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The inauguration of George W. Bush on Jan. 20, 2005. CREDIT: White House |
A choice few inaugural speeches are remembered in the annals of history, some for particularly stirring turns of phrase and others for striking just the right note for the nation at the time.
Others are totally forgotten, or at best remembered for how bad they were.
These worst inaugural addresses in U.S. presidential history represent a laundry list of what not
to do on your big day, from boring the crowd with administrative
details to droning on for two hours in the bitter cold, ultimately
killing yourself in the process. They may serve as lessons for President-elect Barack Obama's talented speechwriters in the run-up to his address Jan. 20.
Warren Harding — 1921
His maligned inaugural address was a sign of things to come for Warren
Harding, who was dogged by scandals in his cabinet, became famous for
odd speech patterns and finally died of a heart attack while still in
office in 1923. More boring than brilliant, his 1921 address spoke, at
length, of his ideologies:
"I speak for administrative efficiency, for lightened tax burdens, for
sound commercial practices, for adequate credit facilities, for
sympathetic concern for all agricultural problems, for the omission of
unnecessary interference of Government with business, for an end to
Government's experiment in business, and for more efficient business in
Government administration."
Thomas Jefferson — 1805
After a soaring first address
in 1801, Thomas Jefferson was reelected and offered a sophomore effort
that was an angry, monotone dud, historians say. Bitter at the
"licentious" media and four years of attacks on his administration, the
president was on the defensive and not as his inspirational best:
"During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the
artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with
whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an
institution so important to freedom and science, are deeply to be
regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness, and to sap
its safety; they might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome
punishments reserved and provided by the laws of the several States
against falsehood and defamation; but public duties more urgent press
on the time of public servants, and the offenders have therefore been
left to find their punishment in the public indignation."
Ulysses S. Grant — 1869
It would have been a tough act to follow for anyone, but Ulysses S.
Grant — speaking on the inaugural podium just four years after Lincoln's famous address
— still squandered his opportunity, most historians agree. At a time
when the government should have been celebrating the passage of a few
years of peace, the Civil War hero chose a strictly business tone,
musing about the nation's debts and laws:
"To protect the
national honor, every dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid
in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it
be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt
will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward
strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and
will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less
interest than we now pay."
James Buchanan — 1857
One of the worst speeches of all time was doled out by one of the
worst presidents, according to historians. With the United States
already on the road to civil war, a "clueless" James Buchanan
essentially ignored the impending conflict, downplayed the growing
rifts between North and South over slavery and urged Americans to focus
on more important matters:
"May we not, then, hope that
the long agitation on this subject is approaching its end… Most happy
will it be for the country when the public mind shall be diverted from
this question to others of more pressing and practical importance."
William Henry Harrison — 1841
At more than 8,000 words, the address of distinguished military vet
William Henry Harrison was and still is the longest in inaugural
history by a comfortable margin. It took two hours to deliver in a
snowstorm, boring the crowd and possibly even killing Harrison, who
wore no overcoat and contracted pneumonia soon after. He ended his
address on this note and died a month into office:
"Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which
the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an
affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the
remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the
high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability,
and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the
support of a just and generous people."
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