DR. WATSON S Presidential Inauguration Primer

Transcription

1 DR. WATSON S Presidential Inauguration Primer The Inauguration celebrates the coronation of the President of the United States and is an important part of the pageantry of American democracy, marking the peaceful transition of one government to another. Yet, little is known about why we have Inaugurals and the historical customs that are still present today. When was the first Inauguration? ASK THE PROFESSOR The first Inauguration celebrated both the U.S. Constitution taking effect and George Washington s presidency. Although the Constitution officially commenced on March 4, 1789, a harsh winter delayed members of Congress from counting the balloting for president until April. Allowing General Washington ample time to travel to the event, the first Inauguration did not occur until April 30, What is the date of the Inauguration? Because the U.S. Constitution is silent on the matter of when presidents are to be inaugurated, the date the Constitution took effect (March 4) was designated as Inauguration Day. Presidential Inaugurations used to be held every four years on March 4. However, Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned about the lengthy period between the election (first Tuesday after the first Monday in November) and Inauguration, especially when he took office in 1933 because of the crisis of the Great Depression. Thus, he began a movement to push up the date of the Inauguration and limit the time in office of the outgoing, lame duck president. This occurred with the 20 th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in That is why Inauguration Day is now on Jan. 20. Therefore, FDR holds the honor of being the last president inaugurated on March 4 (1933) and first to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 (1937).

2 Are all presidents inaugurated in Washington, DC? Most are and the official ceremony is held in front of the Capitol Building. However, because the capital city was still being constructed, George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York City. Likewise, Washington s successor, John Adams, was inaugurated in the new (temporary) capital in Philadelphia in Three presidents who assumed the office upon the assassination of their predecessors were sworn in at emergency ceremonies held in locations other than Washington. For instance, after James Garfield s assassination, Vice President Chester A. Arthur took the oath in New York City in 1881; Teddy Roosevelt s swearing in ceremony took place in Buffalo in 1901, the site of William McKinley s assassination; and, in 1963, after the death of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in while in flight back to Washington. After the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923 in California, his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, took the oath in Plymouth Notch, Vt. I ve heard of a secret swearing in ceremony any truth? There is no credence to the urban legends of a secret Masonic or Skull and Bones ceremony for presidents (or so I m told!). However, if Inaugural Day is on a Sunday, the president-elect takes the oath at a private ceremony that day. The public swearing in occurs the day after. Must the presidents take an oath? Yes, all presidents take the oath of office, as called for in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. All but Teddy Roosevelt took it with their hand on a Bible. The oath reads I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Did any presidents change the oath? Franklin Pierce (1853) and Herbert Hoover (1929) both used the word affirm in place of swear in their oaths, which is permissible according to the Constitution. Must the outgoing president attend the Inauguration of his successor? There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution mandating such, but nearly all do out of respect for the office and the democratic transition of government. There were four notable exceptions. John Adams skipped Thomas Jefferson s Inauguration in 1801, John Quincy Adams did the same with Andrew Jackson s Inauguration in 1829, and Andrew Johnson was a no show for U.S. Grant s 1869 Inauguration. In each of these three cases, there was bad blood between the outgoing and incoming presidents, and all three former presidents had been the subject of ugly attacks during the campaigns. Because he had just resigned from office in disgrace, Richard Nixon did not attend Gerald Ford s swearing in ceremony in Do all presidents deliver an Inaugural Address? Yes. These are considered, along with the actual swearing in ceremony, to be the highlight of the Inaugural festivities. In the addresses, presidents typically thank their supporters, bestow blessings on the nation, call on God s help, and lay out their vision for the country. However, most Inaugural Addresses have been rather uninspiring and empty of any memorable moments. Notable exceptions

