PHOTOS: Presidential Inaugurations Through the Years
Historic photos depict presidential oaths from bygone times.
President Barack Obama's second inauguration ceremony and celebration Jan. 21 will be a far cry from the inauguration of our first president, George Washington. That ceremony was held April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City, where the federal government was headquartered at the time. Washington made the shortest inauguration speech on record—133 words and less than two minutes long—at his second swearing-in, in Philadelphia. One thing all presidential inauguration swearing-in ceremonies have in common, though, are these words: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States…
