first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson

{{short description|32nd United States presidential inauguration}}

{{Infobox historical event

|Event_Name = First presidential inauguration of Woodrow Wilson

|Image_Name = WilsonFirstInauguration.jpg

|Image_Caption =

| organizers = Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

| participants = Woodrow Wilson
28th president of the United States
— Assuming office

---

Edward Douglass White
Chief Justice of the United States
— Administering oath

---

Thomas R. Marshall
28th vice president of the United States
— Assuming office

---

Jacob Harold Gallinger
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
— Administering oath

| Location = United States Capitol,
Washington, D.C.

|Date = {{Start date and age|1913|03|04}}

| notes = {{Succession links|left=1909|right=1917}}

}}

The first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as the 28th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, March 4, 1913, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 32nd inauguration and marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Woodrow Wilson as president and Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. Chief Justice Edward D. White administered the presidential oath of office to Wilson.

In his inaugural address, Wilson made clear his vision of the United States and its people as an exemplary moral force: "Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope".{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/woodrow-wilsons-first-inaugural-address |title=Woodrow Wilson's first inaugural address — History.com This Day in History — 3/4/1913 |website=www.history.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308031008/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/woodrow-wilsons-first-inaugural-address |archive-date=2010-03-08}} No inaugural balls were held to celebrate, as Wilson found them inappropriate for the occasion.{{cite web|url=https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/32nd-inaugural-ceremonies/|title=The 32nd Presidential Inauguration: Woodrow Wilson, March 04, 1913|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=January 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111235901/https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/32nd-inaugural-ceremonies/|url-status=dead}}

The day before his inauguration, Wilson expected crowds to meet him at the train station when he arrived in Washington.{{Cite web|last=Blakemore|first=Erin|title=This Huge Women's March Drowned Out a Presidential Inauguration in 1913|url=https://www.history.com/news/this-huge-womens-march-drowned-out-a-presidential-inauguration-in-1913|access-date=2021-08-02|website=HISTORY|language=en}} However, more people were watching the Woman Suffrage Procession organized by Alice Paul.

The event was filmed in Kinemacolor by the Kinemacolor Company of America.{{Cite web |title=Inauguration of President Wilson |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2269216/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=IMDb}}