The inauguration of the President will take place on Friday, 20 January 2017 and will be the fifty-eighth Presidential Inauguration.
Information on the 58th Presidential Inauguration is available from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies website.
Related websites
- 58th Presidential Inauguration on Senate.gov
- Presidential Inaugurations, a Library of Congress American Memory web site
- The Constitution of the United States of America
- White House website (whitehouse.gov)
Inauguration Quick Facts
Who?
President Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, and Vice President Mike Pence.
What?
The swearing-in of the President of the United States occurs upon the commencement of a new term of a President of the United States. The Vice President is sworn in first, followed by the President.
When?
12:00 p.m EST – 18h00 Brussels time, January 20th, 2017.
[Until 1937, the Inauguration Day was March 4, but was changed to January 20 in 1933 with the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment].
When Inauguration Day Falls on Sunday the public ceremony is held on the next day, Monday. This has only happened seven times before..
Where?
West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building, with the oath administered by the Chief Justice (John G. Roberts, Jr.) of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why?
The Constitution stipulates that the new President must make the following oath:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will 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.”
[Article II – The Executive Branch, Section 1 – The President].
The Vice President-elect’s oath is slightly different. Since 1937 the oath has been the following:
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same: that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”
Inauguration Fun Facts
Q. What day does a newly elected President start working in office?
A. Under the 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the terms of the President and Vice President end at noon on the 20th of January. So, it would be 12:01pm on January 20th.
Q. How many U.S. political parties are there?
A. Well, there are the two main parties: the Democrats and the Republicans. But there are numerous minority parties ranging from ideological and single-issue to economic protest and splinter parties. The exact number of U.S. parties is currently unavailable.
Q. Which President in the history of the United States, had the shortest inaugural speech?
A. George Washington, the first President to be inaugurated in 1789, in New York City.
Q. Who was the first President to give his inaugural address over the radio?
A. Calvin Coolidge
Q. Who was the first President to give his speech on television?
A. Harry Truman
Q. Who gave the longest inaugural speech?
A. William Henry Harrison in 1894. It took more than and hour and forty-five minutes to deliver. Just thirty days after his inauguration (the shortest U.S. presidency in history), Harrison died from a cold virus. It is now considered a myth, however, that Harrison’s illness was due to a lengthy inauguration address in the cold.
