Trump joins select few in skipping inauguration

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s decision to skip Presidentelect Joe Biden’s inauguration is not without precedent, though one must go back to Andrew Johnson in 1869 to find the most recent example.

John Adams and John Quincy Adams also opted not to participate in a tradition that began with George Washington.

The White House Historical Association points out that John Adams was never formally invited by his successor, Thomas Jefferson, to the event and perhaps didn’t want to impose. The association also noted it was the first time the presidency was transferred to an opposing party and “he may have wanted to avoid provoking violence between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.”

Following in his father’s footsteps, John Quincy Adams officially departed the White House on the evening of March 3, the day before the inauguration of President Andrew Jackson, who had been in Washington, D.C., for about three weeks. He did not call on Adams, nor did Adams invite Jackson to the White House.

Some four decades later, Presidentelect Ulysses S. Grant refused to ride with Johnson from the White House to the Capitol for the ceremony. When it was suggested that two carriages carry them separately, Johnson said he would simply not attend the ceremonies, remaining instead at the White House with friends and colleagues and signing last-minute legislation.

“To me, he is much, much different from the two Adamses in that they truly were statesmen and they just had their reasons to be bitter. But they weren’t bad men,” said Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia. “Johnson was a bad man and a bad president.”

Perry said she is “quite forgiving” of the first Adams because the tradition of attending a successor’s inauguration was just beginning, but less so for his son.

She said that over time it has become important symbolically and substantively for outgoing presidents to attend the inauguration of their successor. It reinforces the concept of a peaceful transition of power.

Notwithstanding Johnson’s decision to skip the inauguration of Grant, the tradition of an outgoing president attending the inaugural ceremonies took on greater importance after the Civil War, said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

“It’s the ultimate healing gesture. It’s the genius of American reconciliation,” Brinkley said.

In more modern times, Richard Nixon didn’t attend Gerald Ford’s swearing-in, but there was no pomp and circumstance on that occasion. Rather, Ford was administered the oath of office in the White House East Room shortly after Nixon had tendered his resignation to avoid impeachment.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PHOTOS Four presidents – John Adams, from left, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon – did not attend the inaugurations of their successors.