The inauguration ceremony for Joe Biden scheduled for January 20.
A public ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The event will be the 59th presidential inauguration.
The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States will mark the commencement of the four-year term of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president. Biden will take the oath of office as president on that day, and Kamala Harris will take the oath of office as vice president.
The inauguration will take place during extraordinary political, health, economic, and national security crises, including outgoing President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, which incited a storming of the Capitol, an attempt to remove Trump prematurely, which has led to his historic second impeachment, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Festivities will be limited to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. The live audience will be limited to members of the 117th United States Congress and, for each, one guest of their choosing, resembling a State of the Union address. Public health measures such as mandatory face coverings, testing, temperature checks, and social distancing will be used to protect participants in the ceremony.
Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, were confirmed by the Electoral College on December 14, 2020. Donald Trump, who continued to dispute the legitimacy of the election without proof but committed to an “orderly transition” of power exactly two months after losing, will not attend the ceremony—the first time a losing incumbent will do so since Andrew Johnson skipped the 1869 inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant. This will be the fourth time in United States history a departing president would refuse to attend their successor’s inauguration.
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Upon his inauguration, Biden will become the oldest president at 78 years and 61 days, older upon taking office than Ronald Reagan, who left office at 77 years, 349 days. He will also become the first president from Delaware (although he was born in Pennsylvania), the second Catholic after John F. Kennedy, and the fifteenth former vice president to serve as president. Kamala Harris will become the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American vice president.
