When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Monday, he’s expected to have his hand on a Bible or two.
He used two in 2017: a personal Bible he’d had since childhood and one used by former President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
His team hasn’t yet announced whether he’s taking the same approach this year, but it is known that the same man will be swearing him in.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the presidential oath of office, just as he has on the past four inauguration days, per the Council on Foreign Relations.
Bibles for swearing in
Trump is far from the only president to have been sworn in on a Bible, although using two at the same time is somewhat unique.
Former President Barack Obama also used two in 2013: the same Lincoln Bible from Trump’s ceremony and a Bible previously owned by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., The Guardian reported at the time.
Before Obama, presidents typically chose to use a personal Bible or a historical Bible, not one of each.
A particularly popular historical Bible is the one former President George Washington had with him when he was sworn in as the first president of the United States, according to The New York Times.
“Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush all used it, and in 2001, George W. Bush had made preparations to be the sixth president to do so. Members of the New York Masonic temple that cares for the bible carried it to the Capitol, but rain intervened. Mr. Bush used his father’s family Bible instead,” the Times reported.
What religion is Trump?
Since Trump identifies as Christian and since it’s a presidential tradition, it’s not surprising that Trump chose in 2017 to use Bibles during his inauguration ceremony, rather than some other book.
Most presidents have been sworn in on Bibles, even though the Constitution doesn’t require them to use one, or any book for that matter, per The New York Times.
Presidents throughout history who haven’t had their hand on a Bible while taking the oath of office were often facing unusual circumstances.
For example, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office unexpectedly after former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, used a prayer book that had been special to Kennedy.
“Johnson, a Protestant, was sworn in aboard Air Force One using a Roman Catholic missal. ... The prayer book had been found at Kennedy’s bedside table on the plane,” The New York Times reported.
Inauguration Day Bible
Ahead of Inauguration Day, the minds behind the God Bless the USA Bible released a new product that plays off the Bible’s prominent role in the ceremony.
Their Inauguration Day Edition Bible has Monday’s date printed on the cover and celebrates Trump’s return to the White House, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Like other God Bless the USA Bibles, the new book includes not just the Old and New Testaments, but also copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.