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We do solemnly swear you’ll enjoy this inauguration trivia quiz

Rick Massimo | rmassimo@wtop.com

January 17, 2017, 8:49 AM

What’s the shortest-ever inauguration speech? (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
George Washington’s second address, at 135 words. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
To help tourists get around scaffolding that has appeared in the area in advance of Inauguration Day, ramps direct tourists up toward the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. (WTOP/Jenny Glick)
And who gave the longest inaugural address? (WTOP/Jenny Glick)
WTOP/Jenny Glick
inaugharrison.JPG
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, whose inaugural address in 1841 ran more than 8,000 words. Grab a cup of coffee or something stronger and read it. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Oh, yeah – Harrison. He was the shortest-serving president, dying after 31 days in office. He died from catching pneumonia during his inaugural address, right? (AP Photo)
AP Photo
It’s true that President Harrison gave his record-long inaugural address outdoors, in the snow and rain, without an overcoat or hat. Two University of Maryland researchers, however, found in 2014 that he did not contract pneumonia from this stunt. Looking at the account of Harrison’s personal physician, Jane McHugh and Philip Mackowiak concluded that “Old Tippecanoe” was done in by enteric fever. The two say that the next two presidents — James Polk (1845-1849) and Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) — also had gastroenteric problems, “likely a consequence of the unsanitary conditions that existed in the nation’s capital during most of the nineteenth century.” Taylor died of his health problems after 492 days in office. He’s the third shortest-serving U.S. president. (James Garfield was No. 2; he was shot after 120 days, though he lingered for 79 more.) By the way, Harrison’s grandson Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president, serving from 1889 to 1893. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Fireworks explode over the White House during the "Celebration of Freedom" festivities on the eve of President Bush's second inauguration, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Who was the only president to be sworn in by a woman? (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office as President of the United States, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy November 22, 1963. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
Lyndon B. Johnson, sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes Nov. 22, 1963, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers
The weather in D.C. in January can be a real mixed bag. Which inauguration was held in the warmest weather? Which was the coldest? (Hint: They were for the same president.) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
The warmest inauguration on record was Ronald Reagan’s first, in 1981 — 55 degrees. In 1985, the temperature was 7 degrees; the wind chill, minus-20. The swearing-in was held indoors, in the Capitol Rotunda, and the parade was cancelled. (AP Photo, File)
AP Photo, File
Which pairing of president and chief justice gaffed up the oath so badly they had to take a do-over the next day? (Library of Congress via AP)
Library of Congress via AP
What phrase has been said during the oath of office of virtually every presidency, yet isn’t actually in the oath? (Library of Congress via AP)
Library of Congress via AP
MANCHESTER, NH - NOVEMBER 06: A supporter holds a copy of the U.S. Constitution during a campaign rally with Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at The Armory on November 6, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire. With two days to go until election day, Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Florida and Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“So help me God.” Read the oath. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Curator Clark Evans displays the burgundy velvet, gilt-edged Lincoln Inaugural Bible at the Library of Congress Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008, in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama will take his oath of office on the bible Jan. 20, becoming the first president to use it since Abraham Lincoln at his swearing-in on March 4, 1861. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
The oath of office is traditionally administered by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, but it doesn’t have to be. How many presidents were sworn in by someone else? (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke
John Tyler, seen in this painting was the 10th President of the United States from April 6, 1841 - April 3, 1945. (AP Photo)
Seven: George Washington, John Tyler (pictured), Millard Fillmore, Chester Alan Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Each time, except for Washington’s two inaugurations, it was because of the death of the previous president. Six of these seven presidents were sworn in by other judges. Which leads us to the next question … (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Which president was the only one sworn in by his father? (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Calvin Coolidge, in office 1923 to 1929, is shown in an undated photo. Coolodge died in North Hampton, Mass. January 5, 1933, after declining to run for president in 1928. (AP Photo)
