The oath of office of the president of the United States is the oath or affirmation that the president of the United States takes upon assuming office. The wording of the oath is specified in Article II, Section One, Clause 8, of the United States Constitution, and a new president must take it before exercising or carrying out any official powers or duties.
Between 73 and 79 days after the presidential election, the president-elect of the United States is inaugurated as president by taking the presidential oath of office. The inauguration takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term.
The inauguration of Gerald Ford as the 38th president of the United States was held on Friday, August 9, 1974, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., after President Richard Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal. The inauguration – the last non-scheduled, extraordinary inauguration to take place in the 20th century – marked the commencement of Gerald Ford's only term as president. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the oath of office. The Bible upon which Ford recited the oath was held by his wife, Betty Ford, open to Proverbs 3:5–6. Ford was the ninth vice president to succeed to the presidency intra-term, and he remains the most recent to do so, as of 2023.
The first inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States was held on Thursday, April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, New York. The inauguration was held nearly two months after the beginning of the first four-year term of George Washington as president. Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston administered the presidential oath of office. With this inauguration, the executive branch of the United States government officially began operations under the new frame of government established by the 1787 Constitution. The inauguration of John Adams as vice president was on April 21, 1789, when he assumed his duties as presiding officer of the United States Senate; this also remains the only scheduled inauguration to take place on a day that was neither January nor March.
The first inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as the 30th president of the United States was held on Friday, August 3, 1923, at the Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, following the death of President Warren G. Harding the previous evening. The inauguration – the sixth non-scheduled, extraordinary inauguration to ever take place – marked the commencement of the first term of Calvin Coolidge as president. The presidential oath of office was administered to the new president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., who was a Vermont notary public and justice of the peace. On Tuesday, August 21, 1923, President Coolidge repeated the oath before Justice Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the Court of the District of Columbia at the Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.
The first inauguration of Bill Clinton as the 42nd president of the United States was held on Wednesday, January 20, 1993, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 52nd inauguration and marked the commencement of the first term of Bill Clinton as president and Al Gore as vice president. At 46 years, 154 days of age at the time of his first inauguration, Clinton was the third-youngest person to become president, and the first from the Baby Boomer generation.
The second inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States took place on Thursday, January 20, 2005, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 55th inauguration and marked the beginning of the second and final term of George W. Bush as president and Dick Cheney as vice president. The ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the presidential oath of office for the last and 5th time before his death on September 3 that year. Attendance at the inauguration has been reported as being around 100,000, 300,000, or 400,000.
The first inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States took place on Saturday, January 20, 2001, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 54th inauguration and marked the commencement of the first term of George W. Bush as president and Dick Cheney as vice president. Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the presidential oath of office at 12:01 p.m., after he administered the vice presidential oath of office as well.
The second inauguration of Ronald Reagan as president of the United States was held in a televised ceremony on January 20, 1985, at the White House, and was repeated the following day, January 21, 1985, at the Capitol's rotunda. This was the 50th presidential inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and final four-year term of both Ronald Reagan as president and of George H. W. Bush as vice president. At 73 years, 349 days of age on Inauguration Day, Reagan was the oldest U.S. president to be inaugurated, until Joe Biden's inauguration as president on January 20, 2021, at the age of 78 years, 61 days.
The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side. This was the 49th inauguration and marked the commencement of Ronald Reagan's and George H. W. Bush's first term as president and vice president. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath of office to Reagan, who placed his hand upon a family Bible given to him by his mother, open to 2 Chronicles 7:14. Associate Justice Potter Stewart administered the vice presidential oath to Bush.
The inauguration of Jimmy Carter as the 39th president of the United States was held on Thursday, January 20, 1977, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. This was the 48th inauguration and marked the commencement of Jimmy Carter's and Walter Mondale's single term as president and vice president. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath of office to Carter, and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill administered the vice presidential oath of office to Mondale. This was the last inauguration held on the East Portico of the Capitol building as well as the last time the chief justice would stand to the left of the podium, with the audience facing them, while swearing in a president. Exactly forty years later, Carter attended the inauguration of Donald Trump, becoming the first U.S. president to mark the 40th anniversary of his inauguration.
The first inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the 34th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1953, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 42nd inauguration and marked the commencement of the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower as president and of Richard Nixon as vice president. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson administered the presidential oath of office to Eisenhower. The vice presidential oath was administered to Nixon by Senator William Knowland.
The third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president of the United States was held on Monday, January 20, 1941, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 39th inauguration and marked the commencement of the third, and eventually final full term of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president and the only term of Henry A. Wallace as vice president. This was the first and only time a president has been inaugurated for a third term; after the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1951, no person can be elected president more than twice.
The second inauguration of George Washington as president of the United States was held in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday, March 4, 1793. The inauguration marked the commencement of the second four-year term of George Washington as president and of John Adams as vice president. The presidential oath of office was administered to George Washington by Associate Justice William Cushing. This was the first inauguration to take place in Philadelphia, and took place exactly four years after the new federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution.
The inauguration of John Quincy Adams as the sixth president of the United States took place on Friday, March 4, 1825, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The inauguration marked the commencement of the only four-year term of John Quincy Adams as president and the first term of John C. Calhoun as vice president. Adams was the first president to have been the son of a former president–John Adams; and Calhoun, at age 42 on Inauguration Day, was the second-youngest vice president.
The inauguration of Franklin Pierce as the 14th president of the United States was held on Friday, March 4, 1853, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 17th inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both Franklin Pierce as president and William R. King as vice president. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney administered the presidential oath of office. Pierce affirmed the oath of office rather than swear it, and was also the first president to recite his inaugural address from memory.
The inauguration of Warren G. Harding as the 29th president of the United States was held on Friday, March 4, 1921, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 34th inauguration and marked the commencement of Warren G. Harding's only term as president and of Calvin Coolidge's only term as vice president. Harding died 2 years, 151 days into this term, and Coolidge succeeded to the presidency.
The second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as president of the United States, was held on Wednesday, March 4, 1925, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 35th presidential inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and only full term of Calvin Coolidge as president and the only term of Charles G. Dawes as vice president. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had served as president from 1909 to 1913, administered the oath of office. This was the first inauguration on which a former U.S. president administered the Oath and the first to be broadcast nationally on radio.
The inauguration of Herbert Hoover as the 31st president of the United States was held on Monday, March 4, 1929, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 36th inauguration and marked the commencement of the only term of both Herbert Hoover as president and Charles Curtis as vice president. Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft administered the presidential oath of office to Hoover. This was the first presidential inauguration to be recorded by sound newsreels. Following the second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge, overseen by Taft exactly four years earlier, it was also the second time that a former president administered the oath of office to a new president.
The oath of office of the vice president of the United States is the oath or affirmation that the vice president of the United States takes upon assuming the vice-presidency but before beginning the execution of the office. It is the same oath that members of the United States Congress and members of the president's cabinet take upon entering office.
