ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, will be historic in its own way, but the presidential oath of office’s 200-plus-year history is filled with unprecedented moments in American history.

Trump will be the first former president since the 19th century to retake the oath after losing the White House four years ago in his reelection bid. He will also be the first former president to be inaugurated after being impeached, not once, but twice.

From the Architect of the Capitol, here are some other presidential inaugural firsts:

William J. Clinton, January 20, 1997

• First time that the ceremony was broadcast live on the Internet.
• First inaugural that fell on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Ronald Reagan, January 21, 1985

• First inaugural that fell on a Super Bowl Sunday.
• First time a television camera was placed inside the president’s limousine from the Capitol to the White House.

Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977

• First president to walk all the way from the Capitol to the White House with their family after ceremony.

Gerald R. Ford, August 4, 1974

• First unelected vice president to assume the presidency.
• First vice president to assume the presidency under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which specifies that, upon the resignation of the president, the vice president shall become president.

Lyndon B. Johnson, January 20, 1965

• First use of a bullet-proofed, closed limousine.

Lyndon B. Johnson, November 22, 1963

• First time that the oath was administered in an airplane (Air Force One, a Boeing 707, at Love Field in Dallas, Texas).
• First time that the oath was administered by a woman, Sarah T. Hughes, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas.

John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961

• First time that a Speaker of the House administered the oath of office to the vice president. (Previously the oath had been given by either the President pro tempore of the Senate, the ex-vice president, or a U.S. senator.)
• First time a poet, Robert Frost, participated in the official ceremonies at the Capitol.
• First time that both parents of the president-elect attended their son’s inauguration.
• As the first Catholic elected president, Kennedy was the first to use a Catholic (Douay) version of the Bible for their oath.
• First time that the parade was televised in color (NBC).

Harry S. Truman, January 20, 1949

• First inauguration to be televised.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1937

• First president to be inaugurated on the January 20 date, a change made by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.

Calvin Coolidge, March 4, 1925

• First time an ex-president (William Taft) administered the oath of office as Chief Justice.
• First inaugural to be broadcast nationally by radio.

Warren G. Harding, March 4, 1921

• First president to ride to and from their inaugural in an automobile.
• First use of loudspeakers at an inaugural.

William McKinley, March 4, 1897

• First inaugural recorded by movie camera.

Andrew Johnson, April 15, 1865

• First instance of the Chief Justice administering the oath of office to the vice president upon the death of the president.

Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

• First time that African-Americans participated in the inaugural parade.

James Buchanan, March 4, 1857

• First inaugural known to have been photographed.

James Polk, March 4, 1845

• First inaugural to be covered by telegraph.
• First known newspaper illustration of a presidential inauguration (The Illustrated London News).

John Tyler, April 6, 1841

• First vice president to assume the presidency due to the death of the president.

John Adams, March 4, 1797

• First president to receive the oath from the Chief Justice of the United States (Oliver Ellsworth).

George Washington, April 30, 1789

• Oath of office taken out-of-doors (balcony of Federal Hall in New York City).
• Set the precedent of kissing the Bible after the oath.

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