Inaugural Pursuit

The trivial road to a peaceful transition...

Welcome to Inauguration Day, 2021!  Before Biden, the oath of office has been taken 72 times by 45 presidents of the United States. Over time there have been plenty of firsts, lasts, surprises, and promises for new beginnings.  Here are some of the best.

1789 Washington

First inaugural in NYC. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

1793 Washington

Second inaugural in Philadelphia. Shortest address 135 words:

Fellow-Citizens:

I am again called upon by the voice of my Country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavour to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of United America.

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President, the Constitution requires an Oath of Office. This Oath I am now about to take, and in your presence:  that if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly, or knowingly, the injunction thereof, I may (besides incurring Constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn Ceremony.

1801 Jefferson

First president sworn in in Washington D.C.  John Adams became the first president to skip his successor’s inauguration.

1809 Madison

Tickets for the first presidential ball ever were a hefty $4. That would be $84.71 today.

The president dressed in all American clothes:  Oxford cloth jacket from Connecticut, wool breeches from NY sheep, silk stockings and black shoes from Massachusetts.

Dolley Madison became the first First Lady to attend the inauguration.

1825 J. Q. Adams

Not only was he the first son of a president to become president, he was the first to wear long pants to an inaugural.  This was a big deal. Until this time men wore knee breeches like you see in the cast of Hamilton.

1829 Jackson

Only president to be widowed between election and inauguration. (Rachel died Dec. 22, 1828.  Jackson’s niece Emily Donelson assumed First Lady official duties.)

John Quincy Adams was the second president to skip his successor's inauguration.

Jackson held an open White House after his swearing in, a brief custom begun with Jefferson.  Thousands of imbibers later plus the extensive cleanup, the tradition was quietly dropped. 

1837 Van Buren

Presidents Jackson and Van Buren rode to the event in the same carriage, beginning a time honored ceremonial tradition of a peaceful transition.

1841 Harrison

First president-elect to arrive by train for his inauguration.

Longest inaugural address: 8445 words, delivered in a snow and rain storm for 1 hr 45 minutes.

Most American history books correctly note that Harrison was president for the shortest time, but that he caught his death of pneumonia delivering his inaugural speech. True, he performed that feat with no overcoat or hat. But in 2014, two University of Maryland researchers took issue with the historical pneumonia diagnosis after studying an account from William Henry Harrison’s personal physician. Jane McHugh and Philip Mackowiak concluded that the cause of death for “Old Tippecanoe” was “enteric fever” or typhoid, contracted from ingesting contaminated food or water. There was a lot of that in 1840s D.C.

1845 Polk

First inauguration to be carried by telegraph.

First inauguration to have a newspaper illustration, appearing in the Illustrated London News.

1857 Buchanan

First bachelor to take the oath of office.

First inauguration to be photographed

First time a new President told his audience he would be a one-term president.

1861 Lincoln

First president whose escort was a guard rather than an honorary escort.

A float carrying 30 for women representing all 34 states gave the president 34 kisses.

Lincoln did not attend the ball

1865 Lincoln

First parade to include African Americans.

Andrew Johnson became the first vice president to arrive hammered to an inauguration.

"The inauguration went off very well except that the Vice President Elect was too drunk to perform his duties and disgraced himself and the Senate by making a drunken foolish speech," Michigan senator Zachariah Chandler wrote to his wife. "I was never so mortified in my life, had I been able to find a hole I would have dropped through it out of sight.”  The Civil War was still in progress, but Sen. Charles Sumner commented on Johnson’s handling of whiskey and brandy as “the most unfortunate thing that had ever occurred in our history.”

1869 Grant

Andrew Johnson, the first impeached president, becomes the third to snub his successor’s inauguration.

Eight full divisions of troops participated in a large parade.

The ball was held in a newly finished section of the Treasury Building,  However errors in the jewelry check system caused guests to wait hours for their valuables, only to learn they had been the victims of a major heist.

1873 Grant

Food for the inaugural froze in the 16-degree weather.  The parade was hampered as several West Point cadets lost consciousness from the conditions. 

The ball was held at Judiciary Square in a temporary building that was so cold people were dancing in their coats, unable to enjoy champagne or ice cream, both of which had frozen solid.

1889 Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the only grandson of a president (William Henry) to take the office.  

