The Presidential Inaugural Parade: Past Practices and Congressional Considerations
https://crsreports.congress.gov
January 6, 2025
The Presidential Inaugural Parade: Past Practices and Congressional Considerations
Every four years, following the swearing-in ceremony, inaugural address, and congressional luncheon at the U.S. Capitol, the newly sworn in President traditionally travels to the White House and observes the inaugural parade from a reviewing stand. The next inaugural parade is scheduled to occur on January 20, 2025. Figure 1 shows President George H. W. Bush watching the 1989 inaugural parade.
Figure 1. President George H. W. Bush Reviewing the Inaugural Parade, 1989
Source: Library of Congress, “Presidential Reviewing Stand at the Inaugural Parade for President George H.W. Bush on January 20, 1989, Washington, DC.”
Inaugural Parade Past Practices
The inaugural parade has changed over the course of American history. The first inaugural parade appears to have occurred in 1789 for George Washington’s inauguration in New York, when the President-elect was escorted to Federal Hall (then the capitol of the United States) by “Grand Marshall Colonel Morgan Lewis and a military contingent of 500 men.”
When the capital moved to Washington, DC, parades appear to have initially been less formal affairs, and there is not consensus about which inauguration might have had the first parade in the District of Columbia. For example, some credit the first parade-like activity to President Thomas Jefferson’s second inauguration. In 1805, after taking the oath of office, President Jefferson, “rode on horseback from the Capitol to the President’s House (the name then used for the White House) amid music and a spontaneous gathering.”
Others credit the first parade-like activities to President James Madison’s first inauguration in 1809, when he was “escorted to the Capitol” by musicians. Still others note that President James Monroe’s first inauguration in 1817 could be the first. For President Monroe’s inauguration, citizens followed the President-elect and Vice President-elect to the
Capitol Building where he delivered an inaugural address outdoors.
With the exception of 1789 for President Washington and 1805 for President Jefferson, each parade prior to the 1841 inauguration of William Henry Harrison appears to have occurred to escort the President to the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. In 1841, the parade occurred after the swearing-in ceremony, when a committee of local Whig Party organizations organized a parade to accompany the President from the Capitol to an open house at the White House.
Over the years, the inaugural parade has experienced many firsts. Table 1 lists selected inaugural parade firsts.
Table 1. Selected Inaugural Parade Firsts
Year President First
1837 Martin Van Buren Parade floats
1841 William Henry Harrison Parade planning committee
1865 Abraham Lincoln African Americans participated
1881 James Garfield Review of procession from a stand at the White House
1909 William Howard Taft Automobile
1917 Woodrow Wilson Women participated
1921 Warren G. Harding President rode in an automobile
1965 Lyndon B. Johnson Bullet-proofed, closed limousine
Source: Architect of the Capitol, “Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol”; U.S. President (Clinton), “Inaugural Traditions,” The Inauguration in Presidential History”; and Library of Congress, “The Inaugural Site.”
Inaugural Parade Administration
In modern times, the inaugural parade is traditionally organized by the military’s Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) on behalf of the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). The Department of Defense established the predecessor to the JTF-NCR, the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first inauguration in 1953. The AFIC was renamed as the JTF-NCR in 2003.
The Presidential Inaugural Parade: Past Practices and Congressional Considerations
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Historically, the inaugural parade includes American military units and groups from around the country. Figure 2 shows a partial list of participants for the 1933 inaugural parade for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term.
Figure 2. Inaugural Parade Program, March 4, 1933
Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, “Celebrating the Big Day: FDR’s First Inauguration and the Annual Anniversary Celebrations, 1934-1945.”
2025 Inaugural Parade Planning
For 2025, the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee (Trump- Vance PIC), in coordination with the JTF-NCR, has plans for an inaugural parade. Interested groups applied to march in the parade through the JTF-NCR. The Trump-Vance PIC will likely select participants, which in the past have included marching bands, equestrian groups, floats, and nonband groups.
Considerations for Congress
For the 2025 inaugural parade, several considerations might be relevant for Congress. These include the distribution of parade tickets and parade security.
Parade Ticket Distribution Congressional offices historically have not had a role in the distribution of inaugural parade tickets. In the past, access to ticketed areas along the inaugural parade route has been distributed through the PIC. Information on the distribution of inaugural parade tickets is included in information on the Trump-Vance PIC website: https://t47inaugural.com/ tickets.
Security The January 20, 2025, presidential inauguration is a National Special Security Events (NSSE). NSSEs are nationally or internationally significant events that typically involve either a large number of attendees or a large number of the public, and are attended by U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries. The U.S. Secret Service (USSS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was designated as the lead federal agency responsible for coordinating, planning, exercising, and implementing security for NSSEs by P.L. 106-544. Every inauguration since President George W. Bush’s first inauguration on January 20, 2001, has been designated an NSSE.
Due to the evolution of threats to national security and the security of senior U.S. officials, specific security operations for NSSEs like an inaugural parade cannot be detailed publicly. However, some basic security operational information about such events is generally known. Historically, inaugural parade security operational plans have included the use of security fencing, barricades, special access accreditation badges, K-9 teams, and other security technologies. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) prepositions Domestic Emergency Support Teams, Urban Search and Rescue Teams, national Emergency Response Teams, Nuclear Incident Response Teams, and the Strategic National Stockpile and Mobile Emergency Response System assets as part of their preparedness efforts. Specific teams and groupings of teams are designed based on the event’s unique characteristics, coordination with other federal entities, state and local jurisdictions, available local resources, and mutual aid agreements.
Additionally, USSS sponsors training seminars for command-level federal, state, and local law enforcement and public safety officials to provide principles for managing major event security and strategies for reducing vulnerabilities related to terrorism. The seminars also discuss key strategies and lessons learned from past NSSEs.
One ongoing issue associated with NSSEs, such as inaugurations and inaugural parades, is how states and localities fund their assistance to NSSE operations. Currently, the USSS does not have a process for reimbursing state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners for their contributions to securing NSSEs.
For more information on the inauguration, see CRS In Focus IF11710, Inauguration Security and Operations, by Shawn Reese, Jacob R. Straus, and Christina Miracle Finch; CRS In Focus IF11688, Inaugural Tickets: Past Practices and Considerations for 2025, by Jacob R. Straus, and CRS Report R42603, Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies: History, Membership, and Inaugural Activities, by Jacob R. Straus.
Jacob R. Straus, Specialist on the Congress Shawn Reese, Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy
IF12867
The Presidential Inaugural Parade: Past Practices and Congressional Considerations
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12867 · VERSION 1 · NEW
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