Centennial of Worst Inaugural Weather Upcoming
Going Back to Roman Days, People Have Read Symbolism Into Inaugurations
"They had canaries in cages all over the pension building, and the canaries froze; so that was taken as a symbol that this was not going to be a good time," Ritchie said.
Local authorities bracing for a record turnout for the nation's first African-American president may recall the worst inaugural traffic jam.
An 8-inch snowfall on the eve of John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961 left hundreds of cars marooned and thousands more abandoned. The president-elect had to cancel dinner plans and, in a struggle to keep other commitments, is reported to have had only four hours of sleep. An army of men worked all night to clear Pennsylvania Avenue, using flame-throwers.
Bad as it was for Taft, his wasn't the coldest inauguration.
Ronald Reagan took that chilly prize in 1985 when the noon temperature was 7 degrees and the wind chill was between minus 10 degrees and minus 20 degrees. The ceremony for Reagan, like Taft, was moved indoors.
So, if Reagan's was the coldest, who managed the hottest inauguration?
Hint: It was 89 degrees.
That's a trick question, of course. Gerald Ford took office on Aug. 9, 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned.
The warmest January inauguration? Oddly, it was Reagan's first, with a temperature of 55 degrees. That tied the top reading for March inaugurations, set by Woodrow Wilson in 1913.
William Henry Harrison's swearing-in turned out the most tragic.
It was a cloudy, blustery day in 1841. Harrison spoke for more than an hour and rode a horse to and from the Capitol without a hat or overcoat.
He caught a chill, which turned into pneumonia, and died just one month later.
The official date for inaugurating a president was changed from March 4 to Jan. 20 in 1937. It was moved up so a president could take office sooner, but weather was a factor in choosing the new date. A study of records showed Jan. 20 was less likely to be stormy than March 4.
Not that year!
Jan. 20, 1937, still holds the rainfall record for any Jan. 20 in Washington, with 1.77 inches. Following sleet and freezing rain in the morning, nearly three-quarters of an inch of rain poured down between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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