United States presidential inauguration

===Dates===
The [[First inauguration of George Washington|first inauguration]], that of George Washington, took place on April 30, 1789. All subsequent (regular) inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution in 1789. The exception to this pattern was those years in which March 4 fell on a Sunday. When it did, the public inauguration ceremony would take place on Monday, March 5. This happened on four occasions, in 1821, 1849, 1877, and 1917. Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution]], where it has remained since. A similar Sunday exception and move to Monday is made around this date as well (which happened in 1957, 1985, and 2013).

[[File:President Ronald Reagan Being Sworn in for a Second Term by Chief Justice Warren Burger as Nancy Reagan Observes during the Private Ceremony at the White House.jpg|thumb|[[President of the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] being [[Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan|sworn in]] for his second term "privately" on television, January 20, 1985]] 
This resulted in several anomalies. It has been alleged that in 1849, Senate President pro tempore [[David Rice Atchison]] was president for a day, although all scholars dismiss that claim.<ref name=1day441849>{{cite web| title=David Rice Atchison: (Not) President for a Day: March 4, 1849| url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/President_For_A_Day.htm| publisher=Office of the Secretary, United States Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=From Failing Hands: the Story of Presidential Succession| last1=Feerick| first1=John D.| last2=Freund| first2=Paul A.| date=1965| url=https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=twentyfifth_amendment_books| publisher=Fordham University Press| location=New York City| pages=100–101| lccn=65-14917}}</ref> In 1877, due to the controversy over the [[Compromise of 1877]], [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] was sworn in secretly on March 3 before [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s term ended on March 4—raising the question if the United States had two presidents at the same time for one day.<ref name=1day441849 /> In modern times, the president took the oath on a Sunday in a private ceremony and repeated it the following day with all the pomp and circumstance. In 1985 and 2013, these ceremonies were televised. Irregular inaugurations occurred on nine occasions intra-term, after the death or, in one case, resignation of a president.

Inauguration Day, while not a [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]], is observed as a holiday by federal employees who would be working in the "Inauguration Day Area" and who are regularly scheduled to perform non-overtime work on Inauguration Day.<ref name="hr.commerce.gov">{{cite web|url=http://hr.commerce.gov/Employees/Leave/DEV01_005944|publisher=US Department of Commerce|title=Federal, state, and local holidays|access-date=January 20, 2017|archive-date=January 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126083035/http://hr.commerce.gov/Employees/Leave/DEV01_005944|url-status=dead}}</ref> There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees or students who are not regularly scheduled to work or attend school on Inauguration Day. The Inauguration Day Area consists of the District of Columbia; [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery]] and [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's]] counties in Maryland; [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington]] and [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax]] counties in Virginia (the [[Fairfax, Virginia|City of Fairfax]] is considered part of Fairfax County for this purpose), and the cities of [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] and [[Falls Church, Virginia|Falls Church]] in Virginia.<ref name="hr.commerce.gov"/>