On February 6, 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed. The amendment set the date of any Presidential Inauguration to January 20. Previously, new presidents were sworn in on March 4. The amendment is commonly referred to as the “Lame Duck Amendment” because it shortened the time a “lame duck” president (or one who had already lost reelection) would continue serving in office. It reads, “The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January,” and that has held until today. The only time the inauguration was moved was in 1957, 1985, and 2013, when January 20 fell on a Sunday. In those cases, the oath of office was administered on January 20, and the inauguration ceremony took place on the 21st.
During the January 20th inauguration ceremony, the new president addresses the nation for the first time. Below are listed some famous quotes from presidential inaugurations. Do you recognize any of them?
“This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
“We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
- President Abraham Lincoln
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of Liberty. This much we pledge and more.”
- President John F. Kennedy
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
- President Bill Clinton
“Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things—some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor—who have carried us up the long rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.”
- President Barack Obama
Learn more here:
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twentieth-Amendment
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/who-said-this-inaugural-speech-edition.htm
- https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/inaugural-addresses
