[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12291-S12292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INAUGURAL CEREMONIES

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, on September 19, 1996, the Joint 
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies organized to prepare 
for the next congressionally hosted inauguration.
  It is appropriate now, as we prepare to adjourn less than four months 
away from Inauguration Day 1997, to reflect on the historic 
arrangements Congress has made to ensure that this confirmation of the 
voters' will is carried out publicly as our electoral cycle is 
completed.
   Mr. President, once again Congress prepares for an inauguration of a 
President of the United States. This was the initial responsibility 
that faced the First Congress. When the Senate established its first 
quorum on April 6, 1789, Congress was the only functioning branch of 
the Federal Government; the executive and judicial branches did not yet 
exist. On April 6, Members of the Senate and House of Representatives 
met in the Senate Chamber to count the electoral ballots and declare 
George Washington elected president. They dispatched messengers to 
notify General Washington at Mount Vernon. On April 9, the Senate 
appointed a committee ``to make the necessary arrangements for 
receiving the President'' and to meet with any committee that the House 
appointed for such purposes. Those committees, which reported their 
plan for the inauguration on April 25, were the precursor of today's 
Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
  Every four years since Congress has held presidential inaugural 
ceremonies. On April 30, 1789, President Washington took his oath on a 
balcony at Federal Hall, where Congress was then meeting in New York 
City. By 1793 Congress had moved to Congress Hall in Philadelphia, and 
Washington took his oath this time in the Senate Chamber. Four years 
later, John Adams's inaugural occurred in the larger House Chamber. In 
1800 the Federal Government transferred to its permanent home in 
Washington, DC, and on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the first 
president inaugurated in the U.S. Capitol Building. That ceremony took 
place in the Senate Chamber (now restored as the Old Supreme Court 
Chamber). James Madison was sworn into office in the new House Chamber 
in 1809 and again in 1813. After British troops burned the Capitol in 
1814, James Monroe's inauguration in 1817 was held across the street, 
in front of the temporary Capitol building, on the present site of the 
Supreme Court. These were the first inaugural ceremonies performed 
outdoors. Poor weather forced the inauguration back indoors in 1821, 
but since Andrew Jackson's inauguration in 1829, the ceremonies 
generally have been conducted outdoors to accommodate growing numbers 
of citizens wishing to attend.

  From 1825 until 1977 presidential inaugurations took place on the 
East Front of the Capitol, where large platforms were erected on the 
steps leading to the Rotunda. At first these ceremonies were held on 
March 4th. The adoption of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution 
in 1933 advanced the date to January 20th. Franklin D. Roosevelt became 
the first to take his oath under this amendment, on January 20, 1937. 
Roosevelt's first three inaugurals took place at the Capitol, but in 
1945, while the National was still engaged in the Second World War, 
Roosevelt overruled congressional objections and took the oath of 
office at the White House. The Inaugural Ceremony resumed at the 
Capitol with Harry Truman's ceremony in 1949.
  Ronald Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981, saw the ceremonies 
shift to the Capitol's West Front, where the terraces served as the 
inaugural platform and where even larger crowds could be accommodated 
down the Mall. Frigid weather in 1985 forced President Reagan's second 
inauguration indoors into the Capitol Rotunda.
  Between Inaugurations, nine individuals have taken the presidential 
oath of office elsewhere. Following the death or resignation of 
presidents, vice presidents were sworn into office at the White House, 
in a Washington hotel, a New York City brownstone, a Vermont farmhouse, 
and aboard Air Force One.
  Gerald R. Ford assumed the Vice Presidency under the 25th amendment 
to the Constitution on the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew 
and Ford was sworn in as President August 9, 1974 on the resignation of 
Richard M. Nixon.
  I ask unanimous consent that a press release which documents the 
members of the Committee and their official actions in the first 
Committee organizational meeting and the text of Senate Concurrent 
Resolutions 47 and 48, authorizing the Committee and inaugural 
arrangements, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            Joint Leadership Elects Warner to Inaugural Post

       Senator John Warner has been elected chairman of the Joint 
     Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the 
     committee created by Congress every four years to oversee the 
     inauguration for the President of the United States.
       In addition to Warner's selection, the committee decided to 
     hold the 53rd inauguration on the West Front of the Capitol. 
     The inaugural will take place January 20, 1997.
       In keeping with tradition, Warner's nomination was put 
     forward by Senate Democratic Whip Wendell Ford, D-Ky., and 
     seconded by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. In 
     addition to Lott and Ford, other members are: Speaker of the 
     House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., House Majority Leader Richard 
     Armey, R-Tex. and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-
     Mo.
       Senator Warner is the first Virginian to chair the Joint 
     Inaugural Committee since 1945, when Senator Harry Byrd, Sr., 
     D-Va., chaired the panel.
       Historically, the Joint Inaugural Committee is formed the 
     year prior to the Congressionally-hosted ceremonies, and 
     ceases operation after the ceremonies conclude. The 
     committee, which was authorized March 20, is charged with the 
     planning and execution of all inaugural activities at the 
     U.S. Capitol, including the swearing-in ceremony and the 
     traditional inauguration luncheon that follows.
       During the meeting, Warner announced that former Assistant 
     Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Jennifer Joy 
     Wilson, will be executive director of the committee. Wilson 
     also served as chief of staff to former Virginia Republican 
     Gov. John Dalton.

[[Page S12292]]

                               S. Res. 47

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That a Joint Congressional Committee on 
     Inaugural Ceremonies consisting of 3 Senators and 3 
     Representatives, to be appointed by the President of the 
     Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
     respectively, is authorized to make the necessary 
     arrangements for the inauguration of the President-elect and 
     Vice President-elect of the United States on the 20th day of 
     January 1997.

                               S. Res. 48

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That (a) the rotunda of the United States 
     Capitol is hereby authorized to be used on January 20, 1997, 
     by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies 
     (the ``Joint Committee'') in connection with the proceedings 
     and ceremonies conducted for the inauguration of the 
     President-elect and the Vice President-elect of the United 
     States.
       (b) The Joint Committee is authorized to utilize 
     appropriate equipment and the services of appropriate 
     personnel of departments and agencies of Federal Government, 
     under arrangements between such Committee and the heads of 
     such departments and agencies, in connection with such 
     proceedings and ceremonies. The Joint Committee may accept 
     gifts and donations of goods and services to carry out its 
     responsibilities.

                          ____________________