbara's the brunette.
GERHART: Yes. She's -- she's -- someone said to me, "I can't keep them straight. I just call them Blondie and Brownie."
Jenna is the blonde, and she's named for her mother's mother. But their personalities are switched, so that Jenna is most like her father and his mother. And...
BROWN: Have they changed? I mean, they've really -- they were, what, 19, I guess, when they...
GERHART: Yes.
BROWN: Eighteen or 19 when the president was elected first. That's a kind of -- that's not the easiest age.
GERHART: Right.
BROWN: I'm not sure 23 is. But 19 certainly isn't. Do you notice a change in them when you look at them, how they move?
GERHART: I do. You know, they had gone off to college. So Laura Bush was an empty nest mother for the first time, and she had moved into the White House, which was a big empty next to be in.
And I noticed at the swearing in, in 2001, they weren't quite sure when to stand up, when to stand up. And I remember President Clinton kind of pushing them forward and saying, "Get up there" with the chief justice. This time I think they know that drill and they seem fairly assured.
They've been out and about in town this week. I did not see them out tonight. And I didn't hear that they'd been to any balls. But Tuesday night they were out, and they've made their goings. And they seem to have now answered their father's call to community service for young people, which is something he's been pushing.
BROWN: Yes.
GERHART: Barbara is going to work with AIDS children in Africa, and Jenna is now teaching here in D.C. She's an assistant teacher to Charter School.
BROWN: The -- and finally, the first lady, who we're seeing in the break. Probably the most popular political figure, if, in fact, the first lady is a political figure, in the country. Is she happy in her role, do you think?
You've written about her. You've talked to lots of people about here. Does -- is she looking forward to going back to Texas?
GERHART: I think she's always had -- she has that rare quality of being able to bloom where she's planted, if you'll pardon that old cliche.
BROWN: But it's a wonderful way to describe her, I think.
GERHART: So she's -- she's happy now. She says she wants another four years. I think she would have been happy to go back to Texas if this hadn't worked out the way they wanted it to. She's able to find a quiet place for herself wherever she is.
BROWN: She does have that nice sort of centered quality about her. I hope it's real. I mean, you'd like to believe it's real. That she is, in fact, that she can, in fact, find her place in almost any situation.
GERHART: You know, I think that Laura Bush is very sure of who she is. And everything she is perceived from that secure and self- assured place.
She was an only child who was doted on by her parents. And she grew up with a great deal of self-confidence. And I was noticing today when they got out and walked on the route, and I was thinking, gee, you know, think of first ladies who have done this and the horrible things that have befallen them. And there was no sign that she had any anxiety whatsoever.
She just smiled and she waved. And she seemed perfectly comfortable being on Pennsylvania Avenue.
BROWN: Nice to meet you finally. Thank you. Thanks for coming in.
GERHART: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Go out and do the rest of the parties if you want. Or go home to bed. Whichever.
GERHART: No, there's more parties for me. There's more work to be done.
BROWN: My goodness. What a job. Thank you. Ann Gerhart of "The Washington Post."
Ahead on the program, one for the ages. Perhaps the best inaugural address since Lincoln's.
We'll take a break first. Our coverage continues from Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: There's a great piece in "Slate" titled, "Ask not why inaugural addresses are so rotten." It was published yesterday, so the author couldn't comment on the speech today, which everyone seems to agree was a pretty fair piece of work. A strong speech, but whether it's one for the ages remains to be seen. Very few are.
The fact is, writing is not easy, nor is speaking, nor these days is sitting still for a lot of lofty talk. Times have changed. We've all changed.
Chances are, when you hear a politician with a Boston accent, you think more of Mayor Quimby from "The Simpsons" than President Kennedy. Some thoughts on that now from Jeff Greenfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses hope.
JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are not just my goals.
RICHARD M. NIXON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And riders on the earth together, let us go forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But always try, and always gaining (ph).
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): The world little notes nor long remembers what most presidents say at their inaugurals. Only a handful still echo.
Lincoln's second, pledging to bind up the wounds of the civil war. And FDR in 1933, rallying citizens by a great depression.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
GREENFIELD: And, of course, this one...
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We observed today not a victory of body, but a celebration of freedom.
GREENFIELD: On a wintry noon 44 years ago, an improbably young president, the first of his faith elected by an improbably narrow margin, stood on the east front of the Capitol. For the tens of millions who watched that day, the memories come from the stark black and white TV images. Images that capture a dramatic changing of the guard from the oldest president ever to the youngest ever elected.
