Not every President has been sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States. George Washington obviously wasn’t, since Washington had not yet appointed the first Chief Justice. George Washington was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789. The oath was administered by Robert L. Livingston, Chancellor of New York State. The Chancellor was the head of the New York Court system, making him the highest judge in the new country. On March 4, 1793, George Washington was inaugurated for the second time. William Cushing, who was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, administered the oath.
President William Henry Harrison died after only one month in office. On April 6, 1841, John Tyler was inaugurated. William Cranch, Chief Justice of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, administered the oath. On July 10, 1850, Cranch again had the honor of swearing in a President when he administered the oath of office to Millard Fillmore following the death of Zachary Taylor.
Chester Alan Arthur was inaugurated on September 20, 1881, following the death of President James Garfield. The oath was administered in New York City by John Brady, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court. Two days later, to make sure it was legal, Arthur was again sworn in by Chief Justice of the United States Morrison Remick Waite in Washington, D.C.
When Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated following the death of President McKinley, John R. Hazel, a federal District Court Judge, administered the oath.
Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his father, a local justice of the peace and notary public, in the middle of the night at his farm in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. Coolidge was sworn in for a second time on August 21, 1923, in the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. The oath that second time was administered by Adolph August Hoehling of the District of Columbia Supreme Court.
Lyndon Johnson was the only President, so far, to be sworn in by a woman. Before Air Force One took off for the flight back to Washington, Federal District Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath of office to him.
Different Dates
The last deviation from tradition and custom we will examine is the different dates the oath was taken. Obviously, Vice Presidents assuming the Presidency on the death of the elected President were inaugurated on different dates. But there have been times when the elected President has refused to take the oath on the constitutionally designated date. That was because the specified date fell on a Sunday.
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