PRESIDENT ATCHINSON
In 1848, Zachary Taylor, twelfth president, asked that the inauguration of March 4, 1849 be moved to the following day since it fell on a Sunday. James Polk's term of office ended at Noon on March 4, thus creating a one-day vacancy whereby David Rice Atchinson, president pro-tempore of the senate, and at that time third in the succession line, was technically acting-president for one day. [Today the Speaker of the House is third in presidential succession]
SUNDAY INAUGURATIONS
Five other presidential inaugurations have fallen on a Sunday. The first occurred in 1821 when James Monroe won re-election and took the oath on March 4, in private and was publicly inaugurated the following day. The same circumstance occurred in 1917 after the re-election of Woodrow Wilson.
Democrat Samuel Jones Tilden of New York won the presidential election of 1876, but the decision was overturned by a 15-member panel in favor of republican candidate Rutherford Hayes. The inauguration date of Sunday March 4, 1877 had already been moved to Monday which would have led to the scenario as Taylor. But because of the controversial decision, outgoing President Grant convinced Hayes to secretly take the oath of office in the Red Room of the White House on Sunday March 4, the day before the public ceremony. Grant feared some major protest, but the inauguration was without incident.
DATE CHANGE
The presidential inauguration date was moved to January 20, during the Franklin Roosevelt presidency in 1937. Dwight Eisenhower took the oath for his second term in 1957, on Sunday and was formally inaugurated again in public on Monday January 21. Ronald Reagan followed the same scenario in 1985 after winning re-election.
THE CALENDAR
January 20 falls on a Sunday four times in the Twenty-first Century; 2013, 2041, 2069, and 2097. It always occurs every 28 years.
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