Can Biden’s inauguration ceremony really unite Americans? History suggests so

Only a few days after the US Capitol was the theater for a violent insurgency, the stage is being prepared for a very different event.

On Jan. 20, at noon, Joe Biden will take the oath of office and become the 46th president of the US. Kamala Harris, too, will take the oath as vice-president, and make history as the first woman—and the first Black and Asian American one—to do so.

Presidential inaugurations are big productions, and this one will be, too, although of a very different kind than usual....