Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is due to take office as the 46th President of the United States at noon on Wednesday, amid unprecedented health and safety measures that have made online viewing a must.
The 20th Amendment orders: “The terms of the President and Vice-President will end at noon on January 20 … and the terms of their successors will then begin.” It’s east time.
Coverage for Biden’s oaths and vice president-elect Kamala Harris and Biden’s inaugural speech starts at 10:30 am, and the transition is defined by the United States Constitution, according to the official schedule of the Inaugural Presidential Committee.
This will be an extraordinary inauguration that will take place during multiple crises, most notably in violently divided America that has led to unprecedented security measures involving 25,000 National Guard soldiers and thousands of police; and the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the replacement of hundreds of thousands of participants by a sea of flags.
As with so many things in the past year, especially for Democrats, everything is being reinvented for small in-person participants and large online crowds. Many means of transmission and streaming broadcast live events. O committee website will transmit everything.
After Biden’s inauguration speech, he, the first lady Jill Biden, Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will look at the traditional Pass in Review parade of the US armed forces.
Biden, Harris and Emhoff will then go to Arlington National Cemetery for the traditional placement of a wreath. They will be accompanied by the former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Former President Bill Clinton, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
At 3 pm, the Bidens will receive a presidential escort to the White House, escorted by the US Army Band, a Joint Service Honor Guard and Commander-in-Chief of the Guard and Fife and Drums of the 3rd US Infantry “The Old One” Guard . “
The presidential escort to the White House will be followed by a virtual performance, “Parade Across America”, scheduled to start at 3:15 pm. The Parade Across America is announced as featuring “diverse and dynamic performances in communities across all 56 states and territories. The University of Delaware drums and Howard University drums, by Biden and Harris’ alma mater, will join the presidential escort.
The events have been running all week so far.
On Tuesday night, there will be three mostly virtual balls celebrating diversity in America, the Ball in possession of the Asian American Pacific islands from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Tuesday; the We Are One ball celebrating the black community of America from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm on Tuesday, and the Latin inauguration ball 2021: Heritage, resilience and promise, from 9:30 am to 10:30 am on Tuesday. All three will be broadcast live via the committee website.
The Florida A&M University Marching 100 will be presented during We Are One. The ball will feature a battle of bands, between FAMU, Grambling State University’s world-famous Martial Band, Jackson State University’s Sonic Boom of the South, Louisiana Leadership Institute All-star Marching Band, South Carolina State University Marching 101, Southern University Human Jukebox Marching Band and the Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands.
Wednesday, around the previous hour, during and after the oaths and inaugural speech, the committee will broadcast live separate cover for young Americans hosted by Keke Palmer, in a program called “An Inaugural Celebration for Young Americans”, from 10 am to 12:30 pm
On Wednesday night, there will be a virtual celebration broadcast on national television, “Celebrating America”, hosted by Tom Hanks, from 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm, and aired by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC and PBS.
The show will feature presentations by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon Bon Jovi, Ant Clemons, Foo Fighters, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Tyler Hubbard, Tim McGraw, Black Pumas and DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic, featuring Ozuna and Luis Fonsi. There will also be participations from Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, José Andrés, Dolores Huertaand Kim Ng.
There will be celebrations for several 2020 ‘American heroes’, including the UPS driver Anthony Gaskin from Virginia, 8 years old Cavanaugh Bell, kindergarten teacher Mackenzie Adams Washington State football player from Vanderbilt University Sarah Fuller from Texas, 8 years old Morgan Marsh-McGlone, and health professional Sandra Lindsay from New York.