(WATCH) Inaugurations


America’s very first inauguration of George Washington as president was 236 years ago. Donald Trump’s second inauguration will be the 74th time a man has taken the oath of office as president. Lisa Fletcher has more inaugural trivia.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Claire Jerry: This is a carriage from Ulysses S. Grant’s second inauguration.

Claire Jerry is a curator of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and shares the strange and little-known history of Inauguration Day.

Lisa Fletcher: Has Inauguration Day always been held on January 20th in Washington, D.C.?

Claire Jerry: It has not. George Washington’s first inauguration was in April in New York City. They had not settled on a Capitol city yet. His second inauguration and John Adams’ inauguration were in Philadelphia, the new national capital, in March. Once Washington, D.C., was built, the inauguration moved there and was held in March until the second administration of Franklin Roosevelt when it was moved to January, the date we have today.

Lisa Fletcher: Speaking of George Washington, he was the first to have an inauguration, and there was no blueprint for the ceremony at the time.

Claire Jerry: They looked a little bit to some of the models from England, which was what they would have known. There’s no constitutional requirement for an inaugural address, but Washington gave one, so everybody else gives one.

Lisa Fletcher: You mentioned that presidents had been inaugurated outside of D.C. Have any taken the oath of office outside of D.C.?

Claire Jerry: Lyndon Johnson first took the oath of office on a plane where President Kennedy’s coffin had been loaded. Calvin Coolidge took the oath in his family’s living room, administered by his father, who was the justice of the peace.

Lisa Fletcher: Which presidents gave the longest and shortest inaugural addresses?

Claire Jerry: William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural address. It’s over 8,400 words. It probably took about three hours to deliver. The shortest inaugural address was George Washington’s second, 135 words.

Lisa Fletcher: Which was the first inauguration to be photographed and filmed?

Claire Jerry: The first photograph we believe existed of a president taking the oath of office is James Buchanan, in the 1850s. The first inauguration to be filmed was William McKinley. Calvin Coolidge was the first on radio. Harry Truman, the first on television, and Bill Clinton, the first on the internet.

Lisa Fletcher: Does the outgoing president always attend the inauguration?

Claire Jerry: Not always. John Adams did not attend Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration. It had been a very, very contentious election. They had been very close friends.

Lisa Fletcher: How has the role of First Ladies changed in the inauguration?

Claire Jerry: The balls, certainly, are something we tend to associate with First Ladies. Dolley Madison started that tradition. I think when we think about glamorous inaugurations, people’s minds go immediately to Jackie Kennedy, to Nancy Reagan, because they were women of such elegance and grace. But what I love to think about the inauguration is that it’s this moment of transition. The candidate is transitioning from a candidate of one party to president of all the people. The inauguration really both celebrates, and I think, makes that a very serious moment.

And while the flourishes change year to year, century to century, the core of the inauguration, central to America’s peaceful transition of power, remains unchanged.

For Full Measure, I’m Lisa Fletcher in Washington.

Watch here.


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1 thought on “(WATCH) Inaugurations”

  1. “The balls, certainly, are something we tend to associate with First Ladies. ”

    This is certainly the case for Michelle Obama

    (I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t resist : )

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