KENNEDY: Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
THURSTON CLARKE, AUTHOR, "ASK NOT": People only had to look at their television sets and see that line illustrated by the people on the platform.
GREENFIELD: Thurston Clarke, author of "Ask Not," a book about Kennedy's inaugural.
CLARKE: There is Eisenhower. He looks small and shrunken into this big overcoat. And there was Kennedy.
Now, Kennedy had taken great care with his personal appearance. He was aware of the importance of looking good on television.
GREENFIELD: In the first weeks after the election, Kennedy was focused more on who would be serving with him than on what he would be saying.
TED SORENSEN, JFK'S CHIEF SPEECHWRITER: So we both had a lot on our plate. And it wasn't until around the holiday season that we began to talk about the inaugural.
GREENFIELD: Ted Sorensen was JFK's chief speechwriter and a key policy adviser. He sent out a telegram to well-known Democratic thinkers asking them for their ideas, then sat down for a conversation with Kennedy.
(on camera): And when you did, where did the conversation go?
SORENSEN: First of all, he wanted it to be short. He believed in brevity and asked me to find out how short it would have to be to be the shortest in the century.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): Sorensen scribbled down Kennedy's instructions, then went to work measuring the length of past inaugurals. When he finished a draft of his own, he pointedly noted how short his draft was.
But what about the substance of the speech? Sorensen says its intended audience was clear.
SORENSEN: Khrushchev made a speech, the leader of the Soviet Union, threatening the west with what he called wars of liberation. So we knew that had to be the focus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the one hand, it was holding out an olive branch to Khrushchev and the Russians.
KENNEDY: Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, to counterbalance that, he had to let the Soviets know that he wasn't going to be bullied.
KENNEDY: We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
GREENFIELD: There was also the question of authorship. When Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for his "Profiles in Courage" book, there were charges it had, in fact, been written by Sorensen. In the case of JFK's inaugural, there is convincing evidence that many, if not most, of its most memorable themes and phrases were authored by Kennedy himself, dictating many of them to his longtime secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, aboard the Caroline, his private plane.
KENNEDY: This must we pledge, and more.
GREENFIELD: Moreover, as Thurston Clarke points out, there were 36 changes in the speech that Kennedy made as he was delivering it. Listen to what he said as opposed to what was written and you'll see.
KENNEDY: Tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace. Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
GREENFIELD: The inaugural itself was memorable on many counts. The night before, Washington was hit by a blizzard that made travel to the balls almost impossible. Newsman Sander Vanocur covered the inaugural for NBC News.
SANDER VANOCUR: It was terrible, but the next day, as it were, the clouds parted. It was a brilliant day, cold, but there was nothing against television coverage because there was no snow.
GREENFIELD: And because Kennedy's speech was a sustained, unified piece, there were no obvious applause lines.
(on camera): I can't imagine you and the president sitting down and saying, "That's a great sound bite."
VANOCUR: No, we didn't write in sound bites in those days. Nor -- just to show you how much the world was changed -- did we write in applause lines.
I sat up there on the platform behind him, getting nervous because for the first, oh, I would say 25, 30 percent of the speech, there was no applause at all. And I thought maybe this is a flop.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): But by the time Kennedy came to the central message of the speech, the crowd was cheering.
KENNEDY: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
(APPLAUSE)
GREENFIELD: In fact, the speech was an instant hit, even for a prominent conservative columnist of the day, like "The New York Times" Arthur Crock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kennedy was seated next to him at dinner and said, "Well, what did you think of the speech?" And Crock said, "I think it was one of the greatest presidential speeches since Woodrow Wilson, if not the greatest."
GREENFIELD: There was one other notable event that day. When the Coast Guard contingent marched by, Kennedy noticed it was all white and pointed this out to Dick Goodwin, a young Kennedy aide.
RICHARD GOODWIN, FMR. KENNEDY AIDE: He says, "There wasn't a black face in there." He said, "So" -- he said, "I want you to get on that." Which was his command, which is do something about it.
GREENFIELD: By the time the next class was admitted, segregation among students and the faculty was over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: And, Aaron, one of the questions is, could such a speech be written today? And, if it was, would people receive it?
I think there's a real doubt about that in -- in large part, because we've heard this often that it will sound (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But, more important, we don't -- the country doesn't trust politicians the way it did 44 years ago. And that kind of high-level elegance to a country that's gone through so many decades of disillusionment just doesn't resonate, doesn't sound believable, I think.
