Q 01/05

Since 1937, on what date are regular presidential inaugurations held?

A) January 3

B) January 20

C) March 4

D) November 22

Answer · why

B) January 20

January 20 has been the date since Franklin Roosevelt's second inauguration. When it falls on a Sunday, the president takes the oath privately that da...

Q 02/05

Whose 1873 inaugural ball was held in an unheated hall so cold that guests danced in their overcoats?

A) Rutherford B. Hayes

B) Ulysses S. Grant

C) Grover Cleveland

D) Benjamin Harrison

Answer · why

B) Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant's second inauguration fell on Washington's coldest March day on record, 16°F at noon. The ball in a temporary building broke up early...

Q 03/05

The 20th Amendment moved Inauguration Day earlier to shorten which period?

A) Primaries

B) Lame-duck period

C) Honeymoon period

D) Summer recess

Answer · why

B) Lame-duck period

The lame-duck period, when defeated officeholders stay on after an election, used to last four months. The change also trimmed 43 days from FDR's firs...

Q 04/05

Where was the first presidential inauguration held in 1789?

A) Independence Hall, Philadelphia

B) The US Capitol, Washington

C) Federal Hall, New York City

D) Mount Vernon, Virginia

Answer · why

C) Federal Hall, New York City

Federal Hall stood on Wall Street in New York City, then the capital. The oath on its balcony came nearly two months late, because bad weather kept Co...

Q 05/05

No chief justice had yet been appointed in April 1789, so who administered the first presidential oath?

A) Robert Livingston

B) John Jay

C) John Adams

D) Alexander Hamilton

Answer · why

A) Robert Livingston

Robert Livingston, the highest judge of the host state, stepped in five months before Congress created the national courts. The Bible, fetched in hast...