Presidential Inaugurations

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For a lot of people, it is just as exciting as the election of a new president and that is the Presidential Inauguration. First U.S. President George Washington attended a ball that was held in his honor in 1789. Afterward, inauguration balls became official and the first one was held to celebrate the election of James Madison ten years later. George Washington was sworn in as the first U.S. president on April 30, 1789, and the ball held in his honor came a week later in New York City. It was held in a building on Broadway near Wall Street. After Washington’s ball the following Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson held less informal inaugural balls. Then Dolly Madison the wife of the 4th U.S. President James Madison held a large gala for 400 people at Long’s Hotel in Washington, DC. Afterward, there were large and formal inaugural balls which became a tradition every four years in order to celebrate the election of another president. There are usually a series of parties during inauguration. The 34th U.S. President Eisenhower attended several parties in 1957. In order to save money both Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding canceled their inaugural balls and Franklin Pierce cancelled his due to the death of his son. During the time of their inauguration Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt held charity balls. A sad fate was met by William Henry Harrison as he spent his inaugural ceremony standing in freezing cold conditions all morning and then attending three balls. He was the oldest man to be elected president at the age of 67. As a result, he caught a cold which turned into pneumonia and died thirty days into his term. There are two former U.S. Presidents who hold the record for the number of inaugural balls which they attended in one night. One is the 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton who attended 15 in 1997 and the 41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush attended 11 in 1989.