Prayers at United States Presidential Inaugurations - List of Clergy at Main Ceremony

List of Clergy At Main Ceremony

January 20, 1937 inaugural of Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Invocation by Chaplain ZeBarney Thorne Phillips - Episcopalian, Chaplain of the United States Senate
• Benediction by Father John A. Ryan - Catholic, professor, Catholic University of America

January 20, 1941 inaugural of Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Invocation by Chaplain ZeBarney Phillips
• Benediction by Father Michael J. Ready, Catholic, general secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Conference

January 20, 1945 inaugural of Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Invocation by Bishop Angus Dun - Episcopalian, Bishop of Washington
• Benediction by Monsignor John A. Ryan - Catholic

January 20, 1949 inaugural of Harry S. Truman

• Invocation by Rev. Edward Hughes Pruden, Baptist, First Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
• Prayer by Rabbi Samuel Thurman, Jewish, United Hebrew Congregation, St. Louis, Missouri
• Benediction by Patrick A. O’Boyle, Catholic Archbishop of Washington

January 20, 1953 inaugural of Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Invocation by Patrick A. O’Boyle, Catholic Archbishop of Washington
• Prayer by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Jewish
• Prayer by President Eisenhower
• Benediction by Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill, Episcopalian, Presiding Bishop

January 21, 1957 inaugural of Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Invocation by Rev. Edward L. R. Elson - Presbyterian, Chaplain of the United States Senate
• Prayer by Michael - Greek Orthodox
• Prayer by Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Jewish
• Benediction by Cardinal Edward Mooney - Catholic, Archbishop of Detroit

January 20, 1961 inaugural of John F. Kennedy

• Invocation by Cardinal Richard Cushing - Catholic
• Prayer by Iakovos, Greek Orthodox
• Prayer by Rev. Dr. John Barclay, pastor of the Central Christian Church of Austin, Texas
• Benediction by Rabbi Nelson Glueck - Jewish

January 20, 1965 inaugural of Lyndon B. Johnson

• Invocation by Archbishop Robert E. Lucey - Catholic
• Prayer by Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel - Jewish, Congregation Beth Israel of Houston
• Prayer by Rev. Dr. George R. Davis - Disciples of Christ
• Benediction by Iakovos - Greek Orthodox

January 20, 1969 inaugural of Richard Nixon

• Invocation by Rev. Charles Ewbank Tucker - African Methodist Episcopal Zion, bishop
• Prayer by Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin - Jewish, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles
• Prayer by Iakovos - Greek Orthodox
• Prayer by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist, text of Billy Graham prayer 1969
• Benediction by Archbishop Terence J. Cooke - Catholic

January 20, 1973 inaugural of Richard M. Nixon

• Invocation by Rev. E. V. Hill, National Baptist Convention, pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles
• Prayer by Rabbi Seymour Siegel - Jewish, professor, Jewish Theological Seminary
• Prayer by Iakovos - Greek Orthodox
• Benediction by Archbishop Terence J. Cooke - Catholic

January 20, 1977 inaugural of Jimmy Carter

• Invocation by Bishop William Cannon - United Methodist
• Benediction by Archbishop John R. Roach - Catholic

January 20, 1981 inaugural of Ronald Reagan

• Invocation by Rev. Donn Moomaw - Presbyterian, pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles
• Benediction by Rev. Donn Moomaw

January 21, 1985 inaugural of Ronald Reagan

• Invocation by Rev. Timothy S. Healy - Catholic, president of Georgetown University
• Prayer by Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk - Jewish, president, Hebrew Union College
• Prayer by Rev. Donn Moomaw - Presbyterian
• Benediction by Rev. Peter Gomes, chaplain, Harvard University

January 20, 1989 inaugural of George H. W. Bush

• Invocation by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist, text of invocation 1989
• Benediction by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist

January 20, 1993 inaugural of Bill Clinton

• Invocation by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist, text of invocation 1993
• Benediction by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist

January 20, 1997 inaugural of Bill Clinton

• Invocation by Rev. Billy Graham - Southern Baptist, text of invocation 1997
• Benediction by Rev. Gardner C. Taylor - Baptist

January 20, 2001 inaugural of George W. Bush

• Invocation by Rev. Franklin Graham - Southern Baptist, text of invocation and benediction 2001
• Benediction by Pastor Kirbyjon H. Caldwell - United Methodist

January 20, 2005 inaugural of George W. Bush

• Invocation by Rev. Luis León - Episcopalian, rector St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square (Washington, D.C.)(Text of Invocation)
• Benediction by Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell - Senior Pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas(Text of Benediction)

January 20, 2009 inaugural of Barack Obama

• Invocation by Rev. Dr. Rick Warren - Baptist, Pastor of the Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California
• Benediction by Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery - United Methodist

January 21, 2013 inaugural of Barack Obama

• Invocation by Myrlie Evers-Williams, the first woman and non-clergy to deliver an inaugural prayer.
• Benediction by Rev. Dr. Luis León, fourteenth rector of St. John's Church. Pastor Louie Giglio had originally been tapped by the inaugural committee but withdrew amid controversy regarding an anti-gay sermon he had delivered in the 1990s.