From George Washington to Trump, inauguration coverage has changed with technology

Millions of people across the country are expected to tune in to the second inauguration of President Trump. Television networks, online publications and social media outlets are gearing up for the big event. The way in which the anointing of people is presented in society has changed a lot in the last years.

“We have to think bigger and dream bigger,” Trump said during his inaugural address in 2017.

Tens of millions of people watched his inaugural address in real time – on television and online. But opening addresses and analyzing speeches were not always available. In 1789, when George Washington was sworn in for the first time, his speech was not made available to the public until several days later.

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Thomas Jefferson became the first president to have his inaugural address printed in a newspaper on the same day he delivered it in 1801. The National Intelligencer published a speech on the morning of Jefferson’s inauguration.

James Polk was the first president to have his address delivered by telephone. It was also the first time that the speech was shown in a newspaper illustration, by the Illustrated London News.

Drawings were the main visual medium in the invention for another 12 years, until photographs became widely used. James Buchanan was the first president to be photographed during his inauguration. Some 40 years later, video was used to record the opening of a public service.

William McKinley was the first president to appear on film when he delivered his inaugural address in 1901. Only silent films were available at the time, but that would change over the years as opening addresses began to feature sound.

James Buchanan was the first president to be photographed during his inauguration. (Library of Congress)

In 1921, Warren Harding was the first to use loudspeakers to address the crowd attending his inauguration in person. Four years later, Calvin Coolidge made his first radio broadcast. The White House Historical Association estimates that his 1925 address reached more than 23 million radio listeners. Herbert Hoover made the first multimedia presentation. His 1929 speech was the first to be recorded in a newspaper.

“It is dedication and commitment under God to the highest position in serving our people,” said Hoover during his speech.

After World War II, an increasing number of Americans bought televisions for their homes. By 1949, nearly every major city had at least one local television station, and 4.2 million American homes had TVs. Harry Truman became the first president to have his inauguration broadcast live that year. More than a decade later, John F. Kennedy’s address was broadcast in color to the estimated 500,000 Americans who had color television sets.

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” Kennedy famously said during his inaugural address.

Ronald Reagan wanted to bring the inauguration ceremony to Americans across the country. His first committee hosted nearly 100 satellite balls spread across 32 cities.

Americans had to wait days to read the president’s inaugural address in the newspaper. Today, the event can be broadcast live in real time around the world. (Associated Press)

“About 200 years ago, in the first launch, people came by stagecoach. Now, people across America, millions of people, are going to it by satellite,” Reagan said during the ball at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

More than a decade later, Bill Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997 was available online via live stream. Clinton had signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 last year at the Library of Congress.

“Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is the common encyclopedia of millions of school children,” Clinton said during her speech. “As we look back on this remarkable century, we may ask, ‘Have we no hope of not only following, but even surpassing, what was achieved in 20th century America?'”

With the growth of the Internet, the use of social media has also expanded.

“We’ve always understood that as times change, so must we,” said Barack Obama in his second inaugural address in 2013.

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Obama was the first president to join Twitter. His 2013 address generated over a million tweets. According to Pew Research, about 51% of Americans owned a smartphone at the time. When Trump was sworn into office in 2017, that percentage rose to 77%. Mobile phone carriers placed sticks before the address of the large crowd who would share photos and videos of the day’s events on social media.

When Joe Biden gave his address in 2021, his first committee relied on technology for almost every aspect of the event. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of Biden’s ceremonies to go online.

“The world is watching all of us today. So, here is my message to those outside our borders: America has been tested, and we have come out of it stronger,” Biden said during his speech.