A Brief History
On January 20, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first US president to be sworn in on January 20th, a date changed from the previous inauguration day of March 4th by the 20th Amendment of 1933. Some other interesting presidential firsts on January 20th include:
Digging Deeper
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first 5-star general sworn in as president in 1953, and the first born in Texas.
John F. Kennedy, the youngest elected president, inaugurated in 1961.
Ronald Reagan, inaugurated in 1981 as the oldest president up to that time.
Barack Obama became the first African American president in 2009, as well as the first president born in Hawaii.
Joe Biden eclipsed Ronald Reagan as the oldest US president in 2021, and the first to have a female vice president.
What are some presidential firsts you would like to see?
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Who is your favorite president?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Darman, Jonathan. Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President. Random House, 2022.
Yenne, Bill. The Complete Book of US Presidents, Fourth Edition: Updated for 2021. Crestline Books, 2021.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of the Inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937, is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