The president moved a crowd into the White House, a total of eleven that included Mrs. Harrison, a son and daughter with their spouses, three grandchildren, Mrs Harrison’s elderly father, and a widowed niece. It was cozy, but the White House only had one bathroom at the time.

1897 McKinley

First inauguration recorded by a motion picture camera.

The event also featured the first president to attend an inauguration wearing just one shoe.  Outgoing Grover Cleveland was having a bad gout day.

1901 McKinley

Evening fireworks cancelled on account of downpour. 

1905 Roosevelt

The new president wore a ring borrowed from Sec. of State John Hay that contained a lock of President Abraham Lincoln’s hair.

A crowd of 200,000 witnessed the parade.

1909 Taft

Helen Herron Taft became the first First Lady to accompany her husband in the procession from the Capitol to the White House. 

First ceremony to be moved indoors after a blizzard left 10” of snow.

1913 Wilson

The inaugural ball was canceled for the first time since 1853. The NY Times reported that Wilson was concerned about the possibility of lewd dancing, specifically the “bunny hug’ and the “turkey trot.”

1917 Wilson

The events around the inauguration took a back seat to demonstrations by women picketing and demanding the right to vote. They were attacked by crowds of men. The press reaction to the violence overshadowed Wilson’s second inauguration.

1921 Harding

First president to ride to and from his inaugural in an automobile, a Packard Twin Six.

First president to use an electronic public address system, so most of the crowd could hear him.

1925 Coolidge

First to be broadcast on radio. Twenty-five radio stations reached an audience of 22,800,000.

1929 Hoover

The oath of office was administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft, twenty years to the day after Taft himself had taken the oath of office on March 4, 1909.

Crowds were thrilled by flyovers by the dirigible Los Angeles, along with 4 blimps, and 30 airplanes.

1937 Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first president to take the oath on January 20.  Until now new presidents had taken over on March 4.

1949 Truman

Harry S Truman’s address was the first televised inaugural, seen by ten million people as it was delivered. (100,000,000 listened on the radio.)

A major aerial display of 700 airplanes included five B-36’s.

1953 Eisenhower

“Ike” was the first president to be lassoed on the podium by a cowboy.

The parade included 22,000 service personnel and 5,000 civilians.  Also in the parade: 65 musical ensembles, 350 horses, an Alaskan dog team, 3 elephants, and a 280 mm atomic cannon.

1961 Kennedy

JFK’s was the first inauguration telecast in color.

First president to take the oath not wearing a top hat.

It was a cold day with 8” of snow the night before.  JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” line in his speech was delivered outdoors where it was 22*.

Marian Anderson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Robert Frost recited “The Gift Outright.”

The parade included 32,000 people, assorted missiles, and a truck pulling a WWII PT Boat like the PT-109 Kennedy commanded. On board were the eight surviving members of the original eleven-man crew who served with the new president in the South Pacific.

A pre-inaugural gala organized by Frank Sinatra included performances by Ethel Merman, Harry Bellafonte, Ella Fitgerald, Nat King Cole, and Gene Kelly.

1963 Johnson

Lyndon Johnson took the oath shortly after the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.  It was administered by the only woman to conduct a swearing in ceremony, U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes. 

Also the only swearing in to take place aboard an airplane which was on the ground.

1965 Johnson

First dog present on the reviewing stand. President Johnson’s beagle Him reportedly enjoyed the parade.

28,000 people paid $25 each to get into one of five balls that were held simultaneously.

For years the record holder for the largest attendance, 1.2 million.

1973 Nixon

Parade the was “The Spirit of ‘76,” criticized for costing $4 million

First president to exclude pigeons. Almost $13,000 was spent coating trees and power lines with “Roost No More,” a repellent supposed to make the intruder’s feet itch and cause such an irritation that they would fly away. Instead the birds found the toxic product tasty. Nixon’s motorcade arrived in the midst of a flock of dead and dying pigeons.

1977 Carter

First solar heated review stand and handicap accessible viewing.

First president sworn in by a nickname (“Jimmy.”)

First parade to include a giant peanut balloon.

1981 Reagan

The warmest Washington inauguration on record: 55 degrees. 

Amount raised for inauguration: $16.3 million

1985 Reagan 

January 20 was a Sunday. Reagan was sworn in in a private ceremony. The public inauguration took place Monday the 21st. Reagan flipped the coin at the White House that started Super Bowl XIX in California.

