Declan Murphy wrote:

> Maybe, its a shame the transition is so long, I don't know of any
> country where the transistion to a new executive takes many months. 

It is based upon the amount of time required by a horse-drawn wagon 
carrying the new Administration to traverse the country to Washington 
D.C.  There used to be problems with snow, floods, and Indians, not 
necessarily in that order.  Inauguration Day used to be March 4 but, due 
to such mod cons as the telegraph and steam locomotives that ran almost 
on time, they moved it back to January 20 after WWII.

-- 
CL