United States presidential inauguration
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The swearing-in of the President of the United States occurs upon the commencement of a new term of a President of the United States. The United States Constitution mandates that the President make the following oath or affirmation before he or she can "enter on the Execution" of the office of the presidency:
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 swearing-in traditionally takes place at noon on Inauguration Day at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., with the Chief Justice of the United States administering the oath. From the presidency of Martin Van Buren through Jimmy Carter, the ceremony took place on the Capitol's East Portico. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held at the Capitol's West Front. The inauguration of William Howard Taft in 1909 and Reagan in 1985 were moved indoors at the Capitol due to cold weather. Until 1933, Inauguration Day was March 4. Since then, Inauguration Day has occurred on January 20 (the 1933 ratification of the Twentieth Amendment changed the start date of the term).
Since Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth swore in President John Adams, no Chief Justice has missed the Inauguration Day swearing-in. When Inauguration Day has fallen on a Sunday, the Chief Justice has administered the oath to the President either on inauguration day itself or on the preceding Saturday privately and the following Monday publicly. Eight presidential deaths and Richard Nixon's resignation have forced the oath of office to be administered by other officials on other days. The War of 1812 and World War II forced two swearing-ins to be held at other locations in Washington, D.C.
From 1789 through 2005, the swearing-in has been administered by 14 Chief Justices, one Associate Justice, three federal judges, two New York state judges, and one notary public. Though anyone legally authorized to administer an oath may swear in a President, to date the only person to do so who was not a judge was John C. Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge's father, a notary whose home the then-Vice President was visiting in 1923 when he learned of the death of President Warren G. Harding.
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[edit] Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
The addresses are given each time that a President is inaugurated. 55 addresses have been given by 37 presidents. George Washington's second address was the shortest (135 words) and William Henry Harrison delivered the longest (8,495 words). Five presidents never gave an address: Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, and Ford. In each of these cases, the incoming President was succeeding a President who had either resigned, or died in office, and was subsequently not elected to a full term.
[edit] Locations
With only one exception, all of the addresses were given at the building housing the United States Congress. Washington gave his first address at Federal Hall in New York City and his second address in Congress Hall in Philadelphia. Adams also gave his in Congress Hall in Philadelphia. Jefferson gave both of his addresses at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. and all addresses since then have been given there as well, except for Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth address, which he gave at the White House.
[edit] Dates
Presidents have delivered addresses on five different calendar dates in the year: April 30, March 4, March 5, January 20 and January 21. Washington gave his first address on April 30, 1789 and he gave his second one on March 4, 1793, which was the commencement date for presidential terms. This March 4 commencement date was changed to January 20 by the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[edit] Sunday exceptions
From the years 1793 to 1933, the addresses were given on March 4 with only four exceptions. Because March 4 fell on a Sunday in each of their respective inaugural years, Monroe, Taylor, Hayes and Wilson each gave an address on Monday, March 5. Since 1937, addresses have been given on January 20 with only three exceptions. Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan each gave an address on Monday, January 21.
[edit] Religion
George Washington's second address is the only one to contain no mention of the Christian God. Thirty-four of the 55 addresses contain the word "God." The addresses that refer to, but do not contain the word "God" instead say Giver of Good, Heaven, Almighty, Divine, or Providence. The last president not to say "God" was Franklin D. Roosevelt (second address).
[edit] Details
Note: There is no requirement that any book, or in particular a book of sacred text, be used to administer the oath, and none is mentioned in the Constitution. Use of the Bible being customary for oaths, at least in the 18th and 19th centuries, a Bible was generally used. On some occasions, the particular passage to which it was opened has been recorded, as below.
[edit] Trivia
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- William H. Taft is the only former President to become Chief Justice, and in that capacity he administered the oath of office to both Calvin Coolidge (in 1925) and Herbert Hoover (in 1929).
- Most presidents have taken the oath with their left hand on a Bible and some presidents have even selected a specific Biblical verse to place their hand on.
- Though Reagan's initial swearing-in at the White House for his second term is properly styled as "private" (since it was not open to the public), it was televised. The same location was used later in the day when, with a National Football League official present (and in uniform), Reagan made the televised coin toss to open Super Bowl XIX.
- President Zachary Taylor refused to take the inaugural oath on Inauguration Day, 1849, because it fell on a Sunday. He took the oath of office one day later, on March 5, 1849.
- Chief Justice Roger Taney swore in more men as presidents than any other Chief Justice with seven: Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. John Marshall administered more oaths of office with nine, but only swore in five men since Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson had won re-elections and were inaugurated twice.
- President George H. W. Bush spent $30 million on his inaugural celebration, a 20th century record.
[edit] Further reading
- Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States (ISBN 1-58734-025-9)
[edit] See also
- Category:United States presidential inaugural addresses
- Inauguration
- State of the Union Address
- President of the United States
[edit] External links
- Full texts of all U.S. Inaugural Addresses at Bartleby.com
- Presidential Oaths of Office (Library of Congress)
- Bibles and Scripture Passages Used by Presidents in Taking the Oath of Office, Library of Congress
- Video at YouTube Video of inaugurations from Franklin D. Roosevelt - George W. Bush
[edit] References
- ^ a b Individual named is the U.S. Chief Justice, unless otherwise indicated
- ^ a b Architect of the Capitol
- ^ a b Presidential Oaths of office and Bible verses used
- ^ a b Beliefnet.com
- ^ Chancellor of the State of New York
- ^ Masonic Bible
- ^ Opened at random due to haste.
- ^ Bowen, Clarence W. The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington, N.Y. 1892, p. 72
- ^ Supreme Court Associate Justice
- ^ Used a book of US law instead of a Bible [1]
- ^ Files of the Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress
- ^ a b Chief Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia
- ^ Affirmed instead of swearing the oath.
- ^ Did not kiss Bible.
- ^ Opened at random.
- ^ Wright, John. Historic Bibles in America, N.Y. 1905, p. 46
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k List compiled by Clerk of the Supreme Court, 1939
- ^ a b c d Did not swear on any book.
- ^ a b One source (The Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 23, 1881, p. 5) says that Garfield and Arthur used the same passage, but does not indicate which one.
- ^ Judge, New York Supreme Court
- ^ Opened at random by Chief Justice
- ^ Bible given to him by Methodist church congregation
- ^ U.S. District Judge (Western District of New York)
- ^ His father, a notary public.
- ^ SAM 26000, this airplane's proper designation, is now at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Officially, "Air Force One" is an air traffic control call sign for any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President, though it has informally been extended to the aircraft maintained for that purpose (including SAM 26000).
- ^ U.S. District Judge (Northern District of Texas)
- ^ No Bible was found aboard the plane, so Pres. Kennedy's Roman Catholic Missal, which was found in a drawer, was used.
- ^ Mooney, Booth. The Lyndon Johnson Story, p. 1
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