When U.S. President Joe Biden was sworn into office in January 2021, outgoing President Donald Trump was not in attendance. About a month before Trump's second inauguration in January 2025, Biden said in an interview with Ben Meiselas, host for the progressive MeidasTouch News network, that he would be attending his successor's inauguration on Jan. 20, adding: "The only president to ever avoid an inauguration was the guy that's about to be inaugurated."
Biden's quote was shared widely on multiple social media platforms. Many users praised him in the comments, with one Reddit post title reading "folks, he's still got it!"
While it is true that Trump skipped Biden's inauguration in January 2021, he was not the first president to avoid a successor's inauguration. In fact, a handful of other presidents failed to appear at the next swearing-in.
John Adams, the second U.S. president, lost to Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 election. According to the White House Historical Association, he left Washington at 4 a.m. on Jefferson's Inauguration Day. However, it may have been that Adams' departure was for security reasons, as tensions that election season were particularly high, with threats of violence from militia groups.
John Quincy Adams, John Adams' son, followed in his father's footsteps when his successor, Andrew Jackson, won the bid for president in 1828. He left Washington the day before Jackson's inauguration following a contentious several years between the two — Jackson's failure to pay John Quincy Adams the customary visit to him leading up to the inauguration was the final straw.
Until Trump, Andrew Johnson was the last president to forego their successor's inauguration for political reasons. The relationship between Congress and Johnson experienced a slow deterioration until he ultimately became the first U.S. president to be impeached in 1868. In a biography of his successor, Ulysses S. Grant, Ron Chernow wrote that Johnson "swore he would not 'debase' himself by going to the ceremony."
As of this writing, the details surrounding Martin Van Buren's absence at his successor's inauguration are unclear as to whether it was for personal or political reasons.
Two other presidents missed the inauguration of their successor for other reasons: Woodrow Wilson, who was unable to attend his successor's inauguration because of a recent stroke, and Richard Nixon, who resigned amid the turmoil of the Watergate scandal and departed Washington before his vice president, Gerald Ford, assumed power.
In sum, there is sufficient evidence showing that Trump was not "the only president to ever avoid an inauguration," as Biden claimed. Therefore, we rate this claim false.