# The change in POTUS innaguration day **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706 "2012-05-31T21:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/1 "2012-05-31T21:33:54Z")
I know it was changed due to Hoover’s inept response to the Depression. Was there a call to change in the wake of Buchanan’s handling of the secession crisis? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/2 "2012-05-31T21:38:18Z")
Please elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/3 "2012-05-31T21:56:13Z")
Your initial assumption is incorrect. Congress approved the [20th Amendment on March 2, 1932](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)and sent it to the states for ratification. That was before Roosevelt was even nominated, and seven months before his election. There were also several other changes, such as the moving of the date of the required annual Congressional session and changes in the Presidential electoral process and succession (which it still didn’t entirely fix.) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/4 "2012-05-31T22:08:26Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Your initial assumption is incorrect. Congress approved the [20th Amendment on March 2, 1932](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)and sent it to the states for ratification. That was before Roosevelt was even nominated, and seven months before his election. There were also several other changes, such as the moving of the date of the required annual Congressional session and changes in the Presidential electoral process and succession (which it still didn’t entirely fix.) But it was still 3 years after the market crashed, and Hoover had 3 YEARS to do something, and he didn’t do nearly enough. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/5 "2012-05-31T22:52:12Z")
Hoover (who did do too little, but also has had bad press; he did make some efforts at relief) remained in office until March 1933; the 20th Amendment was ratified during FDR’s first term, and had the effect of shortening it, not Hoover’'s. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/6 "2012-06-01T00:41:18Z")
But, it would seem to reason that the Depression, and Hoover’s (lack of) response it what got the ball rolling on the amendment in the 1st place. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/7 "2012-06-01T00:41:28Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > But it was still 3 years after the market crashed, and Hoover had 3 YEARS to do something, and he didn’t do nearly enough. Are you saying that Congress passed the 20th Amendment to punish Hoover by shortening his term in office by six weeks? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/8 "2012-06-01T01:02:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Are you saying that Congress passed the 20th Amendment to punish Hoover by shortening his term in office by six weeks? No, they did it to get rid of ineffective leaders quicker. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/9 "2012-06-01T01:08:37Z")
March 4th to January 20th? That was to reduce the “lame duck” period for the new president. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/10 "2012-06-01T01:24:48Z")
If it was a reflection of the Depression at all, it was due to the realization that an extra three months of a lame duck Congress and President could make response to a crisis more difficult. Further, the Republicans has a majority in both houses of Congress under Hoover. Why would they punish their own president? Further, the amendment was passed on March 2, 1932 and would have had to have been ratified by October 15th for it to affect Hoover. That’s a very short time frame for a housekeeping amendment at a time when the country was fighting a crisis. Indeed, the amendment had only 17 states ratifying it before then; it was ratified quickly in January – when it wouldn’t have affected Hoover as states voted for it after the Roosevelt victory. By that time, it would have penalized Roosevelt, not Hoover. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/11 "2012-06-01T04:34:46Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I know it was changed due to Hoover’s inept response to the Depression. Believe it or not, the Twentieth Amendment was more a reaction to Warren Harding than to Herbert Hoover. And, it was designed more to eliminate the lame-duck session of Congress than to shorten the presidential transition. The pre-1935 Constitution and federal law combined for a triple-whammy of bad scheduling: (a) elections in November; (b) inauguration in March; and (c) annual sessions of Congress beginning in December. This meant that in even-numbered years, Congress would convene in December, _after the election_ (at which many members were inevitably defeated), for a rushed “short session” which would end in March. Then the newly elected members would cool their heels until the following December. This was stupid. Everybody knew it was stupid. But nobody wanted to change it, or could agree on how to change it. To answer this part of your question . . . > [@etv78](#): > > Was there a call to change in the wake of Buchanan’s handling of the secession crisis? No. Nobody felt that Lincoln would have done better if only he had been allowed to take office sooner. No proposal to change Inauguration Day was debated during or immediately after the Civil War. Proposals were debated, but shot down, during the 1880’s. Finally, in 1922, Republicans in Congress introduced, and President Harding supported, a controversial bill to privatize surplus naval vessels. Republicans lost the House in the election of 1922, but the 1922-23 lame duck House passed the measure anyway. (The measure was filibustered to death in the Senate–this was another problem with short sessions.) Liberal Republican George Norris, who had opposed the bill, then began championing the proposed Twentieth Amendment in every session of Congress. Because of its origins, however, the Republican House leadership opposed it. As a result it did not pass until Democrats gained control of the House after the election of 1930. (Republicans still controlled the Senate, but Republican Senators supported the Amendment.) Dissatisfaction with Hoover’s handling of the Depression played a part in the Republican loss of the House in 1930, so yes, there is a connection between Hoover and the passage of the Twentieth Amendment. But, it is an indirect one; the Amendment was not devised specifically because of dissatisfaction with Hoover. Further dissatisfaction with Hoover, and ongoing problems with the very difficult 1932-33 transition, may have speeded ratification of the Amendment. But, it almost certainly would have been ratified even if Hoover had been reelected. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/12 "2012-06-01T06:09:35Z")
Very interesting history **Freddy**! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/13 "2012-06-01T07:19:21Z")
An additional factor that no one seems to have mentioned is that the 4 March date was originally decided upon to give everyone plenty of time to travel to Washington after the November election. By the early 20th century, advances in transportation had eliminated that concern. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/14 "2012-06-01T13:40:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > An additional factor that no one seems to have mentioned is that the 4 March date was originally decided upon to give everyone plenty of time to travel to Washington after the November election. By the early 20th century, advances in transportation had eliminated that concern. And it would still have been a factor in Buchanan’s time. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/15 "2012-06-02T12:53:22Z")
I think it was transportation problems that forced the long delay between elections, the electoral college, and the inauguration. Nowadays, you could have the elections on a Tuesday, the electoral college two days later (they don’t need to meet–or even exist) and inauguration on Sunday. And the new congress meet the next day. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/16 "2012-06-02T17:42:07Z")
I don’t think they can shorten the time that much. It usually takes states 2 or 3 weeks to certify elections. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/17 "2012-06-02T18:50:41Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > No, they did it to get rid of ineffective leaders quicker. But it only affected that one president. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/18 "2012-06-02T19:50:48Z")
FDR was an ineffective President? As **Polycarp** noted upthread, Hoover’s term was not affected. He took office on March 4 1929 and left office on March 4 1933. It was FDR’s first term which was shortened. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-change-in-potus-innaguration-day/623706/19 "2012-06-02T20:02:06Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > FDR was an ineffective President? > > As **Polycarp** noted upthread, Hoover’s term was not affected. He took office on March 4 1929 and left office on March 4 1933. It was FDR’s first term which was shortened. If that was in response to my post, what I was saying was that the post I quoted suggested that the change would somehow have an ongoing effect on “ineffective leaders,” when, in actuality, it only ever would have affected the president who was in office immediately prior to the change. After that, the term from one inauguration to the next wouldn’t be getting any shorter, effectiveness notwithstanding.