10 Obscure Inauguration Tidbits

Brotman, 81, thinks Obama's may be most spectacular

(NEWSER) - Charlie Brotman, the octogenarian MC stationed closest to the presidential reviewing stand during Tuesday’s Inaugural Parade, has had a front-row seat to history since 1957, when he was chosen to announce President Eisenhower’s, USA Today reports. Brotman expects Barack Obama’s inauguration will be the most spectacular ever. “All of the country wants a piece of this,” he said. More»

Lincoln provided the Bible, but Obama must turn to others for verse ideas

(NEWSER) - As Barack Obama prepares to take the oath of office Tuesday with his hand on the Lincoln Bible, the Wall Street Journal offers a sample of the Bibles other presidents have chosen—and the passages they've chosen to open them to. Eisenhower, Carter, and Bush Sr. took their oaths on George Washington's Masonic Bible. Ironically, it's a copy Washington hastily borrowed and opened at random. More»

Battle underscores larger fight over modernism vs classicism

(NEWSER) - The granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower is seeing red over a Washington proposal by renowned architect Frank Gehry to honor the late commander in chief. Susan Eisenhower testified before a congressional subcommittee that large metal tapestries depicting the 34th president's home reminded her of Communist-era monuments that honored "Marx, Engels, and Lenin." She also compared columns that would support the tapestries to "missile silos," and then mentioned Mao, Ho Chi Minh—and also Hitler, because the scrims remind her of fences at Nazi death camps. The battle represents a long-simmering tug-of-war between modernists and those who support classical traditions, particularly in the nation's capital. More»

More gossip from 1964 interviews revealed

(NEWSER) - More details—and more barbs —are trickling out from the new book of 47-year-old interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which hits shelves Wednesday. From the New York Times :

• On French president Charles DeGaulle: "That egomaniac."
• On future Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi: "A real prune—bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman."
• JFK’s thoughts on Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Charlatan is an unfair word," but "he did an awful lot for effect."
• On former Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson: "Violently liberal women in politics" liked him more than JFK because they "were scared of sex," Jackie theorized.

...and other revelations from a new book of interviews

(NEWSER) - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was not a fan of Martin Luther King Jr, once describing him as "tricky" and a "phony," after hearing FBI tapes of him with a woman other than his wife in a hotel room. That's just one of the revelations contained in a new book, Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life With John F. Kennedy, which details, and even includes audio recordings of, a series of interviews Jackie gave shortly after JFK's assassination. The AP got an early copy of the book and its accompanying eight audio CDs, and reveals these tidbits: More»