Inaugural Technology

BRIAN: If you’re just joining us, this is BackStory and we’re talking today about presidential inaugurations. And, guys, as great as Lincoln’s or even Davis’s inaugural addresses may have been, there is one thing about them that pales compared to any speech in my century. The audience. Nobody heard all those speeches back in your century. In fact, I kind of feel bad for you guys spending all your time studying the 18th and 19th century. You miss out on all the really cool technology that comes along in the 20th century. I’m not even going to go with my strong suits of television, I can reach all the way back to 1925, back to radio. Listen to Calvin Coolidge’s presidential inauguration.

CALVIN COOLIDGE: Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope inspires the heart of all humanity.

BRIAN: Can you guys feel that power? It’s like you’re right there with him. You know, I just feel sorry for those citizens back in the 19th and 18th century who were denied the wonders of radio.

PETER: Yeah, well, don’t feel too sorry for them, Brian. I think what we’re talking about are ways in which you think we’re connected with this spectacle, with this event, on a very deeply personal level. Well, I think 18th century and early 19th century, through the 19th century, maybe it was more real for them. And let me explain why.

ED: I’m with you, Peter.

PETER: All right. You got an event, inauguration day. And when Jefferson gives his inaugural address– now, he’s already given it to the printer. And it’s passed out to people as they leave the Senate. They didn’t hear him there because he’s a lousy public speaker.

But that text circulated across the country. By the next day, it had been published in Alexandria and in Baltimore. And people were reading it, not just reading it silently but reading it aloud on the courthouse steps at post offices across the country. And every time that address is performed, think of the audience. They are so into it. They are there.

ED: And you got in the 19th century, the message coming over the telegraph. James K. Polk, 1845, words coming in, the Democrats on one side, the Wigs on the other. Let me translate this into terms that even Brian might understand, Peter. I think the analogy is the sports bar where people are coming together, yeah, that’s our team.

PETER: Good point, yeah.

ED: And so I think, today, it looks pretty thin gruel compared to that, right?

PETER: You know, Ed, why somebody would go to an inauguration now is to be in the audience and be playing a bit part in this massive performance for the rest of the cosmos. Come on, how pathetic is that?

ED: Yeah, because nothing’s happening. You’re just listening. Oh, entertain me. Instead, this is we’re laying the foundation for the next election.

BRIAN: Well, guys, I’m going to concede a partial victory on your part. I acknowledge that during the heyday of television when people just sat back on their couches and watched, there was a bit of a disconnect between the President and his audience. But, you know, maybe taking a page out of your century, as much as I hate to concede this, media like Twitter are really allowing for a much more active engagement, not only in talking back to the President, but talking to each other. Will you give me that?

PETER: Yeah, we’ll give it to you. Except, I think what we don’t know, Brian, and where this potential loss is in what you might call the geography of the new media, that is the nature of community, how what we hear and see resonates within our little communities, our echo chambers sometimes they’re described as, and how much are we performing to each other for each other in shared space.

ED: Peter, you know how much I hate to agree with Brian. But another point there is that the people who were gathering in these sports clubs of the 19th century, figuratively, were all white men.

BRIAN: They were. That’s true.

ED: And so now you’ve got a chance, actually, to democratize the conversation. So maybe there is such a thing as progress.

PETER: It’s time for another short break. When we come back, a fiercely disputed election leads to fears of rival inaugurations, rival presidents, and just maybe a nation split in two.

ED: You’re listening to BackStory. Stay tuned.