Barack Hussein Obama|44th president of US|first black president|President Obama|first African-American President
53Barack Obama Presidential inauguration 2009
The first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama, is being widely hailed as a harbinger of change and, perhaps, not without reason. Even before he was sworn in as the 44th US president on Jan. 20, 2009, Obama had come to signify hope and change for the better for millions cutting across country, race and religious divides.
In a difining moment in US history, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn as the first black President. The crowd of 2 mn. turned up, braving the bone chilling temperature. The event attracted 1.3 bn. T.V.viewers, probably the largest TV audience ever. 58 security agencies were involved. The number of FBI agents deployed was four times that in 2004. Obama's inauguration cost over $170 million. Apart from being the priciest, it is also the most secure inauguration ever. U.S. Secret Service used five tons of 'transparent armour' to shield Obama and 42,500 security personnel guarded him. snippers positioned strategically could hit a target the size of a tennis ball from 1,000 yards.
It was a veritable sea of humanity that filled the two-mile stretch of Washington's National Mall as the 47-year-old Obama placed his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lioncoln had used and was sworn into the high office. More than 10,000 people from all 50 states, including bands and military units were assembled to follow Obama and Biden from the Capitol on the 1.5 mile inaugural parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue, concluding at a bulletproof reviewing stand in front of the White House.
It is DAWN of the New Era, Historic Day, A New Birth of Freedom. They are but a few of the headlines as American newspapers --Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times--root for the success of the man who on Tuesday became the country's first African-American President.
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