I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR . . .
Presidential inaugurations: 220 years of firsts
1793 1797 1801 1805 1809 1813 1817 1821 1825 1829 1833 1837 1789 1841
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
• First inaugural in Washington, the new capital. • First and only president to walk to and from his inauguration (1801).
James Madison
• First inaugural ball held on the day of inauguration; it was at Long’s Hotel on Capitol Hill, with music by the U.S. Marine Band. • First formal inaugural parade (despite earlier spontaneous gatherings to escort the president).
James Monroe
• First inaugural held outdoors in Washington. • First president sworn in wearing long trousers.
John Q. Adams
Andrew Jackson
Martin William John Van Buren Harrison Tyler
• First inaugural riot, as a celebratory mob overran the White House, causing major damage and forcing Jackson to escape the crush.
• First in • First to be war, first in sworn in by the peace and chief justice of first to the United establish States. these inaugural precedents: swearing the oath with his hand on a Bible; kissing the Bible afterward; and giving an inaugural address after his swearing-in. It’s debated whether he added “so help me God” to the oath. 1845 1849 1850 1853
1857
1861
1865
1869
1873
1877
1881
1885
1889
1893
1897
James Polk
• First inauguration covered by telegraph.
Zachary Millard Franklin Taylor Fillmore Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Andrew Lincoln Johnson
• First to include black men in the inaugural parade (1865).
Ulysses Grant
Rutherford Hayes
James Chester Grover Benjamin Grover Garfield Arthur Cleveland Harrison Cleveland
• First inaugural ball to feature an electric lamp.
William McKinley
• First and only president inaugurated to nonconsecutive terms.
What they said
“If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1801 “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in ... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” — Abraham Lincoln, 1865 “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — Franklin Roosevelt, 1933 “And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” — John F. Kennedy, 1961 “We are a nation that has a government — not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.” — Ronald Reagan, 1981 “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America.” — Bill Clinton, 1993
Where it happened
All presidential inaugurations took place in Washington except these: George Washington — New York (1789)
and Philadelphia (1793), before nation’s capital was moved to Washington. John Adams — Philadelphia (1797), the last inauguration before the move to Washington. Chester Arthur — New York (1881), just past midnight at his home, after President James Garfield died of an assassin’s gunshot wound. Theodore Roosevelt — Buffalo, N.Y. (1901), without a Bible, after the assassination of President William McKinley in Buffalo. Calvin Coolidge — Plymouth, Vt. (1923), at his family home, after the death of President Warren Harding in California. Lyndon Johnson — Dallas (1963), at Love Field in Dallas aboard Air Force One, after the assassination of President John Kennedy.
How long they said it
Shortest address: George Washington (1793), 135 words. Longest address: William Harrison (1841), 8,445 words; it lasted nearly two hours, in wet, cold weather, leading to the myth that it caused his death by pneumonia 30 days later.
What, no Bible?
Rutherford Hayes — In a private swearing-in
on March 4, 1877, in the White House (before a public swearing-in March 5 at the Capitol), Hayes did not follow the tradition of swearing on a Bible. Chester Arthur — At a private swearing-in at his home in New York on Sept. 20, 1881, after the death of President James Garfield, Arthur also did not use a Bible. Theodore Roosevelt — Sworn in without a Bible in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley. Lyndon Johnson — A Catholic missal was used because a Bible could not be found aboard Air Force One in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, after the assassination of President John Kennedy.
When it happened
March 4 — Date of most presidential
inaugurations until 1937, as called for by the 12th Amendment. The founding fathers wanted the president to take office on March 4, 1989, the day the Constitution took effect, though travel difficulties delayed the first inauguration until April 30. Jan. 20 — The 20th Amendment moved the inauguration up to Jan. 20, shortening the amount of time a lame-duck president remains in office. Franklin Roosevelt was the last president inaugurated on March 4 (1933) and the first inaugurated on Jan. 20 (1937).
1901
1905
1909
1913
1917
1921
1923
1925
1929
1933
1937
1941
1945
1949
1953
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
• First inaugural recorded by a movie camera.
William Taft
• First to be accompanied by his wife in the procession from the Capitol to the White House.
Woodrow Wilson
• First to include women in the inaugural parade (1917).
Warren Harding
• First to ride to and from his inaugural in an automobile. • First use of loudspeakers at an inauguration. 1973 1974 1977
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
• First inaugural address broadcast by radio. • First and only president to take the oath of office for a third and fourth term.
Franklin Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
• First inaugural to be televised (1949).
1957
1961
1963
1965
1969
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
Dwight John Lyndon Eisenhower Kennedy Johnson
• First to include a reading by a poet, Robert Frost. • First inauguration televised in color. • Last president to wear the traditional stovepipe hat to the inauguration.
Richard Nixon
• First and only president sworn in by a woman, U.S. District Judge Sarah Hughes, in Dallas aboard Air Force One.
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
• First inaugural held on Super Bowl Sunday. • Warmest inauguration (1981), 55 degrees. • Coldest inauguration (1985), 7 degrees.
Bill Clinton
• First inauguration broadcast over the Internet (1997). • A record 14 inaugural balls were held in 1993; Clinton attended them all.
George W. Bush
• First inauguration of an AfricanAmerican president.
Barack Obama
Sources: Library of Congress, AskGleaves.org, InfoPlease.com, Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
KARL KAHLER — MERCURY NEWS