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Show Ifffi Centmylimugurais Left theCapitol Reeling By Donald J. Frederick National Geographic News The nation's capitol is bracing brac-ing itself for the biggest inaugural bash since Andrew Jackson's time. A spokesman for Presidentelect President-elect Jimmy Carter has announced an-nounced that at least 300,000 to 400,000 party loyalists will receive invitations for the event and that everyone in the country will be welcome. No matter how many show up, it will be hard to match the madcap shenanigans surrounding sur-rounding Jackson's inaugural in 1829. The enthusiastic followers fol-lowers of the veteran Indian fighter and hero of the Battle of New Orleans poured into Washington from near and far to see the "People's President" Presi-dent" installed inthe highest office of the land, the National Geographic Society says. Slept in Streets Frontiersmen, clerks, and bankers, some with wives and children, jammed the boarding board-ing houses and hotels, slept in the streets, and whooped it up in the bars. "It was like the inundation of the northern barbarians into Rome...," said one eyewitness. After applauding Jackson's Inaugural Address at the Capitol, some of the crowd surged into a reception at the White House to the sound of crashing china and glassware. Many stood on satin upholstered uphols-tered chairs to catch a glimpse of their hero. One spectator called the scene "a regular Satunalia." The throng backed Jackson against a wall in the East Room. Alarmed attendants finally lured well-wishers outside out-side with tubs of punch placed on the lawn. Jackson's reception wasn't the first or last inaugural event to be marked by an unruly crowd. President James Madison's 1809 inaugural inaug-ural ball-the first held in the nation's capitol-set a precedent prece-dent in glitter and confusion. People jammed into a Capitol Hill hotel in such numbers that windows were knocked out for fresh air. The two dances that climaxed cli-maxed James K. Polk's rainy inaugural day in 1845 were designed to assure model decorum. One was prided at $10-a-ticket for high society, the other at $5 for the rank and file. Mixed With Masses Through an oversight, the diplomatic corps was not invited in-vited to the more expensive ball so it went en masse to the other. The result, according to a contemporary account, was the most curious melange, "since the time of the Ark." The wife of one diplomat i found herself dancing in the same quadrille with her gardener. gard-ener. Although the nation was troubled by the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural in-augural gala got out of hand. Hundreds stampeded the banquet ban-quet hall, fighting for places at the refreshment table, i Other unruly guests cut souv- enirs from brocaded window draperies and delicate lace curtains. In sharp contrast, Rutherford Ruther-ford B. Hayes had perhaps the quietest Washington inaug- . ural of them all. He was sworn ', into office during a private ; dinner party given by out- - going President Ulysses S. Grant. Hayes had lost the popular vote but won the election by a single electoral vote. In view of the controversy that developed, devel-oped, and the fact that Inauguration Inaug-uration Day in 1877 fell on a Sunday, it was arranged for the oath to be administered quickly and privately. Not even the dinner guests knew what was. happening. |