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Did you know ...... in 1953 Texas-born Dwight D. Eisenhower was lassoed in the reviewing stand by a cowboy who rode up to him on horse.... JFK’s inauguration almost went up in flames when the podium caught fire as Cardinal Richard Cushing was delivering the invocation.

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The line of black limos and Secret Service SUVs glided under the portico at the British Embassy, depositing resplendent revelers at one of the many über-exclusive cocktail parties of the inaugural weekend.There was the typical Washington A-list, bold-faced names rubbing elbows under a modern portrait of Queen Elizabeth II alongside—what else?—silver urns of hot tea and crumpets.

Charles Dharapak/AP

From the moment Michelle Robinson Obama hit the national scene during her husband’s first presidential campaign in 2008, experts have weighed in on every clothing decision she has made—marveling at how effortlessly she transitioned from the overly conservative business suits she once donned to the elegant runway styles of designers Alexander McQueen and Tracy Reese.

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It was a little after 11 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in mid-­January, and Joe Biden was settling into a conference room on the second floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his role as head of the administration’s gun-control task force—which President Obama had asked him to lead after the massacre in Newtown—Biden had convened a group of gun-control advocates for a frank discussion about preventing future deaths.

Scott Henrichsen/Newsweek

Is bipartisanship dead in Washington, D.C?It is perhaps an odd time to even be asking the question. This weekend, after all, is the moment to herald the new term of a reelected Democratic president, one whose November victory has seemed to bring no balm to the partisan rancor.

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The Daily Beast bipartisan brunch, in partnership with Credit Suisse, lived up to its billing: Democrats, Republicans, and independents, shoulder to shoulder at Cafe Milano, chowing down and toasting the start of a new term.With the second inaugural address one day away, I asked some of the assembled what they were hoping to hear from President Obama.

Luca Bruno/AP

President Obama was officially inaugurated into his second term Sunday, and with that comes a slew of new diplomatic appointments. According to The New York Times, the race for 30 or so politically appointed ambassadorships is now in full thrall.

Scott Henrichsen/Newsweek

The highlight of The Daily Beast’s bipartisan brunch, at least for those who witnessed it Sunday, was when John Kerry strangled Bob Woodward.Well, he didn’t actually strangle him, but it was a closer approximation of the real thing than Manti T’eo’s fake girlfriend.

Scott Henrichsen/Newsweek

At a Georgetown restaurant so packed with politicians and celebrities that movement could be measured in inches, Tina Brown spoke Sunday about her dream.Her vision, the editor in chief said over the din at Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s brunch this inaugural weekend, is of a city where “Democrats and Republicans treat each other with civility, dignity, and respect,” and “pettiness” and “partisanship” are put aside.

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Paul Simon and Samuel Jackson are among the 993 individuals and companies to have contributed funds to President Obama’s second-term kickoff on Monday, according to the inaugural committee.Is that Paul Simon the singer? Samuel L.

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Quick—name your favorite line from an inaugural address.“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

U.S. Capitol Building on Friday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty)

Inauguration weekend has begun with President Obama’s National Day of Service—a day of volunteer projects that he added to the 2009 inaugural schedule and hopes will become a presidential tradition. Speaking to a group of volunteers at Burrville Elementary School in Washington, Obama called the day an "affirmation that we're all in this together.

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The last Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009, dawned bright and cold. More than a million people, possibly the largest live audience ever to see a president inaugurated, and certainly the biggest since Lyndon Johnson’s inauguration in 1965, streamed to the Washington Mall for Barack Obama’s oath-taking as the 44th president of the United States.

The White House

This photograph matters.Presidential portraits are hung in the 294 U.S. embassies around the world as well as all federal government buildings across the country. The photo chosen ends up symbolizing the president in absentia, defining both a man and a country.