Inauguration procedure is governed by tradition rather than the Constitution, the only constitutionally required procedure being the presidential oath of office (which may be taken anywhere, with anyone in attendance who can legally witness an oath, and at any time prior to the actual beginning of the new president's term). Traditionally, the president-elect arrives at the White House and then proceeds to the Capitol Building with the out-going president. Around or after 12 noon, the president takes the oath of office, usually administered by the
chief justice of the United States, and then delivers the inaugural address.
Oaths of office takes the
oath of office from Chief Justice
John Roberts during his
2009 presidential inauguration on January 20, 2009. The vice president is sworn into office in the same ceremony as the president. Prior to 1937, the
vice presidential oath was administered in the
Senate Chamber (in keeping with the vice president's position as president of the Senate). The oath is administered to the vice president first. Immediately afterwards, the
United States Marine Band will perform four "
ruffles and flourishes", followed by "
Hail, Columbia". Unlike the presidential oath, however, the Constitution does not specify specific words that must be spoken. Several variants of the oath have been used since 1789. The current form, which is also recited by senators, representatives, and other government officers, has been in use since 1884: At noon, the new presidential and vice presidential terms begin. At about that time, the president recites the constitutionally mandated oath of office: According to
Washington Irving's biography of George Washington, after reciting the oath at his (and the nation's) first inauguration, Washington added the words "so help me God". However, the only contemporaneous source that fully reproduced Washington's oath completely lacks the religious codicil. The first newspaper report that actually described the exact words used in an oath of office, Chester Arthur's in 1881, repeated the "query-response" method where the words, "so help me God" were a personal prayer, not a part of the constitutional oath. The time of adoption of the current procedure, where both the chief justice and the president speak the oath, is unknown. The oath of office was administered to Washington in 1789 by
Robert Livingston, Chancellor of New York State. Four years later, the oath was administered by
Supreme Court associate justice William Cushing. Since the 1797 inauguration of
John Adams, it has become customary for the new president to be sworn into office by the
Chief Justice of the United States. Others have administered the oath on occasions when a new president assumed office intra-term due to the incumbent's death or resignation.
William Cranch, chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, administered the oath of office to
John Tyler in 1841 when he succeeded to the presidency upon
William Henry Harrison's death, and to
Millard Fillmore in 1850 when
Zachary Taylor died. In 1923, upon being informed of
Warren Harding's death, while visiting his
family home in
Plymouth Notch, Vermont,
Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father,
John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., a
notary public. Most recently,
federal judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath of office to
Lyndon B. Johnson aboard
Air Force One after
John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. Since 1789 there have been 60 inaugural ceremonies to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of a president of the United States, and an additional nine marking the start of a partial presidential term following the intra-term death or resignation of an incumbent president. With the
2025 inauguration of
Donald Trump, the oath has been taken 74 different times by 45 people. This numerical discrepancy results chiefly from two factors: a president must take the oath at the beginning of each term of office, and, because the day of inauguration has sometimes fallen on a Sunday, five presidents have taken the oath privately before the public inaugural ceremonies. There is no requirement that any book, or in particular a book of sacred text, be used to administer the oath, and none is mentioned in the Constitution. By convention, incoming presidents raise their right hand and place the left on a
Bible or other book while taking the oath of office. While most have,
John Quincy Adams did not use a Bible when taking the oath in 1825; neither did
Theodore Roosevelt in 1901. In 1853,
Franklin Pierce affirmed the oath of office rather than swear it. More recently, a Catholic
missal was used for Lyndon B. Johnson's 1963 swearing in ceremony. Bibles of historical significance have sometimes been used at inaugurations.
George H. W. Bush,
Jimmy Carter and
Dwight D. Eisenhower used the
George Washington Inaugural Bible.
Barack Obama placed his hand upon the
Lincoln Bible for his oaths in 2009 and 2013, as did Donald Trump in 2017.
Joe Biden placed his hand upon a large leather-bound family Bible. Trump used the
Lincoln Bible again, along with a childhood Bible given to him by
his mother, at
his second inauguration, though he did not place his hand on either Bible during the oath of office. Immediately after the presidential oath, the
United States Marine Band will perform four "ruffles and flourishes", followed by "
Hail to the Chief", while simultaneously, a
21-gun salute is fired using
artillery pieces from the Presidential Guns Salute Battery,
3rd United States Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard" located in Taft Park, north of the Capitol. The actual gun salute begins with the first "ruffle and flourish", and "run long" (i.e. the salute concludes after "Hail to the Chief" has ended). The Marine Band, which is believed to have made its inaugural debut in 1801 for Thomas Jefferson's first inauguration, is the only musical unit to participate in all three components of the presidential inauguration: the swearing-in ceremony, the inaugural parade, and an inaugural ball. During the ceremony, the band is positioned directly below the presidential podium at the U.S. Capitol.
Inaugural address {{Listen|filename=The Inauguration of the 46th President of the United States.webm|title=Inaugural address of President Joe Biden. Newly sworn-in presidents usually give a
speech referred to as an inaugural address. As with many inaugural customs, this one was started by George Washington in 1789. After taking his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall, he proceeded to the Senate chamber where he read a speech before members of Congress and other dignitaries. Every president since Washington has delivered an inaugural address. While many of the early presidents read their addresses before taking the oath, current custom dictates that the chief justice administer the oath first, followed by the president's speech. Most presidents use their inaugural address to present their vision of America and to set forth their goals for the nation. Some of the most eloquent and powerful speeches are still quoted today. In 1865, in the waning days of the
Civil War,
Abraham Lincoln stated, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." In 1933,
Franklin D. Roosevelt avowed, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And in 1961,
John F. Kennedy declared, "And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."
Prayers delivers the
invocation at the
first inauguration of Ronald Reagan, 1981. Since 1937, the ceremony has incorporated one or more prayers. Since 1933 an associated prayer service either public or private attended by the president-elect has often taken place on the morning of the day. At times a major public or broadcast prayer service takes place after the main ceremony most recently on the next day.
Poems delivering her poem "
On the Pulse of Morning" at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993 Several inaugural ceremonies since 1961 have included a reading by a poet. The following poetry readings have taken place: •
Inauguration of John F. Kennedy (1961):
Robert Frost read part of "
Dedication" and recited "
The Gift Outright" •
First inauguration of Bill Clinton (1993):
Maya Angelou read her poem "
On the Pulse of Morning" •
Second inauguration of Bill Clinton (1997):
Miller Williams read his poem "Of History and Hope" •
First inauguration of Barack Obama (2009):
Elizabeth Alexander read her poem "
Praise Song for the Day" •
Second inauguration of Barack Obama (2013):
Richard Blanco read his poem "
One Today" •
Inauguration of Joe Biden (2021):
Amanda Gorman read her poem "
The Hill We Climb" ==Other elements==