Invitation to the Inauguration of Barack Obama

One million invitations to Barack Obama's inauguration were sent out in the first week of January 2009. Printed between December 11, 2008 and January 2, 2009, the invitations invited people to celebrate Barack Obama being inaugurated as the forty-fourth President of the United States. The invitations have kept the same basic design of a gold seal and black script since the 1949 inauguration of Harry S. Truman, but this invitation was produced in a green manner, using recycled paper, by companies certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Design
The invitations have followed the same design since those for Harry S. Truman's presidential inauguration on January 20, 1949. The invitations have a gold embossed inauguration seal at the top of the page, and black-inked script using customized Shelley Alegro and Kuenstler typefaces. The invitation reads, "The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of Barack H. Obama as President of the United States of America and Joseph R. Biden Jr. as Vice President of the United States of America on Tuesday, the twentieth of January two thousand and nine in the city of Washington." The first plate had to be scrapped because it was engraved without Barack's middle initial. The golden seal was engraved in three printing runs. The first print laid down a rough-textured basic gold shape. The second run added smoothness and shine, and the final print run added the fine details to the seal. The Whiting Paper Mill, owned by Neenah Papers, another FSC certified company, converted the pulp into Neenah's Classic Crest Papers Recycled 100 Natural White, which contains FSC certified fibers, and is made with 100 percent renewable energy, in a completely carbon-neutral, chlorine-free process. The paper was delivered to Precise by Central National-Gottesman, another FSC certified company.
Recipients
Prompt Mailers of Staten Island, New York were tasked with mailing the invitations. Envelopes had to be inserted with the invitations, a letter from the Presidential Inaugural Committee and a leaflet from the inaugural store. Between December 31, 2008 and and January 7, 2009, 3,100 to 3,500 envelopes were filled and sealed every hour. The Tuskegee Airmen were among the invited guests for the inauguration. The five-person crew of US Airways Flight 1549, including pilot Chesley Sullenberger, were also invited. Hollywood celebrities Beyonce, Jay-Z, Steven Spielberg, Magic Johnson, Dustin Hoffman, Muhammad Ali, John Cusack, and Oprah Winfrey recieved invitations, as well as politicians such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and Arizona Senator John McCain.
Eighty-seven year old Sarah Obama led a group of Obama's Kenyan relatives from his father's home village of Kogelo. Other relatives traveling to Washington from Kenya as guests included Obama's aunt, Maggie Obama, and an uncle, Said Obama.

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