BROWN: First of all, the reality that was 44 years ago is enough to shake you a little bit. How much do you think the fact that it was television, and that we who are now doing this work were of a certain age, a very impressionable age, changes the way we see the speech?
GREENFIELD: You know, I can understand that, but I think the reason why not is that the generation covering Kennedy, older people, pre-television...
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... who were listening to the speech as it was delivered thought it was a resounding success. This was a very well put together speech. And it was surprising people because he was 43 years old when he was inaugurated...
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... he was considered in the Senate somewhat callow, a playboy a little bit. The campaign did not strike observers and strike sounding (ph) great themes. And suddenly there was this young, new, barely elected president in this almost Roman style of, you know, like Cicero, an orator.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: Talking at a very high level to the country. Also, we live in a conversational age, a television age, when presidents tell us whether they wear boxers or briefs.
This is a heroic speech. And we don't tend to think our leaders can be heroes. Look, if we had known that -- if we had known then about Kennedy's private life, he might not gotten away with that speech.
BROWN: Just one other observation for a speech where they wrote no sound bite in, it had one of the all-time great sound bites.
GREENFIELD: Except that, as Thurston Clarke said, it's the master sentence. The whole speech is constructed to lead up to, "And so, my fellow Americans..."
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: It's just like Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, where that's the phrase we remember. The whole King speech leads up to "I have a dream." And the problem -- I'm a retired speechwriter -- is that today, old curmudgeon complaining, people sit there and they write focus group-tested one-liners, not sustained speeches, which is why you don't hear that kind of rhetoric much anymore.
BROWN: That's fun. Thank you.
GREENFIELD: All right.
BROWN: Jeff Greenfield, thank you.
Ahead, a closer look at the style and the substance of the words the president spoke today. A couple of presidential historians join us as well to talk about how we ought look at those words.
We'll take a break first as our special coverage of the inauguration of George W. Bush and a look at the road ahead continues from Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Traditionally, second inaugurals run more to a laundry list than the lyrical or the muscular, traditionally. But these are untraditional times. So today's speech breaks a pattern in a number of ways.
Here's a look at a portion of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve and have found it firm.
(APPLAUSE)
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation. The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.
(APPLAUSE)
America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty. Though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt.
Americans of all people should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery.
(APPLAUSE)
Liberty will come to those who love it. Today, American speaks anew to the peoples of the world. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty we will stand with you.
Today I also speak anew to my fellow citizens. From all of you I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet, because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.
And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts we have lit a fire as well, a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress. And one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.
A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause: in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives, and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.
All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile and evil is real and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The president today. With that as a talking point, we're joined here in Washington by reporter and historian, Haynes Johnson, and out of Seattle tonight, presidential scholar Thomas Cronin. We're glad to have you both with us.
Professor Cronin, words I've heard about the speech today, almost messianic, crusading. Do you agree with that?
THOMAS CRONIN, PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR, WHITMAN COLLEGE: Yes. It transcended Ronald Reagan's freedom fighter rhetoric. It transcended Wilsonian idealism, and it really was a remarkable liberationist kind of talk about a worldwide crusade or campaign to fight terrorism and to support lovers and fighters of freedom and liberty everywhere.
BROWN: Mr. Johnson, it really goes beyond terrorism, a word that in fact, he never used today that I recall. He talked about tyrants. He talked about governments that oppress their own people, its own people. So in that sense, he took the fight another step.
HAYNES JOHNSON, REPORTER AND HISTORIAN: Oh, yes. This is radical. I think this is a radical speech. In the sense that the president has laid out a marker now. If you believe what he says, and I do, that he means what he says, that we are now expanding freedom around the world at any price. More than Kennedy, more than Harry Truman in 1947 and the Truman Doctrine that laid open the Cold War, that we'll stop communism at any price.
He says that we're -- it is the policy of the United States now to expand and to freedom and liberty everywhere in the world. That's -- that's something we haven't heard before.
BROWN: Help me, both. Mr. Cronin, why don't you start? Tell me how it's different in that sense, than any American president standing up there, saying we stand, we Americans stand for democracy, and we stand for freedom wherever it flourishes. Because that's what the president said today.
CRONIN: That's a huge commitment, and I think he was very sincere, but the question is how serious is he? How much will we actually put resources and investments in this? There's no talk, as we wouldn't expect to be, about expanding the Peace Corps or more foreign aid or working with traditional allies. It was all about more platitude or high rhetoric, a fight for liberty and freedom around the world. In that sense, it was very unusual.
