Inauguration day 2025 marks a hundred years of the broadcast of presidential inaugurations. In 1925, the inauguration still took place on March 4 (the change to January 20 came in 1947), but on that day, an estimated 22 million Americans tuned in to hear Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge be sworn in and address the nation.
Among the listeners were millions of schoolchildren, whose classrooms had recently been equipped with radio receivers.
The broadcast also marked the first time that an address by the President was broadcast in a foreign country. WBZ Boston carried the broadcast with a telephone connection to Washington. Its signal was in turn picked up by CKAC in Montreal, which broadcast the entire proceeding. The fact is noted in this clipping from the Washington Evening Star, March 5, 1925.
Of course, loyal readers will remember that Charles Dawes, the first Native American to hold the office of Vice President, and the first Vice President to write a Top 40 song, was also sworn in that day.