It has been a tradition for each US President to begin each term of office with a speech at his inauguration. A few of these speeches give real insight into a presidency, or that state of the country at the time. Others are more quotidien. The more important ones are highlighted below. All these texts are located at the University of Oklahoma Chronology of US Historical Documents site.
- First Inaugural Address of President George Washington April 30, 1789
- The First State of the Union Address Jan. 8, 1790
- Second Inaugural Address of President George Washington Mar. 4, 1793
- Farewell Address of President George Washington Sept. 17, 1796
- Inaugural Address of President John Adams 1797
- First Inaugural Address of President Thomas Jefferson 1801
- Second Inaugural Address of President Thomas Jefferson 1805
- First Inaugural Address of President James Madison 1809
- Second Inaugural Address of President James Madison 1813
- First Inaugural Address of President James Monroe 1817
- Second Inaugural Address of President James Monroe 1821
- Inaugural Address of President John Quincy Adams 1825
- First Inaugural Address of President Andrew Jackson 1829
- Second Inaugural Address of President Andrew Jackson 1833
- Inaugural Address of President Martin Van Buren 1837
- Inaugural Address of President William Henry Harrison 1841
- Inaugural Address of President James K. Polk 1845
- Inaugural Address of President Zachary Taylor 1849
- Inaugural Address of President Franklin Pierce 1853
- Inaugural Address of President James Buchanan 1857
- First Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln March 4, 1861
- Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln 1865
- First Inaugural Address of President Ulysses S. Grant 1869
- Second Inaugural Address of President Ulysses S. Grant 1873
- Inaugural Address of President Rutherford B. Hayes 1877
- Inaugural Address of President James Garfield 1881
- First Inaugural Address of President Grover Cleveland 1885
- Inaugural Address of President Benjamin Harrison 1889
- Second Inaugural Address of President Grover Cleveland 1893
- First Inaugural Address of President William McKinley 1897
- Second Inaugural Address of President William McKinley 1901
- Inaugural Address of President Theodore Roosevelt 1905
- Inaugural Address of President William H. Taft 1909
- First Inaugural Address of President Woodrow Wilson 1913
- Second Inaugural Address of President Woodrow Wilson 1917
- Inaugural Address of President Warren G. Harding 1921
- Inaugural Address of President Calvin Coolidge 1925
- Inaugural Address of President Herbert Hoover 1929
- First Inaugural Address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933
- Second Inaugural Address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1937
- Third Inaugural Address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1941
- Fourth Inaugural Address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1945
- Inaugural Address of President Harry S. Truman 1949
- First Inaugural Address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953
- Second Inaugural Address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957
- Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy 1961
- Inaugural Address of President Lyndon B. Johnson 1965
- First Inaugural Address of President Richard M. Nixon 1969
- Second Inaugural Address of President Richard M. Nixon 1973
- Inaugural Address of President Jimmy Carter 1977
- First Inaugural Address of President Ronald Reagan 1981
- Second Inaugural Address of President Ronald Reagan 1985
- Inaugural Address of President George H. Bush 1989
- First Inaugural Address of President William J. Clinton 1993
- President Clinton's 1996 State of the Union Address
- Second Inaugural Address of President William J. Clinton 1997
- President Clinton's 1997 and 1998 State of the Union Addresses
Source:
This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook.
© Paul Halsall, July 1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu