The Inauguration of President Barack Obama

The Inauguration of President Barack Obama

Yesterday was a historic day. On January 20th, 2009, Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America - the first African-American ever to hold the office of U.S. Commander-in- Chief. The event was witnessed by well over one million attendees in chilly Washington D.C., and by many millions more through coverage on television and the Internet. Collected here are photographs of the event, the participants, and some of the witnesses around the world.

The Capitol is illuminated in the early morning hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (David McNew/Getty Images)

People gather to watch US President Barack Obama's sworn in as the 44th US president by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

This image provided by GeoEye Satellite Image shows Washington D.C.'s National Mall and the United States Capitol (top), in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 taken at 11:19AM EDT during the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken through high, wispy white clouds, shows the masses of people between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. (AP Photo/GeoEye Satellite Image)

A woman looks through binoculars at the Capitol building during the inauguration ceremony of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States in Washington, January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 44th President of the United States on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Barack H. Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States as his wife Michelle Obama holds the Bible and their daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama look on, on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Chuck Kennedy-Pool/ Getty Images)

President Barack Obama delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 44th president of the United States as the 44th President of the United States of America at the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)

People cheer at the Washington Monument during the inauguration ceremony of U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Mark Blinch)

Spectators in Times Square watch President Barack Obama take the oath of office during his inauguration Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Residents of Kibera, one of the poorest quarters in Nairobi gather to watch the inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama in Nairobi on January 20, 2009. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

People watch a big television screen broadcasting Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 during a ceremony at the Paris town hall in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Iraqis gather to watch televised coverage of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama at a cafe in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

U.S. soldiers watch the U.S. presidential inauguration via a webcast from Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Bob Strong (AFGHANISTAN)

Cecilia Perez, center, watches the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama with Oscar Rodriguez at her taco stand in Mexico City, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Villagers of Nyang'oma Kogelo, the Kenyan village where 44th US President Barack Obama's father was born, react as they watch on a giant screen inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama, on January 20, 2009. Thousands of people from around and beyond Kogelo, including foreign tourists gathered at Nyang'oma village to celebrate the inauguration of Obama. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/ Getty Images)

Shoppers watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama at the Best Buy Store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

People gather for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Rev. Joseph Lowery gives the benediction during the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

US Army Command Sgt. Maj. Julia Kelley, left, of the 229th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, weeps as she watches the inauguration of US President Barack Obama at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.

People attend the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

U.S. President Barack H. Obama greets guests after he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/ Getty Images)

Keith Hart, center, a Vietnam Army veteran, cheers as he watches Barack Obama be inaugurated as president, on television with other patrons of the Oxford Bar in Missoula, Mt., one of the oldest bars in Montana, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Michael Albans)

Vertie Hodge, 74, weeps during an Inauguration Day party near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 after President Barack Obama delivered his speech after taking the oath of office, becoming the first black president in the United States. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)

Members of a US Navy Honor Guard stand at attention as US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive at the Presidential Reviewing Stand during the Inaugural Parade January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images)

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle stand with former US president George W. Bush and Laura Bush on the steps of the US Capitol following the inaugural ceremony for Obama as 44th US president in Washington on January 20, 2009. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush wave as they board a Marine helicopter at the Capitol in Washington after Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A Marine helicopter with former President George W. Bush on board departs from the East Front of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington, as President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife wave goodbye from the steps of the Capitol. (AP Photo/Tannen Maury, Pool)

Former President George W. Bush looks out over the U.S. Capitol as his helicopter departs Washington, D.C. January 20, 2009, for Andrews Air Force Base following the inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama. (ERIC DRAPER/AFP/Getty Images)

Mujo Bota and Alamasa Bota, Bosnian Muslims, watch a TV broadcast of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama with their grandson Ajdin Bota, 10, in the village of Dejicici, near Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina on Tuesday Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Students of the Crested Butte Community School, in Crested Butte Colo. sit on the floor in the main hallway of the school and applaud the inaugural address of President Barack Obama while watching the presidential inauguration in Washington, Tuesday, Jan., 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)

Afghan men watch a television broadcast showing the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, at a restaurant in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Ahmad Masoud)

Kenyans who gathered at the grounds of the University of Nairobi to watch in giant screens the inauguration ceremony where Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America celebrate the ocassion on January 20, 2008. Barrack Obama's father was born in Kenya.

40 years after their silent protest at the 1968 Olympics, Gold Medalist Tommie Smith hugs Bronze Medalist John Carlos, and their wives Delois Smith and Charlene Carlos after Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the President of the United States. Photo taken in the Smith room at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, MA. (Boston Globe/Stan Grossfeld)

U.S. President Barack Obama with his wife Michelle at the inaugural luncheon after he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States in Washington, January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with U.S. Sen. John McCain after arriving at the luncheon at Statuary Hall the luncheon at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Amanda Rivkin-Pool/ Getty Images)

President Barack Obama signs his first act as president, a proclamation declaring a national day of renewal and reconciliation and calling on Americans to serve one another, after being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States during the inaugural ceremony in Washington Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, Pool)

A South Korean man reads a newspaper reporting on U.S. President Barack Obama's Inauguration on the subway in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo)

People wave American flags at the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk in the inaugural parade following his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

Sasha Obama waves through the limousine window as she and her sister Malia leave Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn- in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base January 20, 2009 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley-Pool/ Getty Images)

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images)

Guests at the "Biden Home States Ball" record the moment as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance at the Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill dance during the Commander in Chief's Ball at the National Building Museum in Washington January 20 2009 . (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance their first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

People watching President Barack Obama's inauguration via television raise a toast to the nation's new president at Brooklyn's Fort Greene Senior Action Center in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

In this handout photo provided by the White House, a folder for U.S. President Barack Obama (the 44th president) is shown, left for him by Former U.S. President George W. Bush on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C.