Some Presidential Inauguration Trivia

John F. Kennedy was the last President to wear a top at at his inauguration.

Teddy Roosevelt wore a mourning ring, contain a strand of Abraham Lincoln's hair, to his 1905 inauguration. The ring was given to him by Lincoln's secretary, John Hay who later became Roosevelt's Secretary of State.

One hundred canaries froze to death at an inaugural ball for Ulysses S. Grant in 1873.

Martin Van Buren was the first President to be inaugurated who was not born a British subject (1837).

Nine inaugurations have taken place because of a president's death or resignation: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Warre G. Harding, Franklin d. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy all died in office, while Richard Nixon resigned.

Thomas Jefferson was the first President to be inaugurated in Washington D.C. George Washington was inaugurated in New York City in 1789 and in Philadelphia in 1793.

Lyndon B. Johnson was inaugurated aboard Air Force One in 1963. He is the only President to have received the oath of office from a woman.

Warren G. Harding was the first President to ride to and from his Inauguration in an automobile in 1921.

Most Presidents have taken the oath of office on a Bible, but Richard Nixon used two Bibles, Theodore Roosevelt did not use a Bible at all, while John Quincy Adams swore on a book of law.

William H. Taft is the only person to have taken the oath of office as President and administered the oath of office as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Bill Clinton had 14 inaugural balls in 1997.

George Washington's second inaugural speech was only 135 words, while William H. Harrison's was 8,445 words long. He stood out in the cold for two hours, caught pneumonia, and died one month later. Harrison was the first President to died in office.

Gerald Ford was sworn in as President on August 9, 1974 as the only person to become President without be elected to the office or the office of Vice-President.

The Constitution mandates that the inauguration ceremony include this 36-word statement:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.

The Presidential swearing in always takes place at 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time.

A ticket to the first official inaugural ball (James Madison) in 1809 cost $4.00.

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.

John Quincy Adams was the first President sworn in wearing long trousers in 1825.

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.

William McKinley's inauguration ws the first ceremony to be recordd by a motion picture camera. (1897)

Calvin Coolidge's inauguration was the first broadcast on radio. (1925)

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

John Kennedy's was the first inauguration to be televised in color. (1961)

Bill Clinton's second inauguration was the first to be broadcast on the Internet. (1997)

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

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.