04 December 2008

Did You Know?

•  George Washington gave the shortest inaugural address in history (135 words).

•  Chief Justice John Marshall presided over nine inaugurations, from John Adams (1797) to Andrew Jackson (1833).

•  In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was the first president to include African Americans in his inaugural parade.

•  In 1917, Woodrow Wilson was the first president to include women in his inaugural parade.

•  Inauguration Day was changed to January 20, from March 4, in 1933 by the passage of the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to be inaugurated in January.

•  Harry Truman’s 1949 inauguration was the first to be televised.

•  Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration (1981) was the warmest in history and his second was the coldest.

•  Robert Frost was the first poet to participate in an inauguration (1961, John F. Kennedy).

•  Bill Clinton’s 1997 inauguration was the first inauguration to be broadcast live over the Internet.

•  When January 20 is on a Sunday, the president-elect usually takes the oath of office privately and then repeats the ceremony in public on Monday.

More interesting facts can be found at http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts/index.cfm and http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/.