on March 4, 1897 The tradition of presidential inaugural balls in the
United States has evolved over time. The first inaugural ball was held by sponsors on May 7, 1789, in
New York City, one week after the
first inauguration of George Washington. In 1809,
Dolley Madison hosted a gala at Long's Hotel in Washington D.C. after the
first inauguration of James Madison was held earlier in the day at the
United States Capitol, where a total of 400 tickets were sold for $4 a piece. In 1833, two balls were held for the
second inauguration of Andrew Jackson, and in 1841, a third ball was added for the
inauguration of William Henry Harrison. For the inaugurations of
Zachary Taylor in 1849,
James Buchanan in 1857, and the
second inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant in 1873, temporary buildings were constructed at Judiciary Square. In 1865, a ball was held for
Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration in the Model Room at the
United States Patent Office, the first ball held in a government building, while in 1869, Grant, during his
first inauguration, was honored with an inaugural ball held at the
Treasury Building. Between 1885 and 1909, inaugural balls were held at the National Museum Building (now the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building) and the
Pension Building (now the
National Building Museum). Three presidents have cancelled inaugural balls for various reasons:
Franklin Pierce did so in 1853 as he was mourning the recent death of his son, while
Woodrow Wilson in 1913 felt that inaugural balls were too expensive; after
Warren G. Harding, who wanted to set an example of simplicity, cancelled his in 1921, he temporarily ended the custom of inaugural balls. Private parties known as "charity balls" were held during the
second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge in 1925, for the
inauguration of Herbert Hoover in 1929, and most notably during the Great Depression and World War II-era inaugurations of
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, 1937, 1941, and 1945. Official inaugural balls were not reinstated until the
Second inauguration of Harry S. Truman in 1949. Due to their growing popularity, the number of inaugural balls grew starting in the 1950s: during the 1953
inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, there were two, and by 1957, there were a total of four balls held for Eisenhower's
second inauguration. A fifth was added for the
Inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. Reflecting the mood of previous presidents in the early 20th century,
Jimmy Carter stripped his 1977 inaugural balls of their frivolity and glamor, and charged no more than $25 per ticket. By 1997, the number of inaugural balls reached a peak of fourteen during the
second inauguration of Bill Clinton, being reduced to eight for the
first inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001 and nine for
his second inauguration in 2005. For the 2009
inauguration of Barack Obama, 10 official and 121 unofficial inaugural balls were held. No inaugural balls were held in 2021 after the
inauguration of Joe Biden due to
COVID-19 pandemic. ==Gallery==