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Today is Inauguration Day, which means Donald J. Trump officially becomes the 45th President of the United States. The day is filled with history, tradition and pageantry, with various events and festivals taking place throughout Washington D.C.

The most important aspect of course, is the Swearing-In Ceremony, in which the President to be swears an oath to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The ceremony and indeed the whole day are traditions which signal the peaceful transfer of power between the next administration and the previous one; the symbolic weight of the moment is clear to anyone. No one knows what future inaugurations will hold, but the history of this important day is fascinating.

Inauguration history

George Washington was sworn in as the first President in April of 1789 in New York City. His second inaugural ceremony took place in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson was the first President to be sworn in in Washington D.C. in March of 1801. The inauguration was traditionally a spring affair until Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second term, which began in 1937.

The change was due to the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1933. The main idea was to reduce the “lame duck” period between the November elections and the installation of the new government. The “lame duck” period had caused problems for the country, perhaps most notably in 1860-61 when many southern states seceded from the Union during the interregnum before Abraham Lincoln assumed office.

The first ceremony to be broadcast on radio was Calvin Coolidge’s second inauguration in 1925, while the first televised ceremony was Harry S Truman’s second in 1949. While speeches and general goings-on were always recorded by reporters, the use of mass communication technologies allowed the spectacle of the tradition to be experienced by a wider selection of the populace.

Extraordinary Inaugurations

There have been nine “extraordinary” inaugurations in which a successor is immediately sworn in as President due to extenuating circumstances that leave the office vacated. Such historical circumstances include death by illness, assassination and resignation. The immediacy of the swearing in is to avoid a vacuum of power.

Perhaps the two most famous extraordinary inaugurations (at least of modern times) took place relatively close together. In November of 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on a parked Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy; the photo of his crowded ceremony is one of the most famous in American history. Barely a decade later, Johnson’s successor Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace after the Watergate Scandal and Gerald Ford was sworn in in August 1974 to finish Nixon’s term.

Events

While the swearing-in ceremony is probably the best-known and most important aspect of the day, there are other events. The inaugural address is the first speech by the newly sworn-in president and many political observers believe it sets the tone for what is to come under a new administration.

The shortest speech was by George Washington at his second inauguration – only 135 words.

Other events include the Congressional luncheon, the Presidential Procession to the White House and the Inaugural Parade. A national prayer service usually takes place the day after the inauguration at Washington National Cathedral.