Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite administering the oath of office to James A. Garfield on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol, March 4, 1881.
G. Prince Photo
On March 4, 1881 James A. Garfield took the oath of office and was sworn in as the 20th President of the United States. March 4th was the traditional inauguration day from 1793 to 1933. The date was changed to January 20th in 1933 with the passage of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “lame duck amendment” which established the beginning of the term for Congress as January 3rd.The first president to have a January inauguration was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was sworn in for his second term on January 20th, 1937, making him the only president in American history to be inaugurated in both January and March.
