Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday will be held inside the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC due to severe cold weather. This decision mirrors the actions of former President Ronald Reagan, who also had his 1985 inauguration moved indoors due to freezing temperatures.
On January 17, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had ordered the ceremony to take place in the Capitol Rotunda, citing “very cold weather,” similar to Reagan’s decision 40 years prior.
He stated, “I have ordered the inauguration address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the US Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather.”
Trump emphasised the safety of attendees, noting that sub-zero temperatures could lead to injury. “It is my obligation to protect the country of our country…The weather forecast for Washington, DC, with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” he added.
Weather experts predict that an Arctic blast, originating from Canada, will freeze areas across the West, Central, South, and East US. The forecast for Washington DC on inauguration day calls for a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius.
In 1985, Reagan’s inauguration was also affected by extreme cold, with temperatures reaching minus 7 degrees Celsius. The then White House Press Secretary, Larry Speakes, explained that Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan had no choice but to move the event indoors, as medical advisors warned that exposed areas would freeze within minutes.
“The Reagans looked at it, knowing parade participants might be out there for four hours, if not longer. It was just obvious, knowing that, what the medical people told them, that they would have had severe frostbite, if not some conditions that could have been worse,” Speakes said at the time.
The temperature during Reagan’s inauguration was considered dangerous, and Speakes dismissed concerns about the impact on Reagan’s health, highlighting that the decision was based solely on weather conditions.
Trump, at 78, will surpass Reagan’s record as the oldest individual to take the presidential oath. His inauguration day temperature of minus 6 degrees will be similar to that of John F Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration, which took place in minus 5 degrees.
Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 was slightly warmer, with temperatures of minus 2 degrees, while Joe Biden’s 2021 ceremony saw a relatively mild 5.5 degrees.
Presidential inaugurations affected by extreme weather are not unprecedented. In 1909, William Howard Taft’s inauguration was moved indoors after 10 inches of snow fell on Washington DC.
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