Kentucky's current governor will be sworn in at midnight.

The private ceremony kicks off Governor Bashir's second inauguration.

Renee Shaw recently sat down with historian Ron Bryant, who has some insight into why the swearing in takes place so late.

As well as background on the peculiar part of the oath of office.

The Kentucky governors still take today.

And that period of time from before the official inauguration, there has to be an executive, a chief executive.

So therefore, as soon as that clock gets toward midnight, you better have somebody in over there to actually take the oath.

So if anything happened, you know, something terrible or something, there would be a continuity.

Very right.

But we don't have a transition of office this time.

So why is it necessary?

The Constitution requires an inaugural and an actual swearing in, and you have to do that.

And so, again, continuity.

Make sure that the person is there and sworn in and then the next day they can do the formal thing for the public, for the public.

And so the public gets if they're up and they're watching, they get a an intimate view of this that's happening in the Capitol Rotunda this time.

And so an interesting event, as it always is.

And let's talk about the oath of office.

Yes.

So you probably have it memorized?

No, I think.

But of course, it says and I won't read it all because I don't want to be a spoiler, but there's part of it that says I, being a citizen of this state, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this state, nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons.

Nor have I acted as second and carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending.

So help me God.

That's how it ends.

Why is that language there, Mr. Bryant?

That duel dueling.

And dueling courts?

Yes, sir.

That has been there, of course, since the last Constitution in 1891, for sure.

Kentuckians had a bad habit of shooting at each other over politics, and sometimes it was quite deadly.

So the dueling thing was a real thing in those days.

And to make sure that no governor or lieutenant governor or anything like that would have been caught in such a thing, they put that in there to make sure that that wouldn't happen, because then you would not have the scandal of a duel or a murder or something like that.

You have to make it above board.

And so I am a great supporter of that clause.

There's been moves through the years to get rid of it.

You don't think it's antiquated?

Not at all.

I think it's even more valid today than it ever was.

But now it's a violent past that we had in politics, and that was to make sure that something like that could not happen again.

And people were actually shooting each other very quickly over politics.

And I think if my memory serves me correct, the last formal duel in Kentucky took place about 1866.

So even they were still afraid, even though nearly 30 years later, that they had to keep that in there.

Yes.

And of course we remember the Goebel assassination that so there was violence.

And I want you to talk about William Gold.

William Goebel the people there still people in the commonwealth of Kentucky that say you mean the person that was never governor or the person that was sworn in only when he was after was dead.

Well, we'll never know the truth of all of that.

We probably will never know who actually shot him.

But in 1900, in January of 1900, when he was walking to the old Capitol building, which was still the serving Capitol building, someone shot him from the office of the secretary of state and a, whether he was dead right there or not, we don't know.

Well, you will see full coverage of tomorrow's inauguration live throughout the day tomorrow.

You'll see the swearing in of Governor Andy Beshear and Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman.

Then, nine year old parade and the Grand march.

So join us tomorrow for all of that here on KCET.