Oath of office of the vice president of the United States

[2] Since 1937, Inauguration Day has been January 20 (was March 4 previously), a change brought about by the 20th amendment to the Constitution, which had been ratified four years earlier.

The vice president's swearing-in ceremony also moved that year, from the Senate chamber inside the Capitol, to the presidential inaugural platform outside the building.

[3] The oath is as follows: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

The oath of office has been administered most by the president pro tempore of the United States Senate (last in 1925) for a total of 20 times.

Due to Vice President-elect William R. King's deteriorating health, a bill signed on March 3, 1853, the last day of the 32nd United States Congress, allowed for the oath to be administered to him as he rested in Havana, Cuba.