3 are FDR s first Inaugural (1933), which stated, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself and JFK s Inaugural (1961), which gave us, Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Is there an Inaugural Address considered to be the best? Most historians feel Lincoln s second Inaugural Address was the best. Even Lincoln thought it surpassed his first address and his Gettysburg Address. In his second Inaugural Lincoln challenged the nation to patch up the wounds of the Civil War and move forward with malice toward none, with charity for all. The addresses by FDR and JFK are considered to be among the best. Did you know Brevity is best INAUGURATION TRIVIA The shortest Inaugural Address in history was Washington s second at only 135 words. Among the briefest addresses were those by Lincoln (1865) and Zachary Taylor (1849), which were 698 and 995 words, respectively, and are considered perhaps the best and among the worst in history. Long winded The longest Inaugural Address in history was delivered by William Henry Harrison in 1841 and was a whopping 4,445 words. Ironically, Harrison, in an effort to show he was a tough frontiersman (rather than the frail old man he was), chose not to wear his coat, gloves or hat despite snow and a chilling wind. The new president caught pneumonia and was dead one month later. Other long winded presidents were James Monroe (1817), Benjamin Harrison (1889) and William Howard Taft (1909). Hot and cold The coldest recorded Inaugural Day after the 20 th Amendment was a chilly 7 degrees (f) in 1985 for Ronald Reagan s second Inauguration. Reagan also enjoyed the warmest day on record at a comfortable 55 degrees (f) for his first Inauguration in Chief justice? Presidents are typically sworn in by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Upon the death of President Warren Harding in 1923 however, officials had difficulty locating Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who was in his hometown of Plymouth Notch, Vt. Once Coolidge was contacted in the remote, sparsely populated village, he took the oath in his modest home with the family Bible and was sworn in by the town s Justice of the Peace, who happened to be Coolidge s father. A somber affair Franklin Pierce had lost two of his three children in infancy. When his only remaining child, Benjamin, was killed in a train wreck just prior to the Inauguration of 1853, the ceremony was cloaked in mourning.

4 Mrs. Pierce was not in an emotional state to attend the event. So, Pierce asked the outgoing first lady, Abigail Fillmore, to preside at the ceremonies. Despite being ill, Mrs. Fillmore agreed to do so but caught pneumonia at the Inauguration and died a few days later. Premonition Margaret Taylor, wife of President Zachary Taylor, never wanted her husband to be president. She had asked her husband s supporters to leave him alone content in retirement. Herself in poor health and advanced in years, she wanted Old Zack to stay home or she would be obliged to go with him to Washington. She fretted about her husband s health and her own. Sure enough, the President died in office in 1850 after getting too much sun at an Independence Day event. Mrs. Taylor died in 1852, in what would still have been her husband s term in office. Inaugural ball The presidents and first ladies as well as their supporters party it up at the Inaugural Ball. These galas date to George Washington s Inauguration, but the first true ball as we know them today was held in 1809 in honor of James Madison. However, largely because of war and hardship, the Inaugural Ball was cancelled from 1913 to 1929, and again during the Second World War. In recent times there are multiple balls held throughout the capital city. In 1981, there was even an international ball held in Paris in honor of Reagan s Inauguration. Parades The first Inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue was held in 1889 featuring Benjamin Harrison. Thomas Jefferson decided to walk both to and from his Inauguration, making him the only president ever to do so. Today, the parade is covered by the press and is met with much fanfare. Jimmy Carter famously stopped his motorcade and, joined by his wife, walked part of the distance to the ceremony. Abraham Lincoln invited black citizens to walk in his Inaugural parade, the first president to do so. Poetry Twice presidents have asked poets to address the Inaugurations. John F. Kennedy s ceremony benefitted by the words of poet laureate Robert Frost, as did Bill Clinton s ceremony in 1993 with the participation of the poet Maya Angelou. Inaugural mess In 1829 Andrew Jackson, a man from the frontier, opened the White House to his guests, many of whom were attired in buckskin and also from the frontier. Some 20,000 people crashed the party, drinking massive amounts of alcohol and wrecking the building. The new president had to flee for his safety and spent his Inaugural evening in a hotel. Inaugural firsts James Buchanan s Inauguration (1857) was the first to be photographed. William McKinley s Inauguration (1897) was the first to be filmed. Warren Harding (1921) was the first to ride in a car to his Inauguration.

5 Calvin Coolidge s Inauguration (1925) was the first to be carried on radio. Harry Truman s Inauguration (1949) was the first to be televised. Bill Clinton s Inauguration (1997) was the first to be carried on the Internet.