Inaugural facts

by

William Henry Harrison delivered the longest Inaugural address, at 8,445 words, on March 4, 1841—a bitterly cold, wet day. He died one month later of pneumonia, believed to have been brought on by prolonged exposure to the elements on his Inauguration Day.
.
John Adams’ Inaugural address, which totaled 2,308 words, contained the longest sentence, at 737 words.
.
After Washington’s second Inaugural address, the next shortest was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth address on January 20, 1945, at just 559 words. Roosevelt had chosen to have a simple Inauguration at the White House in light of the nation’s involvement in World War II.

Thanks Max

Miss Cellania has some interesting Inauguration links

0

9 thoughts on “Inaugural facts”

  2. DJ – I agree. With two wars and a recession, why are we wasting about $150 million of tax money just for a coronation–I mean, an inauguration? Why not use some of that money to offset what Mr. Obama wants to spend on “stimulating” the economy (ignoring the research that if FDR and the Fed. Gov’t had stayed out of the way, the depression would have ended sooner)? Why is it such a big deal just because he is our first biracial president?

    Maybe all these distractions will slow our slide into becoming a socialist country–at least for a little bit.

  4. On a slightly unrelated note, whoever wrote Adams’ speech is my new hero. As a writer, I am known by my readers for having exceptionally long–but grammatically correct–sentences. But over 700 words… Damn. That’s intense.

  5. Other than Kennedy’s “ask not…”, can anyone remember anything that was said during an inaugural speech?

  7. Kate – I found the sentence, but don’t want to paste it here…it’d crash the site. It’s a whopper…

    bartleby.com/124/pres15.html

    (3rd paragraph up from the end: “On this subject…”

Leave a Comment