Inaugurations aren't just pomp and circumstance – sometimes, the circumstances are really awkward. When you put two people together who've spent months or years publicly savaging each other, it's a recipe for bad behavior.
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00:00Inaugurations aren't just pomp and circumstance. Sometimes, the circumstances are really awkward.
00:06When you put two people together who've spent months or years publicly savaging each other,
00:10it's a recipe for bad behavior.
00:12Okay, let's start with the obvious one in 2017. When you elect someone who sells himself
00:17as non-traditional, you should probably expect a non-traditional inauguration. In this case,
00:22Donald Trump exceeded all expectations. On the first day, most presidents choose to address
00:27the country with optimism and a spirit of unity. Trump wanted to scare everyone to death.
00:33Titled American Carnage, Trump's speech was super dark, even apocalyptic, painting a picture
00:37of a country on the verge of falling apart.
00:40This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
00:48Several former occupants of the White House on both sides of the political spectrum later
00:52said they couldn't believe what they were hearing.
00:54And George W. Bush says to me, well, that was some weird s----.
00:58Wow.
00:59Now, it wasn't the only bizarre thing about Trump's inauguration. The whole transition
01:03was unusual and awkward, largely due to a lot of overconfidence on one side of the aisle.
01:08Well, at real Donald Trump, at least I will go down as a president.
01:16It was also weird because the Trumps were pretty much new to politics and brought their
01:21own approach to just about everything. For example, when the Obamas formally welcomed
01:25the Trumps to the White House for the first time, Melania handed Michelle a wrapped gift,
01:29as if she was coming over for a dinner party. According to Michelle, she was so surprised
01:33by the present that she didn't know what to do with it until her husband tactfully stepped
01:37in and took it inside. The box contained an empty Tiffany's picture frame.
01:42It's a metaphor, Steve.
01:44Let's go with that.
01:46There were a few big issues with JFK's inauguration that are often forgotten today. First, there
01:52an awkward mistake while taking his oath of office. The oath was administered by Speaker
01:56of the House Sam Rayburn, who asked Lyndon B. Johnson to repeat after him, saying,
02:00"...I take this obligation without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."
02:04Johnson, however, replied,
02:06"...I take this obligation without any mental reservation...whatever."
02:10So, ironically, he literally evaded the purpose of evasion part. You'd think an oath would
02:16have to be something you'd get exactly right, but apparently no one really cared.
02:21Significantly worse things happened during this inauguration, anyway. As Cardinal Richard
02:25Cushing was giving his invocation speech during the ceremony, the podium he was speaking at
02:29caught fire. It was due to an electrical short, and the Secret Service had to rush in to take
02:34care of it. This was an issue with the weather, which commonly causes problems during inaugurations.
02:39After all, it's January on the East Coast. In this case, a faulty heater had been set
02:44up behind the podium to keep the speakers warm.
02:47Also weather-related, well, technically double weather-related, the poet Robert Frost was
02:52unable to read the poem he intended to. Like, he literally couldn't read it, due to the
02:57glare of the sun off the eight inches of snow that had fallen the night before.
03:01But few people talk about all this today, because JFK's inauguration — and his inauguration
03:05speech — was such a momentous event in American history. For many, JFK represented youth,
03:10hope, and optimism. His inauguration speech still stands as one of the best ever written,
03:14and included what is arguably JFK's most memorable line.
03:18Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
03:25And for those keeping score at home, Kennedy's unforgettable speech was a mere 14 minutes,
03:30compared to the life-changing two hours this next guy took.
03:34An editor is a beautiful thing, and if William Henry Harrison had used one when writing his
03:39inauguration speech, his presidency — and the rest of his life — might have been very
03:44different. We'll never know.
03:46What we do know is that the 68-year-old Harrison's 8,445-word speech droned on for just under
03:52two excruciating hours. To this date, it is the longest inauguration speech by far in
03:58American history. Not only was Harrison's speech a rambling snooze-fest about the political
04:02process, he also delivered it in the chilling cold, for which he was severely underdressed.
04:07He was like, listen, I'm not going to wear a coat to my inauguration because I need to
04:12show the American people I'm a strong dude.
04:15Thirty-one days after taking office, Harrison didn't look like a strong dude. He actually
04:19looked super dead, thanks to a fatal case of pneumonia. His was the shortest presidency
04:24in U.S. history.
04:25Maybe I should have worn a coat.
04:28We know, technically speaking, he didn't get pneumonia from giving the speech. But being
04:33and standing outside for two hours speaking isn't exactly a way to not get sick.
