“Why would Trump be the first president to NOT attend his successor’s inauguration?
He had never conceded the election.”
I don’t know why it never occurred to me before, but is Trump the first to not concede the election?
Here are the other presidents who skipped their successor’s inauguration:
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
The 1828 election had been especially contentious and once arriving in Washington three weeks ahead of the inauguration, Jackson never reached out to Adams.
Andrew Johnson
In 1869, impeached President Andrew Johnson left the White House after Civil War hero President-elect Ulysses S. Grant refused to share a carriage from the White House to the Capitol with Johnson.
“When it was suggested that two carriages carry them separately, Johnson said he would simply not attend the ceremonies, remaining instead at the White House with friends and colleagues and signing last-minute legislation,