Officials Ponder Crowd Size For Obama Second Inauguration

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The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C. - Approximately 1.8 million people crammed into the National Mall to mark the commencement of the first term of Barack Obama as President of The United States.

Based on the combined attendance numbers, television viewership, and Internet traffic, it was among the most-observed events ever by the global audience


In addition to a larger than usual celebrity attendance, the Presidential Inaugural Committee increased its outreach to ordinary citizens to encourage greater participation in inaugural events compared with participation in recent past inaugurations. For the first time, the committee opened the entire length of the National Mall as the public viewing area for the swearing-in ceremony, breaking with the tradition of past inaugurations.

With Obama’s reelection, hundreds of officials busily planning the 57th Presidential Inauguration have kicked it into high gear.

“Now that the election is over, we enter a new phase. It starts to get more intense now that we know who the president will be,” said Jean Parvin Bordewich, the staff director of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC).

The historic event is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2013, at the Capitol and has dozens of departments, committees and law enforcement agencies preparing for the masses to flood the city and watch the first black president take his second oath of office.

Obama’s 2009 inauguration drew an estimated 1.8 million people, according to an official report issued afterward. And while some officials say privately they are not expecting the same crowds this time around. However, others confess they would be foolish not to plan accordingly due to the Presidents stunning victory over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.