More than a million people flocked to the National Mall to take part in the event, spilling outward from the gleaming white Capitol steps toward the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial more than a mile away.
Choirs sang. Some of the world's finest musicians -- including classical violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, along with soul singer Aretha Franklin -- performed. High school bands paraded. And tears streamed down faces, weathered and smooth alike, here and around the globe, as the son of a white American and a black African ascended to his place in history.
Listeners listened, mesmerized as the speech rolled across the Mall from a sound system that took two or three seconds to get to the farthest reaches of the crowd. The echo meant that the field was never quiet, even when Obama paused, as though the words of the day couldn't be contained in a single moment or place.
One shadow was cast on the day, during the luncheon for the new president hosted in the Capitol's Statuary Hall by House and Senate leaders: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) suffered a seizure and was taken to a hospital.
Kennedy has brain cancer, but an aide said later that he was awake, talking with family members and feeling well.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), 91, the Senate's oldest member, was sitting near Kennedy and became visibly upset. He was taken from the lunch but is fine, according to an aide.
As is traditional, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were whisked away by helicopter immediately after the inaugural ceremony and headed for their home state of Texas after a private farewell to staff at nearby Andrews Air Force Base.
And almost at once, the wheels of the new administration began to turn.
In the afternoon, new White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as expected, put a hold on all regulations the Bush administration had been drafting, pending a review by the new team. President Obama is expected to begin issuing his own administrative measures later this week.
Obama made the appointment of his Cabinet his first official act, and the Senate approved several members before the day was over, though Senate Republicans delayed others.
Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton had been expected to win approval Tuesday, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) held that vote up for a day for further questioning about her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and his charitable foundation's foreign donors.