Calvin Coolidge. He was on vacation at his family farm in Vermont, and asleep at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 2, 1923, when his father, Col. John Coolidge, got the telegram that President Harding had died. John Coolidge, a notary public, swore his son in. Coolidge was sworn in a second time a couple of weeks later by a federal judge, because people were unsure whether a notary public was authorized to give the oath. But again — the Constitution has nothing to say about who can and can’t swear the president in. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Numerous roads will be closed in downtown D.C. beginning early on Thursday in advance of the inauguration. Officials expect significant travel disruptions. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)
Which president was sworn in while carrying a lock of hair from a predecessor? (WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
President Theodore Roosevelt is taking the oath of office on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol during his inauguration ceremony, March 4, 1905, in Washington. (AP Photo )
Theodore Roosevelt took the oath in 1905 wearing a ring that had a lock of President Abraham Lincoln’s hair. (AP Photo )
AP Photo
Inauguration Day wasn’t always Jan. 20. When was it originally, and when and why was it changed? (Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration, Bowdoin College Museum of Art via AP)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks during his rainy second inaugural ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 1937. (AP Photo)
Inauguration Day was originally March 4, but was moved to Jan. 20 for the president and Jan. 3 for Congress by the 20th Amendment. Franklin Roosevelt’s second term was the first to begin in January (that’s the picture above). The aim of the amendment was to shorten the time between the election and the swearings-in so that the newly elected officials could more quickly respond to the issues of the day. Also, the original clause in the Constitution only required congressional sessions to begin in December, “unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day” — so theoretically, a Congress member could have to wait 13 months to actually get anything done. (AP)
AP
Who administered the oath of office to the most presidents? (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney gave the oath seven times to seven presidents: Martin Van Buren; William Henry Harrison; James Polk; Zachary Taylor; Franklin Pierce; James Buchanan; and Abraham Lincoln. John Marshall, the first chief justice, served in a more stable time – he swore in five presidents – Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson – but gave the oath nine times. (Sam Yu/The Frederick News-Post via AP)
Sam Yu/The Frederick News-Post via AP
This fisheye view shows the inauguration day ceremony of President Lyndon B. Johnson as he is sworn in as the 36th president of the United States, Jan. 20, 1965. (AP Photo)
Did a scheduling problem lead to the U.S. going without a president for a day? (AP Photo)
AP Photo
James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States who served from 1845 to 1849. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
Depends whom you ask and how much of a noodge you want to be. The term of James K. Polk (pictured above) ended March 4, 1849; that was a Sunday, so the inauguration of Zachary Taylor was the next day. Under the rules at the time, the Senate president pro tempore would take over, but his term also had ended Sunday. (He was David Rice Atchison, and he never claimed that he was president for a day, but his hometown does.) In the pre-TV, pre-internet, pre-nuclear age, none of this, evidently, was considered a crisis. Anyway, the solution nowadays is for private swearings-in to be held when Inauguration Day falls on a Sunday, followed by a public oath and ceremonies on the Monday. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers
This is a general view of the Inaugural Parade proceeding down Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol building visible in the background, Jan. 20, 1977. Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States during the inauguration ceremonies earlier. (AP Photo)
And on what day did the U.S. have two presidents, sort of? (AP Photo)
AP Photo
The public inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes takes place in front of the U.S. Capitol on the East Portico in Washington, D.C., on March 5, 1877. (AP Photo)
If you think the elections of 2016 and 2000 were tumultuous – well, yeah they were. But the 1876 election was a humdinger. Rutherford B. Hayes didn’t win the popular vote or the first ballot of the Electoral College – that would be the Democrat Samuel Tilden, by 19 votes. But 20 Electoral College votes were disputed. Congress got into the act, and that’s rarely a good thing. The Compromise of 1877 awarded all 20 votes to Hayes, in return for the end of Reconstruction, which ended the political and economic repair of the South and paved the way for Jim Crow and other repressive measures that persisted for nearly a century. A lot of Democrats were not happy, and the fears of violence, even kidnapping, were evidently real enough that, combined with the fact that Inauguration Day 1877 was also a Sunday, Hayes was sneaked into the White House the day before – while Ulysses S. Grant’s term still had a day to run – and sworn in privately March 3. His public ceremony, held Monday, March 5, is pictured above. March 4, 1877, must have been a sitcom-worthy day at the White House. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Who was the only president to be sworn in without getting a single vote for president or vice president? (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
