Barack Obama is to deliver his first national address as the U.S. president on Tuesday, right after he is sworn into office at the Capitol Hill.
As one of the oldest political traditions, all previous U.S. presidents had given inaugural addresses after swearing-in except four -- John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthure, since they were succeeding a president who had died in office, and were not elected as president in the next election.
Gerald Ford, as another exception, delivered an address via broadcast after taking the oath, which he said was "not an inaugural address, but a fireside chat."
Among the 54 inaugural addresses that had been given by 37 presidents so far, the shortest one was delivered when George Washington took his second term, with only 135 words, and the longest was from William Henry Harrison at 8,495 words.
However, if the inaugural date falls on Sunday, the address is to be delivered on next Monday. The next inauguration day that will fall on a Sunday is Jan. 20, 2013.
The "Four-Point Speech" delivered by President Harry S. Truman in 1949 was among the most famous inaugural addresses so far, which called on Americans to support the United Nations and continue programs for world economic recovery and scientific advances.
Kennedy's speech that lasted 13 minutes and 59 seconds was considered as one of the best presidential inauguration addresses in American history, with rememberable sentences like "let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate."
Inspired by his presidential predecessors in composing the key speech, Obama has said that he would in a brief address reach out to the world and call on Americans to replace the "anything goes" culture of recent years with a new "era of responsibility."
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)
