Barbara A. Perry: Memories of Inaugurations Past

Barbara A. Perry is a senior fellow in the presidential oral history program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. Its interviews are available online.

Legislative horse-trading on Inauguration Day

I had several meetings with the Georgia [congressional] delegation, either private breakfasts at the White House or even before I went to the inauguration. We had a tacit understanding that if I really needed them on an issue of importance that I would let them know directly and they would make every effort to support me, even though it was damaging for them at home. But if I didn’t really need them, they would vote in accordance with what they thought was best for them and their own constituents.

— President Jimmy Carter on his 1977 inauguration...