Il 20st January it has been for more than eighty years american presidents day. On this date, every four years, the number one in the White House takes office for the first time or starts his second term. Elections, of course, always take place in November of the previous year.
The tradition was inaugurated in 1937, after the consultations of '36 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the only US president to be elected to more than two consecutive terms) defeated Republican Alfred Mossman Landon. They followed, one by one, the other presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush Junior, Obama and Trump. The only ones exceptions were those of Johnson, who was Kennedy's deputy at the time of the assassination, e Ford, which came after the outgoing Nixon. All the others began their journey to the White House on January 20, also on January 20.
Yeah, but why January 20th? Everything comes from an amendment to the US Constitution, just by coincidence the 20 number, which was ratified on January 23, 1933. Before then, from George Washington's second oath of office onwards, the ceremony took place on the 4th of Marchalways for the year following the election year.
“It used to be that collecting and counting votes took much longer than it does today, given that ballot papers had to be carried on horseback - Explains Eric Grundhauser on Atlas Obscura – Then, the transfer to the White House of the president-elect took time”.
But it's not over. The change was also decided (or rather, above all) for shorten the period during which the outgoing President joins the successor, who often has very different ideas than his own. The most sensational superimposition of this type occurred in the mid-XNUMXth century. It was the beginning of 1845 when the outgoing president John Tyler forced the Constitution and, wanting to go down in history, managed to annex to the United States even Texas. Pace James Polk, who took office on March 4th. Too late.
