Inauguration Day 2009
President Barack Obama takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
Obama: America's 44th President
- World celebrates Obama’s presidency
- Bush tells cheering Texans ‘it is good to be home’
- Obamas kick off galas with ‘At Last’
- Kennedy suffers seizure
- Republicans find inauguration alternatives
- Day signals sharp break with past
- Jayhawks excited about Obama
- Obama takes office
- Obama takes reins of presidency as first African-American president
- Joe Biden becomes nation's 47th Vice President
- The text of Barack Obama's inaugural address
- More than a million turn out for inauguration, parade
- Bush leaves D.C. for Texas
- Lawrence firefighter salutes Obama's inauguration from South Pole
- Democrats replay day's greatest hits
- Michelle Obama picks white gown
- Hundreds gather at Brown v. Board site to take in Obama's inauguration
- Internet traffic slows KU Hospital's electronic record system
- Local students spend day learning about inauguration
- Obama has young — and unlikely — fan in Lawrence
- Sebelius takes in inauguration
- PHOTO GALLERY: Busy day in Washington, D.C., as millions celebrate Obama inauguration
- PHOTO GALLERY: Locals celebrate Obama's presidency
- PHOTO GALLERY: Global reaction to Obama's swearing in
- PHOTO GALLERY: Inauguration Balls
Obama’s inauguration
Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009 — the first African-American elected to the position. Many locals will make the trip to Washington, D.C., to watch the historic event. Others will watch from here in Kansas.
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Washington — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, ill with a brain tumor, was hospitalized Tuesday but quickly reported feeling well after suffering a seizure at a post-inauguration luncheon for President Barack Obama.
“After testing, we believe the incident was brought on by simple fatigue,” Dr. Edward Aulisi, chairman of neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center said in a statement released by the senator’s office.
“He will remain ... overnight for observation, and will be released in the morning.”
The statement said the 76-year-old senator “is awake, talking with family and friends, and feeling well.”
The statement did not disclose the tests that were performed on Kennedy, whose seizure was witnessed by several fellow senators seated with him at lunch.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told reporters he and Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, grabbed the senator as he became ill.
Added Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., “It took a lot out of him. Seizures are exhausting.”
Even so, Dodd quoted Kennedy as saying, “I’ll be OK, I’ll see you later” as he was put into an ambulance.
“The good news is he’s gonna be fine,” Dodd added.
Kennedy had appeared in good health and spirits a few hours earlier when he stepped out of the Capitol and onto the inauguration platform where Obama took the oath of office. His endorsement of the former Illinois senator had come at a pivotal point in the Democratic presidential race, and the older man campaigned energetically for the younger one.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told reporters that Obama noticed when Kennedy became ill, and rushed over to his table.
“There was a call for silence throughout the room,” he said. “The president went over immediately. The lights went down, just to reduce the heat, I think.”
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, 91, also left the luncheon early, but his office and others said his health was not the reason.
Byrd “is currently in his own office ... and is doing fine, though he remains very concerned about his close friend, Ted Kennedy,” said Mark Ferrell, a spokesman for the West Virginia Democrat.
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