For all you inauguration buffs, who holds the record for administering the presidential oath of office? The Architect of the Capitol and the Office of the Curator have combed records and files to produce a list beginning with President George Washington on April 30, 1789, and ending with President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, who will be sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. (Roberts will again swear in Obama on January 20 and 21.)
The record holder is Chief Justice John Marshall, who gave the oath nine times to five presidents: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath seven times to seven presidents: Martin Van Buren, William H. Harrison, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. Chief justices Melville Fuller and Warren Burger each did it six times.
