2021 marks sixty years since John F. Kennedy’s inauguration as the 35th president of the United States on January 20, 1961. Kennedy was the first Catholic and the youngest person to be elected president in U.S. history, taking the office at 43 years old. Take a look back at the day in these historical photos.
President Dwight Eisenhower shakes hands with Jacqueline Kennedy as she and her husband, President-elect John F. Kennedy, arrive at the North Portico of the White House on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo)Retiring President Dwight Eisenhower and his successor John F. Kennedy, left, leave the White House to ride together to the Capitol for the inauguration of Kennedy as the 35th president, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)Troops parade on Pennsylvania Avenue preceding the presidential cortege during the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th U.S. president, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington D.C. (Sam Schulman/AFP via Getty Images)President John F. Kennedy stands on a platform for his inauguration as 35th President on the east front of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. With him from left to right are his parents, Rose and Joseph Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)John F. Kennedy, right of center, is sworn in as the 35th U.S. president by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, center left, on Jan. 20, 1961, in front of the Capitol in Washington. Attending are, at the first row, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, left, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, second to the right, and former Vice President Richard Nixon. (AFP via Getty Images)A detail of a handwritten poem by Robert Frost appears at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston Thursday, April 20, 2006. The poem, “Dedication,” was written for the January 1961 inauguration of President Kennedy, but never read by Frost in its entirety at the ceremony because of glare from the sun. Frost was 86 at the time. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson drink coffee as they watch the inaugural parade pass the reviewing stand in front of the White House, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. The president’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., left, speaks to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, as former President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess Truman, seated behind Johnson, look on. (AP Photo/File)In this Jan. 20, 1961, file photo, President John F. Kennedy gives his inaugural address at the Capitol in Washington after taking the oath of office. Listening in the front row, from left are incoming Vice President Lyndon Johnson, outgoing vice president and Kennedy’s defeated presidential opponent Richard M Nixon, Sen. John Sparkman, D- Ala., and former President Harry Truman. (AP Photo/File)First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy with her husband, President John F. Kennedy, moments after he became president, Jan. 20, 1961, in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)President John F. Kennedy is driven through the crowded streets with his wife Jackie on the day of his inauguration, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. (Keystone/Getty Images)President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy attend the inaugural ball, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Library Archives/Newsmakers)President John F. Kennedy, right, with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, center, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson during Kennedy’s inauguration ball on Jan. 20, 1961, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Kennedy was the first Catholic and the youngest person to be elected president in U.S. history, taking the office at 43 years old. (AFP via Getty Images)
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