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A Very Unusual Inauguration
Posted by Bigfoot on January 18th, 2009
As America braces itself for what looks to be the most extravagent, expensive and over-the-top inauguration in our entire history, here’s a look back at what might be the most unusual and humble inauguration of any American president, when Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in, to succeed President Warren G. Harding.
In 1920, Senator Harding of Ohio won the presidential election, with Massachusetts Governor Coolidge as his running mate. Harding died on August 2, 1923, while in California on a speaking tour. At the time, Coolidge was visiting his father and stepmother at their home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where he had grown up. Word of Harding’s death would eventually reach the vice president, who would take the Oath Of Office at 2:47 AM on August 3rd. The oath was administered by Coolidge’s father John Coolidge, a notary public, and witnessed by only a small group of people. The new president would later repeat the oath at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.
Vermont Only, Historic Vermont and the National Park Service have more details.
