Nixon

1973 · réf. 12984 — 1973. 1973 Presidential Inaugural Ball ticket for Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew documents the January 20 1973 festivities accompanying their inauguration to second terms as President and Vice President preserving material evidence of the ceremonial and social functions surrounding a consequential presidential transition. Nixon and Agnew took their respective oaths that day at the East Portico of the United States Capitol. As admission ephemera from the evening celebration the ticket records the formal public culture of the inauguration through its named venue prescribed dress admission instructions and associated commemorative favor. Comprises one numbered 1973 Inaugural Ball admission ticket No. 8798 measuring 7 x 3 inches with a gold seal reading "Inauguration of President and Vice President" together with a ticket "to be exchanged at Ball for ONE Inaugural ball favor." The admission stub specifies: "The Inaugural Ball John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F Street Northwest Saturday Evening January 20 1973 Nine O'Clock Washington D.C. Black Tie." The principal portion reads: "1973 Inaugural Ball Admit One John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Enter from Hall of States This ticket must be presented at entrance Good only at location specified." These inscriptions establish the precise venue hour entrance point dress requirement and admission procedures for the Kennedy Center event while the accompanying favor ticket documents an additional element of the evening's commemorative program. The ticket survives from the opening day of a second Nixon administration that underwent an extraordinary change in national leadership within the following nineteen months: Agnew resigned the vice presidency on October 10 1973 and was succeeded by Gerald R. Ford under the Twenty Fifth Amendment; Nixon subsequently resigned the presidency on August 9 1974 amid the Watergate crisis. The ephemera therefore provides a sharply dated record of the ceremonial beginning of the Nixon Agnew second term before both men left their elected offices. No specific defects are noted in the supplied description; near fine. A well-preserved grouping of inaugural ephemera retaining both admission and favor components from the January 20 1973 Kennedy Center ball. unknown