Some days of the year stand out for all of us. Perhaps there is an anniversary, or a birthday, or something special to note. March 4th is one of those days for a lot of people. A lot of presidents, to be exact.
There was a time in our country when March 4 was Inauguration Day. With just a couple of exceptions, it was the date all the presidents were welcomed into office, from John Adams to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The inauguration ceremony was switched to January 20th in time for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. And so it goes.
With those newly named presidents came a lot of interesting items. To start, James Madison was the first president inaugurated in clothes that were made entirely in America. I guess by that time, American clothesmakers were finally making snazzy suits, fit for a president.
Madison was also our shortest president. Yes, he was just a little fella — measuring in at only 5’4″ and weighing about 100 pounds. He was described by physicians as being “fragile” as Madison was frequently under the weather. Because of his height, he was probably under a lot of things.
Since Madison was the shortest president physically, the president who had the shortest term in office was William Henry Harrison. He only lasted only a month in the White House. He famously did not wear a coat to his inauguration and then went and droned on with a 90-minute speech. Most accounts gave the cause as pneumonia. Though now they regard the true cause as septic shock.
Switching gears from dying to being born. Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born in the United States. His parents immigrated from the Netherlands to Kinderhook, New York. He was born in 1782. That was just six years after the colonists declared their independence from Britain. He was our eighth president, I should note.
Some of the presidents inaugurated on March 4 have been popular, and others, not so much.
James Monroe had one of the most peaceful presidencies. He was trying to create a more unified country after the War of 1812. And it apparently worked. That time period during his presidency became known as the “Era of Good Feelings.” So much so, he was re-elected without opposition in 1820.
On the other end of the spectrum was John Tyler. He was not well-liked. At all. When he died in 1862, his obituary in The New York Times called him “the most unpopular public man that had ever held any office in the United States.” Yowza. To add to the fervor, he was considered a traitor to the United States when he died. You see, he had recently been elected to the Congress of the Confederacy.
It is a tough job, being president. As such, it led many of them to drink. Franklin Pierce was the big winner in that category. Drank like a fish. Yes, presidents are known to have a drink from time to time, but Pierce was one of the heaviest drinkers of them all. As he was leaving office, he said to a friend, “There is nothing left to do but get drunk.” He would die some 12 years later from severe cirrhosis of the liver.
I could go on about the quirks of those inaugurated on March 4th, but perhaps, John Quincy Adams takes the cake. John II went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River. It was part of his daily routine. After waking, he regularly took a long walk and a dip in that river — completely nakers. Then he’d go home for breakfast.
A brief look at our past as we look to our today.
Inaugurate means to begin or introduce. I hope your day will be inaugurated with goodness.
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“The beginning is always today.”
― Mary Shelley
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“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
― Meister Eckhart
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“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
― Confucius
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Inaugerated and then the characters began.
