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By D. A. Sharpe United States
Presidential Inaugural Speeches are an interesting and important set of
addresses about which we should know.
There have been 45
Presidents in the history of the United States. We have the 58 Inaugural addresses of
them captured here for study and review.
Many Presidents served two terms, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was
elected four times. There have
been 21 Presidents elected only once, including our current President Trump for
whom it remains to be seen whether he is elected a second time. Grover Cleveland served twice, but
lost the election to Benjamin Harrison after his first term. Then he won again following HarrisonÕs
one term.
The average Presidential
Inaugural address was 2,365 words.
The shortest was 154 words in George WashingtonÕs second Inaugural
address (his first was 1,422).
The longest was by William Henry Harrison with 8,469 words.
Only four Inaugural
addresses ever were less than 1,000 words: Besides George WashingtonÕs 2nd
address of 154 words, Franklin D. RooseveltÕs 4th Inaugural was
573 words (his other three addresses were less than 2,000 words each),
Abraham LincolnÕs most spiritually impassioned address of 701 words in his
second Inaugural address, and Theodore RooseveltÕs address of 986 words.
Abraham LincolnÕs 2nd
Inaugural was just as the War Between the States was about to conclude. It was all but won finally by
the United StatesÕ forces. The
nation was torn with grief, as it proved to be the wartime total of wounded
and deaths of Americans on both sides of that conflict that exceeded any
other military engagements this nation ever would have. This Inauguration on March 4, 1865
proved to be a time only 41 days prior to LincolnÕs assassination on Good
Friday, 1865. The 19 previous
Inaugural addresses had cited the Bible only once. That was by John Quincy Adams. Lincoln cited Scripture four times,
invoked prayer three times and mentioned God fourteen times within those 701
words of this address. It can be
surmised as the most spiritual Presidential Inaugural address among all that
we have had.
Here is the schedule
of all the Presidents and links are provided to each of their addresses. You may click on the colored address or name to see the entire address.
George Washington First Inaugural Address
1,422 words Second Inaugural Address
134 words John Adams
2,332 words Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address
1,724 words Second Inaugural Address 2,172
words James Madison First Inaugural Address
1,182 words Second Inaugural Address
1,220 words James Monroe First Inaugural Address
3,391 words Second Inaugural Address
4,487 words John Quincy Adams
2,921 words Andrew Jackson First Inaugural Address
1,137 words Second Inaugural Address 1,082 words Martin Van Buren
3,910 words William Henry
Harrison
8,469 words James Knox Polk
4,829 words Zachary Taylor
1,098 words Franklin Pierce
3,347 words James Buchanan
2,844 words Abraham Lincoln First Inaugural Address
3,699 words Second Inaugural Address
701 words Ulysses S. Grant First Inaugural Address
1,141 words Second Inaugural Address
1,354 words Rutherford B.
Hayes
2,507 words James A. Garfield
3,013 words Grover Cleveland: (First Inaugural) 1,699 words Benjamin Harrison 4,421
words
Grover Cleveland: (Second Inaugural)
2,039 words William McKinley First Inaugural Address
3,982 words Second Inaugural Address 2,238 words Theodore
Roosevelt
986 words William Howard
Taft
5,470 words Woodrow Wilson First Inaugural Address
1,709 words Second Inaugural Address
1,545 words Warren G. Harding
3,359 words Calvin Coolidge
4,078 words Herbert Hoover
3,783 words Franklin D. Roosevelt First Inaugural Address
1,905 words Second Inaugural Address
1,844 words Third Inaugural Address
1,379 words Fourth Inaugural Address
573 words Harry S. Truman
2,343 words Dwight D. Eisenhower First Inaugural Address
2,507 words Second Inaugural Address
1,698 words John F. Kennedy
1,392 words Lyndon Baines
Johnson
1,525 words Richard Milhous Nixon First Inaugural Address
2,199 words Second Inaugural Address
1,852 words Jimmy Carter
1,253 words Ronald Reagan First Inaugural Address
2,471 words Second Inaugural Address
2,607 words George Bush
2,344 words Bill Clinton First Inaugural Address
1,626 words Second Inaugural Address
2,190 words George W. Bush First Inaugural Address
1,633 words Second Inaugural Address
2,105 words Barack Obama First Inaugural Address
2,426 words Second Inaugural Address
2,120 words Donald J. Trump
1,487 words |
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Seventeen of these Presidents have genealogical cousin
relationships to my family line.
Anybody interested in a chart showing the relationship may Click Here
My hope and desire is that people may reflect over the words
our Presidents have chosen to address our citizenry over the years of our
Democratic Republic, a nation of free men and women, a place where we all are
free to worship as we understand GodÕs hand in our lives.
Below are Suzanne and me at the 2005 Presidential Inaugural Ball at the Texas State Society of Washington, D.C. It is called, appropriately, the Texas Black Tie & Boots Ball (we all wear formal Black Tie appearal with cowboy boots & hats).
Dwight Albert (D. A.) Sharpe
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712
C: 817-504-6508
E-mail: da@dasharpe.com
Website: www.dasharpe.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dasharpe