nPostednon August 11, 2014
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nYouncan’t hold a presidential inauguration on a Sunday!
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nWe’rentalking U.S. presidential inaugurations here, and there has alwaysnbeen one Constitutionally-set day on which inaugurations are held.nFor decades, the inauguration was held on March 4. But after thenTwentieth Amendment to the Constitution, it has been held on Januaryn20.
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nUnlessnInauguration Day falls on a Sunday!
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nInnthat case…
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| This was the 2013 private swearing-in of President Obama on Sunday, Jan. 20. The public inauguration ceremony followed |
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nWell,nin that case, slightly different solutions were used. ThenInauguration-on-a-Sunday problem has happened seven times in thennation’s history. The last time it happened was in 2013, whennPresident Barack Obama was sworn into office in a private ceremony onnSunday, January 20, and then again in public ceremonies the next day,nMonday, January 21. That sort of solution has happened with fournother presidents before him, although some of the privatenswearing-ins occurred on Saturdays, and others on Sunday.
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nButnthe first two times the Inauguration-on-a-Sunday conundrum occurred,nthere was no private swearing in of the president elect.
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nBacknin 1849, the second time that Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday, thenoutgoing president, James Polk, had a term that ended at noon onnSaturday, March 3, 1849. The new president-elect, Zachary Taylor,nrefused to be inaugurated on a Sunday, so the President Pro Tem ofnthe U.S. Senate was the President of the United States.
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nForna day!
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nOnnMarch 4, 1849, the then-President Pro Tem of the Senate, DavidnAtchison, was (theoretically, at least) the head honcho of thencountry. However, he was never sworn in as president, and he did nonpresidential duties.
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nYounmight think, wait a minute, if the president of the United Statesncan’t serve, doesn’t the Vice-President serve in his place?
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nWell,nPolk’s VP, George M. Dallas, had the same term as Polk, so HIS termnended on Saturday, March 3, as well.
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nPresidentialnSuccession
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nThesendays, after the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the powers ofnthe presidency fall to people in this order: n
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nVice-President,nn
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nSpeakernof the House,
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nPresidentnPro Tempore of the Senate,
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nSecretarynof State, n
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nSecretarynof the Treasury, n
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nSecretarynof Defense, n
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nAttorneynGeneral, n
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Secretarynof the Interior, n
Secretarynof the Interior, nn
nSecretarynof Agriculture, n
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nSecretarynof Commerce, n
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nSecretarynof Labor,
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nSecretarynof Health and Human Services, n
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nSecretarynof Housing and Urban Development,
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nSecretarynof Tranportation,
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nSecretarynof Energy,
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nSecretarynof Education,
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nSecretarynof Veterans Affairs, and
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nSecretarynof Homeland Security.
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nButnif any of these people do not meet the eligibility requirements to benPresident, they are skipped. Eligibility requirements include beingnborn in the United States, being a resident of the U.S. for at leastn14 years, and being at least 35 years old. Our current Secretary ofnthe Interior, Sally Jewell, was born in the United Kingdom (and is annaturalized U.S. citizen), so she would be skipped in the line ofnsuccession.
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nBynthe way…
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nInncase you lost sight of the connection of this story to today’s date,nDavid Atchison was born in Kentucky on this date in 1807.
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nDavidnAtchison may have been on of the nation’s less lovely presidents; henwas a slave owner (as many of the early presidents were), and he wasnfiercely pro-slavery (as many of the early presidents, even thenslave-owning ones, were NOT). Not only that, he was deeply involvednwith violence against abolitionists and against people who wantednKansas to be a free state rather than a slave state.
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nItntakes a special kind of unloveliness to not only want to own people,nbut also to be willing to kill free people who are citizens of yournown nation just because they are against people owning people.
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nNoticenthat Atchison’s tombstone reads “President of the United States fornone day….Sunday, March 4, 1849.”
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nAlsonon this date:
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nIngersollnDay
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nApplencomputer inventor Steve Wozniak’s birthday
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nIndependencenDay in Chad
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nAugustn holidays
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nAugustn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in August
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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