04:38Incoming President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the outgoing guy, Herbert Hoover, spent the
04:42majority of Roosevelt's inauguration in stony silence, having fought each other to the point
04:47of withering contempt over Roosevelt's New Deal proposals.
04:50Change. Change. And party leadership does not strike at the fundamental principles of
04:59the republic.
05:00Hoover had called Roosevelt a chameleon en plaid, a scathing indictment that we have
05:05to assume made a lot more sense in 1932.
05:07Roosevelt would enter a room with one set of ideas, and then he would find the people
05:12in the room had another set of ideas, and he would adjust.
05:15Still, FDR had the last laugh. He was elected president four times, his death in office
05:20was mourned across the world, and he's made heroic cameo appearances in everything from
05:25cartoons to the stage musical Annie, a play in which Herbert Hoover is also immoralized
05:30by a bunch of unhoused Hoovervilites who count him as the reason they live under a bridge.
05:36In some ways, George Washington's inauguration went better than many that came later. For
05:40one, he got 100 percent of the electoral votes, so there weren't many fake smiles in the crowd
05:45— unless, of course, you count Washington himself.
05:48Well, General, uh, you are, you are here. I am."
05:58According to those who were there, our first president was the furthest thing from smooth
06:02that day. During the ceremony, he was anxious, embarrassed, and agitated. Not only was he
06:06shaking, but he delivered his speech in a whisper so quiet as to be essentially inaudible.
06:11He didn't even pretend to be cool about the whole thing, admitting in his speech — for
06:15those who could hear it — that no event could have filled him with greater anxieties.
06:20It is the definition of irony that that unwillingness to be there is probably what made him worthy
06:25of the position to begin with.
06:27Originally, the presidential inauguration was held in March, but it now happens in January.
06:32Either way, it was always expected to be a bit inhospitable weather-wise. But the inauguration
06:37of Ulysses S. Grant was exceptional. During Grant's inauguration on March 4, 1873, the
06:43recorded temperature was 16 degrees Fahrenheit. But thanks to the windchill, it likely felt
06:48closer to something between negative 15 and negative 30 degrees. It was so cold that some
06:53cadets standing guard were sent to the hospital with frostbite. And because the inaugural
06:57ball took place in an uninsulated structure, guests were literally freezing all evening.
07:03Even worse, as part of the celebration, hundreds of canaries had been set up in cages above
07:07the ball. It's likely they all froze to death, although some say they died as a result of
07:12the gas lamps. Either way, the effect was the same. The temporary wooden building was
07:16not only freezing, but also raining dead birds.
07:20The feud between Second President John Adams and Number Three Thomas Jefferson was so hot
07:25that Adams skipped Jefferson's inauguration altogether. It's possible Adams bailed because
07:29it was awkward, but according to historical accounts, Adams was said to be awkwardness-personified,
07:35so maybe he just didn't want to start a street fight.
07:37I feel a great difficulty as to how to act. I am vice president, yes, and in this I am
07:46nothing.
07:47The personal and political relationship between Jefferson and Adams was complicated. During
07:52the 1796 election, Adams beat Jefferson, but back in those days, the runner-up became vice
07:57president regardless of whether they agreed on anything at all. Those two started out
08:01as allies when it was about forming a new nation, but when it came to duking it out
08:05for the top spots, the campaign was one of the most brutal in American history.
08:09Jefferson's people accused Adams of having a, quote, "...hideous, hermaphroditical character."
08:15We don't know what that means, but it's probably bad. Well, Adams' team called Jefferson a
08:19"...mean-spirited, low-lived fellow." You know what that means.
08:23If you elect Thomas Jefferson, here's what you're gonna get. Murder. All the time. Everybody's
08:30gonna be murdering each other.
08:31It was the birth of the American political smear campaign.
08:34Oh, by the way, if you were thinking about voting for Jefferson, you shouldn't, because
08:39he's dead.
08:41So after serving a single term, Adams hopped a public stagecoach out of Washington before
08:45Jefferson's inauguration, and they didn't speak again for 12 years.
08:50Stop gawking. I'm playing John Adams, just an ordinary citizen.
08:57Connected to the bitter end, they died on the same day, July 4, 1826, within hours of
09:02one another. It was 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
09:08To understand the volatility of Andrew Jackson's inauguration, you should first know that it
09:12was the second time he'd run against John Quincy Adams. In 1824, Adams and Jackson faced
09:17off against each other for the presidency. Jackson won both the popular and electoral
09:21votes, but somehow Adams was elected president.
09:25The official story is that Adams was chosen because Jackson only received a plurality
09:29of the Electoral College votes, so it went to the House. And long story short, this is
09:33where the phrase, corrupt bargain, originated.
