Chickens That Disrupted the Nixon 1973 Inaugural Ball, January 20, 1973, Smithsonian Archives - History Div, Chickens exhibited as part of an exhibit on American farm life at the National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History. One of these chickens, a Dominican Red rooster, escaped during President Nixon's second Inaugural Ball at the museum on January 20, 1973. Eighth Secretary S. Dillon Ripley captured the escaped chicken while it was bothering a female guest..