January 2021 is kind of like leap year — it doesn’t have an extra day, but it has a special day. Every four years on January 20, it’s Inauguration Day. Inauguration Day 2021 (on Wednesday) will mark the 59th Presidential Inauguration in American history. The tradition of inaugurating a new president began on April 30, 1789 when George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president.
The Constitution originally fixed March 4 as Inauguration Day but it was moved to January 20, with the Oath of Office administered at noon, with the ratification of the 20th amendment in 1933. The reasons given for the date change include the unpredictability of March weather, improved roads, and the desire to reduce the time the previous president remains in office as a “lame duck.”
The first president to be inaugurated on January 20 was Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1937, when he took office for the second of his four terms.
Six times the death or resignation of a president required his successor to be sworn in immediately, so the oaths were administered as quickly as possible. Presidents William Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, and Gerald Ford had no “formal” inauguration Days.
The word “inauguration” means “beginning,” and comes from the ancient practice of augury, which means predicting the future. The day marks the start of a president’s term in office.
The Presidential inauguration takes place in Washington, D.C., on the western side of the U.S. Capitol Building. It has been conducted there since 1801, when Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated. The first Inauguration Day took place in New York City (which was serving as the U.S. capital.) The inaugurals of John Adams and Thomas Jeffersons second term occurred in Philadelphia.
The most important thing that happens on Inauguration Day — and the only event required by the U.S. Constitution — is the swearing in of the new president at noon.
The exact words of the Oath of Office are: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United. States.”
The Oath of Office is usually administered by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court — a practice since 1797. The only woman to administer the Oath was Federal District Court Judge Sarah T. Hughes. She was the closest Federal judge to the site of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson on Air Force One that was parked at Love Field in Dallas. This happened shortly after Kennedy’s assassination.
Presidents usually take the Oath of Office with their left hand on a Bible, but that is not required by the Constitution. Franklin Pierce and John Quincy Adams swore their oaths on law books. Lyndon Johnson used a Catholic missal found on the airplane in Dallas. Theodore Roosevelt didn’t use any book. Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H.W. Bush, and Barack Obama used more than one Bible. So far, all presidents except Franklin Pierce have chosen to “swear” rather than “Affirm” when taking the oath.
The Inaugural Address is a speech given by the recently inaugurated president — until 1897, the address was given before the newly elected president took the Oath of Office. But William McKinley waited until after he was sworn in to deliver his speech, and all the presidents since then have done the same.
Taxpayers pay only for the swearing-in ceremony — the cost of all that follows is funded by private donars.
Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021 on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. This year, the in-person gathering will have limited capacity and COVI-19 safety protocols. A lot of the normal inauguration activities will be “virtual.”
So let’s hope that on Wednesday the White House begins the return to “normal” — as well as Washington, the country… and the the world.
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