January 20, 1993: Bill Clinton is inaugurated as President

January 20, 1993: Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, with Al Gore as his Vice President. It was a little cold, and he used the weather as a metaphor in his Inaugural Address.

The 1st President born after 1924, the contrast between the outgoing 68-year-old George H.W. Bush and the incoming 46-year-old Clinton was palpable. Clinton had brought an energy to American politics not seen since Ronald Reagan's 1st campaign in 1980, and not seen in any Democratic campaign since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

He was sworn in by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The attendees were hoping that, with the weather, Clinton would fight his reputation for long speeches. He did, speaking for just 14 minutes. He began:

My fellow citizens: Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal. This ceremony is held in the depth of Winter. But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the Spring. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.

Clinton leaned into the generational shift, every bit as much as his hero, John F. Kennedy, did, 32 years later, on the East Portico of the Capitol:

On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America. And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and Communism.

Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.

When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world. Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.

Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.

This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small; when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.

We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps. But we have not done so. Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.

From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.

Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time: Let us embrace it! Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America!

I was watching the speech on ABC News, anchored by Peter Jennings and David Brinkley. Brinkley had been covering Presidents on TV since Harry Truman, and when Jennings, who had done so since Kennedy, asked him for one word, he said, "Effective." Brinkley also said he read Bush's lips, and, apparently, Bush had said to his wife, Barbara, "That's a good speech."

But the Republican Party that Clinton would face would not be the party of Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush. This "Grand Old Party" spent the next 8 years trying to destroy this Democratic President, and stand in the way of his grand vision -- limiting each side's success. Most of their names are forgotten today. And those that are remembered, are usually remembered for being every bit as bad as they tried to tell us he was.

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January 20, 1993 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its Conference Championships and Super Bowl XXVII, which the Dallas Cowboys would win over the Buffalo Bills. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 114-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 121-106 at the Boston Garden. Dominique Wilkins scored 35 points in defeat.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 115-112 in overtime at the Miami Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Phoenix Suns, 123-119 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 110-94 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 111-101 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz, 120-113 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Montreal Canadiens beat the New Jersey Devils, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum. To make matters worse for Devils fans, like me, the goal that provided the winning margin was by former Devil Kirk Muller.