I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR

JANUARY 20TH:  FROM JFK TO TRUMP

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th POTUS fifty-seven years ago, January 20, 1961.  It has been one year since the 45th POTUS, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated.  Between the two, eight POTUS* have been inaugurated on this date.

In 1933, the date of presidential inaugurations was moved from March 4th to January 20th**, but the first inauguration held on the new date was not until 1937 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in for a second term.

Julia Guilardi explains the reason for moving up the inaugural date.  In 1933, the nation was in the worst economic depression in its history.  The times required immediate action, but FDR, elected in November 1932, could not do anything for four long months.  Moving the date of the inauguration back more than a month would help remedy that problem in the future.

Presidential inaugurations held on January 20 from 1937 to 1977 were held on the East Portico of the United States Capitol here in Washington, D.C. with the exception of 1945 when FDR's 4th inaugural was held on the South Portico of the White House.

Presidential inaugurations held on January 20 from 1981 to 2017 were held on the West Front of the United States Capitol with the exception of 1985 when Ronald Reagan's 2nd inaugural was held in the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid temperatures.

*LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, & Obama.

**The change was made with ratification of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution on Jan 23, 1933.  The amendment moved the beginning & ending dates for the terms of the President & Vice-President from March 4 to Jan 20 & members of Congress from March 4 to Jan 3.

SOURCE

"This is why Inauguration Day is held on January 20", by Julia Guilardi, January 18, 2017, www.boston.com/

JFK Takes Oath of Office
January 20, 1961

Photo by Chief Signal Officer

DJT Takes Oath of Office

January 20, 2017

White House Photo

INAUGURATION DAY

MARCH 4, 1793 TO MARCH 4, 1933

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) From President George Washington's second Inaugural in 1793, March 4th has been Inauguration Day, with few exceptions, until President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Inaugural in 1933.  The exceptions were when the date fell on a Sunday.  Those Inaugurals were held on Monday, March 5th.

The first Inauguration was held in New York City on April 30, 1789, and after passage of the 20th Amendment, the date was moved to January 20th.  The move was helpful to reduce the length of time between the election of a president and the Inauguration.

The last March 4th Inauguration was the first of four for Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR was sworn in 82 years ago today by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes on the East Front of the United States Capitol.

Standing in the rain on a gloomy day in an equally gloomy economic period of our nation's history, Governor Roosevelt placed his hand on the family Dutch Bible published in 1686. 

FDR repeated the Oath of Office on the oldest Bible ever to be used in an inauguration.

FDR and Eleanor in Inaugural Parade

LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION 150 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) A century and a half ago today, March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.

Weeks of rain left the streets of the Nation's Capital in mud and standing water, but the completed Capitol Dome above the President's head was a visible symbol that the United States had survived during the catastrophic Civil War.

President Lincoln concluded what many scholars deem as the best presidential inaugural address ever given with these words....

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

Lincoln's Second Inauguration
March 4, 1865
Photo by Alexander Gardner
Library of Congress Image