View source for Inauguration of Benjamin Harrison

{{short description|26th United States presidential inauguration}}
{{Infobox historical event
  |Event_Name     = Presidential inauguration of Benjamin Harrison
  |Image_Name     = Harrison-inauguration.jpg
  |Image_Caption  = Harrison takes the oath of office
| participants  = [[Benjamin Harrison]]<br />23rd president of the United States<br />''— Assuming office''<br /><hr>[[Melville Fuller]]<br />[[Chief Justice of the United States]]<br />''— Administering oath''<br /><hr>[[Levi P. Morton]]<br />22nd vice president of the United States<br />''— Assuming office''<br /><hr>[[John James Ingalls]]<br />[[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]<br />''— Administering oath''
 | Location      = [[United States Capitol]],<br/>[[Washington, D.C.]]
  |Date           = {{Start date and age|1889|03|04}}
  |URL            = 
  | notes        = {{Succession links|left=[[First inauguration of Grover Cleveland|1885]]|right=[[Second inauguration of Grover Cleveland|1893]]}}
}}{{Benjamin Harrison series}}
The '''inauguration of Benjamin Harrison''' as the 23rd [[president of the United States]] took place on Monday, March 4, 1889, at the East Portico of the [[United States Capitol]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] This was the 26th [[United States presidential inauguration|inauguration]] and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of [[Benjamin Harrison]] as president and [[Levi P. Morton]] as [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]]. [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Melville Fuller]] administered the [[Oath of office of the president of the United States|presidential oath of office]] as rain poured down.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/26th-inaugural-ceremonies/|title=The 26th Presidential Inauguration: Benjamin Harrison, March 04, 1889|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=May 3, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120233353/https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/26th-inaugural-ceremonies/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Harrison was {{height|ft=5|in=6}} tall, he was only slightly taller than [[James Madison]], the shortest president, but much heavier; he was the fourth (and last) president to sport a full beard.{{sfn|Socolofsky & Spetter|p=1}} Harrison's inauguration ceremony took place during a [[rainstorm]] in Washington D.C. Outgoing president [[Grover Cleveland]] attended the ceremony and held an umbrella over Harrison's head as he took the oath of office.

His speech was brief – half as long as that of his grandfather, [[William Henry Harrison]], whose speech holds the record for the longest inaugural address of a U.S. president.{{sfn|Socolofsky & Spetter|pp=1–2}} In his speech, Benjamin Harrison credited the nation's growth to the influences of education and religion, urged the cotton states and mining territories to attain the industrial proportions of the [[Eastern United States]] and promised a protective tariff. Concerning commerce, he said, "If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obligations and duties, they would have less call to complain of the limitations of their rights or of interference with their operations."{{sfn|Socolofsky & Spetter|p=3}} Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and advocated pensions for veterans, a statement that was met with enthusiastic applause. In foreign affairs, Harrison reaffirmed the [[Monroe Doctrine]] as a mainstay of foreign policy, while urging modernization of the Navy and a merchant marine force. He gave his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign governments.

[[John Philip Sousa]]'s [[Marine Band]] played at the Inaugural Ball inside the [[National Building Museum|Pension Building]] with a large crowd attending.{{sfn|Socolofsky & Spetter|pp=5–6}} After moving into the White House, Harrison noted, quite prophetically, "There is only a door – one that is never locked – between the president's office and what are not very accurately called his private apartments. There should be an executive office building, not too far away, but wholly distinct from the dwelling house. For everyone else in the public service there is an unroofed space between the bedroom and the desk."{{sfn|Socolofsky & Spetter|p=83}}
==See also==
*[[Presidency of Benjamin Harrison]]
*[[1888 United States presidential election]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last1=Socolofsky|first1=Homer E.|last2=Spetter|first2=Allan B.|year=1987|title=The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0-7006-0320-6|ref={{sfnRef|Socolofsky & Spetter}}}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|Benjamin Harrison's Inaugural Address}}
* [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/harris.asp Text of Benjamin Harrison's Inaugural Address]

{{Benjamin Harrison}}
{{US inaugurations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Benjamin}}
[[Category:United States presidential inaugurations]]
[[Category:1889 in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1889 in American politics]]
[[Category:Presidency of Benjamin Harrison|Inauguration]]
[[Category:March 1889]]
[[Category:Levi P. Morton]]