And there is one thing that's interesting here. What won him reelection was the fact that he was a wartime president. What won him reelection was he was very good in the war on terrorism. And so I think he chose to dwell on those issues, because the rest of the issues that his administration is caught up with -- Iraq, Social Security, judicial nominations, tax reform -- are issues that generally divide the nation.
So I think he took the high road in some ways about those issues that he believes that united his campaign and won his reelection.
BROWN: Can you imagine this speech being given, Haynes, four years ago?
JOHNSON: Oh, no. That's -- that's what's to me staggering. Really, if you look back four years ago. There he was, he was not going to build alliances around the world. He was refraining himself from all of that.
And now here's this man with this incredible strength of vision, and he's laying out the boldest presidential address in my lifetime, really. I think more than Kennedy, more than that at any price, because he's saying it's the policy of the United States. The implications are we would go into tyrants, bad guys, wherever they are, not just communists or even terrorists. It's whoever -- we don't like them because they're not liberal, democracy, whatever it may be. And that way we -- we will stop it. We -- I mean, it's the policy of the United States to end that in the world.
BROWN: And is that a combination of the changing time, 9/11, and the changing time and also a changed, more confident, somewhat more worldly, I think one might argue, president?
JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely. I was so struck -- I suppose you were, too -- looking at Bush today. He had that look of somebody -- just four years ago he didn't look sure of himself. He had a look in his eyes.
Today he was strong. The voice was clear, and he had that look. The jaw was out. He is the commander in chief of the world now. He is the president of the United States in all terms. And he means what he says. And therefore, I think we've got to take him seriously.
Now, how you implement it, what the implications are of them, that's a whole other question.
BROWN: Professor Cronin, I hear you wanting to jump in. Jump in.
CRONIN: It's a very different kind of talk than what his father would have given. Also, a very different talk from old line Republican isolationism. Very different from his debates with Al Gore in October of 2000, where he talked, really, very much against nation building.
Now he's very much involved in that. And it's a huge departure. And it will be fascinating to see whether he can marshal congressional support and the American public to put more funds into defense funds and -- and perhaps other commitments around the world.
The one worry, I think, that a lot of critics will have about this particular talk is excessive unilateralism and the degree to which, on the one hand, paradoxically, we support a strong president and a strong war on terrorism. We want to prevent 9/11. On the other hand, we worry very much about the coming back of the imperial precedent. We worry about unilateralism. We worry about doing things ourselves, rather than through the United Nations or with traditional allies.
So that's a major concern that was raised today.
BROWN: Well, I -- as I think we've all sort of said today, we've seen the outline.
JOHNSON: Yes.
BROWN: And now we're seeing what the implementation of the outline is, and the implementation is what it's all about in the end. JOHNSON: That's the key. If the president means what he says, and we have tyrants that we need to unseat or get rid of, that means military force. And then what do you do with who -- where do the troops come from? We've got Iraq. We've got Iran. We've got all these other nations. We're stretched thin with military forces, no money at home.
So it's -- he's taking on an enormous task. And it's bold and big.
BROWN: Good to have you both with us. Thank you.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
BROWN: It was an interesting speech and an interesting analysis. Thank you.
When we come back, a woman who started life where democracy began now has a close up view of democracy here. She is in Washington tonight, and we'll have her story after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Most Americans watch inaugurations unfold on television. A sliver of others, and not just journalists, get a seat on the sidelines. It's the sidelines of history.
Inaugurations are a time to reward the party faithful and Cathy Televaris is among them. She came to this country from Greece as a child. She lives in Orange County, California, and until recently was executive director of the Republican Party there. Today, she's in the capital in the thick of the crowd to see the culmination of her hard work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHY TELEVARIS, BUSH SUPPORTER: Coming to inauguration day is like scoring the additional point after a touchdown.
I was a delegate for the Republican National Convention in New York City. And in between then and now, all I've been doing is working hard for the president. And just going to inauguration day is going to be great full circle to complete.
We're in section 16 here, in the red section of the house. And I'm really lucky to have seats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States, George Walker Bush.
TELEVARIS: I knew he was going to wear a blue tie.
BUSH: I, George Walker Bush...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Do solemnly swear... BUSH: ... do solemnly swear...
TELEVARIS: Since I wasn't born in this country, I get all teary- eyed and I'm just so lucky to live here.
I'd love to see him take the oath and be there with his wife and his family.
