Invitations to the inauguration of Barack Obama
Encyclopedia
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's inauguration
Inauguration of Barack Obama
The 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., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...
as the forty-fourth President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. The invitations have kept the same basic design of a gold seal and black script since the 1949 inauguration of Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, but this invitation was produced in a green
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
manner, using recycled paper, by companies certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
(FSC).
Design
The invitations have followed the same design since those for Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's presidential inauguration on January 20, 1949. The invitations have a gold embossed inauguration seal at the top of the page and black-inked script using customized Shelley Alegro and Kuenstler typefaces. The invitation reads, "The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of Barack H. Obama as President of the United States of America and Joseph R. Biden Jr. as Vice President of the United States of America on Tuesday, the twentieth of January two thousand and nine in the city of Washington."
Printing
Ink for the invitations was supplied by ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
company BuzzInk, and the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies selected Precise Continental of Brooklyn, New York to print the invitations. Precise Continental was selected because it is a union company
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, uses recycled paper, and is Forest Stewardship Council
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
certified. The printing technique for the invitations was engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
. The design was cut into the surface of a copper plate, which was then inked and inserted into a printing press with a sheet of paper. The result is a slightly raised impression on the front of the page and a slightly indented impression on the bottom. The first plate had to be scrapped because it was engraved without the President's middle initial. The golden seal was engraved in three printing runs. The first print laid down a rough-textured basic gold shape. The second run added smoothness and shine, and the final print run added the fine details to the seal. One million invitations were printed over 20 hours every day between December 11, 2008, and January 2, 2009, with employees working in two shifts and taking breaks only on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The invitations were printed one at a time on 11×17 sheets of paper, which were then cut in half to 8½×11 sheets.
Paper
The paper used to print the invitations on initially came from MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Waste paper collected from local companies in Grand Rapids was collected by Louis Padnos Iron & Metal. It was shipped to Wisconsin, where it was turned into pulp
Pulp (paper)
Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...
. The Whiting Paper Mill, owned by Neenah Paper, another FSC certified company, converted the pulp into CLASSIC CREST Recycled 100 Natural White Papers manufactured by Neenah Paper, which contains FSC certified fibers and is made with 100 percent renewable green energy in a completely carbon-neutral, chlorine-free process. The paper was delivered to Precise by Central National-Gottesman
Central National-Gottesman
Central National-Gottesman, Inc. is one of the world's largest distributors of pulp, paper, paperboard, and newsprint. The firm's products are sold in over 75 countries, through a network of 43 offices located in the United States and abroad....
, another FSC certified company.
Mailing
Prompt Mailers of Staten Island, New York mailed the invitations, which also included a letter from the Presidential Inaugural Committee and a leaflet from the inaugural store. Between December 31, 2008, and January 7, 2009, 3,100 to 3,500 envelopes were filled and sealed every hour.Recipients
Invitations were sent to the chiefs of diplomatic missions to the United States and their spouses but not to any other representatives of foreign countries. As a result, North KoreaNorth Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
's offer to send a senior envoy was rejected. The Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....
were among the invited guests for the inauguration. The five-person crew of US Airways Flight 1549
US Airways Flight 1549
US Airways Flight 1549 was US Airways' scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina...
, including pilot Chesley Sullenberger
Chesley Sullenberger
Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III is an American airline transport pilot , safety expert, and accident investigator from Danville, California...
, were also invited. Entertainment industry figures such as Beyonce, Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
, Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
, and Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
received invitations, as well as politicians such as Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Governor of California; Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
; and Arizona Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. The invitiation to Evangelical pastor Rick Warren
Rick Warren
Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...
drew some criticism.
Eighty-seven-year-old Sarah Obama led a group of Obama's Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
n relatives from his father's home village of Kogelo. Other relatives traveling to Washington from Kenya as guests included Obama's aunt Maggie Obama and an uncle, Said Obama.
Members of the general public also received invitations to the inaugural ceremony. Invitations were sent to constituents, who received one of the 240,000 color-coded tickets to the inaugural ceremony distributed by House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
congressional members of the 111th U.S. Congress
111th United States Congress
The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of...
.