President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance are set to take their oaths of office on Monday in a ceremony that will usher in a new administration.
According to the 20th Amendment, Trump and Vance will officially assume office at noon on January 20th, regardless of the ceremony’s timing. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will serve until that time.
This year’s inauguration was originally planned outdoors and will now be held inside the Capitol rotunda due to cold weather forecasts.
Inauguration Day Schedule and Highlights
Morning Church Service: The day will begin with Trump attending a traditional service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a tradition for inaugurations.
White House Tea: Following the church service, Donald Trump and the incoming first lady, Melania Trump, will join outgoing President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the White House for a customary welcoming tea around 9:40 a.m.
Swearing-In Ceremony: The formal inauguration will commence with performances by The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Combined Choirs and “The President’s Own” by the United States Marine Band. The event will feature a mix of solemn invocations and vibrant musical performances, including a rendition of “Oh, America!” by opera singer Christopher D. Macchio.
Just before noon, the vice presidential oath will be administered by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, followed by Carrie Underwood’s performance of “America the Beautiful.”
At noon, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the presidential oath to Trump, which will be followed by the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club’s performance of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and Trump’s inaugural address.
The ceremony will conclude with a benediction delivered by a diverse group of religious leaders and a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Christopher Macchio.
Post-Ceremony Events: Biden and Harris will receive a formal send-off as they depart. The outgoing president will travel from the Capitol to Joint Base Andrews. The Bidens will travel to Santa Ynez, California.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Trump will then participate in a signing ceremony in the President’s Room at the Capitol, where he will sign key documents in the presence of members of Congress.
The inaugural luncheon will be held in Statuary Hall, followed by a military review on the East Front steps of the Capitol.
Due to the cold, the traditional inaugural parade will be moved to Capitol One Arena. Trump is expected to deliver remarks.
Oval Office and Evening Festivities: The inauguration will extend into the evening with ceremonies in the Oval Office and not one, but three inaugural balls. The Commander in Chief Inaugural Ball will feature performances by Rascal Flatts and Parker McCollum, the Liberty Inaugural Ball will feature Nelly, Jason Aldean, and The Village People, and the Starlight Ball will see Gavin DeGraw performing.
Continuing Traditions: On Tuesday morning, Trump will attend the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral.
Inauguration ceremonies will air on major broadcast and cable news channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN, Fox News Channel, NewsNation. You can also watch the day’s events via a government live stream, NBC News Now, CBS 24/7, The Wall Street Journal, Paramount+, ABC News Live, LiveNOW From Fox, USA Today, and many more options.
Trump and Biden are the two oldest Americans to ever become president. Trump is also only the second president to serve two nonconsective terms (Democrat Grover Cleveland was the first) and the first to be a convicted felon.
Below are some more inauguration facts via the Architect of the Capitol:
2000s:
| Date | President | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| January 20, 2021 | Joseph R. Biden Jr. | |
| January 20, 2017 | Donald J. Trump | |
| January 21, 2013 | Barack Obama | |
| January 20, 2009 | Barack Obama | |
| January 20, 2005 | George W. Bush | |
| January 20, 2001 | George W. Bush | First time that a former president (George H.W. Bush) attended their son’s inauguration as president. |
1900s:
| Date | President | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| January 20, 1997 | William J. Clinton | First time that the ceremony was broadcast live on the Internet. First inaugural that fell on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. |
| January 20, 1993 | William J. Clinton | |
| January 20, 1989 | George H.W. Bush | |
| January 20, 1985 & January 21, 1985 | Ronald Reagan | First time that the oath was taken in the Rotunda. First inaugural that fell on a Super Bowl Sunday. The Bible was placed on a marble-topped table that was built for the second inaugural of Abraham Lincoln. The table was constructed with an iron baluster cast for the Capitol dome in the 1860’s. First time a television camera was placed inside the president’s limousine from the Capitol to the White House. |
| January 20, 1981 | Ronald Reagan | Outdoor band concert was held on the West Front lawn on the day before the inaugural. First inaugural held on the West Terrace of the Capitol. First time that room EF-100 was used as a holding room. First closed-captioning of television broadcast for the hearing impaired. First post-inaugural luncheon held in Statuary Hall. Post-inaugural luncheon was partially televised. Nine inaugural balls were held. First time that an inaugural ball was held in a legislative building (Rayburn House Office Building). Balls were transmitted by satellite to 32 ballroom sites across the country. |
