U.S. presidential inauguration trivia
Questions
(1) Donald Trump will take the oath of office on Friday, Jan. 20 to become the 45th president of the United States. Who was the 44th person to serve as Commander-in-Chief?
(2) Which one gave the shortest inaugural address?
(3) Which one gave the longest inaugural address?
(4) Who was the first one to take the oath of office in Washington D.C.?
(5) Who was the first one not to take the oath of office on a Bible?
(6) Which one took the oath of office on a Catholic missal?
(7) How many presidents have taken the constitutional oath of office four times?
(8) Which president’s inauguration holds the record as the coldest?
(9) Which president’s inauguration holds the record as the warmest?
(10) How many retiring presidents have given a miss to the inaugurations of their successors?
(11) Whose presidential inauguration was the first to be photographed?
(12) Which president was inaugurated in New York City?
Answers
(1) Donald Trump will be the 44th person to serve as Commander-in-Chief even though he’ll be the 45th president. Grover Cleveland served two inconsecutive terms. He was both the 22nd and 24th Commander-in-Chief.
(2) The first President, George Washington delivered the shortest inaugural address at the start of his second term in 1793. His speech contained 135 words.
(3) The ninth president, William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address at 8,455 words in 1841. He died a month later to the day.
(4) The first inauguration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, the 3rd president, was the first to be held in Washington D.C.
(5) John Quincy Adams, the 6th President took the oath of office on a book of U.S. laws because he thought taking the oath on a Bible would violate the Constitutional separation of church and state.
(6) Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president mistakenly selected a Catholic missal for his swearing-in on Air Force One en route from Dallas, Texas to Washington D.C., one hour and 38 minutes after President John Kennedy was pronounced dead by an assassin’s bullet.
(7) Two presidents, the 32nd and 44th, Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama, respectively, took the constitutional oath of office four times. Roosevelt was elected to four terms. During Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, Chief Justice John Roberts mistakenly recited words out of order when administering the constitutionally mandated presidential oath. To ensure the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency, Roberts ceremoniously administered the oath again at the White House the following day, and for the sake of transparency, again in public. Obama took the presidential oath a fourth time in 2013 following his re-election.
(8) Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985 holds the record as the coldest. The temperature was 7 degrees, obliging officials to cancel the 40th president’s inaugural parade.
(9) Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration in 1981 also holds the record as the warmest. The temperature was 55 degrees.
(10) Four presidents have given a miss to the inaugurations of their successors: John Adams, the second U.S. president; John Quincy Adams, No. 6; Andrew Johnson, No. 17; and Richard Nixon, No. 37.
(11) The swearing-in of the 15th president, James Buchanan in 1857 was the first to be photographed.
(12) George Washington took the oath of office as the first president in New York City on April 30, 1789. His second inauguration in 1793 was held in Philadelphia, Pa.
