Monday, January 19, 2009

Inauguration Countdown: Tidbits

I enjoyed these past presidential tidbits perusing the Dallas Morning News' inauguration coverage:

Inaugural Parade
Before Richard Nixon's 1973 inaugural parade, officials applied a chemical bird repellent to tree branches along the route. The product, called Roost No More, was supposed to keep pigeons off the trees by making their feet itch. Instead, the birds ate the repellent and keeled over, leaving Pennsylvania Avenue decorated with sick and dead pigeons.

Oh, how lovely. Maybe they should have tested that one out.

Presidential Car
The days of off-the-shelf cars for presidents ended after an assassination
attempt was made on President Franklin Roosevelt while he rode in a convertible
in Miami in 1933.

In response, the feds had FDR use Al Capone's 1928 armored
Cadillac
, which the government acquired after Capone's indictment on
tax-evasion charges.

Does this mean FDR rode gangsta-style?

Perhaps the most famous presidential Lincoln is the 1961 Continental built
for President John F. Kennedy, the one Kennedy was riding in when he was
assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

The car was then modified and used for President Lyndon Johnson.


Um, no. Couldn't they have gotten LBJ a new one?


I'll be walking over from work to watch the inauguration tomorrow on the big screens at Victory Park (it's the Times Square of Dallas, y'all). I'm v. v. excited, and hoping everything goes well!

1 comment:

GrannySmithGreen said...

Yes, JLB should have gotten a new car. Really, if the private sector can come up with enough money for some new china--let's get a new car!