Compiled by Andy Ostmeyer
aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com
Q: Who gave the shortest inauguration speech in history?
1) George Washington.
2) John Adams.
3) John Tyler.
4) Abraham Lincoln.
A: George Washington, 1793, at 135 words.
“We have reached a higher degree of comfort and security than ever existed before in the history of the world.”
— Herbert Hoover, 1929
Q: Which U.S. chief justice presided over nine inaugurations?
1) John Marshall.
2) Roger Taney.
3) Warren Burger.
4) William Rehnquist.
A: John Marshall.
“This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
— Franklin Roosevelt, 1933
Q: Who delivered the longest inaugural address?
1) William H. Harrison.
2) Martin Van Buren.
3) Rutherford Hayes.
4) Franklin Roosevelt.
A: William H. Harrison, 1841, at 8,445 words.
“It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.”
— Ronald Reagan, 1981
Q: When was the first time black Americans participated in the inaugural parade?
1) In 1861, for Abraham Lincoln.
2) In 1865, for Abraham Lincoln.
3) In 1869, for U.S. Grant.
4) In 1904, for Theodore Roosevelt.
A: In 1865, for Lincoln.
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
— Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address, 1865
Q: On March 5, 1917, there was another first: Women participated in the inaugural parade. Which president was it for?
1) William McKinley.
2) Theodore Roosevelt.
3) William Howard Taft.
4) Woodrow Wilson.
A: Woodrow Wilson.
“Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his fellow, saying, ‘His color is not mine,’ or ‘His beliefs are strange and different,’ in that moment he betrays America, though his forebears created this nation.”
— Lyndon Johnson, 1965
Q: Only one former president has given the oath of office to his successors. Who were they?
1) John Adams from George Washington.
2) William Howard Taft from Theodore Roosevelt.
3) Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover from William Howard Taft.
4) Franklin Roosevelt from Herbert Hoover.
A: Taft was later a Supreme Court justice who presided over the oaths for Coolidge and Hoover.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. ... My fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy, 1961
Q: John F. Kennedy invited a poet to participate in the inaugural program. Who was the poet?
1) Carl Sandburg.
2) Maya Angelou.
3) Allen Ginsberg.
4) Robert Frost.
A: Robert Frost.
Sources: news.bbc.co.uk; inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts; www.mcclatchydc.com.
