10 Obscure Inauguration Tidbits

Ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration, the Chicago Tribune compiles a list of the 10 best little known facts about ceremonies past.

• George Washington had to borrow money to attend his own inauguration.
• No, William Henry Harrison’s long-winded, “fatal” speech on a chilly morning in 1841 didn’t kill him, but his failure to wear a hat and overcoat probably didn’t help the pneumonia.

• Officials forgot to pick up outgoing prez Franklin Pierce for James Buchanan’s inauguration.
• Frosty temps during Ulysses Grant’s ceremony caused the food to freeze, violin strings to snap, and the death of 100 canaries.
• Jackie Kennedy covered Dwight Eisenhower’s parade as the “Inquiring Camera Girl” for a DC paper.
• Robert Frost dedicated his poem to “the president-elect, Mr John Finley,” er, Kennedy.

For the rest of the list, click the link below.
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