Millions of people across the country are expected to follow the president-elect Trump’s second inauguration ceremony. Television networks, online publications and social networks are preparing for the big event. The way inaugurations are presented to the public has changed drastically over the years.
“We must think big and dream even bigger,” Trump said during his first inaugural address in 2017.
Tens of millions of people watched his first address in real time – both on television and via online streaming. But introductory speeches and analysis speech was not always immediately available. In 1789, when George Washington took the oath of office for the first time, his speech was not available to the public until several days later.
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Thomas Jefferson became the first president to have his inaugural speech printed in a newspaper on the same day he delivered his speech in 1801. The National Intelligencer printed the speech the morning of Jefferson’s inauguration.
James Polk was the first president whose address was telegraphed. It was also the first time that the speech was depicted in a newspaper illustration, in the Illustrated London News.
James Polk takes the presidential oath in this illustration of his inauguration. Polk’s inauguration was first published as a newspaper illustration. (Library of Congress)
There were drawings main image for inaugurations another 12 years, until photography began to be used more often. James Buchanan was the first president to be photographed while taking the oath of office. Another 40 years later, video was used to record inaugurations for the public.
William McKinley was the first president to appear on camera during his inaugural address in 1901. At the time, only silent films were available, but this would change over the years as inaugural speeches began to include sound.
James Buchanan was the first president to be photographed when he was sworn into office. (Library of Congress)
In 1921, Warren Harding was the first to use a loudspeaker to personally address the crowd attending his inauguration. Four years later, Calvin Coolidge was the first to broadcast his inauguration nationally over the radio. The White House Historical Association estimates that his 1925 speech reached more than 23 million radio listeners. Herbert Hoover held the first multimedia inauguration. His 1929 address was the first to be recorded in a speech journal.
“It is a dedication and consecration under God to the highest office in the service of our nation,” Hoover said during his address.
After World War IImore and more Americans are buying televisions for their homes. By 1949, almost all major cities had at least one local television station, and 4.2 million American homes had TV sets. Harry Truman became the first president whose inauguration was broadcast live that year. More than a decade later, John F. Kennedy had his address broadcast in color to the approximately 500,000 Americans who had color televisions.
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” Kennedy famously said during his inaugural address.
Ronald Reagan sought to bring the pageantry of the inaugural events to Americans across the country. His inaugural committee hosted about 100 satellite inaugural balls that were broadcast in 32 cities.
Americans had to wait days to read the president’s inaugural speech in newspapers. Today, the event can be streamed live in real time around the world. (Associated Press)
“Nearly 200 years ago, for the first inauguration, people came by stagecoach. This time, people across America, millions of people, are attending this via satellite,” Reagan said during a ball at the Hilton Hotel in Washington.
More than a decade later, Bill Clinton’s second inauguration In 1997, it was available online via livestream. Clinton had signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 at the Library of Congress just a year earlier.
“Ten years ago the Internet was the mystical province of physicists; today it is a common encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren,” Clinton said during his inaugural address. “As we look back on this remarkable century, we can ask ourselves, ‘Can we hope to not only follow, but even surpass, the achievements of the 20th century in America?'”
With the growth of the Internet, the use of social media has also expanded.
“We’ve always understood that when times change, so must we,” Barack Obama said in his second inaugural address in 2013.
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Obama was the first president join Twitter. His 2013 address generated more than a million tweets. According to Pew Research, about 51% of Americans owned a smartphone at the time. When Trump took the oath of office in 2017, that percentage rose to 77%. Mobile phone carriers have installed external antennas outside the address for the huge crowd to share photos and videos of the day’s events on social media.
When Joe Biden gave his address In 2021, its inaugural committee relied on technology for nearly every aspect of the event. The coronavirus pandemic has forced much of Biden’s festivities online.
“The world is watching all of us today. So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested, and we have come out stronger,” Biden said during his address.
