Every four years, and coinciding with the inauguration of the US President in January of that year, the District of Columbia issued special inaugural license plates. These plates had three-month validity (January 1st to March 31th) and could be used on cars in DC and US states in place of the regularly-issued license plates

Inaugural plates continue to be issued, but only to officials and dignitaries participating in the inauguration. Because of security concerns, inaugural license plates were not made available to the public following the first inauguration of President George W Bush

The run of personalized (DEREK) inaugural license plates covers presidential inaugurations from 1981 to 2005