January 21 brought the coldest Washington inauguration on record (as opposed to the warmest ever four years before), 7 degrees with a wind chill of -20.

Reagan had a TV camera installed inside the presidential limo so he could be seen riding in his parade.

The jelly bean inaugural. Three tons of them, including the all new blueberry flavor introduced by Jelly Belly, so that there could be red, white, and blue versions of Reagan’s favorite candy.

1989 Bush

George H. W. Bush was the first sitting vice president to be inaugurated as president since Martin Van Buren in 1837.

Washington Metro set a single-day record of 604,089 trips.

1993 Clinton

January 17-19 saw a million people attend the Reunion on the Mall on the National Mall between Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument.  Entertainment came from Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Michael Bolton, and LL Cool J.

The gala the night before the inauguration included performances by Fleetwood Mac, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Bill Cosby, Jack Lemmon, and James Earl Jones. 

Following Clinton’s inaugural address, Maya Angelou recited her poem “On the Pulse of Morning.”

Amount raised for inauguration: $30 million

Attendance estimated at 800,000.

1997 Clinton

First inauguration to be live streamed online.

Last inauguration of the 20th century.

Rev. Billy Graham gave the invocation.

Jessye Norman sang.

Amount raised for inauguration: $29 million

2001 Bush

Second time in history the son of a former president had taken the oath of office.

300,000 attended the swearing in ceremony.

First presidential inauguration of the new century as well as the 3rd millennium.

Pre-inaugural gala featured Ricky Martin, Wayne Newton, Brooks & Dunn.

Bush’s limo was hit by a tennis ball and an egg during the parade.

Guests include Meatloaf, Chuck Norris, Rick Schroeder, Dixie Carter, Norm Macdonald, and David Spade.

Amount raised for inauguration: $30 million

2005 Bush

Attendance estimates ran as high as 400,000.

First presidential inauguration after the 9/11 attacks. Heightened security included 13,000 troops and police. A 100-square block area was blocked off from traffic,

Guests include Gary Busey, Ernie Hudson, Joe Piscopo, and Macy Gray.

Amount raised for inaugural: $42.3 milion

2009 Obama

First African American to be inaugurated.

Took the oath on the same Bible used by President Lincoln.

15,000 participants in the parade.

Aretha Franklin sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended at least 10 inaugural balls.

Amount raised for inaugural: $53 million

Record setting attendance of 1.8 million.

Obama took the oath again the next day, also administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., because both had stumbled over their words the day before.

2013 Obama

On Jan, 19 First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hosted the “Kids’ Inaugural: Our Children. Our Future.”

Military families were honored in a concert from Katy Perry, Usher, and Glee cast members.

A Sunday, Jan. 20 swearing in took place in the Blue Room of the White House. The public inauguration took place the next day.

Two Bibles were used, one owned by Abraham Lincoln, another by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The theme “Faith in America’s Future” was a phrase drawn from Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Performances by Beyoncé (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) and Kelly Clarkson (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee.)

Amount raised for inaugural: $44 million.

2017 Trump

Trump took the oath on two Bibles, a personal one from childhood, and one that belonged to Abraham Lincoln (the same one Obama used.)

Celebrity guests and performers included Jackie Evancho, Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down

Scott Baio, Caitlyn Jenner, and Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty.

Amount raised for the inaugural: $107 million ($1.5 million to D.C.’s Trump International Hotel)

2021 Biden

On Jan. 20, 2021, Biden will be 78 years, 62 days, the oldest person ever sworn into the presidency.  The previous record before that was Trump (70 years, 220 days in 2017,) then Reagan (69 years, 348 days in 1981), and William Henry Harrison (68 years, 23 days in 1841). 

Biden will be sworn in on an 1893 family Bible, Harris on one owned by Thurgood Marshall.

Kamala Harris is the first woman and first woman of color to be elected Vice President.

No inaugural ball this year due to COVID-19. Or will historians say “Masked Ball Cancelled.” Instead? Tom Hanks will host an inauguration TV special “Celebrating  America” live on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and PBS.  Scheduled to appear Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi, Ant Clemons, and Demi Lovato. Also set to perform Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Garth Brooks.

President Trump will be the fourth in history to snub the inaugural of his successor, the first since Andrew Johnson.