Inaugural tickets Inaugural ball tickets inaugural parade

Read the inaugural addresses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

Check out presidential campaign slogans from 1840 to the present

Here are links to other sites containing historical information about past Presidential Inaugural Events.

Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC)

U.S. Historical Document Archive / Matthew Weiler

National Archives - Records of Inaugural Committees

Library of Congress - Inaugurations in American Memory

The White House Historical Association

Smithsonian Institution - Documentary Photos

Bartleby.com - Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States

National Archives - Inaugural Quiz

National Park Service - Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site

Internet Public Library - Presidents of the United States

WashingtonPost.com - 1997 Inaugural Supplement Online

NetColony.com -The Presidents of the United States

Inaugural Ball History

Few events capture a president’s personality and style as well as the inaugural balls. On inaugural night, Washington, D.C. sparkles with festivities at its biggest and best locales. Inaugural balls today are customarily divided by state groupings, with tickets sold in advance. Historically, they’ve come in many forms.

The first official inaugural ball was held in 1809 for President James Madison. The elegant affair guided by hostess extraordinaire Dolley Madison included formal dancing followed by a sit-down supper. It set the standard for many inaugural balls to come.

Balls continued throughout the century, with President Lincoln considering them important enough to host, despite the Civil War. They got out of hand in 1869, however, when revelers at Ulysses S. Grant’s packed ball engaged in a food fight. Grant’s second ball was equally memorable. Held in a tent, the freezing temperatures caused the canaries brought in to sing for the event to freeze and drop to their deaths on the guests.

Woodrow Wilson considered inaugural balls too frivolous and undignified for the solemn swearing-in of a president and didn’t have any. Unofficial balls emerged in 1921 under Warren Harding, after Congress opposed them because of the recession. A private party at a Washington , D.C. mansion hosted everyone but the president.

Read more at the official site: http://www.afic.army.mil/balls_inaugural.htm