Inauguration Day Trivia
Anyone born after 1933 probably believes that Inauguration Day is around January 20th. ‘Twas not always the case.
Before the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1933, new presidents were sworn in on March 4th, or if that date was a Sunday, the day before or after. The rationale was that by moving the inauguration date to earlier in the year, it would eliminate the period the President was a lame duck. And by having the Congress opening on the January 6th, it could confirm the president’s nominees before he took office. In short, he Twentieth Amendment reorganized the government calendar.
Not only was Inauguration Day changed, but so was the Congressional calendar. Now, Congressional sessions were to begin on January 3rd.
So why March 4th? It was the first day that the new Constitution took effect in 1789. There was, before 1933, one exception – George Washington, who was sworn in on April 30th, 1789.
Washington’s first ceremony was held in New York City, the second in Philadelphia. Thereafter, all but one have been held in Washington, but not always on the steps of the Capitol building. When James Monroe was sworn in another building known as the Old Capitol Building because the Capitol that houses the Congress was being rebuilt, thanks to being burned by the British in 1814. There are other exceptions. One was Lyndon Johnson who, after Kennedy was assassinated, was sworn in on Air Force One.
The media likes to note that Trump’s second inauguration is being moved inside due to weather. Why?
William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the U.S. has the shortest time in office of any U.S. president of one month. On March 4th, 1841, it was cold, windy, and damp on Inauguration Day. Harrison elected not to wear an overcoat, read, at 8,445 words, the longest inauguration speech in U.S. history, and then sat on horseback to watch the parade. He caught pneumonia, and a month later his vice president, John Tyler was sworn into office in the Brown’s Queen Hotel in Washington, D.C. This is another exception to a President being sworn in a place other than the Capitol Building or the White House.
FYI, William Taft’s inauguration and Ronald Reagan’s second were moved inside due to cold and/or inclement weather. Swearing in Trump for his second term will be the third.
Three presidential swearing-in ceremonies have been held in the Oval Office – FDR was sworn in for his fourth term in January 1945; Truman’s in April 1945 after Roosevelt died, and Gerald Ford’s in 1974 after Nixon resigned.
Inauguration speeches have run from Harrison’s 8,445-word monologue to Washington’s second speech which was just 135 words. The rest fall somewhere in between.
Supposedly, all living presidents, given health, attend the swearing-in ceremony of their successor. Many like to think that presidents could put their bitter rivalries aside during the peaceful transfer of power. However, that has not always been the case, and the list is longer than one may think.
John Adams left Washington rather than attend the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson. John Quincy Adams skipped town rather than sit through the swearing-in of Andrew Jackson. Martin van Buren elected to skip the inauguration of his successor, William Henry Harrison, for reasons unknown, but it could have been the weather.
The day before Ulysses Grant was sworn in, Andrew Johnson had a cabinet meeting to say good-bye to them and left D.C. Woodrow Wilson said he was ill and did not attend the swearing-in of Warren G. Harding. We are bombarded by reminders that Donald Trump was absent from the swearing-in of Joe Biden. On January 20th, 2025, we’ll see if this list expands.
1913 Bain News Service photo of the swearing in platform being built for Wilson’s Inauguration.