Four is Enough

We’re having people over on Sunday. When Claire told me about it, it occurred to me it was January 20th — Inauguration Day. Then I realized it was Sunday and I remembered that they don’t hold the Inauguration on Sunday. But I got to thinking — the 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed the beginning of the term of a President from March 4 to January 20.

I think Obama’s first term as President expires at noon on January 20th. So if the Inauguration isn’t held until the 21st, is there a period of time that the country would be without a President? I knew the answer to that question, but I decided to check into it just to be sure.

It turns out that this will be only the seventh time in our nation’s history that the constitutionally-mandated date for the Inauguration has fallen on a Sunday. President Obama, like those before him, will be sworn in in a private ceremony on Sunday (January 20.)

My extensive research came up with some information that a lot of people may not be aware of… at noon on January 21st, President Obama will have been sworn in as President of the United States four times. He took the oath twice in 2009, after Chief Justice John Roberts botched the wording the first time. And this year he will be sworn in in a private ceremony on Sunday and in public on Martin Luther King Day. I believe the only other President to be sworn in four times was Franklin Roosevelt — because he was elected four times.

Aren’t you glad you’re a faithful reader of this blog?
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