On today, January 20, 2021 around noon, the 59th Inauguration of former Vice-President & current President-elect Joseph R. Biden and former California U.S. Senator & current Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are being sworn in with Biden being the 46th President of the United States. This inauguration follows current President Donald J. Trump and current Vice-President Michael R. Pence, whom were sworn in on January 20, 2017. President Trump has a controversial ending to his presidency following what political scientists and members of congress have characterized as him inciting an insurrection (violence against government) and becoming the only President in American history to be impeached (misconduct of public officer) twice by the House of Representatives.
The first Inauguration of George Washington occurred on April 30, 1789, in front of New York’s Federal Hall. Four years later, on March 4, 1793, Washington’s second Inauguration happened in Philadelphia, where the government had taken up temporary residence while a permanent capital was being built. Washington gave the shortest Inaugural address on record—just 135 words.
By March of 1801, the seat of the U.S. government had moved to Washington, D.C. On March 4, 1801, President-elect Thomas Jefferson became the first President to be inaugurated in the nation’s new capital city.
Until the twentieth century, the Inaugural ceremonies had been handled exclusively by the United States Senate. In 1901, in accordance with the 20th Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies was formed to plan and conduct the Inauguration ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol.
-The Aiken Foundation