On Monday, January 20, 2025, Donald J. Trump took his official oath of office, becoming the 47th President of the United States. At this point, Trump became the second president elected to non-consecutive terms, the first being President Grover Cleveland in 1888.
Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the formal inauguration ceremony has been held at the west front of the United States Capitol facing the National Mall with its iconic Washington Monument and distant Lincoln Memorial. Prior to 1981, the official oath took place at various parts of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Trump secured the presidency through his election victory on November 5, 2024, by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris with 312 electoral college votes to Harris’ 211 electoral college votes.
The 2024 presidential election results were certified on January 6, 2025 – when Congress met in joint session with current Vice President Harris presiding over the session in her role as president of the Senate. The certification paved the way for Trump to be inaugurated on January 20 to the highest office in the country at noon ET at the U.S. Capitol. Earlier that day, former Senator J.D. Vance (Ohio) took his oath of office as vice president, which occurred directly before the presidential oath.
You may not know that George Washington took his oath of office on April 30, 1789 – the only time in presidential history an oath was taken on that date, and for 140 years subsequent public inaugurations from 1793 until 1933 were held on March 4.In 1937, a ratified Constitutional amendment permanently changed presidential Inauguration Day to January 20, thus limiting the amount of time an outgoing president could continue to wield influence.
Additionally, when March 4fell, or now January 20 falls on a Sunday, the incoming president has taken a private oath of office that day, and the public ceremony still takes place at noon on Monday after. The inauguration date was finally changed to what it is today through the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the last president to take his oath of office on a Sunday was President Barack Obama on January 20, 2013.
“Hoover Heads” of the National Archives said this about ratification of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
“[R]atification by three-fourths of the states wasn’t achieved until January 1933, too late to take effect for the 1932 election. On April 26, 1933, Florida became the 48th and final state to ratify the 20th Amendment, making it one of the few amendments to the Constitution ratified by all the states and the fastest to achieve that feat. The first Congress elected under the new amendment, in 1934, took their seats on January 3, 1935; the first presidential election affected was 1936, but the earlier inauguration date in January 1937 was made unremarkable by Franklin Roosevelt’s landslide reelection victory.”
President Trump signaled that he would take bold steps upon inauguration, which resulted in an abundance of executive orders signed on January 20. In the first several months of his second term, the U.S. Senate will take up Trump cabinet nominations through their “Advise and Consent” process, commonly known as confirmation.
As you know, NSTA interfaces with several federal departments and agencies, and we have a keen eye on several of the nominees brought forth by Trump, including former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy at the Department of Transportation and former Rep. Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As the dust settles and we get into the heart of the 119th U.S. Congress, there will be several legislative initiatives that we will focus on. You should know that our annual Capitol Hill Bus-In has been confirmed for March 26-27, 2025, at the Kimpton-George in Washington, D.C. Registration and room block information is now available.
If you would like to find out more about being part of the NSTA Advocacy Team, drop me a line at president@yellowbuses.org. I am always interested in hearing the perspectives from around the country. And remember, with NSTA, you never travel alone.