09:36As you can imagine, Jackson was melancholy about the whole thing. So by the time 1828
09:41rolled around, tension was high. The campaign was basically Adams, the man of the politicians,
09:46against Jackson, the man of the people. This time, Jackson won.
09:50This set the stage for the inauguration in 1829, a wild, rowdy open house party at the
09:55White House with 20,000 guests. Guests in muddy shoes stood on furniture, dishes were
10:00broken, food was dropped everywhere, and servants had to lure people out of the people's house
10:04onto the lawn with promises of whiskey. Lots and lots of whiskey. Whiskey, what can't
10:10it say?
10:12Jackson himself got trapped against a wall and had to be pulled out of the house and
10:15spirited off to the National Hotel for his own safety.
10:19Number 14, Franklin Pierce, was called the saddest president by The Washington Post,
10:23and his inauguration was understandably tragic.
10:25Believe me, I'd rather be you than president any day.
10:29Just before the inauguration, Pierce, his wife, and his son were traveling by train
10:32when their train derailed and tumbled down a hill. Several people died, including Pierce's
10:3711-year-old son. This was the third son Pierce had lost. The first died a few days after
10:42being born, and the second died at four from typhus.
10:45Pierce believed that this latest calamity was personal and that God was punishing him
10:49in some way. So on inauguration day, he refused to swear his oath on the Bible. He used a
10:53law book instead. Pierce's wife didn't even attend the inauguration. She also believed
10:58their family was cursed.
10:59Pierce, for his part, buried himself in alcohol for most of his term. So, yeah, scratch that
11:04part before about whiskey saving everything.
11:08Even longtime politicians can end up with the jitters. During Abraham Lincoln's second
11:12inauguration, Vice President Andrew Johnson threw back three large tumblers full of medicinal
11:17whiskey and was visibly drunk throughout the ceremony.
11:20Mr. Vice President-elect.
11:23Mr. Chief Justice.
11:26According to an 1885 letter to the editor in The Tennessean,
11:30When he was inaugurated as vice president on the 4th of March, 1865, Johnson had been
11:34on one of the most protracted sprees of his life, and was at the time so inebriated as
11:39to make himself a spectacle, as he attempted incoherently to utter an inaugural address.
11:44In his speech, Johnson apparently ranted at the crowd about his own humble origins,
11:48but also his triumph over the rebel aristocracy, some of whom were, of course, sitting right
11:54there in the audience. The crowd was silent, Lincoln was embarrassed, and one senator merely
11:59facepalmed.
12:00But, eventually, Johnson calmed down, took the vice presidential oath, and grabbed the
12:04Bible and gave it a big kiss. After that, while he tried to swear in new senators, Johnson
12:09botched it, and a Senate clerk took over for him.
12:12Wow. Just scratch all the whiskey stuff. This is taking a turn.
12:17On inauguration day, Dwight D. Eisenhower skipped breakfast with Truman, his predecessor.
12:22That morning, Mrs. Truman prepared, or had someone prepare, what Truman called a very
12:26fine breakfast.
12:27Mr. Eisenhower was supposed to come to that breakfast, which he didn't do.
12:33Eisenhower also refused to greet Truman before the swearing-in, and it's kind of understandable.
12:38The two had worked together in the past, but campaigns are wars, and this one had
12:42been brutal, with Truman supporting Eisenhower's opponent, Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower was
12:47said to have regarded Truman as inept, undignified, and surrounded by political yes-men. Truman
12:52didn't appreciate that one bit.
12:54Those weren't the only ways in which Eisenhower's inauguration broke from tradition. He presided
12:59over a large inaugural parade, eventually being lassoed by a cowboy, with the permission
13:03of the Secret Service, of course. Or that could have been extremely awkward, but also
13:07perhaps more than a little entertaining.
13:10There's probably a reason people don't mix farm animals with presidential inaugurations,
13:15but apparently nobody told Richard Nixon.
13:18Nixon's second-term inaugural ball was held at the National Museum of History and Technology
13:22— that's now the American History Museum — which also featured a farm exhibit. During
13:27the ball itself, a rooster escaped the exhibit and proceeded to accost a wealthy socialite.
13:32The bird was ultimately wrangled by a museum employee. A photo of the famous chicken that
13:36disrupted the ball is still preserved in the Smithsonian Institution archives, and it wasn't
13:40the only time Nixon had a run-in with a farm animal. In fact, it wasn't the only time Nixon
13:45had a run-in with a farm animal at his inauguration.
13:48In 1969, anti-war protesters brought a pig to the National Mall in efforts to inaugurate
13:53it. Tickets to the counter-inaugural ball cheekily offered best seats for $2 and worst
13:59seats for $35.