Diary Entry of James A. Garfield, March 5, 1877

Forms part of James A. Garfield papers, 1775-1889; for additional information, see: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms008147
A representative in the House from Ohio at this time, James Garfield is more fulsome in his description of President Hayes's inauguration than he was for President Grant's second inauguration. He relates: "The President spoke clearly and forcibly, the Chief Justice administered the oath opening a new bible which Hayes kissed somewhere in the first eleven verses of the 118th psalm. Drove back with the Presidential party to the White House where a lunch had been prepared by Mrs. Grant." After the luncheon at the White House prepared by Mrs. Grant for the newly inaugurated President Hayes, General and Mrs. Grant left the White House in their carriage and the White House staff and President and Mrs. Hayes bade them farewell, prompting this comment from Garfield: "No American has carried greater fame out of the White House than this silent man who leaves it today."
Diary Entry of James A. Garfield, March 5, 1877.
Original document scanned in 1999-2000 for the former American Memory presentation “I Do Solemnly Swear”: Presidential Inaugurations (retired 2016).