He spoke of the "holy fire of liberty" and a "new and free government" in his first inauguration address. Washington's 135-word address during his second term in 1793 is the shortest ever. William Henry Harrison's speech in 1841 was the longest, lasting two hours and including 8,455 words. It's been estimated that if the fourth president had spoken an average of just over 3,500 words per hour, he'd have needed nine hours to finish.
The modern presidential term is four years, but since Washington's second term was shortened to avoid impeachment, only two presidents have completed their terms: George Washington and Donald Trump.
In conclusion, Washington's inaugural address is the shortest in American history at only 135 words. It all began on April 30, 1789 when President Washington delivered his first annual message to Congress.
On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. His speech is available here. The first president to miss his successor's inauguration-After a difficult campaign, Adams did not attend Jefferson's inauguration on March 4, 1801.
According to The American Presidency Project, President William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inauguration speech. The speech was nearly 8,500 words long. For some comparison, President Barack Obama's first inaugural address was roughly 2,400 words long, while President Bill Clinton's first inaugural speech was just 1,600 words long.
Lengths of Inaugural Addresses William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inauguration address, at 8,460 words, in one hour and 45 minutes. This was 3,000 words longer than Taft's, who came in second. At 135 words, George Washington's second inaugural address was the shortest.
The longest phrase, at 737 words, was found in John Adams' Inaugural Address, which totaled 2,308 words. Following Washington's second inaugural address, Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth address on January 20, 1945, was the shortest, at only 559 words. The first inaugural address was written by Washington and delivered on April 30, 1789.
The second inauguration of George Washington took place on February 18, 1793. It was the first presidential re-election and the first time a president was given a second term. Edward Rutledge was appointed to replace Washington as governor of South Carolina but died before taking office. As there was no other candidate, James Monroe was elected to Congress instead. John Quincy Adams became secretary of state in 1817 but lost his bid for reelection two years later. He remained in that position until 1825 when he retired from public life.
The third inauguration of George Washington took place on March 4, 1825. It was the first presidential third term. John Quincy Adams continued to serve as secretary of state after his resignation in 1824. Martin Van Buren was elected president in 1828 but was removed from office in a coup d'état led by Andrew Jackson. Jackson then served as the president of the Senate to fill the unexpired term of Van Buren. William Henry Harrison died just forty-five minutes into his term; he was the ninth president to die in office.
At 135 words, George Washington's second inauguration address remains the shortest ever delivered. The president had more than 40 hours to prepare his address, which was written by John Marshall.
In terms of content, it was very similar to his first inauguration address, only this time he focused on the need for unity among the 13 colonies following the end of the American Revolution. He also warned against growing divisions within the country based on race or religion.
The short length of Washington's speech allowed him to cover a wide range of issues in a single go. In addition, the fact that this was his second term meant that he didn't have to repeat himself too much. Finally, as we know, George Washington was not a great speaker so this wasn't anything special even back then.
The longest inaugural address was given by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 with an estimated 15,000 words. The address took 3 hours and 50 minutes to deliver! It's worth mentioning that most of its length was made up of excerpts from Roosevelt's previous speeches and messages to Congress.
According to one estimate, Roosevelt's address used up about 7% of the available airtime during its delivery.
Harrison gave the longest inaugural address in history, clocking in at 8,445 words. It took him three hours and fifty minutes to deliver it.
He was only 49 years old when he died. William Henry Harrison was the ninth president of the United States and the first to die in office. He was elected in 1840 and served one term. His death occurred just five months into that term at age 61. A severe cold that turned into pneumonia caused his demise.
His wife, Elizabeth Harrison, was only forty-two years old. They had two children together who both survived childhood: a son, Benjamin Harrison, Jr., who went on to become the 23rd president and a daughter, Mary Ann "Polly" Harrison who married Charles Scott of Philadelphia.
William Henry Harrison received the most votes in the election but not enough for an outright victory. John Tyler, his opponent, received more votes than Harrison across the entire country. As a result, no winner was declared and the election was thrown into the House of Representatives where they would spend several weeks debating whether to make Tyler or Harrison the next president.
The longest sentence of John Adams' inaugural address, which totaled 2,308 words, was 727 words long, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The second-longest sentence, also by Adams, was 652 words.
The longest inaugural address delivered by a president that we know about is that of James Buchanan in 1857, when he spoke for an hour and forty minutes. His final sentence, which was heard by people rushing out of the audience chamber after he had been sworn in as president, is reported to have been "God bless the Union." Although not included in his official oath, many believed this was intended as tacit approval for what they were doing and said it calmed their fears about what kind of leader he would be.
His first act as president was to send troops into Kansas to put down a violent rebellion against slavery. This so angered the South that they rejected him for office.
Buchanan's wife, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with tuberculosis during her husband's campaign and died shortly after he took office. He never married again and lived in retirement with one of his former clerks until his death in 1865.
Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was only 1,977 words long.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Authors Cast Inc.
