Barack Obama Is Inaugurated as President

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in at the West Front of the United States Capitol as the forty-fourth president of the United States. His assumption of office marked the formal conclusion of a transition that began with his election victory in November 2008 and his subsequent resignation from the United States Senate. The inauguration drew extraordinary public attention as Obama became the first African American to hold the nation's highest office, while also representing a generational shift as the first president born in the 1960s. He entered the presidency during the severe pressures of the 2008 financial crisis, succeeding George W. Bush.

Planning for the fifty-sixth inaugural ceremony was managed by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies alongside the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Organizers selected Abraham Lincoln's phrase "A New Birth of Freedom" as the central theme, commemorating the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. Seeking to broaden public access, the presidential committee made the unprecedented decision to open the entire length of the National Mall for public viewing. While security designations placed the Secret Service in charge of protective planning amid heightened global vigilance, local authorities expanded transit and hospitality operations to manage the influx of travelers.