On January 20, 2017, the United States inaugurated the 45th President, Donald Trump. His road to the White House has been surrounded by controversy and has caused strong feelings on both sides. Leading up to this weekend, celebrities have declined the invitation to perform and if some accepted, they were shamed into declining from their peers. The first lady has even struggled to find designers willing to dress her for the weekend.
No matter the controversy, it has not slowed Trump down. He has a weekend of celebrating planned and even if the celebrities are not A-list, they should still be very entertaining. The weekend in Washington, DC will no doubt be historic for many reasons. Thousands have promised to protest with as many or more coming into the city in favor of Trump. The biker group “Bikers for Trump” came into DC earlier in the week and they promise to be, as they say, a wall of meat shielding Trump from any protestors.
Presidential inaugurations have always been a party. Abraham Lincoln’s party got so out of hand that the police had to be called in.
Andrew Jackson who was not a politician but a simple man with very little formal education, he was elected by a working class that was hungry for a change from the political nonsense that had become the standard. He opened up the festivities to the common people that helped get him elected, the political upper class that was also in attendance were so offended that they moved the punch out into the lawn causing the party to move with it.
People criticized Jackson for many reasons including his lack of education particularly his lack of ability to correctly spell, Jackson, replied to his critics, “It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.”
William Henry Harrison inaugural speech was a whopping 8500 words and took nearly two hours to recite. It was rainy and cold and Harrison didn’t want to wear a coat or hat during his speech. Poor Mr. Harrison should have taken the coat because he caught pneumonia and died a month later.
After his second inauguration, in 1805, President Thomas Jefferson rode on horseback from the Capitol to the White House amid a spontaneous gathering of members of Congress and citizens, accompanied by music performed by the Marine Band — a procession that grew into the present-day's inaugural parade. The Marine Band has played at every presidential inauguration since.
In 1837, Martin Van Buren became the first president to have floats at his parade.
Barack Obama's first inauguration parade had more than 10,000 people from all 50 states marching.
Dwight D. Eisenhower's first inaugural parade in 1953 was by far the most extravagant. He had 25,000 marchers, 73 bands, 59 floats, horses, and elephants, and went on for more than four hours. The Texas-born president was even lassoed in the reviewing stand by a cowboy who rode up to him on a horse.
While most Presidents have a couple of Inaugural balls Bill Clinton had 14.
No matter what party you support the weekend a new president is elected is a party for the history books.
Time will tell what kind of President Trump will be. Whether we voted for him or not he is now our President and his success is our success so President Trump, I wish you well.
“I hope Donald Trump is a good president. Wanting him to fail, is like wanting the pilot to crash the plane that we ALL are on. REMEMBER THAT." Clipper Kyle via Twitter