| January 20, 1977 | Jimmy Carter | Folding chairs instead of wooden benches were used on the East Plaza. Used an old family Bible; second Bible on lectern had been used at inauguration of George Washington. At Carter’s request, the traditional inaugural luncheon was not held. First president to walk all the way from the Capitol to the White House with their family after ceremony. First time that an outgoing President left from the Capitol Grounds aboard a helicopter. Solar heat was used in the reviewing stand. Provisions were made for the handicapped to watch the parade. |
| August 4, 1974 | Gerald R. Ford | First unelected vice president to assume the presidency. First vice president to assume the presidency under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which specifies that, upon the resignation of the president, the vice president shall become president. |
| January 20, 1973 | Richard M. Nixon | |
| January 20, 1969 | Richard M. Nixon | Only persons with special invitations to the ceremony were admitted to the Capitol Grounds. Two Bibles were used in the inauguration; they were family heirlooms, dated 1928 and 1873. |
| January 20, 1965 | Lyndon B. Johnson | First time that a press gallery was installed on the Capitol Grounds. First use of a bullet-proofed, closed limousine. |
| November 22, 1963 | Lyndon B. Johnson | First time that the oath was administered in an airplane (Air Force One, a Boeing 707, at Love Field in Dallas, Texas). First time that the oath was administered by a woman, Sarah T. Hughes, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas. |
| January 20, 1961 | John F. Kennedy | First president to be inaugurated on the extended East Front. First time that a Speaker of the House administered the oath of office to the vice president. (Previously the oath had been given by either the President pro tempore of the Senate, the ex-Vice President, or a United States Senator.) First time a poet, Robert Frost, participated in the official ceremonies at the Capitol. (See official program.) First time that both parents of the president-elect attended their son’s inauguration. As the first Catholic elected president, Kennedy was the first to use a Catholic (Douay) version of the Bible for their oath. First inaugural parade for which Army flame throwers were used to clear snow from Pennsylvania Avenue. First appearance of the Air Force Academy Band in the parade. First time that the parade was televised in color (NBC). First inauguration celebrated with five balls.Last president to wear traditional stovepipe hat to the inauguration. |
| January 20, 1957 & January 21, 1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | First time that a president was inaugurated for a term limited by the Constitution (22nd Amendment).First presidential luncheon, held in the Old Supreme Court Chamber (S-228) in the Capitol. |
| January 20, 1953 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Broke with custom by reciting their own improvised prayer instead of kissing the Bible. A presidential preference made homburgs an inaugural must, displacing traditional black toppers. |
| January 20, 1949 | Harry S. Truman | First inauguration to be televised. |
| April 12, 1945 | Harry S. Truman | |
| January 20, 1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | First and only time a president was inaugurated for a fourth term. (The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1951, restricts the presidency to two terms.) |
| January 20, 1941 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | First president to take the oath of office for a third term. |
| January 20, 1937 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | First president to be inaugurated on the January 20th date, a change made by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. First time the vice president-elect was inaugurated out-of-doors on the same platform with the president-elect. No vice-presidential address was given. |
| March 4, 1933 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| March 4, 1929 | Herbert Hoover | First inaugural to be recorded by a talking newsreel. |
| March 4, 1925 | Calvin Coolidge | First time an ex-president (William Taft) administered the oath of office as Chief Justice. First inaugural to be broadcast nationally by radio. |
| August 3, 1923 | Calvin Coolidge | Oath of office given by the president’s father, a Vermont Justice of the Peace. |
| March 4, 1921 | Warren G. Harding | First president to ride to and from their inaugural in an automobile. First use of loudspeakers at an inaugural. First use of the steel-framed inaugural stand that was used until 1981. |
| March 4, 1917 & March 5, 1917 | Woodrow Wilson | Broke the precedent by taking the oath on a Sunday. First time that the oath has been taken privately in the President’s Room at the Capitol. First time that floodlights (as opposed to temporary searchlights) were used to illuminate the Capitol dome during an inaugural. First time that women participated in the inaugural parade. |
| March 4, 1913 | Woodrow Wilson | The traditional inaugural ball was suspended. |
| March 4, 1909 | William H. Taft | First time that a president’s wife rode with her husband in the procession from the Capitol to the White House. First use of an automobile in an inaugural parade (President Taft was not an occupant).First time that the dome was illuminated; temporary searchlights were used. |
