On Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. The history of the inauguration goes back to April 30, 1789 when George Washington was sworn in for the first time on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. Since that time there have been many inauguration firsts.

Many of the firsts are change of venue. After Washington’s first inauguration in New York City and his second inauguration being the first in Philadelphia, it wasn’t until Thomas Jefferson was sworn in during the March 4, 1801 inauguration that Washington, D.C. became home to future inaugurations in different areas throughout the capital. The few exceptions were President Chester A. Arthur’s swearing in at his residence in New York City, September 20, 1881, President Theodore Roosevelt’s swearing in at Ansley Wilcox residence in Buffalo NY, Calvin Coolidge at his Father’s residence in Plymouth VT and Lyndon Baines Johnson’s swearing in abound the conference room of Air Force One at Love Field, Dallas TX.

George Washington’s second inauguration on March 4, 1793 (the first inauguration in Philadelphia) was the shortest inaugural address ever. It was 135 words long. The longest inaugural address was 8,445 words on March 4, 1841 by President William H. Harrison.

On March 4, 1797 of the swearing in of President John Adams was the first to receive the oath of office from the Chief Justice of the United States. The Chief Justice is the head of the judicial branch of our government, the judge over all judges.

A first when it comes to official parties would be James Madison’s March 4, 1809 inauguration when the first inaugural ball was held. The first outdoor inauguration was March 4, 1817. Of course it is likely that it was warmer in March than January (January inaugurations didn’t come until January 20th, 1937). The coldest March 4 Inauguration Day was Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration of 1873. The temperature reached 16 degrees F. By the March 4, 1881 inauguration, James Garfield was the first to be able to watch the Inaugural parade from a stand built in front of the White House. In 1897 the stand was glass-enclosed. That was also the year that Congress hosted the first luncheon for the new President and Vice President.

Over a century and more the inauguration has seen the growth of various forms of broadcast medium. On March 4, 1845, James K. Polk’s inauguration was covered by telegraph for the first time. It is believed to be the first time an inauguration was featured in a newspaper illustration, having been discovered in Illustrated London News. By March 4, 1857, James Buchanan’s inauguration was possibly the first to have been photographed.

40 years later William McKinley became the first president to have his inaugural ceremony recorded by a motion picture camera in 1897. It was a silent motion picture but by Herbert Hoover’s inauguration of 1929 the ceremony was recorded on a talking newsreel. In the meantime, President Calvin Coolidge was the first president to have his inaugural ceremony broadcast on the radio nationally in 1925. It took 20 years after the talking newsreel before Americans would be able to watch a televised inaugural ceremony with Harry S. Truman’s inauguration on January 20th, 1949, that is if they had a television. By January 20, 1997 you could watch the first inaugural ceremony broadcast live on the Internet when William J. Clinton became president.

There are many more inauguration firsts that you can learn about at Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies’ Inaugural site.

For our older readers you may like to visit Ruthe McDonald’s articles on the 2009 Inauguration at the African American Culture Site. She covered many aspects of the Inauguration and the importance of the moment in black history. See the links below.