--- description: Lawmakers like John Lewis, who are choosing to stay away from Donald Trump's Inauguration, are not first to thus express their disapproval. title: Donald Trump Inauguration Boycott Follows Long Tradition image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bdecd36c87a6212/6988b601e20a87f182a93c98/nixon-inauguration-1973-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What to Know About the First Lawmakers to Boycott a Presidential Inauguration  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 19, 2017 5:45 PM CUT  Police stand in front of group of antiwar demonstrators lined along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 1973, before the inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon. Police stand in front of group of antiwar demonstrators lined along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 1973, before the inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon.AP Photo  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 19, 2017 5:45 PM CUT With the [inauguration](http://time.com/money/4637694/trump-inauguration-costs-obama-bush-performers/ "undefined") of President Donald Trump just one day away, the list of lawmakers who have announced that they will not attend Friday’s events has surpassed [50](http://time.com/4635411/democrats-boycotting-donald-trumps-inauguration/ "undefined"). But, while those boycotts have drawn [controversy](http://time.com/4635375/donald-trump-john-lewis/ "undefined"), and the ire of Trump himself, they are not the first such protests. The honor—or infamy—of being the first to be formally boycotted by legislators goes instead to Richard Nixon’s second inauguration, in 1973\. At the time, the Library of Congress told the Washington _Post_ that the action by lawmakers was the first known example of its kind. Stephen Stathis, a Library specialist in inaugurations, noted that individual representatives had stayed away from the ceremony in the past “because of personal hostility,” but that the “large scale” boycott was new to him. Still, Rep. Don Edwards, a California Congressman who spoke out about the boycott, stressed to the press that it was not an official, organized event. As a result, there was nobody keeping track of the exact number of participants. Even now, it’s hard to nail down the precise number of lawmakers who made the decision to keep away from Nixon’s swearing-in. A New York _Times_ article from the following day [noted](http://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/21/archives/congressmen-hail-theme-but-ask-for-more-details-congressmen-hail.html "undefined") that, “Only about half the 435 members of the House of Representatives and the 100 members of the Senate took their places on the Capitol steps to witness Mr. Nixon’s recitation of the Presidential oath of office”—but that not all of them were missing due to protest; others were simply unable to make it, or stayed away but refused to comment on why. A later rundown by CBS [put](http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/politics/inauguration/history.pdf "undefined") the boycott figure at 80 members of Congress. The UPI at the time, in advance of the inauguration, [quoted](http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2941&context=studentnewspaper "undefined") Rep. Edwards that the figure would be [closer](http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost%5Fhistorical/doc/148471384.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+18%2C+1973&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post%2C+Times+Herald++%281959-1973%29&edition=&startpage=A8&desc=Boycott+of+Inaugural+Is+Seen+by+Congressman "undefined") to 165; Edwards [based](http://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/18/archives/antiwar-congressmen-may-boycott-inaugural.html "undefined") the number on the size of the Democratic Study Group. Later, the same news agency [noted](http://search.proquest.com/pqrl/docview/454603119/8AD2F07E603A42B5PQ/1?accountid=10598 "undefined") that about 200 had said they would boycott. Rep. Bella Abzug, one of those participating in the boycott, applauded a number she [placed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-29/page/14/ "undefined") at 150 of her colleagues. According to the Chicago _Tribune_ of the following day, Rep. Charles Diggs was the only African-American representative who attended, out of 15 total. On the other hand, Rep. Tip O’Neill, the House Majority Leader, [noted](http://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/21/archives/nixon-inaugura-ted-for-his-second-term-sees-world-on-threshold-of-a.html "undefined") to the New York _Times_ that the turnout, which he estimated at 300 out of 535 members of Congress present, was actually “better than usual” compared to Inaugurations in the previous few decades. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter-history "undefined") As exceptional as Nixon’s presidency would prove to be, he was certainly not the first President whose reelection might have prompted opponents in government to join in protest. Even his own [first inauguration ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-01-24/page/13/ "undefined")in 1969 had seen widespread protest. So why did legislators only take this step in 1973? One important factor was the timing of Inauguration Day in relation to an important turn in the course of the war. That fall, it had [seemed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-01/page/23/ "undefined") like peace was at hand in the Vietnam War—in fact, on Election Day many Americans could have reasonably believed that the controversial conflict was about to come to an end, as Henry Kissinger had [promised](http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/%5Fnews/2007/10/26/4371882-peace-is-at-hand?lite "undefined")—only to have things quickly fall apart. Nixon sent an ultimatum to Hanoi in mid-December to resume negotiations within three days. When that didn’t work, the “in calculated anger, the President unleashed the most massive bombing of North Viet Nam of the whole long war,” as TIME [put it](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-01/page/15/ "undefined"). The bombardment, known officially as Linebacker II and among civilians as the Christmas bombings, galvanized anti-war activists with a purpose that was still fresh on Inauguration Day. The D.C. police estimated at the time that 75,000 people showed up at the Lincoln Memorial to protest, and many of the “counter-Inaugural” events drew larger crowds than their official analogs. “For me the dignity of the day will be in the peacefulness of the (antiwar) protest,” Rep. Pete Stark told the Washington _Post_, explaining his decision not to attend the Inauguration. But the Inauguration Day protests, including the boycott by lawmakers, are now [seen by some ](https://books.google.com/books?id=6vwvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1095&dq=1973+inauguration+protests&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWuKbKlMzRAhWRxiYKHZwOB1Y4ChDoAQgZMAA#v=onepage&q=1973%20inauguration%20protests&f=false "undefined")as a sort of last hurrah of the American anti-war movement of that era. As TIME [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-29/page/14/ "undefined") in its coverage of the protest, many of the signs borne by those present seemed outdated and “the demonstration seemed passive, as though it commemorated the many marches that had gone before.” After all, although the war [wouldn’t fully end until 1975](http://time.com/3838802/fall-of-saigon-memories/ "undefined"), a cease-fire was [signed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-02-05/page/1/ "undefined") a mere week after the Inauguration. But, though the energy of the protest in 1973 may not have ended up affecting the course of the war they protested, the 1973 boycott participants did make history, setting a template for [protests](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/17/donald-trump-john-lewis-george-w-bush-inauguration/96662566/ "undefined") to follow. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4636736/inauguration-boycott-1973/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4636736/inauguration-boycott-1973/"},"headline":"What to Know About the First Lawmakers to Boycott a Presidential Inauguration","datePublished":"2017-01-19T17:45:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:45:56.979Z","description":"Lawmakers like John Lewis, who are choosing to stay away from Donald Trump's Inauguration, are not first to thus express their disapproval.","url":"https://time.com/4636736/inauguration-boycott-1973/","keywords":["politics","protest","inauguration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bdecd36c87a6212/6988b601e20a87f182a93c98/nixon-inauguration-1973-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bdecd36c87a6212/6988b601e20a87f182a93c98/nixon-inauguration-1973-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Richard Nixon 1973 Inauguration Protests","caption":"Antiwar Demonstrators at Nixon's inauguration in 1973.","creditText":"AP Photo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4636736/inauguration-boycott-1973/","name":"What to Know About the First Lawmakers to Boycott a Presidential Inauguration"}}]}] ```