Photos: A History of Presidential Inaugurations Charts a Nation's Course
By: WSJ
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
From cowboys to saxophones—America has witnessed 58 presidential inaugurations in times of celebration and tumult.
President George Washington delivered the first inauguration on April 30, 1789, in Federal Hall in New York City. His second, in 1793, was one of the shortest inaugural addresses in history, at 135 words.
On a cold March day, President William Henry Harrison delivered one of the longest inaugural addresses in history without wearing a hat and coat, developing a cold, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The 68-year-old later came down with pneumonia and died a month later, on April 4, 1841.
A month before the Civil War began and with tensions running high, President Abraham Lincoln stood on the Capitol steps and spoke to the nation on March 4, 1861. 'In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.'
In his 1921 address, President Warren Harding addressed women who had voted for the first time following the ratification of the 19th Amendment the previous year. 'With the nationwide induction of womanhood into our political life, we may count upon her intuitions, her refinements, her intelligence, and her influence to exalt the social order.'
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first of a record four inaugurations occurred in 1933 in the middle of the Great Depression. He uttered the iconic phrase: 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'
In 1953, while sitting in the presidential viewing stand at the inaugural parade, Texas native Dwight Eisenhower was lassoed by cowboy Monte Montana, who did so on horseback after requesting the president's permission, according to an Associated Press report.
President John F. Kennedy threw five inaugural balls in 1961, where first lady Jackie Kennedy's ballgowns turned her into an instant fashion icon. President Harry S. Truman in 1949 had reinstated the tradition of inaugural balls after a hiatus in previous decades. President Eisenhower had two for his first inauguration in 1953, then four for his second.
Many inaugurations have taken place amid national crises. Richard Nixon's first inauguration, in 1969, occurred against the backdrop of riots and the Vietnam War.
President Ronald Reagan became the first president to take the oath on the west side of the Capitol rather than the east side during his 1981 inauguration. The Joint Committee on the Inauguration made the change in part to save money and because the Mall offered more space for crowds, according to Donald A. Ritchie, historian emeritus of the Senate.
President Bill Clinton played saxophone at the Arkansas Inaugural Ball in 1993, one of 11 he attended that evening.
President George W. Bush spoke on Jan. 20, 2001, just over a month after the Supreme Court ended a Florida recount, giving Mr. Bush a victory over Democratic nominee Al Gore.
Barack Obama made history by becoming the first Black president in U.S. history. He took office amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, telling Americans, 'The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift. And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.'
President Donald Trump raised the most money in history for his 2017 inauguration—$90 million, according to disclosures. Mr. Trump is also one of four presidents not to attend his successor's inauguration, the first in more than 150 years to do so.
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