Inauguration of Franklin Pierce
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| Date | March 4, 1853 |
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| Location |
Washington, D.C. United States Capitol |
| Participants | President Franklin Pierce Vice President William R. King |
The inauguration of Franklin Pierce as the 14th President of the United States was held on Friday, March 4, 1853 on the East Portico at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. The inauguration marked the commencement of Franklin Pierce's only four-year term as President and William R. King's only term as Vice President. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney administered the presidential oath of office. Pierce affirmed the oath of office rather than swear it, and was also the first president to recite his inaugural address from memory.
Ill with tuberculosis, King was in Cuba in an effort to recover in the warmer climate, and was not able to be in Washington to take his oath of office on March 4. By a Special Act of Congress, he was allowed to take the oath outside the United States, and was sworn in on March 24, 1853. He is the only vice president to be sworn in in a foreign country. King died 45 days into his term, and the office remained vacant for the balance of it. (Prior to ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967, no constitutional provision existed for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency.)
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