Inauguration Day is the day on which the President of the United States is sworn in and takes office. Originally held every four years on March 4, the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution changed the beginning of the President and Vice President's terms to noon on January 20th, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt's second term in 1937. The next Inauguration Day will occur on January 20, 2009.
Inaugural traditions
The U.S. armed forces have participated in inaugural day ceremonies since George Washington, because the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Since the first inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, that participation has been coordinated by the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (now called the Joint Task Force-Armed Forces Inaugural Committee).
The oath of office is traditionally administered on the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Since 1933, the Vice President takes the oath of office at the same ceremony as the President. Before then, the oath was administered in the Senate. The Vice President takes the oath first: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same: that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." This is followed by four ruffles and flourishes and Hail Columbia.
At exactly noon, the President takes the oath of office, administered by the Chief Justice of the United States, using the form mandated in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." (In the first inaugural, President Washington added the words, "So help me God" when reciting the oath, and they have been repeated by every President thereafter.[citation needed]) Only presidents Franklin Pierce and Herbert Hoover have chosen to affirm rather than swear.
Immediately following the oath, the bands play four ruffles and flourishes and Hail to the Chief, followed by a 21-gun salute from howitzers of the Military District of Washington. The President delivers an inaugural address, setting the tone for the new administration. Should January 20 be a Sunday, the President is usually administered the oath of office in a private ceremony on that day, followed by a public ceremony the following day.
Since 1953 the President and Vice President have been guests of honor at a luncheon held by the United States Congress immediately following the inaugural ceremony. Other than at State of the Union addresses and Red Mass, it is the only time the President, Vice President, and both houses of Congress congregate in the same locale.
Since Thomas Jefferson's second inaugural on March 4, 1805, it has become tradition for the president to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House. The only president not to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue was Ronald Reagan. He paraded down Pennsylvania Ave. during his first inauguration, in 1981, amidst the joyous news just minutes into his term that the American hostages held in Iran for more than a year had been released, but didn't do so in 1985 because freezing cold temperatures, made dangerous by high winds, cancelled the parade. In 1977, Jimmy Carter started a new tradition by walking from the Capitol to the White House, although for security reasons, subsequent presidents have only walked a part of the way.
The inaugural celebrations usually last ten days, from five days before the inauguration to five days after. However, in 1973, the celebrations marking Richard Nixon's second inauguration were disrupted by the death and state funeral of Lyndon Johnson.
The security for the inaugural celebrations is a complex matter, involving not only the Secret Service, but other Federal law enforcement agencies, all five branches of the armed forces, the Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC). One issue is the ability of protestors to express their Constitutionally-protected rights while providing protection for the government officals at risk for assassination or bodily harm. In 2005, protesters believed the area selected by the MPDC was too far from the parade route.
Other inaugural facts
Inauguration Day is a Federal holiday observed only by federal government employees who work in the District of Columbia; Montgomery or Prince Georges Counties in Maryland; Arlington or Fairfax Counties in Virginia, or the cities of Alexandria or Fairfax in Virginia, and who are regularly scheduled to perform non-overtime work on Inauguration Day. There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day. The primary reason for the holiday is to relieve traffic congestion that occurs during this major event.
Due to his religious beliefs, Zachary Taylor refused to be inaugurated, even in a private ceremony, on March 4 in 1849, a Sunday. He and Vice President Millard Fillmore were sworn in the following day, leading to the urban legend that David Rice Atchison, the former President pro
tempore of the Senate was, for that day, President of the United States.