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Numbers game in inaugurations

Washington - Some inaugural numbers:

Washington - Some inaugural numbers:

l 54: Number of presidential inaugurations before Barack Obama's.

l 14: Number of supreme court chief justices who have presided at presidential inaugurations. Chief Justice John Roberts will be the 15th.

l 9: Most inaugurations presided over by a single person: Chief Justice John Marshall presided over every inauguration from Thomas Jefferson's in 1801 through Andrew Jackson's in 1833.

l 1: Number of Notary Publics who have presided at presidential inaugurations. Calvin Coolidge's father, a Notary Public, swore him in as president after the death of Warren G Harding.

l 4: Number of presidents who gave no inaugural address: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur, all of whom succeeded a president who died in office.

l 6: Dates on which presidents have delivered inaugural addresses.

l 18: Number of inaugurations on January 20. Before 1937, regularly scheduled presidential swearing-in ceremonies took place on March 4.

l 9: Unscheduled inaugurations. Eight of these were the result of presidential deaths, the other because of Richard Nixon's resignation.

l 135: Shortest inaugural address. George Washington's 1793 speech in Philadelphia contained just 135 words.

l 8 445: Longest inaugural address. William Henry Harrison used 8445 words on a wet, frigid day in 1841. He died a month later of pneumonia.

l 737: Longest sentence. John Adams in 1797 used 737 words in a single sentence. He was known for his wordiness and loved to hear his own voice.

l 4: Number of living presidents not to attend their successor's inauguration. John Adams chose not to attend Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams declined to appear with Andrew Jackson. Andrew Johnson did not attend Ulysses Grant's and Richard Nixon was airborne when Gerald Ford was inaugurated.

l 4: Number of times the song Ruffles and Flourishes is played after the presidential oath of office is administered.

2: Number of prayers traditionally uttered at a presidential inaugural.

l 789: First inaugural address, delivered by George Washington on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.

l 1801: First inauguration in Washington, DC, Thomas Jefferson was the first to be sworn in as president in the newly built capital city.l 1921: First inauguration delivered through loudspeakers. Warren Harding used the latest technology to help the crowd hear his address.

l 1949: First inauguration broadcast on TV. Harry Truman's inaugural address was aired coast to coast over the newest gadget.

- Richard Dunham/chron.com

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