BUSH: Fellow citizens...
TELEVARIS: We're the fellow citizens.
BUSH: ... survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.
(MUSIC)
TELEVARIS: We just finished the inauguration, swearing in, and we're on our way to the parade with 250,000 of my closest friends.
I love it when the military comes by. Look at that picture.
Inauguration Day is a special day in America, and it's something about being in the middle of history. You want to experience it, something you're always going to say that you did. You can tell your kids and your grandkids, "I was there."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: She was there.
When we come back, "Morning Papers," going back 100 years, how inaugurations made the front page.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The rooster's over the Capital tonight. Time to check "Morning Papers" from around the country and around the world, and as it turns out, around the centuries or so, thanks to our friends at the Newseum. That's Newseum, here in Washington. It's a very cool place if you like journalism. They sent us over some newspapers from inaugurations past, and I do mean past.
Here's "Harper's Weekly," "journal of civilization," which by the way, may be the best slogan ever. CNN, the network of civilization. That's President Lincoln, a sketch of President Lincoln taking the oath on his second inauguration. This was printed on Saturday, March 18, 1865. Get a good shot of that.
I love this. This is the "New York Journal," OK? The now defunct "New York Journal." Printed on Friday, March 5, 1897, 14 pages. How President McKinley was inaugurated. But the big story in the paper -- I don't know if you can see this or not -- "illustrated by pictures made on the spot and brought to New York on a special train that broke the record." That's actually a train that the paper commissioned to get actual photographs of the event of the McKinley inauguration in the "New York Journal."
The "New York Tribune," printed on Sunday, March 5, 1905, "Roosevelt and Fairbanks Inaugurated." You remember Charles W. Fairbanks, of course. He was the vice president for Teddy Roosevelt. We all remember Vice President Fairbanks, don't we? Perhaps we don't.
Anyway, up on top, it says -- I'll just read it to you -- in President Roosevelt's handwriting, Theodore Roosevelt, "All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong anyone, and do not let him be wronged." Theodore Roosevelt in 1905.
The "Red Wing Daily Republican," that's in Red Wing, Minnesota. I actually know where that is. "William Howard Taft Inaugurated President of the United States." And then this is an editorial on the front page there, big picture of President Taft, who is a big guy. And they're convinced, the "Red Wing Daily Republican," that President Taft was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I'd like somebody to write that way about me sometime.
Now this one I just found fascinating. This is the "San Francisco Chronicle." On January 21, 1949, the day Truman is inaugurated he's not even in the big headline. The big headline is, "Chiang Quits." That's Chiang Kai-Shek leaves China. So the Chinese got the headline.
And then, oh, yes, "Truman Inaugurated" down here.
That's a look at "Morning Papers." We should mention the weather in Chicago tomorrow: "enough already." I'm with you on that. Enough of this cold.
We'll take a break and wrap it up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, we wonder what the road ahead will be like. Rituals are reminders of what we share and what bears repeating, so we leave you tonight with a collection of moments, the 20th of January, 2005.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, George Walker Bush.
(MUSIC)
BUSH: I, George Walker Bush...
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Do solemnly swear...
BUSH: ... do solemnly swear...
REHNQUIST: ... that I will faithfully execute...
BUSH: ... that I will faithfully execute...
REHNQUIST: ... the office of president of the United States...
BUSH: ... the office of president of the United States...
REHNQUIST: ... and will, to the best of my ability...
BUSH: ... and will, to the best of my ability...
REHNQUIST: ... preserve, protect and defend...
BUSH: ... preserve, protect and defend...
REHNQUIST: ... the Constitution of the United States...
BUSH: ... the Constitution of the United States...
REHNQUIST: ... so help me God.
BUSH: ... so help me God.
(MUSIC)
BUSH: On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution and recall the deep commitments that unite our country.
When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still.
America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world and to all the inhabitants thereof.
Renewed in our strength, tested but not weary, we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.
(MUSIC)
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: The University of Texas Band.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Washington tonight. It's hard, as we said at the beginning, sometimes to separate the politics of our time with the celebration that should be an American inauguration, any inauguration. It was beautiful in Washington today. You could feel the democracy, if you will.
You look at the Capital. The Capital looked beautiful today. It all felt good to be here.
Well, tomorrow will begin the fights over policy once again, but on this day, at least, it was reason to celebrate, and we're glad that you joined us throughout the day for the celebration the inauguration was.
See you tomorrow. Good night for all of us from Washington.
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