Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday January 21, 2013

     Today was only the second time that the Presidential Inauguration was held on Martin Luther King Day. The first was on Monday January 20, 1997 when Bill Clinton began his second term. The next time will be on Monday January 20, 2025.
      Memorizing information largely consists of making connections. You make a connection with two facts and link them together. For example, I have been memorizing facts about the presidents for years now. The more I know the easier it is to make connections. For example, when I was learning about their wedding dates I made a connection that the two most corpulent presidents were married in the same month, which was June 1886. On Wednesday June 2, 1886 President Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room. It was the only time a president was married in the White House, although many president's offspring were married there. Two and a half weeks later, on Saturday June 19, 1886 future president William Howard Taft married Helen Herron. You can see how I picked two categories and did a mental cross reference. Heavy set presidents and June 1886 weddings. We will have more on the subject of mental cross referencing in future blogs.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday January 20, 2013

The blogs of the next two days will be a special inauguration issue.

January 20 events;

Wednesday January 20, 1937 - This was the first time that the Presidential Inauguration was held on January 20. Previously it had been held on March 4. It was Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inauguration of four.

Thursday January 20, 1949 - The first inauguration that was televised. It was Harry Truman's inauguration to his full term. He had become president on April 12, 1945 when Roosevelt died in office.

Tuesday January 20, 1953 - Eisenhower replaced Truman. There is a tradition where the outgoing president has breakfast with the incoming president. However, at this inauguration Eisenhower refused to get out of the car as he was angry with Truman for firing Douglas MacArthur in the Korean War two year previous.

Friday January 20, 1961 - Kennedy was sworn in with almost a foot of snow on the ground that had fallen overnight.

Thursday January 20, 1977 - Jimmy Carter repeated a Jeffersonian tradition of walking to his inauguration to prove he was one of the people. One of the floats in the parade was a giant peanut as he had been a peanut farmer.

Tuesday January 20, 1981 - As Reagan replaced Carter the hostages were on the verge of being released. Carter had been awake for more than 50 hours working on the release. Reagan's inauguration was in 55 degree weather. The festivities were so extravagant that Johnny Carson commented "This is the first administration with a premiere".

Monday January 20, 1997 - Clinton's second inauguration was the first to be broadcast on the Internet. It was also the first inauguration on Martin Luther King Day. Tomorrow's will be the second Martin Luther King Day Inauguration as today is Sunday so it will be held tomorrow.

Tomorrow there will be more inauguration trivia.