Not originally published in LIFE. John and Jackie Kennedy walk to JFK's inauguration ceremony from the White House, January 1961.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
January 20, 1961, was a bitterly cold day in Washington. And yet, as John and Jackie Kennedy set out on foot from the White House to the Capitol for JFK’s inauguration as president, the sense of cheer and confidence was palpable.
This, after all, was the dawn of “Camelot” — the evocative label forever associated with Kennedy’s administration, born of the young president’s fondness for the musical of the same name. LIFE magazine sent several of its best photographers to D.C. to chronicle the inauguration (and its slew of star-studded parties). A week later, the magazine ran nearly 20 pictures from the event; many, many more photos were not published in LIFE. Here, LIFE.com presents the best of those pictures that ran, and many that did not.
In his inaugural address — one of the most memorable in history — Kennedy did not skirt the very real, very present danger posed by mutual mistrust and enmity between East and West at the height of the Cold War, nor did he accept that danger as a fixed, immutable state of affairs.
“If a beachhead of cooperation,” he said, “may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides [America and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its satellites] join in creating a new endeavor — not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved. This will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
“To those nations who would make themselves our adversary,” Kennedy said, “we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.”
Perhaps the most heartfelt words uttered that day, meanwhile, came not from JFK, but from the 87-year-old poet Robert Frost. A four-time Pulitzer Prize winner and the quintessential New England bard (albeit born in California), Frost penned a new poem for the inauguration, but the intense glare of the January sun made it impossible for him to read his own manuscript. After struggling for a bit, and after Lyndon Johnson stood and tried to help (using his own top hat to shield the page), Frost abandoned the effort and instead recited, from memory, a famous, earlier poem: “The Gift Outright,” written nearly 20 years before, which reads in part, “we gave ourselves outright … To the land vaguely realizing westward.”
It seemed then, and still feels, an appropriately optimistic sentiment in the early days of the 1960s.
Not originally published in LIFE. John and Jackie Kennedy walk to JFK's inauguration ceremony from the White House, January 1961.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. From left: Jackie Kennedy, turned to someone behind her; President Dwight Eisenhower; President-Elect Kennedy; and on the right, Vice-President-Elect Lyndon Johnson and outgoing VP Richard Nixon, January 1961.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John and Jackie Kennedy on the evening before the inauguration, January 1961. Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Men, women, and children -- bundled in sleeping bags, scarves, hats, gloves -- line Pennsylvania Avenue, January 20, 1961. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. A smiling President Kennedy and the First Lady Jackie Kennedy ride through cheering crowds in the Inaugural Parade, January 1961.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Hours before LIFE's Andreas Feininger took the photo above, the snow blanketed the city -- and the entire parade route, January 1961.Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesEisenhower's secretary, Ann Whitman, helps the president don a borrowed tie on the morning of the inauguration, January 1961.Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Jackie Kennedy sets out through an evening snowstorm for the Inaugural Gala, January 1961. Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesOn the night before the inauguration, many of the biggest names in show business came together for a gala produced by Kennedy's friend and supporter, Frank Sinatra, and Kennedy's brother-in-law, Peter Lawford.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Sidney Poitier reads a prepared statement at the D.C. Armory during JFK's Inaugural Gala, January 19, 1961. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Kennedy speaks to the crowd during the Inaugural Gala, January 1961.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Kennedy amid well-wishers at the Inaugural Gala, January 1961. Joseph Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Gene Kelly performs during John Kennedy's Inaugural Gala, January 1961. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA woman dressed in a gown and a man in a suit with a top hat dance at one of the inaugural balls, January 1961. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJohn and Jackie Kennedy in the Presidential Box overlooking the crowd during JFK's Inaugural Ball, January 1961.
Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Connally (left), John and Jackie Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower and others prepare at the White House for the inauguration, January 1961. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Lady Bird Johnson, Jackie Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during JFK's inauguration.Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. A man bundled against the cold during John Kennedy's inauguration, January 1961. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. At 87 years old, Robert Frost was, in January 1961, America's greatest living poet. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Kennedy speaks with the press the day before his inauguration, January 1961. Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. The Army's Pershing medium-range ballistic missile made its first appearance before the general public in Kennedy's Inaugural Parade, January 1961. Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. A Buffalo Bill character performs at the inaugural parade, January 1961.Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJackie Kennedy during her husband's Inaugural Gala, January 1961. Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Kennedy, wearing a top hat and overcoat, is seen during his inauguration, January 1961. Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFour past, present, and future First Ladies side-by-side during John Kennedy's inauguration, January 1961 (from left): Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, and Jacqueline Kennedy.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon and Jack Kennedy speak during a reception after JFK was sworn in as president, January 1961. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJohn F Kennedy watches former president Harry Truman, 77, sign his autograph on a program during the inaugural luncheon, January 1961.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Dwight D. Eisenhower's driver takes the snow chains off the tires of his limo before driving the former president and his wife Mamie home, January 1961. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. John Kennedy delivering his inaugural address, January 1961. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images