While the 59th Presidential Inauguration will look significantly different from previous years, President-elect Joe Biden will still take part in several traditions and events that typically surround Inauguration Day.
Wednesday includes Biden’s official swearing-in, his inaugural address, a trip to Arlington Cemetery and his formal escort to the White House, though all of it will happen without the usual audience of thousands that gathers in Washington, D.C. every inauguration year.
Biden will take the oath of office outside a Capitol building and in a Washington that both look very different from just a few weeks ago. There are now more than 21,000 National Guardsmen stationed in D.C., many in and around the Capitol’s grounds, which are surrounded by a black fence partly fortified by barbed wire.
The nearby streets are largely empty and blocked from traffic, clearing the way for President-elect Biden’s escort from Blair House to the U.S. Capitol Wednesday morning. The official inaugural events will commence in a downtown D.C. on edge, as demonstrated by a Capitol lockdown Monday amid inauguration rehearsal due to a small fire nearby.
Once escorted from Blair House, where the President-elect traditionally spends the night before his inauguration, Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will prepare to leave the inside of the Capitol through a red curtain-adorned exit on the building’s West side.
They’ll each be announced as they join the capitol platform, which faces the iconic National Mall and Washington Monument. This year, however, a stage usually crowded with lawmakers and guests will be more sparsely occupied. Members of Congress are allowed one guest this year, and several have said they won’t bring one due to safety concerns.
President-elect Biden will be sworn in around noon ET by Chief Justice John Roberts, and he will take the oath of office on a bible that’s been in his family since 1893. Vice President-elect Harris, who will be the first Black American, person of South Asian descent, and female to hold the office, will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first woman of color to sit on the Supreme Court.
Biden will then address the country as President for the first time in a speech “laying out his vision to defeat the pandemic, build back better, and unify and heal the nation.”
All of Wednesday’s events will be streamed live on the inaugural committee’s website and carried by major TV news networks. There are also several virtual events to celebrate Biden and Harris’ inauguration.
Instead of the usual crowd, the inaugural committee has placed nearly 200,000 flags across the National Mall to represent the Americans who can’t travel to D.C. for Wednesday’s ceremony.
On Monday, the inaugural committee announced that country music singer Garth Brooks would join the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, which already includes the National Anthem sung by Lady Gaga and a performance from Jennifer Lopez.
On a call with reporters Monday, Brooks addressed what it means for him to perform after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, something he’s done for both Democratic and Republican presidents before.
"I might be the only Republican at this place, but it's reaching across, loving one another,” Brooks said. "As long as you have people like the Bidens who are hell bent on making things good, no matter what it costs … that makes me feel good. I want to spend the next ten years of my life not divided."
Reverend Dr. Silvester Beaman, Pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, will close the ceremony with a blessing. Rev. Beaman is a longtime friend of President-elect Biden and his late son Beau.
After Biden and Harris are sworn in, they will move to the East side of the Capitol for a Pass in Review, a survey of troops’ readiness in which all divisions of the military are represented. It’s a tradition that symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power to a new Commander-in-Chief.
Then, they’ll be escorted across the bridge to Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, where they will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Biden and Harris will be joined by the First Lady, Second Gentleman, President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton.
Finally, President-elect Biden and the First Lady will receive a Presidential Escort to White House, their home for the next four years. Every branch of the military will be represented in the escort.
A virtual inauguration “Parade Across America” will kick off in the afternoon after the other events, and an evening special hosted by Tom Hanks, called “Celebrating America,” will be streamed and carried by major networks at 8:30 p.m. E.T.