America.gov - Telling America's Story

23 December 2008

Inauguration Firsts

Event has evolved since days of George Washington

 

President Truman’s inauguration was the first broadcast on television.

President Truman’s inauguration was the first broadcast on television.

George Washington, April 30, 1789
First inauguration in New York City, then the capital of the nation

Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801
First inauguration in Washington; first president to walk to and from inaugural; first newspaper “extra” edition for an inaugural address

James Polk, March 4, 1845
First telegraph coverage; first featured in newspaper illustration

James Buchanan, March 4, 1857
First known photographs

Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865
First participation by African Americans in an inaugural parade

William McKinley, March 4, 1897
First recorded by motion picture camera

William Taft, March 4, 1909
First use of an automobile in inaugural parade (President Taft was not an occupant.)

Woodrow Wilson, March 5, 1917
First participation by women in an inaugural parade

President Clinton’s second inauguration was the first broadcast on the Internet.

Warren Harding, March 4, 1921
First president to ride to and from inaugural in automobile; first use of loudspeakers

Calvin Coolidge, March 4, 1925
First broadcast by national radio

Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1937
First inauguration on date specified by 20th amendment

Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1945
First and only time a president was inaugurated for a fourth term (The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1951, restricts a president to two terms.)

Harry Truman, January 20, 1949
First broadcast on television

Lyndon Johnson, November 22, 1963
First oath administered in an airplane (Air Force One, in Dallas, following Kennedy’s assassination); first oath administered by a woman (U.S. District Judge Sarah Hughes)

Gerald Ford, August 4, 1974
First unelected vice president to assume the presidency

Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977
First time handicapped-accessible viewing provided for the parade

Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981
First closed-captioning of television broadcast for hearing impaired

William Jefferson Clinton, January 20, 1997
First live broadcast on Internet

George W. Bush, January 20, 2001
First time a former president (George H.W. Bush) attended his son’s inauguration