at noon, chief justice warren burger administered the oath of office. president ford then delivered remarks before gather family, dignitaries, and the press. it was the shortest presidential inaugural speech since abraham lincoln's second inaugural in 1865. >> ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the united states and mrs. ford. [applause] >> mr. vice president, are you prepared to take the oath of office as president of the united states? raise your right hand and repeat after me. i gerald r. ford do solemnly swear, that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states. so help me god. congratulations, mr. president. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] pres. ford: mr. chief justice, my dear friends, my fellow americans, the oath that i have taken is the same oath that was taken by george washington and by every president under the constitution. but i assume the presidency un

at noon, chief justice warren burger admitted the oath of office.resident ford then delivered remarks before gathered family, political dignitaries, and the press. it

coverage from january 1977 begins with the swearingen by chief justice warren burger. [applause] >> governor carter, are you prepared to take the constitutional oath? >> i am. >> would you place your left hand when of the bible and raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> i, jimmy carter, do solemnly swear. that i will faithfully execute. the office of the president of the united states. and will to the best of my ability. preserve, protect, and defend. the constitution of the united states. so help me god. >> congratulations. [applause] ♪ ♪ ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> for myself and for our nation, i want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land. in this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our nation. as my high school teacher, miss julia coleman, used to say: "we must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles. here before me is the bible used in the inauguration of our first president, in 1789, and i have just taken the oath of office

inauguration day occurred on a saturday that year and chief justice warren burger administed the oath ofice. president nixon's second inauguration came months after the death of harry truman on december 26, 1972. two days after the inauguration on january 22, president nixon's predecessor in the white house, president lyndon johnson, died of a heart attack. pres. nixon: mr. vice president, mr. speaker, mr. chief justice, senator cook, mrs. eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good country we share together: when we met here 4 years ago, america was bleak in spirit, depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive conflict at home. as we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace in the world. [applause] the central question before us is: how shall we use that peace? let us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be what other postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat and isolation that leads to stagnation at home and invites new danger abroad. let us resolve that this will be what it can become:

inauguration day occurred on a saturday that year and chief justice warren burger administed the oath. president nixon's second inauguration came months after the death of

coverage begins with the swearing in by chief justice warren burger. [applause] >> governor, are you prepared to take the constitutional oath? >> i am. >> repeat after me. i, ronald reagan, do solemnly swear. >> hi, ronald reagan, do solemnly swear. >> that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. >> that i will faithfully execute the office of the president of the night stays. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> [applause] ♪ >> the president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. senator hatfield, mr. chief justice, mr. president, vice president bush, vice president mondale, senator baker, speaker o'neill, reverend, and my fellow citizens. to a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion. and yet, in the history of our nation, it's a commonplace occur

the warren and burger courts did that far more than the roberts court. if we want to focus on federal law, the rehnquist court was the most active in that regard in the post-world war two period. so in terms of the voters through, their elected representatives, from being able to govern themselves by enacting laws, the roberts court gets in the way of that less than did its predecessors. now, the one area where it's been more active where it has done more to put up roadblocks is actually an area i would hope most of us in this in this room think it is particularly need it and maybe isn't doing enough but is doing more than it used to. and that standing up to the executive branch in terms of saying no to aggregations of power by the executive branch the assertion of authority administrative agencies that was not delegated them by congress. the roberts court does do that more than its predecessors, and i would argue that's a good thing, because under our system of government, administrative agencies have no authority other than that which has been given to