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History and Traditions of Inauguration Day

By Dr Mark | January 20, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Show Summary: Celebrating Inauguration Day Weekend! We explore the history and traditions of Inauguration Day in depth. Changes to the oath of office, parades, balls, Bibles, and how they became traditions.

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Air Dates: Jan. 21 & 22, 2017 | Greg Leo

Answering the call of many Americans who were tired of Washington working for itself and not for them, President Trump gave an inaugural speech that declared today was the start of putting the people back in control of their government. And his speech gave Americans the chance to witness once again the peaceful passing of power, without war, following our Constitution, which supersedes all those who have taken office.

Full Transcript of President Trump’s Inaugural Speech

John Wilkes Booth, in the talk silk top hat, at Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address. — John Wilkes Booth, in the talk silk top hat, at Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address

So we take a look at the history and traditions of America’s Presidents taking power. The Inaugural Balls, the parade, even the Inaugural Speech itself. Some of these traditions date back to Washington but many of them are recent innovations.

Listen to hear about the President who stayed outside in the cold giving the longest inaugural address and then passed away 30 days later due to pneumonia. Or hear about the president-elect and president who couldn’t even talk to each other as they rode to the Capitol for the inauguration, the different Bibles some presidents chose, and lots more.

America’s rich history comes to light this weekend as we watch President Trump take office.

Another view of John Wilkes Booth at Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural — Another view of John Wilkes Booth at Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural (click for larger view)

And just think. If it were up to the likes of Karl Rove, we’d be watching Hillary give her speech while Karl explained why the John Kasich/Marco Rublio ticket hadn’t reached out enough to Hispanics.

Thank the Lord!

Join us for a celebration of the traditions of Inauguration Day!

Links Mentioned

Historical Photos of Inauguration Day

Incredible Negatives Discovered of Taft’s Inauguration (Daily Mail, Jan. 13, 2017)
Rare photo shows Lincoln delivering his first inaugural address (Time, Oct. 2016)
Fascinating gigapixel photo from President Trump’s Inauguration. Note: some browsers won’t display this correctly but definitely worth a try!

Additional Traditions of Inauguration Day Links

‘Never Trump’ national-security Republicans fear they have been blacklisted (Washington Post, Jan. 16, 2017)
Full Transcript of President Trump’s Inaugural Speech
Inaugural Ceremonies (via official Inaugural Committee)
The Presidential Inauguration: Some Interesting, Bizarre and Unusual Stories From the Past (Huffington Post, Feb. 17, 2013)
A history of presidential inaugurations (Washington Post, Jan. 21, 2013)
The Presidential Inauguration in History
Historical Inauguration Presidential Videos
Traditions behind the presidential inauguration (University of N. Georgia)
Bibles and the Swearing In Ceremony (CS Monitor)
Facts and artifacts of Inauguration Day via Library of Congress
Trump to be sworn in using Bible from childhood (The Hill, Jan. 17, 2017)
Inauguration Will Mix Tradition with Typical Trump Unorthodoxy (Lifezette, Jan. 17, 2017)
Historic Inaugural Addresses Trump Can Draw From (Lifezette, Jan. 17, 2017)

presidential primaries 2016 caucus vs primary election process

Presidential Primaries – A Primer

By Dr Mark | January 23, 2016 | Comments 3 comments

A President Cruz and a Vice President Clinton?

Air Dates: January 23 & 24, 2016 | Greg Leo

With so many candidates running in the Republican primary there have been discussions within the media that there won’t be one candidate who wins enough electoral votes for a clear majority, which would trigger a “brokered convention.” Right away supporters of various candidates, and some candidates themselves, were saying this was a set up and that their candidate would be disenfranchised from a fair selection if the process was turned over to “political insiders” or the “establishment” to make the final choice. But what’s the reality?

And if you think politics is messy now, you won’t believe how they used to do it.

Caucus vs. Primary: Process and Differences

Also, we’re less than 10 days away from the Iowa Caucus, the true, official launch of the presidential primary. This week, we take a deeper look at the entire process of electing a president, the historical context, how the process has evolved, and we’ll examine the shadier side of political conventions in terms of what has happened and what could happen.

On this Week’s Show, You’ll Learn About:

How our Founding Fathers originally conceived presidential election, and the uniqueness of our American system
Why parties were created
Why and when conventions and primaries began
How the primary system works and how it has changed over the years
The modern-day elements of a caucus versus a primary vote and whether a “ground game” is as important as pundits claim
What exactly is a “brokered convention” and the chances of one happening in 2016

And if you don’t think your vote doesn’t matter just remember the highest turn out in a general election, ever, was just 63% of the voting age population. Even more alarming the average voter turnout for a primary has recently averaged about 22%.

Find out how to make your vote count — and why it could matter, even if your candidate doesn’t win.