US presidential inauguration conundrum
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.