Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 facts about Inauguration Day
5 facts about Inauguration Day
Sep 16, 2025 4:05 AM

Tomorrow is Inauguration Day, a day of ceremonies to mark the peaceful transition of federal executive power within the United States government.

Here are five facts should know about the most important date (after Election Day) on the political calendar:

1. Inauguration Day used to be held on March 4. That was the original date (March 4, 1789) when the Confederation Congress, which operated under the Articles of Confederation, handed off power to the new constitutional government. When the new Constitution changed the opening day of Congress to the first Monday in December (Article I, Section 4), March 4 was chosen as the last day of the two-year legislative session. Because elections were held in November, this created an extended lame-duck session. The Twentieth Amendment changed the date of inauguration to noon on the 20th day of January.

2. The Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8) outlined the exact wording for the oath the president must take during the inauguration: “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.” No one knows for sure who began the tradition of adding on the end, “So help me God” (some claim it was George Washington, though there is pelling evidence to support that position). Since the Constitution doesn’t specify the wording of the oath for the Vice President,who is also the president of the U.S. Senate, he or she takes the same oath as senators.

3. George Washington started the practice of swearing-in with the ing president’s left hand on a Bible (which he borrowed from a Masons lodge). Washington also started the tradition of kissing the Bible after the oath. That tradition was followed by most every president until Dwight Eisenhower, who said a prayer instead of kissing the Bible. Theodore Roosevelt did not use a Bible and both John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce swore on a book of law. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on a Catholic missal found on Air Force One even though he was a Protestant. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama each swore the oath on two Bibles, as will Donald Trump.

4. Since 1937, every inauguration has included at least two prayers given by members of the clergy (Baptists have given a prayer 14 times; Catholics 12 times). The last official inaugural event also includes prayer: the National Prayer Service (January 21) at the Washington National Cathedral.

5. Following the inaugural ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, the outgoing President and First Lady leave to begin their post-presidential lives. As the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies notes:

In the early 20th century, a new tradition evolved whereby the outgoing president quietly left the Capitol immediately following the inaugural ceremony. In 1909, after congratulating President Howard Taft, former President Theodore Roosevelt left the Capitol for Union Station, where he took a train to his home in New York. In 1921, an ailing President Wilson panied President-elect Harding to the Capitol, but was too ill to remain during the ceremony. Outgoing Presidents Coolidge and Hoover also left the Capitol for Union Station where they traveled home by train. Outgoing Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson left the Capitol by Car. Johnson and his family drove to Andrews Air Force Base where they boarded Air Force One for the trip home to Texas. . . . Since Gerald Ford’s departure in 1977, the former President and First Lady have left the Capitol grounds by helicopter (weather permitting).

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
‘Patrolling the boundaries…of democratic space.’
Maximilian Pakaluk, associate editor at NRO, examines a recent panel discussion given by the New York Historical Society, which included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Akhil Reed Amar, Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and Benno C. Schmidt Jr., chairman of the Edison Schools and former dean of Columbia Law School. The discussion was entitled “We the People: Active Liberty and the American Constitution.” Pakaluk observes, “The three speakers, but especially Schmidt and Breyer, agreed that...
The white man’s burden
William Easterly, professor of Economics at NYU, has written a new book challenging the prevailing development orthodoxy of increased aid and the “big push” bat poverty in the Third World. The White Man’s Burden: Why The West’s efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, published by Penguin is to be released on March 20th. I have only read a short bit of it so far, but what I have seen is refreshing. He...
Ethics and economics
Henry Stob, the longtime professor of philosophical and moral theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, authored pendium of articles on various aspects of theological ethics in his 1978 book titled, Ethical Reflections: Essays on Moral Themes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans). The book is now out of print, but I ran across an excellent section that excellently captures the intent of the work of the Acton Institute. In Chapter 2, “Theological Foundations for Christian Ethics,” he writes: Because man does in fact have...
There’s no such thing as “free” education
Citing a recent OECD report, the EUObserver says that European schools are falling behind their counterparts in the US and Asia. The main reason: a governmental obsession with equality that prevents investment and innovation in education, especially at the university level. “The US outspends Europe on tertiary level education by more than 50% per student, and much of that difference is due to larger US contributions from tuition-paying students and the private sector,” noted the OECD paper. Here’s how the...
Among the little giants of effective compassion
Last Wednesday, I was privileged to attend the Samaritan Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. I have to say up front that Acton’s Effective Compassion events are probably the most enjoyable for me to attend because invariably es into contact with a group of very special, very dedicated people who pletely devoted to what our society would term “lost causes,” and having great success. While there were a number of award-winning programs at the Gala this year, I’d like to take...
Benefits of tort reform
A recent NBER working paper, “The Effects of Tort Reform on Medical Malpractice Insurers’ Ultimate Losses,” argues that “The long run effects of reforms are greater than insurers’ expected effects, as five year developed losses and ten year developed losses are below the initially reported incurred losses for those years following reform measures.” A number of the specific changes in the history of tort law are discussed in Ronald Rychlak’s Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation,...
Politics and the pulpit
According to The Church Report, a new resource has been released which offers churches guidelines for keeping their activities and functions within the letter of the law. As non-profit organizations, churches are held to the same standard as registered charities and cannot engage in certain forms of public speech. A report by The Rutherford Institute, “The Rights of Churches and Political Involvement” (PDF), examines in detail what the restrictions are for churches. There are two main areas: “first, no substantial...
A golden opportunity for ‘The Silver Ring Thing’
Touting the success of his faith-based initiative last week, President Bush noted that faith-based charities received more than $2 billion last year from the federal government. But even as Bush announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be the 11th agency to establish an office for the faith-based initiative, some groups are finding the money to be a mixed blessing. An example is The Silver Ring Thing (SRT), which following a settlement between the ACLU and the Department of...
‘Solutions’
Go here for Acton’s new video, “Solutions,” which offers a real starting place for all of us who want to do something about poverty and hunger. ...
Ides
A snippet from the ing Religion & Liberty: It is true that democracy is the best of the political systems, in that it guarantees, through universal suffrage, a peaceful changeover of power. But democracy and its instrument, majority rule, is not a method to investigate the truth. –Rafael Termes The blessings and responsibilities of a peaceful political system: something for a free people to remember on this noteworthy day in March. ...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved