WHEN William Howard Taft, was sworn in as President of the US in 1909, he was obliged by one of the worst snowstorms in American history to break with long tradition - he took the oath indoors. And he is by no means the only President to have had his big day marred by adverse weather. William Henry Harrison's inauguration day in 1841 was also bitterly cold - the new President insisted on an outdoor ceremony, caught a chill, and died having been in office for a mere month. And when Ulysses G. Grant took the oaths in 1873, the noon temperature, in Washington was a chilling -9C, making it the coldest inauguration day on record.
The inauguration ceremony indeed, has been unlucky in this respect on a surprisingly large number of occasions. Of the 51 quadrennial inaugurals held to date in the US, no fewer than 19 have been plagued by substantial rain or snow, bitter cold, or chilling penetrating winds.
The mid winter timing of the event cannot be held entirely responsible for this ill luck since only the last 15 inaugurals have taken place on January 20th. Prior to 1937 and the 29th Amendment to the Constitution, the new President was sworn in on March 4th. The date was changed for reasons of state but considered opinion at the time was that, the January date, although colder on average, was likely to be more favourable as regards, avoiding stormy weather. Statistically, the odds in favour of relatively good conditions are encouraging - the average noon temperature for Washington in late January is 4 C, the chances of rain about one in six and of snow about one in 12 or 13.
The change, however, made no immediate difference. Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inaugural in 1937 - the first to be held on the revised date - was the wettest in history, with more than 12 millimetres of rain in the two hours around noon on January 20th, and a temperature only just above the freezing point. Roosevelt, however, insisted that the ceremony proceed in the open so as not to disappoint the large crowds gathered for the occasion. Some 24 years later, when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated in 1961, the occasion was again marked by severe snowstorms, conditions only marginally better than those experience half a century earlier by President Taft.
President Clinton had no major weather problems with his first inaugural in 1993. His second inauguration is today.