>> franklin pierce. the >> frank lynn pierce. why?inning and end of what i know about franklin pierce. but because -- the reason it was put in is that quakers, who were significant for us in american politics around the turn of the 18th century, don't like to swear, that that's considered inappropriate. but i don't know if franklin pierce was a quaker. >> every president i have known swears. >> that's right. they certainly do >> not in this particular case. >> candy, off special state of the union at the top of the hour? >> including david plouffe, senior white house adviser around john barrasso exleadership on the republican side you senator, what the art of the doable is here in terms of -- president obama is a very ambitious agenda and they admit at the white house they are not going to get all of this you look at energy and climate change and immigration, which they may just get, they think that's their big thing, and gun control so we wanted to see what's the art of the doable here? >> we will be watching, the top of the hour, sp

>> franklin pierce also on a book of law. lost his last child only a couple of months before the inauguration. his wife was in bereavement and he affirmed the oath rather than swore to it which the constitution -- the next was theodore roosevelt. a long time and that's because he took office after the death of the president and he was in a hotel in buffalo and apparently, they didn't have gideons' bibles around. he was the next one. and so, you look at those, three the last is lbj, who, of course, after another assassination, they had a catholic missile that he took the oath on. scattered throughout american history. >> have presidents invoked religion in their addresses, always? >> every president has invoked god or a deity in general, but not very specifically. none has actually mentioned jesus christ, four have invoked christianity. also uneven. >> has religion become more or less important over time in inaugural addresses? >> looking into the subject, i'm surprise s surprised to see the turning point came with fdr. first

there were a lot of clunkers in that time, too, the franklin pierces and filmores.think of woodrow wilson's legacy, teddy roosevelt gave the office a lot of domestic definition and wilson foreign policy definition. could you talk about those two presidents and how they defined what we now think of as the job of the president. >> lincoln was a strong president who exerted executive power. what you have is the assumption was that congress would govern and every once in a while you'd have a strong president. andrew jackson or abraham lincoln. in the 20th century, teddy roosevelt changes that. at one point roosevelt is pushing through some piece of legislation and people were telling him he can't do it, and he gets out a copy of the constitution and he holds up article ii and he says show me here why i can't do this. i think that become the assumption of presidents in the 20th century. if quur you're not specifically prevented from doing it, you can do it. wilson builds on the power of the president, the precedent that teddy roosevelt established. it's franklin roosevel

the answer, one. 1853, franklin pierce said i do solemnly affirm that i will -- let me get this rightnly affirm that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. some people say herbert hoover also affirmed rather than swore his oath, but the "washington post," a good newspaper, reports that the herbert hoover presidential library association in iowa says hoover simply said i do after the oath was read to him. these things matter. if you have a political trivia question for us, e-mail us. [ male announcer ] what!!?? a typical family pays $155,000 in "wall street" fees on their 401(k)s? go to e-trade. and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees, and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you. >>> let's bring back our gaggle for the lightning round. nia, kristen and stephanie. stephanie, joe biden goes to the iowa state ball, has new hampshire representatives and is being very joe biden during the parade yesterday, shaking hands, doing his joe biden thing. one or two words.

host: it was in 1853, franklin pierce's the inaugural. he recited his address from memory, 3329 words. of course, the longest inaugural address in history was william henry harrison in 1841. 8445 words. it was cold and rainy day. mr. harrison died a month after -- after delivering that inaugural address outside. george washington's second inaugural address was 135 words, the shortest in history. adam is in minneapolis. you are on c-span watcher in the inaugural coverage. caller: thank you for having me. i am in the green party in the fifth district in minneapolis. being in a minor party and missing the corporate influence and how much money is put in presidential elections, i feel i am not represented as per cent by republicans or democrats, who they pick. -- as a person by republicans or democrats, who they pick. it is sad where our country has come. even in a minor party, it is a mess. we are so fragile. i do not see any hope for our future. i am homeless at the moment. this is the richest nation in the world, and i also have a form of

contrast him with franklin pierce in 1853. he sounds like a bag of chips.decided not to kiss the bible. he canceled all the inaugural balls. who would he party with. >> bret: the guy who partied, he lived, he did live. >> megyn: there is that (laughter) . and striking a happy medium. president obama's remarks 18 minutes. >> bret: the white house said 20 minutes or less and i was thinking, 20 minutes, the going bet to be, take the over on the president. >> megyn: don't mention bets to me. >> bret: oh, yes. >> megyn: i'm still-- >> and joined by chris wallace and brit hume, go ahead, megyn. >> megyn: well, yesterday chris and i had a friendly bet. it wasn't that friendly, there was money involved, a quarter, whether chief justice roberts would use notes this time around because he botched it last time and i said be, oh, he's not going to use notes. he's got a great memory and jaded by what happened last time. he said he'll use notes. >> megyn: i said no, i lost. i owe you a quarter and double or nothing on the ceremonial swearing in today. i owe you 50 cents.