Donald Trump will have his hand on two Bibles during the swearing-in ceremony on Monday. One will be the Lincoln Bible which was first used in 1861 to swear in the 16th US president, but the other will have some emotional significance. The other Bible was the one given to Trump by his mother in 1955 to mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation at First Presbyterian Church, in Jamaica, New York.
On the front cover of the Bible, Trump’s name is embossed on the lower portion. Inside the cover, there are signatures of church officials and other details of when it was presented to him.
The Lincoln Bible has been used three times since, by President Barack Obama at each of his inaugurations and by Donald Trump in 2017.
In 2013, Obama too took the oath of office keeping his hands on two Bibles — one was owned by Martin Luther King Jr and the other was the Lincoln Bible.
Presidents take the oath keeping their hands on the Bible as it was done for the first time for George Washington in 1789. According to reports, organizers forgot to bring a Bible to Washington’s swearing-in ceremony and so he borrowed one from a Masonic lodge.
Other presidents who were sworn in with the Bible that Washington used include Jimmy Carter, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Warren G. Harding, and George H.W. Bush.
Washington also set a precedent of kissing the Bible after taking the oath of office. Presidents followed suit, up until 1853, when Franklin Pierce placed his left hand on the Bible instead of kissing it, stopping the custom.
JD Vance to take oath on a gift from ‘Mamaw’
JD Vance’s Bible — a King James version– was passed down from his maternal great-grandmother — was a gift from his Mamaw Bonnie in 2003 when JD left home for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina.
