The inauguration of a new U.S. President is a day of pomp and ceremony, of solemn oaths and dignified celebrations. But things don’t always go as planned. From drunken speeches to frozen canaries and rampaging roosters at inaugural balls, the day has a fine history of mishaps, mayhem, and mangled oaths.
1. At Andrew Jackson’s inauguration, the celebratory crowd got a bit too rowdy.
In 1829, around 10,000 people came to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the first inauguration of Andrew Jackson. The atmosphere was electric, but things got out of hand when the crowd headed to the White House for the post-inaugural reception. Much to the horror of the finely dressed ladies and gentlemen of the Washington elite, the common folk clambered into the White House, many of them through the windows. They upturned furniture, broke the china, and spilled or consumed the spiked punch. Jackson’s political rivals may well have exaggerated the extent of the destruction, but the White House was ov