Inauguration Weekend: Getting Ready
DC gets ready for Monday’s Inaugural celebrations. (Luis Gomez Photos)
Staff at the Madison Hotel, 15th and M Streets NW, prepare for the weekend’s Presidential Inauguration celebrations on Friday, January 18.
President Obama and Vice President Biden will be officially sworn in for second terms on Sunday, January 20, with the Inaugural ceremonies on Monday, January 21. By tradition, when January 20 falls on a Sunday, Inaugural festivities are held the following day.
Until 1937 Inauguration Day was March 4. A Constitutional Amendment changed the date to January 20. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to take the Oath of Office on January 20, 1937, for his second term.
However, the very first presidential inauguration was April 30, 1789, when George Washington was sworn in for his first term of office. Why? The U.S. Constitution had been ratified only months before and George Washington did arrive in New York City until April 23. Vice President John Adams had already been sworn in on April 21.
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