Fun Facts: Inauguration Edition

President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in at noon today and President Bush will bow out to Texas. To honor the peaceful transition between the 43rd and 44th presidents we give you a special edition of fun facts for the inauguration.

• 1.5 million to 3 million people are expected to attend today’s festivities. If those numbers are reached it will set a new inaugural record. The record is held by Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 inaugural, which was attended by 1.2 million people.
• The population of Washington is just 600,000 people.
• 58 agencies, including the Secret Service, will have a role in the event.
• 11,500 military personnel will be on hand. There will also be 8,000 police from DC and other departments across the country and 1,000 U.S. Park Police officers will be on duty.
• D.C.’s security cost estimate stands at $28 million, 60 percent more than the entire bill for the last inaugural.
• Congress has appropriated $15 million to cover expenses for the D.C. government. 

Bonus Fun Fact: John Quincy Adams was the first president to be sworn in on a book other than a Bible. He was sworn in on a book of U.S. laws instead.

Bonus Fun Fact 2: Franklin Pierce was the first president, and perhaps only president, to choose to affirm his oath of office, rather than to swear it. Herbert Hoover was also said to have affirmed his oath, but that is in dispute.

Source: Jan. 12 issue of Federal Times and Wikipedia.