President Gerald R. Ford kisses his wife Betty, Aug. 9, 1974, after he was sworn in as 38th President of the United States by Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo)
Gerald R. Ford in 1974. He rose to the presidency Aug. 9, 1974, after President Richard Nixon resigned, and succeeded Spiro T. Agnew as vice president after Agnew resigned amid his own ethics scandal in 1973. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
One president didn’t swear an oath to serve. Who was that? (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
A portrait-daguerreotype of Franklin Pierce, circa 1846-1848, as a volunteer in the Mexican War. Pierce was elected 14th president of the United States (1853-1857). (AP Photo/Library of Congress)
The Constitution says a president can “swear (or affirm)” the oath, and in 1853 Franklin Pierce took the latter choice. That’s one of the less-dramatic aspects of Pierce’s inauguration; his son was killed in a train crash shortly after the election, and his wife, who hadn’t wanted him to run and reportedly fainted when she learned he won the nomination, didn’t come to the inauguration. (AP Photo/Library of Congress)
AP Photo/Library of Congress
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To help tourists get around scaffolding that has appeared in the area in advance of Inauguration Day, ramps direct tourists up toward the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. (WTOP/Jenny Glick)
inaugharrison.JPG
Fireworks explode over the White House during the "Celebration of Freedom" festivities on the eve of President Bush's second inauguration, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office as President of the United States, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy November 22, 1963. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
MANCHESTER, NH - NOVEMBER 06: A supporter holds a copy of the U.S. Constitution during a campaign rally with Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at The Armory on November 6, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire. With two days to go until election day, Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Florida and Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Curator Clark Evans displays the burgundy velvet, gilt-edged Lincoln Inaugural Bible at the Library of Congress Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008, in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama will take his oath of office on the bible Jan. 20, becoming the first president to use it since Abraham Lincoln at his swearing-in on March 4, 1861. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
John Tyler, seen in this painting was the 10th President of the United States from April 6, 1841 - April 3, 1945. (AP Photo)
President Calvin Coolidge, in office 1923 to 1929, is shown in an undated photo. Coolodge died in North Hampton, Mass. January 5, 1933, after declining to run for president in 1928. (AP Photo)
Numerous roads will be closed in downtown D.C. beginning early on Thursday in advance of the inauguration. Officials expect significant travel disruptions. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)
President Theodore Roosevelt is taking the oath of office on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol during his inauguration ceremony, March 4, 1905, in Washington. (AP Photo )
President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks during his rainy second inaugural ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 1937. (AP Photo)
This fisheye view shows the inauguration day ceremony of President Lyndon B. Johnson as he is sworn in as the 36th president of the United States, Jan. 20, 1965. (AP Photo)
James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States who served from 1845 to 1849. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
This is a general view of the Inaugural Parade proceeding down Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol building visible in the background, Jan. 20, 1977. Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States during the inauguration ceremonies earlier. (AP Photo)
The public inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes takes place in front of the U.S. Capitol on the East Portico in Washington, D.C., on March 5, 1877. (AP Photo)
President Gerald R. Ford kisses his wife Betty, Aug. 9, 1974, after he was sworn in as 38th President of the United States by Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo)
A portrait-daguerreotype of Franklin Pierce, circa 1846-1848, as a volunteer in the Mexican War. Pierce was elected 14th president of the United States (1853-1857). (AP Photo/Library of Congress)

Take WTOP’s inauguration trivia quiz and you might learn something about how the U.S. has sworn presidents in over the years. You also might wonder how the country has survived so long.

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

rmassimo@wtop.com

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