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It is uncertain whether Carter can maintain this open, folksy style under steady exposure to the imperial lures of the presidency. But the estimated 250,000 people standing along Pennsylvania Avenue had never seen anything like it before, and they cheered and applauded enthusiastically. Indeed, the entire Inaugural celebration marked a sharp departure in style from the past, though the festivities did not entirely live up to their advance billing as a "people's Inauguration."
Warmed by a solar heating system on the reviewing stand, Carter and his party watched a two-hour parade of 170 floats, bands and marching groups. Later, the Carters were plainly eager to get through the evening's festivities as fast as possible. Holding hands, they made a whirlwind round of all seven Inaugural parties, all packed tight with celebrators ("a can of sardines," complained Vice President Mondale at one point).
At each party the President engaged in some of the camp-meeting rhetoric that he used to good effect during the campaign. "How many of you think this is the greatest country on earth?" he asked the crowds, which responded with roars of approval. Then, gesturing at his wife's blue satin gown, which she had worn six years ago at his inauguration as Governor of Georgia, Carter asked: "How do you like Rosalynn's old dress?" Again the revelers cheered. The Carters did not actually dance until their second stop, the Mayflower Hotel, where they stepped out cheek-to-cheek to the strains of The Last Waltz. Before 1 a.m., about an hour ahead of schedule, they were back at the White House.
The Carters arose early the next morning to begin two days of receptions. The first was for about 1,000 people who had put up one or another of the Carters overnight during his campaign. Each received a bronze plaque engraved with this message: A MEMBER OF THE JIMMY CARTER FAMILY STAYED IN THIS HOUSE DURING THE 1976 CAMPAIGN. "These are kinfolk," Carter said with a smile. "I couldn't have done it without you."
As Carter was sharing cookies, coffeecake and fruit juice with his guests, his aides were getting down to business and rinding that they had little time to deal with many mundane but still important housekeeping chores—obtaining White House passes and parking places, and learning their way through the maze of corridors. Most offices were in need of a thorough cleaning and repainting, but Carter staffers seemed to be in no hurry to get their quarters redecorated. That would be considered bad form—out of keeping with the egalitarian spirit that Carter is trying to bring to the White House.