On This Day – January 20th

The inauguration of the President of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the President of the United States. This ceremony takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term. Since 1937, it has taken place on January 20th, which is 72 to 78 days after the November presidential election (on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November). The term of a president commences at noon ("EST" – Eastern Standard Time) on that day, when the Chief Justice of the United States administers the oath of office to the president. However, when January 20 falls on a Sunday, the chief justice administers the oath to the president on that day privately and then again in a public ceremony the next day, on Monday, January 21th. The most recent presidential inauguration ceremony was the swearing in of Donald Trump to a four-year term of office on Friday, January 20th 2017.

Recitation of the presidential oath of office is the only component in this ceremony mandated by the United States Constitution (in Article II, Section One, Clause 8). However, over the years, various traditions have arisen that have expanded the inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to a day-long event, including parades and multiple social gatherings. The ceremony itself is carried live via the major U.S. commercial television and cable news networks; various ones also stream it live on their websites.

Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held at the west front of the United States Capitol facing the National Mall with its iconic Washington Monument and distant Lincoln Memorial. Other swearing-in ceremonies have taken place on a platform over the steps at the Capitol's east portico on a regular basis for 180 years, and occasionally inside the Old Senate Chamber on the old north side, the chamber of the House of Representatives in the south wing, and the central Rotunda under the dome. Additionally, on two occasions – in 1817 and 1945 – they were held at the Executive Mansion, (later known as the White House).

Drunk Vice President

Vice presidents are required to take the oath of office and deliver an inaugural speech, just like presidents. Poor Vice President-elect Andrew Johnson had arrived in Washington for the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln while still recoving from Typhoid fever. The night before the inauguration, he had attended a party held by Secretary of the Senate John W. Forney and had used whiskey to power through his sickness.

The next morning, hungover and miserable, he stormed into sitting Vice President Hannibal Hamblin's office and demanded a glass of whiskey. He drank the glassful and proceeded to slam down two more. He then dragged himself to the public inauguration ceremony and when it came time to give his address, he slurred his way through a speech about his humble origins and victories against the awful aristocracy.

Abraham Lincoln was reportedly mortified by Johnson's behaviour and publicly apologized on his behalf afterward.

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