1. Name the Presidents who delivered the longest and shortest second inaugural addresses.
2. Has any President ever delivered a second inaugural address with two daughters living full-time in the White House, as President Obama will do?
3. Whose second inaugural address was not delivered in Washington DC and where was it delivered?
4. Name the Presidents who delivered a second inaugural address but did not complete their second term of office.
5. Name the three wars fought by the U.S. military (declared by Congress or undeclared) that were going on when second inaugural addresses were delivered.
6. Name the President whose second inaugural address was not delivered right after his first term of office ended.
7. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides that a president’s term of office begins and ends at noon on the 20th day of January. Why then was President Obama’s second inauguration being held on January 21, a Monday?
A – the Supreme Court is closed on Sundays;
B – it was President Obama’s choice to be inaugurated on Martin Luther King Day;
C – tradition following the advice of Chief Justice Marshall in 1821 for Monroe’s second inauguration; or
D – none of the above.
8. Name the only other President whose second inauguration occurred on Martin Luther King Day.
9. President Obama used two Bibles when he takes the oath of office at his second inauguration – Martin Luther King’s Bible and the Lincoln Bible he used at his first inauguration. Name the President who took the oath using a Bible given to him by the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
10. Whose second inaugural parade (within the past 60 years) was cancelled because of cold weather (7° Fahrenheit at Noon), the coldest inauguration on record?
11. President Obama is left-handed. Name two other left-handed Presidents who delivered second inaugural addresses.
12. Name the only President with a PhD who delivered a second inaugural address.
13. President Obama took the oath of office before Chief Justice John Roberts in a private session on Sunday, January 20, and again on Monday, January 21, in public before he delivers his second inaugural address. Name the university that awarded degrees to both President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts?
14. Name the only President who has delivered more than two inaugural addresses.
15. Who was the oldest President to ever deliver an inaugural address and when did he do it?
16. On Monday, January 21, President Obama delivered the 17th second inaugural address in the nation’s history. Name the one President who gave a second inaugural address in the 18th Century (1800’s). Name the seven Presidents who gave their second inaugural address in the 19th Century (1800’s). Name the seven Presidents who gave their second inaugural address in the 20th Century (1900’s). Name the one President who gave a second inaugural address in the 21st Century (2000’s).
17. Which is the greatest second inaugural address?
ANSWERS
1. ANSWER: Monroe gave the longest (4,461 Words) in 1821 and Washington gave the shortest (135 Words) in 1793.
2. ANSWER: No. But three have come close – Monroe in 1821, Wilson in 1917, Nixon in 1973, and G.W. Bush in 2005.
3. ANSWER: Washington’s in 1793 was delivered in Philadelphia in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall.
4. ANSWER: Lincoln who was assassinated on April 14, 1865; McKinley who was shot in Buffalo and died eight days later on September 14, 1901; and Nixon who resigned in August 9, 1974.
5. ANSWER: (1) the War of 1812 -- Madison’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1813; (2) the Civil War – Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865; (3) Iraq and Afghanistan Wars -- G.W. Bush’s second inaugural address on January 20, 2005.
6. ANSWER: Cleveland whose two terms were not consecutive. Cleveland’s first term ended on March 4, 1889 because he lost the 1888 election to Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland was elected in 1892 and delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1893.
7. ANSWER: C – Tradition following Chief Justice Marshall’s advice. Prior to the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933, the date for the oath beginning a president’s term of office was March 4. In 1821, March 4 fell on a Sunday. On Chief Justice Marshall’s advice, Monroe’s second inauguration was held on the following day, Monday, March 5. Marshall advised that Sunday was not a day for work. His advice is still being followed. When January 20 falls on a Sunday, the inauguration is held the following Monday. However, to comply with the 20th Amendment, the oath of office is taken by the President on January 20 even if it is a Sunday. President Obama will take the oath privately at noon on January 20 and again publicly on January 21 . The Constitution says nothing about an inaugural address or inauguration, and the inaugural address and the inauguration ceremonies are customs.
8. ANSWER: Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997 when January 20 was the third Monday in January, which is the designated day for the federal holiday honoring Dr. King. The holiday was first observed on January 20, 1986. Clinton mentioned Dr. King in his second inaugural address: “. . . Martin Luther King’s dream was the American Dream.”
9. ANSWER: McKinley on March 4, 1897. The connection? During the time, McKinley was a Republican congressman from Ohio and later Governor of Ohio living in Columbus (1880-1890’s). It is very likely McKinley knew Benjamin W. Arnett, a prominent pastor and teacher in African Methodist Episcopal churches in Ohio and a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
10. ANSWER: Reagan on January 21, 1985. The oath of office was taken inside the Rotunda and the parade cancelled.
11. ANSWER: Reagan who was ambidextrous (went from left to right over the years) and Clinton. In total eight Presidents were left-handed: Garfield, Hoover, Truman, Ford, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama.
12. ANSWER: Wilson who received a PhD in History from Johns Hopkins University in 1886.
13. ANSWER: Harvard. Obama received his law degree from Harvard in 1991 magna cum laude, and he was President of the Harvard Law Review. Roberts received his law degree in 1979 magna cum laude, and he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review.
14. ANSWER: Franklin Roosevelt who delivered four inaugural addresses – 1933, 1937, 1941, and 1945. The 20th Amendment was ratified in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt was in office. His first inauguration was on March 4, and the other three were on January 20.
15. ANSWER: Reagan was 73 when he delivered his second inaugural address on January 21, 1985. Reagan was born on February 6, 1911.
16. ANSWER:
18th Century: Washington.
19th Century: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, and Cleveland.
20th Century: McKinley, Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton.
21st Century: W. Bush.
17. ANSWER: Lincoln’s second inaugural address delivered on March 4, 1865, about a month before Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. The address is inscribed on the northern wall of the Lincoln Memorial.
1. Name the five Presidents who never gave an inaugural address.
2. Who was the only President to whom the oath was administered by a woman?
3. Who were the three Presidents to take the oath of office from a state court judge? (Not including judges of the District of Columbia.)
4. Among the twenty-four lawyer-Presidents who have delivered inaugural addresses, which law school can claim the most graduates who delivered such addresses?
5. Who was the last President to whom Chief Justice Taney administered the oath?
6. Name the three Presidents who gave inaugural addresses who attended U.S. military academies.
7. Name the two men who delivered the inaugural address as bachelors.
8. Who delivered the only inaugural address that expressly mentioned Baltimore?
9. Who were the two Presidents, other than Franklin Roosevelt, who played a role at four successive inaugurations?
10. The only journalist to deliver a presidential inaugural address had been the editor of the Marion Ohio Star. Who was he?
11. Who was the first President-elect to ride in an automobile to the Capitol to take his oath and deliver his inaugural address?
12. What Republican President in the 20th century (the 1900’s) said in his inaugural address: “The policy that stands out with the greatest clearness is that of economy in public expenditure with reduction and reform of taxation?”
13. The inauguration is now held on January 20th by virtue of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. Who was the last President to be inaugurated on March 4?
14. When was the only time a former President administered the oath of office at the inauguration of the President?
15. When was the first television coverage of an inaugural address?
16. Who was the first President to refer to Russia in an inaugural address?
17. Who was the first President to deliver his inaugural address from the east front (or west portico) of the Capitol?
18. Who was the first President to refer to communism in an inaugural address?
19. Which elected President had a term of office of less than four years that was not caused by death or resignation?
20. In 1821 the inauguration was moved from Sunday, March 4, to the following Monday, March 5. Name the President whose inauguration was moved in 1821 and name the person who is said to have served as President for a day?
21. Name the President whose first inauguration was the warmest and second inauguration was the coldest?
22. Name the Chief Justice who administered the presidential oath of office nine times, more than any other person?
© 2021 Francis J. Gorman
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