Before Trump took office… exceptional positions and events from the inauguration ceremonies of American presidents

Date of the inauguration ceremony of the American President

Inauguration ceremonies were held on March 4 from 1789 until 1937, but a constitutional amendment in 1933 changed this date to January 20, making Franklin Roosevelt the first president to take office in January 1937.

Funny and touching events

In 1789, George Washington’s first inauguration was delayed to April 30 due to the late arrival of members of Congress in New York.
In 1961, John Kennedy faced harsh winter weather, as the temperature reached -5 degrees Celsius during his famous speech, and Ronald Reagan’s second term in 1985 witnessed extreme cold that reached -13 degrees Celsius, which forced him to take the oath in Congress.

William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural speech in US presidential history for two hours in the bitter cold, causing pneumonia that led to his death just one month after taking office.
In 1829, the White House was crowded with twenty thousand people attending a reception for President Andrew Jackson, causing him to escape out a window.
In 1873, extreme cold killed 100 canaries prepared to sing during Ulysses Grant’s inauguration.

The constitutional oath and its performance

The President-elect takes the oath of office before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with his left hand resting on a Bible.
In rare exceptions, other figures took the oath, such as Federal Judge Sarah Hughes, who taught Lyndon Johnson the oath on an airplane after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Section text

The President’s Oath states:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and to the best of my ability will defend, preserve, and protect the Constitution of the United States of America.”
The Vice President takes the following oath before the President:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same Constitution, that I freely undertake this obligation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will perform the duties of the office which I shall enter upon. Honestly and sincerely: God help me.”
The elected president takes the constitutional oath before the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
During the swearing-in ceremony, the president-elect typically places his left hand on the Bible, raises his right hand, and then recites the oath as the chief justice repeats it.