| March 4, 1905 | Theodore Roosevelt | First time that telephones were installed on the Capitol Grounds for an inaugural. |
| September 14, 1901 | Theodore Roosevelt | |
| March 4, 1901 | William McKinley | First time that the House of Representatives was allowed to join with the Senate in making arrangements for the inaugural. |
1800s:
| Date | President | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March 4, 1897 | William McKinley | First inaugural recorded by movie camera. Had glass-enclosed reviewing stand in front of the White House. |
| March 4, 1893 | Grover Cleveland | |
| March 4, 1889 | Benjamin Harrison | |
| March 4, 1885 | Grover Cleveland | |
| September 20, 1881 & September 22, 1881 | Chester A. Arthur | First time the oath of office has been taken in the Vice President’s Room of the Capitol.Two ex-presidents (Grant and Hayes) were present at this ceremony. |
| March 4, 1881 | James Garfield | The first time that a mother of the president attended the inaugural ceremonies. First president to review the procession from a stand in front of the White House. |
| March 3, 1877 & March 5, 1877 | Rutherford B. Hayes | First president to take the oath of office in the White House. Was sworn in prior to Inauguration Day, because it fell on Sunday. Took oath privately on Saturday, March 3, and publicly on Monday, March 5, 1877. |
| March 4, 1873 | Ulysses S. Grant | First time that a congressional committee called for the president at the White House and escorted him to the Capitol. First time that the governors of the states were invited to participate in inaugural events. |
| March 4, 1869 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
| April 15, 1865 | Andrew Johnson | First instance of the Chief Justice administering the oath of office to the vice president upon the death of the president. |
| March 4, 1865 | Abraham Lincoln | First time that African-Americans participated in the inaugural parade. |
| March 4, 1861 | Abraham Lincoln | |
| March 4, 1857 | James Buchanan | First inaugural known to have been photographed. |
| March 4, 1853 | Franklin Pierce | Drove to and from the Capitol standing up in their carriage. Affirmed (rather than swore) the oath of office. Broke precedent by not kissing the Bible, but merely placing their left hand on it. First president to deliver inaugural address without referring to notes. |
| July 10, 1850 | Millard Filmore | |
| March 5, 1849 | Zachary Taylor | |
| March 4, 1845 | James Polk | First inaugural to be covered by telegraph. First known newspaper illustration of a presidential inauguration (The Illustrated London News). |
| April 6, 1841 | John Tyler | First vice president to assume the presidency due to the death of the president. |
| March 4, 1841 | William H. Harrison | First president to arrive in Washington by railroad for their inaugural. Longest inaugural address (10,000 words). Broke precedent by beginning address, taking oath, and then resuming address. First official planning of a parade to follow the inaugural at the Capitol. The parade or inaugural planning committee was appointed by the local political organization of the party victorious in the national election. |
| March 4, 1837 | Martin Van Buren | First time that outgoing and incoming presidents (Jackson and Van Buren) rode together in a carriage to the Capitol for the inaugural. First use of inaugural programs. First use of floats in an inaugural parade. First time two inaugural balls were held. |
| March 4, 1833 | Andrew Jackson | |
| March 4, 1829 | Andrew Jackson | First president to take the oath of office on the East Portico of the Capitol. |
| March 4, 1825 | John Q. Adams | First president sworn in wearing long trousers. (Prior to this presidents wore colonial-era breeches and stockings.) |
| March 4, 1821 | James Monroe | |
| March 5, 1817 | James Monroe | First president to take the oath out-of-doors in Washington. |
| March 4, 1813 | James Madison | |
| March 4, 1809 | James Madison | First inaugural held in the Hall of the House. First inaugural ball to be held on the day of the inauguration. The United States Marine Band set a precedent by playing for the inaugural ball. |
| March 5, 1805 | Thomas Jefferson | |
| March 4, 1801 | Thomas Jefferson | Began the custom of writing to Congress to accept the inauguration and arrange the time for the ceremonies. The first and probably only president to walk to and from their inaugural. First president to be inaugurated at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (in the then Senate Chamber).First newspaper extra of an inaugural address, printed by the National Intelligencer. |
1700s:
| Date | President | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March 4, 1797 | John Adams | First president to receive the oath from the Chief Justice of the United States (Oliver Ellsworth). |
| March 4, 1793 | George Washington | Shortest inaugural address (135 words). |
| April 30, 1789 | George Washington | Oath of office taken out-of-doors (balcony of Federal Hall in New York City).Set the precedent of kissing the Bible after the oath. Fireworks concluded the day’s celebration, all of which was paid for by private citizens. Because of pressing public business, the inaugural ball was held on May 7. The president’s wife, Martha, did not make the trip to New York. |
Advertisement
Convenient Legal Access to High Quality Cannabis Just A Few Minutes Away!
