18 pages • 36 minutes read
On the Pulse of Morning
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Background
Socio-Historical Context: 1993 in America and Bill Clinton’s First Inauguration
The inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993 represented a new era in American politics, culture, and life. While incredible change had happened over the past 20 years, Clinton’s election signaled the beginning of 1990s American culture. It also marked a distinct break from the 1970s and 1980s, as Republicans and conservativism had—the brief Presidency of Jimmy Carter aside–dominated American politics since the election of Richard Nixon in 1968.
Ronald Reagan’s two-term presidency defined American political life in the 1980s, and with him came a very conservative, Cold War era. His successor, George H. W. Bush, continued many of Reagan’s policies and maintained the same national temperament. Even though the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the USSR dissolved in 1991, the real shift out of Cold War mentality took a few years to take hold in America, and with remnants of the Reagan administration still in power, this shift did not occur politically for some time.
But Clinton represented a new era. He was relatively young when he was elected and the first Baby Boomer president. He was also a popular candidate across racial lines, winning nearly 75% of the Black vote during the Democratic primary leading up to the general election. Clinton was effective in courting Black voters and representing himself as being comfortable in the Black community–a challenge for many white politicians.
Clinton’s age and his appeal across racial demographics helped position his incoming administration as energetic, new, and youthful. It set the stage for the social progression of the 1990s that would emerge during his administration, including more diversity in politics and entertainment.
His selection of Angelou, a Black woman, as the poet for his inauguration was another sign that this was a different era. It was a far cry from the only other selection of a poet for an inauguration when John F. Kennedy, another young Democrat following a popular, older Republican president, chose Robert Frost to read at the 1961 inauguration.
Literary Context: Robert Frost’s 1961 Inauguration Poem
While Kennedy was also seen as a young, progressive, transformative President when he was elected, it did take some time for him to really embrace some of the progressive changes that would come later in the 1960s. In many ways, Kennedy’s initial approach to politics resembled the older established guard. Kennedy, after all, was a Cold War president, and his approach to the Soviet Union during his 1961 inaugural speech clearly reflected his focus on the conflict with the Soviets.
But more important to Angelou is the precedent set by Robert Frost’s poem at the 1961 inauguration. Frost read the poem “The Gift Outright,” which is a poem that focuses on the established narrative of American exceptionalism and the idea that the land existed as the birthright for white settlers. The poem refers to America with lines like, “She was our land more than a hundred years / Before we were her people. She was ours” (Lines 2-3). Lines like these have been criticized by contemporary critics as being dismissive of native people. Additionally, the poem is written in dialogue with the idea of manifest destiny and westward expansion, as it argues that before the expansion of white settlers, the land was “unstoried, artless, unenhanced” (Line 15).
Angelou, being only the second poet to read a poem during an inauguration, took the opportunity to correct this view of history and, while still praising America, acknowledge its historical injustices.
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By Maya Angelou
