[ti:The Inauguration of the US President Through Time]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-01-19]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]On January 20, the United States president is sworn into office in Washington D.C.
[00:09.01]The inauguration is an important ceremony that officially marks the start of an administration.
[00:18.09]As part of the event, the incoming president speaks to the nation and announces U.S. policy goals.
[00:28.00]This year, expanded security measures will stretch across much of Washington. 
[00:34.72]The city's mayor, Muriel Bowser, announced major street closures and special transportation measures to increase security during inauguration events.
[00:49.80]The Associated Press reports Washington D.C.'s National Guard will deploy 7,800 soldiers to help with security.
[01:02.60]The Secret Service is reportedly under additional pressure because of two attempts on the life of incoming President Donald Trump last year. 
[01:14.96]In one of those attempts, Trump received minor injuries.
[01:20.59]The Library of Congress has saved many historical documents and objects from past ceremonies.
[01:30.32]Here are some facts and firsts about U.S. presidential inaugurations:
[01:37.78]George Washington did not take the oath to become the first U.S. president in January nor was the event held in Washinton, D.C.
[01:52.96]His first inaugural address was given to a joint session of Congress gathered in Federal Hall in New York City, on April 30, 1789. 
[02:09.13]New York City was the nation's first capital.
[02:15.14]Washington began a tradition that stood for many years of kissing The Bible after taking the oath of office. 
[02:26.66]The Museum of the Bible says on its website that four other presidents - Warren Harding,
[02:35.81]Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush - used Washington's Bible in their ceremonies. 
[02:47.26]Bush had hoped to use Washington's Bible for his first inauguration in 2001,
[02:57.14]but weather delayed shipping so he ended up using a family Bible instead.
[03:05.44]Washington's second inaugural address set another mark: it was the shortest at 135 words.
[03:18.05]For 144 years, the inauguration was not held in the winter, but mostly in March.
[03:28.48]John Adams, the nation's second president, was the first to receive the oath from the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
[03:40.95]His swearing in took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the nation's second capital.
[03:50.22]Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. 
[03:58.39]He walked to and from the ceremony instead of riding in a carriage.
[04:05.61]The U.S. Marine Band played at the event for the first time and has done so in every ceremony since.
[04:16.33]In 1825, John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, broke with tradition. 
[04:26.16]He was the first president to long wear pants instead of traditional shorter pants with stockings. 
[04:35.12]The man who replaced Adams, Andrew Jackson, was the first to receive the oath on the East Portico of the Capitol Building.
[04:48.29]John Quincy Adams refused to attend.
[04:53.01]In 1837, Martin Van Buren was the first of a new generation of presidents to not have British ancestry.
[05:04.84]His parents were Dutch and he was born a citizen of the United States.
[05:11.70]William Henry Harrison set an unhappy first: On Inauguration Day in 1841, he gave the longest-ever speech without wearing warm clothes. 
[05:27.99]He became sick and died weeks into his term.
[05:34.21]Abraham Lincoln gave his first inaugural speech surrounded by heavy security as the nation neared war between the North and South. 
[05:45.85]His second address, in 1865, was shortly after the end of the U.S. Civil War. 
[05:56.72]He urged Americans "With malice towards none; with charity for all" to "bind up the nation's wounds." 
[06:08.79]In 2009 and 2013, Barrack Obama took his oath on Lincoln's Bible.
[06:19.27]In 1909, William Howard Taft's inauguration was notable for taking place inside the Senate Chamber because of a huge snowstorm. 
[06:35.03]It took about 6,000 men to clear snow for the parade.
[06:41.96]The inaugural ceremony of Calvin Coolidge in 1925 was the first to be broadcast on radio. 
[06:53.08]And the first president to have a televised inaugural ceremony was Harry Truman in 1949.
[07:04.03]Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inauguration was the first to take place on January 20th. 
[07:13.53]The 20th Amendment to the Constitution moved the event's date because of improved transportation methods.
[07:24.05]In 1953, Dwight Eisenhower broke the tradition of kissing The Bible and instead gave a prayer.
[07:35.85]Robert Frost was the first poet to every speak at an inaugural event. 
[07:42.88]Frost recited his poem The Gift Outright for John Kennedy's 1961 swearing-in.
[07:53.45]Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic president. Joe Biden was the second.
[08:01.99]After Jimmy Carter's inauguration, he and first lady Rosalynn Carter walked down Washington D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House instead of riding inside a car.
[08:19.78]Ronald Reagan's inaugurations set two marks that may also never be equaled.
[08:28.53]At noon on Reagan's first inauguration, the temperature was nearly 13 degrees Celsius. 
[08:37.89]That was the warmest Inauguration Day ever. 
[08:41.78]Then, on his second in January 1985, the temperature was nearly minus 14 degrees Celsius - the coldest day ever for the event.
[08:58.85]This year, January 20 will mark only the second time a U.S. president has been inaugurated for a second term that did not follow the first.
[09:13.82]Donald Trump first took the oath of office in 2017. 
[09:20.10]He joins Grover Cleveland, who was inaugurated in 1885 and 1893.
[09:30.41]Cleveland is known as the 22nd and 24th President.
[09:38.40]Trump is set to be both the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
[09:49.34]I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. And I'm Caty Weaver.