“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the oath of office followed by musical honors…” blared the public address system at the U.S. Capitol on January 21, 2021. On inauguration day, this is what most Americans see on TV.
“Please raise your right hand and repeat after me,” said Chief Justice John Roberts. “I Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, do solemnly swear…."
But the process of swearing in the next commander in chief involves parts of the Capitol that seem to get less time in the spotlight, that is, unless you go yourself. An estimated 10,000 people visit the US Capitol every day. Each group is led by tour guides, and it's the way these guides are dressed that something of an inside joke.
“You'll see people here that are wearing red coats. The irony is not lost on us,” said Jessica wall. She's with the Capitol communications department now, but back in the day, she was one of the so-called red coats that ushered tourists around, perhaps, the most emblematic building of our national
government.
“There are statues from the states all over the Capitol, and all over the Visitor Center,” said Wall, who was our guide during APR’s visit to Washington, DC last year to interview Alabama US House member Terry Sewell. Our first stop was Statuary Hall beneath the rotunda.
“See the pedestal that President Reagan is standing on,” Wall asked. “You see those little rocky pieces? Those are pieces of the Berlin Wall. General Eisenhower here… he's posed in the same way he's posed me speaking to the troops on D Day
Wall and I were the only ones in Statuary Hall before today's crowd of visitors. But depending on the day, things get busier.
“Joining us next on C-Span two, Steven Horsford, Democrat of Nevada, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, I'm going to have you stand right there. What do you think of the speech tonight, sir?”
“It was focused on the American people,” Horsford responded.
C-Span did interviews here with members of Congress following President Biden's final State of the Union address last year. In setting up our visit to the Capitol last June, there was just one topic no one would talk about officially, and that's the January 6 attack by supporters of Donald Trump. Next week, the west side of the Capitol building will be the spot where the new president elect takes the oath of office.
George Washington was the first U.S. president to be sworn into office, but it wasn't at the U.S. capitol. Construction began in 1793 well into his second term in office. The first phase of the building wasn't completed until 1826, long after Washington's death.
“And, there were talks,” said Jessica Wall. “That maybe we should move to another federal city, to where we've been before. We've been to Annapolis. We've been in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore is nice this time of year. Why not? But this is where George Washington wanted us. So we said we'll vote. We vote to stay here and rebuild.”
That includes Statuary Hall, where we started our tour. Downstairs is a spot called the Crypt. There are thirty nine statues in Statuary Hall, but downstairs, the crypt has only thirteen, and something else. Wall says it was the spot where Washington was meant to be buried. It's marked with a brass star on the floor.
“The Star Still though still here,” said Wall. “It's important to us because it divides Capitol Hill in half. So everything that's to the north, that's facing Constitution Avenue, that's for the Senate, everything to the south, facing Independence Avenue is for the house representatives.”
Now, since this story about Inauguration Day, let's get back to that brass star on the floor.
“And, we don't let people walk on the star anymore,” said Wall. “We have ropes around it. We're trying is starting to dip, and we want to protect it. But on the morning of inaugurations, since President Reagan's first if you, if you're the president elect, will remove these ropes, because you need to cross this room, head down the stairs, out the West door, onto a platform we create so we can see you'd be sworn in for high office.”
The inaugural platform was under construction, even though our tour took place back in June. Wall says that's because there's a lot that goes into it.
“Well, we have to, we try and get wood and then paint it so that it resembles the marble that's outside,” she said. “And then we have risers so that, depending if your print or if you're print media, you're on one side, so we don't want the glare of like the sun on your face, laying out like the carpet that they stand on, getting the podium. So it's a very involved process.
That included Joe Biden's swearing in ceremony in 2021, and Donald Trump's second go around this coming Monday.
