1. George Washington had to borrow money to go to his own inauguration.

2. Perhaps the greatest myth of U.S. inauguration history is that William Henry Harrison's long speech in chilly weather caused his death in 1841. True, Harrison didn't wear a hat or overcoat while speaking for an hour and 40 minutes. But the 68-year-old Harrison conducted extensive presidential business for weeks after his address. It's unclear when Harrison caught the cold that led to his pneumonia, but he didn't summon a doctor until 23 days after the inauguration. He died about a week later. The "fatal speech" idea seems predicated on the common but false notion that cold weather causes a cold.

3. The outgoing president often gets little attention, but rarely has it been as obvious as in 1857, when James Buchanan succeeded Franklin Pierce. The swearing-in ceremony had to be delayed for 20 minutes because officials forgot to pick up Pierce at his hotel and had to go fetch him.

4. Ulysses Grant was inaugurated for his second term on a day in 1873 when the noon temperature was 16 degrees. A temporary wooden structure was built for the inaugural ball, and the weather turned it into an icebox. The food froze while guests danced in their coats. The musicians' violin strings snapped because of the chill, and 100 canaries, brought in to provide pleasant sounds, froze to death in their cages.

5. Pierce and Herbert Hoover both "affirmed" rather than swore the oath of office because of religious convictions.

6. Because of gas rationing during World War II, there was no parade for Franklin Roosevelt's fourth inauguration in 1945.

7. Dwight Eisenhower's 1953 parade was covered by a 24-year-old reporter who worked for the Washington Times-Herald as the "Inquiring Camera Girl." Her name was Jacqueline Bouvier, soon to become Jackie Kennedy.

8. One of America's greatest poets, Robert Frost, had a miserable time when called upon to recite verse for John Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. The 86-year-old poet was blinded by the bright sunlight and unable to read the new poem he had written. Instead, the flustered Frost switched to an old poem he had memorized, dedicating it to "the president-elect, Mr. John Finley." (Finley was a classics scholar at Harvard.)

9. Lyndon Johnson was the only president to take the oath of office from a woman, Federal District Judge Sarah Hughes. He also was the only president to be sworn in on an airplane, taking office after Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

10. Before Richard Nixon's 1973 inaugural parade, officials applied a chemical bird repellent to tree branches along the route. The product, called Roost No More, was supposed to keep pigeons off the trees by making their feet itch. Instead, the birds ate the repellent and keeled over, leaving Pennsylvania Avenue decorated with sick and dead pigeons.

Sources: Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies; inaugural.senate.gov; www.nara.gov; History News Network; Washington Post; "Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America" by Thurston Clarke; "Democracy's Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President, 1789-2009" by Jim Bendat; "Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time" by Freeman Cleaves; "President James Buchanan" by Philip Shriver Klein; "Presidential Inaugurations" by Paul F. Boller Jr.; Tribune news services. mjacob@tribune.com, djahntz@tribune.com