Washington’s extreme cold has forced the Donald Trump’s second investiture It breaks with tradition and is not celebrated outdoors, opening another chapter in the history of this ceremony full of symbolism that has been shaped over time.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, swore the position on April 30, 1789 in an austere ceremony in Congress, which at that time was in New York.
It was not until 1933 that the Constitution established on January 20 at noon as the official date of the inauguration. But it does not impose other requirements, so that the ceremony has been adding events and pomposity over the years.
Oath in Capitol
During the last century, Capitol, in Washington, has been the scene of most investigations, which were first carried out in the east porch of the building and since the inauguration of Ronald Reagan of 1981, in the emblematic staircase front staircase To the National Esplanade.
There were, however, some exceptions, such as the takeover of Franklin D. Roosevelt of 1945, which took place in the White House, or when Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson swore the position as a new president from the Air Force One plane after The murder of John F. Kennedy.
Due to the cold wave that hit the capital, Trump made the last minute decision to celebrate his second investiture inside the Congress, in the Rotonda del Capitol, the same place where Reagan swore in 1985 the position for his second term, also for The cold.
The crowd in the national esplanade
Trump, obsessed with the great crowds, will be left without the traditional photograph of the swearing in front of hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the National Esplanade.
The most massive investiture in history was the first of Barack Obama, in 2009, which concentrated more than one million people, with cold temperatures similar to those expected on Monday in Washington.
Trump argues that he had more audience in his inauguration of 2017, despite the fact that aerial photos show a clear difference in favor of the Democrat. On this second occasion, changes of plans will not allow a new comparison of crowds.
Another image for posterity is that of Joe Biden swearing in 2021 from the Capitol staircase but in front of a national esplanade empty by the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Parade to the White House
Once invested, the presidents leave the Capitol and parade towards the White House through the Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the two most important buildings in the country.
The first to be part of that walking tour was Jimmy Carter in 1977, when he got off the presidential limousine to show closeness with people, in a time of strong discredit towards politicians by the Watergate scandal that forced the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.
Trump’s change of plans will also affect this tradition, since after swearing the position, the Republican will go to the Washington Capital Stadium to go to the thousands of guests who could not be accommodated within the Capitol.
Dance with the first lady
When the night falls after the investiture, the party starts in Washington, which is filled with galas to celebrate the new president and there is a central act: the first dance between the president and the first lady.
It is said that George Washington and his wife danced a Waltz after possession, although the first official inaugural dance was that of James and Dolly Madison in 1808.
With the passage of time the dances became more glamorous, with the assistance of famous artists and a severe scrutiny towards the dress of the first lady.
The farewell to the outgoing president
The investiture of a new president is also the farewell to the outgoing president. It is common for both to start the day having tea at the White House and then go to the ceremony in the Capitol together.
The taking of possession is in itself a symbol of the peaceful transition of powers, a tradition that Trump broke in 2021 by not going to the Biden investiture denouncing, falsely, an electoral fraud.
Another tradition, initiated by Reagan by leaving office in 1989, is to leave a letter in the Oval Office addressed to the successor, something Trump did four years ago.