Fifty days to Trump Inaugural Address

With just over 50 days to go until the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, we can hope that he comes to the podium ready to deliver an Inaugural Address for the ages. Here are the video recordings of all 16 Inaugural Addresses since President-Elect Trump’s birth in 1946.

Not all inaugurals have moved mountains or inspired the nation to greatness. Many are downright unremarkable in either their vision or verbal power.

Here are the video recordings of all sixteen inaugural addresses since President-elect Trump’s birth in 1946. Truman’s 1949 address was the first to be televised. Kennedy’s 1961 address certainly ranks in the top 10 most quoted speeches in U.S. history. Reagan’s 1981 is, in my opinion, the best of the Republican speeches in the list.

1. 1949: Harry S. Truman
2. 1953: Dwight D. Eisenhower
3. 1957: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Part 1) and (Part 2)
4. 1961: John F. Kennedy
5. 1965: Lyndon B. Johnson
6. 1969: Richard M. Nixon
7. 1973: Richard M. Nixon
8. 1977: Jimmy Carter
9. 1981: Ronald Reagan
10. 1985: Ronald Reagan
11. 1989: George H. W. Bush
12. 1993: William J. Clinton
13. 1997: William J. Clinton
14. 2001: George W. Bush
15. 2005: George W. Bush
16. 2009: Barack H. Obama
17. 2013: Barack H. Obama

For a fun and definitive look behind the curtain of presidential speechwriting, check out Robert Schlesinger’s White House Ghosts: Presidents and theirspeechwriters from FDR to George W. Bush.

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W. Scott Lamb

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