The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stipulates when the presidential inauguration takes place. Going into effect after the difficult Depression-era transition from Herbert Hoover to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, it set the start of presidential terms as noon on January 20. Until then, a president elected in November did not take office until March 4, the date the Continental Congress had set for President Washington’s inauguration in 1788.
But the 20th Amendment did not address one important question: what to do if the inauguration date fell on a Sunday, the traditional day of rest when it was once illegal to conduct public and private business in many jurisdictions. James Monroe consulted the Supreme Court and simply took the oath a day later, Monday, March 5, 1821. In 1849, Zachary Taylor did the same. Rutherford Hayes took the oath twice — March 3 and 5, 1877. Woodrow Wilson, however, took the oath privately Sunday, March 4, and publicly Monday, March 5, 1917.After the amendment set the specific date and time, however, the risks of having either no president or two presidents for even a day were suddenly clear. Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 and Ronald Reagan in 1985 took the oath privately Sunday, January 20, and again in public ceremonies the next day. President Reagan’s private oath was televised.
Because the date for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration falls this Sunday, the first African-American U.S. president will take the oath of office in a public ceremony on the national holiday commemorating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., January 21. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the official oath in a smaller ceremony at noon on Sunday, January 20.