Other notably succinct inaugural speeches were given by Zachary Taylor (March 5, 1849; 995 words), and Abraham Lincoln, whose famous second inaugural (March 4, 1865; 698 words) is generally considered to be the finest of all inaugural addresses. Lincoln himself believed his second inaugural surpassed the quality of his other famously concise oration, the Gettysburg Address. The longest inaugural speech was William Henry Harrison’s. At 8,445 words, it is nearly twice the length of any other president’s. The address, delivered in a snowstorm, lasted an hour and forty-five minutes. His grandson, President Benjamin Harrison, gave the fourth most prolix inaugural speech, clocking in at 4,388 words, and surpassed only by the verbosity of William Howard Taft (5,433 words) and James Monroe (4,467). Ironically, while Harrison delivered the longest inaugural speech ever, he was president for the shortest time—a mere month. Historian Marc Kruman, in The Reader’s Companion to the American Presidency, summed up Harrison’s tenure as follows: “He took the oath of office, delivered a lengthy and tedious inaugural address, appointed many men to office, called a special session of Congress, became ill—and abruptly died.” According to presidential historian Robert Dallek, few inaugural speeches have been memorable—the overwhelming majority have been dull affairs. In fact, Dallek considers only four to have been particularly fine pieces of oratory, resonating passion and substance: Jefferson’s first inaugural, Lincoln’s second, FDR’s first, and Kennedy’s only inaugural address.
