Change in Command for the Commander in Chief

44 Issues in 44 Days

Explore and respond to the issues that matter to you.

# 21: Energy

Featured Response: Arthur O'Donnell || Center for Resource Solutions

# 14: Race

Featured Response: John McWhorter || Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

# 38: Child Advocacy

Featured Response: Chris Newlin || National Children's Advocacy Center

# 4: Foreign Policy

Featured Response: Steve Clemons || New America Foundation

# 11: Tax Policy

Featured Response: Stephen Cohen || Georgetown University

# 27: Poverty

Featured Response: Kristina Scott || Alabama Poverty Project

Inaugural Insight

• The inauguration for the first U.S. president, George Washington, was held on April 30, 1789 in New York City.
• 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.
• 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 Presidential Salute Battery.
• The inaugural celebrations usually last ten days, from five days before the inauguration to five days after.
• 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.
• According to tradition, in the first inaugural, President Washington added the words "so help me God" when reciting the oath, although there is no contemporary evidence of this.
• In 1977, Jimmy Carter started a new tradition by walking from the Capitol to the White House, although subsequent presidents have only walked part of the way for security reasons.
• The War of 1812 and World War II forced two swearing-ins to be held at other locations in Washington, D.C.
• The new President assumes power at noon on January 20th, regardless of whether or not he has actually taken the oath of office.
• There is no requirement that any book, or in particular a book of sacred text, be used to administer the oath, and none is mentioned in the Constitution.