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January 17th, 2017

10 things to know about Inauguration Day

U.S.

By Laura Rockefeller

American presidential inauguration ceremonies are full of tradition and history. On Friday, Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will be sworn in at the U.S. Capitol Building in front of thousands of spectators. Afterward, Trump will make his first inaugural address, followed by a presidential parade and parties called inaugural balls. You can read the full schedule of the day’s events here. Learn more about the significance of Inauguration Day with this list of facts: 

1. Inaugurations happen every four years when a new president is elected or the sitting president wins a second term. They mark the formal transition of power between former and incoming presidents. Trump’s inauguration will be the 58th in U.S.  history.
2. President George Washington holds the record for shortest inaugural address ever at just 135 words. His inauguration — the first in U.S. history — took place on April 30, 1789 in New York City.
3. After President Washington and until 1936, the inauguration was held on March 4. Congress passed the 20th Amendment to the Constitution in 1933 to shorten the amount of time between the election and inauguration, officially moving it to Jan. 20.
4. William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address but served the shortest presidential term. He was inaugurated on a cold, wet day in March wearing no coat and later became ill. He died 31 days later from what was believed to be pneumonia.
5. During Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration in 1865, African-Americans participated in the inaugural parade for the first time. African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglas also attended the ceremony. In his address, Lincoln stressed reconciliation and unity as the close of a bitter Civil War drew near.
6. Lyndon B. Johnson is the only president to have taken the oath of office on an airplane. After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in just two hours later aboard Air Force One before it took off for Washington, D.C. It was also the only time a woman, Texas state judge Sarah Hughes, administered the oath of office.
7. Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 drew the largest attendance of any event in the history of Washington, D.C., with 1.8 million spectators. The projected attendance at Donald Trump’s inauguration remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 800,000 to 3 million people.
8. The total security force for Trump’s inauguration will number in the tens of thousands. D.C. police, the National Guard, the FBI and other intelligence and military personnel will facilitate events, with additional law enforcement being brought in from across the nation.
9. The Women’s March on Washington was originally planned to take place during Trump’s inauguration, but had to be moved to the following day due to security and space restrictions. Protest organizers expect over 200,000 participants to join in the march beginning on the National Mall on January 21. According to its website, the event “will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office … that women’s rights are human rights.”
10. Although she largely withdrew from the public eye following her concession of November’s election, Hillary Clinton plans to attend Trump’s inauguration. Other notable guests include former President Bill Clinton and former President and First Lady George W. Bush and Laura Bush.

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Laura Rockefeller is a junior at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore, Maryland.