The second

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

was held in a televised ceremony on January 20, 1985, at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, and was repeated the following day, January 21, 1985, at the Capitol's rotunda. This was the 50th presidential inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and final four-year term of both Ronald Reagan as president and of George H. W. Bush as

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

. At 73 years, 349 days of age on Inauguration Day, Reagan was the oldest U.S. president to be inaugurated, until Joe Biden's inauguration as president on January 20, 2021, at the age of 78 years, 61 days.

Inauguration day

As the weather outside was harsh, with daytime temperatures of and

wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

s of , the event organizers were forced to move the public inaugural ceremony, which had been planned for the open air, inside to the

Capitol Rotunda The United States Capitol rotunda is the tall central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda is located below the ...

. There, as they had the day before officially, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath of office to Reagan, and former Associate Justice

Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas ...

administered the vice-presidential oath to Bush. Jessye Norman sang '' Simple Gifts'' from Aaron Copland's '' Old American Songs'' at the ceremony. Due to the inclement weather, the parade was canceled and a replacement event was put on in the Capital Centre; 96 people attended the first ceremony and thousands attended the second.

Inauguration committee

Former UPI

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

John Chambers, son of

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Workers Party of America, Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet Union, Soviet spy (1932–1938), defe ...

, served as executive director of the Joint Congressional Committee on the Presidential Inauguration, for Reagan's second inauguration and again in 1993 first inauguration of Bill Clinton.

Aftermath

On May 27, 1985 (

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

), twenty of the more than fifty

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, o ...

s that had been scheduled to perform in the cancelled inaugural

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

performed in the President's Inaugural Bands Parade held at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

's EPCOT Center theme park. The performance was preceded by a speech delivered by President Reagan.

References

External links

Text of Reagan's Second Inaugural AddressAudio of Reagan's Second Inaugural Address
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reagan, 2nd inauguration of Ronald 1985 speeches 1985 in American politics 1985 in Washington, D.C. Inaug 2 United States presidential inaugurations Inauguration 1985 January 1985 events in the United States

Inauguration day

Inauguration committee

Aftermath

See also

References

External links