Five US presidents missed inauguration of successors

LAHORE: If the outgoing American President Donald Trump sticks to his earlier stance of not attending the inauguration ceremony of his successor Joe Biden, he would be the sixth US head of state to do so during the last 231 years or since April 30, 1789, the date that marks the swearing-in of country’s first-ever head of state, General George Washington at the Federal Hall of New York, which happened to serve as the nation’s capital at that time.

According to the National Public Radio (NPR), a privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization in Washington, while most outgoing US Presidents have appeared on the inaugural platform with their successor, five did not.

These five US Presidents who opted out of these moments of glory include the likes of John Adams (left Washington rather than attend the 1801 inauguration of his worst political foe, Thomas Jefferson), his father John Quincy Adams (had also left town, unwilling to be present for the 1829 inauguration of his successor Andrew Jackson), Martin Van Buren (was not present for the 1841 inauguration of William Henry Harrison for personal reasons), Andrew Johnson (was busy conducting a final cabinet meeting rather than attend the 1869 inauguration of Ulysses Grant) and Woodrow Wilson (had decided to remain inside the Capitol Building during the 1921 inauguration of Warren Harding due to frail health).