On Friday, January 20, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Here’s what you need to know about the history, tradition, and rules surrounding Inauguration Day, including who picks up the tab.
Despite all of the pomp and circumstance of modern inaugurations, there’s only one thing that actually has to happen on Inauguration Day. The Constitution requires that the new President take the oath of office on January 20 at noon. If January 20 falls on a Sunday, the oath is administered privately and then again for the public on Monday.
Trump will be sworn into office in Washington, D.C., where almost every president has been sworn in since 1801. When President Washington was sworn into office, he rode into New York City for his first term and Philadelphia for his second. John Adams was likewise sworn in as President in Philadelphia. By 1801, however, the nation’s capital was firmly fixed in Washington, D.C., and almost every inauguration since has been conducted there (the death or resignation of a president has occasionally required a change).
The oath is typically administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but that isn’t always the case. The exact wording of the oath is as follows:
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.
And that’s it. All of the extras? The parade? The balls? They might be fun, but they’ve never been imperative.
That’s why taxpayers are primarily on the hook for the costs of producing the swearing-in ceremony. That’s typically not very expensive (relatively speaking). Together with the luncheon hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Congress expects to shell out $1.25 million in taxpayer money.
Taxpayer dollars are expected to cover one more important facet of the inauguration: security. A security presence of nearly 28,000, including the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is expected to be on hand. The estimated cost to taxpayers for all of that security? Somewhere around $100 million.
Security remains on hand not only for the swearing in but also for the inaugural address. Now, presidential speeches are productions, but they haven’t always been. In fact, George Washington is responsible for the shortest inaugural speech in history, consisting of just 135 words, and delivered during his second inauguration. Maybe Washington was on to something: the longest inaugural address was more than 8,000 words long and took nearly two hours to deliver. William Henry Harrison did so, in freezing weather, without a hat, coat or gloves, in 1841. He died a month later of pneumonia.
What about the parties, concerts, dinners, and balls? Washington did not have a formal inaugural ball (even though he was invited to a number of parties after he was sworn in). The first formal inaugural ball wasn’t held until two decades later, in honor of James Madison. That’s probably not too surprising since his wife, Dolley, was known for being quite the hostess (Hamilton fans might be amused to note that Aaron Burr is said to have introduced the couple).
Washington didn’t have an official inaugural parade, either. The Senate claims that the first President to host an organized inaugural parade was James Madison in 1809 (the Smithsonian claims the honor belongs to Thomas Jefferson in 1801). The only time the parade hasn’t happened since that time was in 1985 when bad weather hampered Ronald Reagan’s plans.
The costs of those events are typically covered by private donors, although security for those events is, again, paid for by taxpayers. Trump has reportedly raised nearly $100 million to pay for his inaugural events: that’s about twice the amount of money that Obama raised for similar events in 2009. Trump is not expected to personally donate to his inauguration.
Earlier this year, Trump’s team indicated that it would allow corporate donations and possibly, donations from political action committees. In a break from tradition, the team is not capping gifts from individuals. By way of comparison, President Obama and George W. Bush both capped individual gifts.
It’s not yet clear how many people will attend the inauguration in person: the Trump team said it was expecting more than two million. Millions more are expected to watch on television or live stream via the internet. Calvin Coolidge was the first President to have his address broadcast on the radio in 1925. More than two decades later, Americans could gather in their homes to watch Harry Truman sworn in on television; twelve years after that, Americans could watch John F. Kennedy being sworn in – in color. And technology didn’t stop there: Bill Clinton was the first President to have an official inauguration website where the oath and address could be streamed live around the world.