Last year at this time, we were inaugurating a new President — something we’ve done every four year since our nation was founded, and — hopefully — something we’ll continue to do forever.
This isn’t an inauguration year, but I think it’s something we should all be proud of and there’s a lot of interesting stories about the process and the event itself.
We think of January 20 as Inauguration Day, but that hasn’t alway been the case. Following Washington’s first inauguration, the Continental Congress declared March 4 as Inauguration Day. That date remained in place until the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president inaugurated on the new date — for his second inauguration on January 20, 1937.
Several presidents have been inaugurated in places other than Washington, D.C., George Washington is the only president to have been inaugurated in two separate cities. On April 30, 1789, Washington took the presidential oath on the balcony of New York City’s Federal Hall. His second inauguration took place on March 4, 1793, at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, which was then the nation’s capital.
After Warren G. Harding died in office, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his notary public dad. They were at a farm in Vermont and had to conduct the whole thing by kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 13, 1923. (The new President then supposedly went back to bed.)
Teddy Roosevelt assumed the role of president following the assassination of William McKinley. He was sworn in at the private home of Ansley Wilcox. Following the assassination of JFK, Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office on November 22, 1963 — while aboard Air Force One. (The oath was administered by Judge Sarah Hughes, who became the first woman to inaugurate a president.)
William Henry Harrison set the record for longest-ever speech with his 8445-word inaugural address. George Washington’s was the shortest with 135 words.
When Franklin Pierce was inaugurated (March 4, 1853) he became the only president to “affirm” the office of the president rather “swear” it. At the time he was in the midst of a crisis of faith — still reeling from the death of his only son.
The first Inaugural Ball was held during the inauguration ceremonies of James Madison.
Dolly Madison was the first First Lady to attend her husband’s inauguration.
John Quincy Adams was the first to wear long pants at his inauguration. In previous years, knee breeches were the standard “uniform”
Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn in on a Sunday, because he was very strict about “keeping holy the Sabbath.” The position of president couldn’t be just left vacant until Monday, so the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, David Rice Aitchison, was brought in to fill the vacancy. It would seem that makes Aitchison the 12th president and Zachary Taylor the 13th, but apparently he doesn’t count…
If you look at old inauguration pictures, you’ll see that the president-elect is almost always wearing a top hat. So apparently the top hat was part of the uniform of the day. It’s not clear why, or when, this tradition started. Kennedy was the last president to sport a top hat at his inauguration. Lyndon Johnson apparently ended the tradition.
Warren G. Harding was the first to travel to and from his inauguration in an automobile.
Harry Truman’s second inauguration was the first-ever televised inaugural ceremony.
Richard Nixon didn’t want his inauguration (in 1973) to be marred by a bunch of annoying pigeons, so he requested that tree branches along the parade route be treated with a chemical called Roost No More, which would supposedly make the birds’ feet itch so they wouldn’t want to perch above the president’s motorcade. The inaugural committee spent $13,000 to comply with Nixon’s request. But — the pigeon didn’t just sit on the branches, they wolfed down the Roost No More, which proved to be highly toxic to birds. So instead of dealing with the hassle of live pigeons in the trees, Nixon’s parade was marred by dead and dying pigeons littering the route.
Although George Washington owned a lot of land — more than 50,000 acres of it, in addition to Mount Vernon — he was considered “land poor,” meaning he didn’t often have a lot of cash at his disposal. His bank account was so low he actually had to borrow money to travel to New York City for his first inauguration.
So — hopefully my great-great-great grandkids will blog about interesting inauguration facts and stories when they’re my age…..
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