January 20, 1956
EISENHOWER SWORN IN: Washington, 21 – US President Dwight Eisenhower and his vice president, Richard Nixon, were sworn in today shortly after noon (local time) in a ceremony at the White House which was presided over by the justice secretary. Eisenhower took the presidential oath by placing his hand on a Bible which had been given to him by his mother in 1915. The famous American singer Marian Anderson sang the US national anthem at the ceremony. Large crowds of about 760,000 residents of Washington lined the streets of the city in freezing cold weather to watch the swearing-in ceremony and the parade that followed, which stretched for 9 kilometers. Heading the parade was a flag bearer carrying an old «Stars and Stripes» with just 45 stars. The flag bearer was a Greek American, Constantine Kavvadias, and the flag had been handed down to him by his father, a sea captain from Cephalonia who had saved the crew members of an American ship that had foundered during the last century, and who had been given the flag as a memento.
