Given the recent inauguration, there have been many comments referring to previous inaugurations of our presidents. Here is a short list of some fun facts regarding this event over the years:
1.In 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower allowed a trick cowboy named Monte Montana lasso him.
2.In 1961, JFK had the army use flame throwers to remove ice from Pennsylvania Avenue.
3.At US Grants ball in 1873, canaries were flown in to sing but it was so frigid cold, they froze to death in their cage.
4.William Henry Harrison made the longest inauguration speech in history in the blistering cold. He did not have on a coat and he died a month later of pneumonia.
5.John Adams refused to attend the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson
6.John Adam’s son, John Quincy Adams refused to attend the inauguration of Andrew Jackson.
7.On inauguration day, Andrew Jackson’s supporters were invited inside the White House. They got so drunk and destroyed the place spilling beverages on the carpet and destroying furniture during fist fights. Jackson had to slip out a window and find a safe place to stay.
8.Andrew Johnson refused to attend US Grants inauguration in 1869 because US Grant refused to ride in the same carriage to the ceremony.
9.President Harry Truman and incoming President Elect Eisenhower argued during their ride together. Apparently, the argument was over whether Truman had ordered Eisenhower to attend his inauguration in 1949, while Eisenhower was Army Chief of Staff.
10.In 1981, while Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter were riding to the inauguration, Reagan kept telling jokes to Carter with no response. Reagan later quirked, “what’s wrong with Carter?”
11.George Washington kissed the Bible he was sworn in on. It was subsequently used by 4 Presidents.
12.When a President Elect is replacing a sitting President and they ride in the car together, the outgoing President sits on the Right side of the back seat and the President Elect sits on the left side.
13.Chief Justice John Roberts made a mistake when administering the oath of office to President Obama. He mistakenly put the word “faithfully” in the wrong place. Just to be sure that the oath was legitimate, Roberts administered it again that night in the White House.
