DAR Eagle Lectern to Make Appearance at Inaugural Luncheon

For the fourth United States Presidential Inauguration in a row, the Inaugural Committee has requested the use of the historic DAR eagle lectern for the Inaugural Luncheon. This luncheon will be held in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol immediately following the oath of office ceremony. The DAR lectern was borrowed for this same luncheon for both of President Barack Obama’s Inaugurations in 2013 & 2009 and President George W. Bush’s Inauguration in 2005.

The historic lectern is original to Memorial Continental Hall and was frequently used at early DAR Continental Congresses. It was presented to the Fourteenth DAR Continental Congress in 1905 by the now-disbanded Flintlock and Powder Horn Chapter of Rhode Island as a pledge of “loyalty to the organization, and in the interest of purity, patriotism and peace.”  

The DAR eagle lectern first caught the attention of the nonpartisan Inaugural Committee in 2005 while they were visiting DAR headquarters as a possible venue for inaugural events.  When they spotted the eagle lectern, they thought it would be perfect for the Inaugural Luncheon and requested it be loaned for the event – and it has been used at the luncheons ever since. Some curious members have asked why they would have to borrow a lectern from outside of the United States Capitol Building when it is so historic and elegant in its own right. The Inaugural Committee said that, surprisingly, the Capitol does not have as nice a lectern as the DAR and that’s why they are so pleased to borrow our eagle lectern which better fits the importance of the occasion than the less attractive lecterns they had to use in the past.