Why will Trump use two bibles for his swearing in?

While US President-elect Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed the “God Bless the USA” Bible, which was a blend of scripture and star-spangled swagger, he will be holding two less controversial holy books while taking the oath as the 47th President of the United States. On Friday, Trump’s inaugural committee announced that the Republican firebrand will be using the same two bibles he used when he took oath the first time in 2017.

One of the bibles was used for Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration in 1861 and the other belonged to Trump’s mother which was given to him in 1955. The team argued that Trump’s message behind using the bible is that he once again swears to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

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Trump is not the first American president to use two Bibles in his inaugural ceremony. Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon and Barack Obama all took the oath with two in hand. The Lincoln Bible is quite popular among American leaders. Former President Barack Obama used Lincoln’s Bible twice.

Bibles with history

According to the Library of Congress, the Lincoln Bible is a burgundy, velvet-bound book that was serendipitously used in the 16th president’s swearing-in because his “family Bible was packed with other belongings that still were en route to Washington from Springfield, Illinois."

Meanwhile, Trump’s personal Bible is a 1953 Revised Standard Version edition that his mother Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, gave him after he graduated from his Sunday school at age 9 in 1955. His name is embossed on the front of the Bible and “the inside cover is signed by church officials,” Trump’s inaugural team said in a statement.

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During the inauguration ceremony, Vice President-elect JD Vance is also leaning into his family roots. He will swear on a King James Version passed down from his maternal great-grandmother who he fondly called “Mamaw” Bonnie in 2003. According to the inaugural committee, the bible was gifted to him when he left home for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina.

Do the presidents have to use the Bible?

While the Constitution of the United States of America requires presidents to take an oath of office, there is no such rule which requires them to do with their hands on a religious book, or any book at all. Most have used a family Bible.

The tradition was first practised by George Washington at the first inauguration. Since then taking oath with a bible has been popularised by his successors. Presidents like Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush all used the bible used by Washington.

Interestingly, In 1985, John Quincy Adams swore on a law book. He was also the first president to wear long trousers at his inauguration, breaking with the five presidents before him, who all had worn knee breeches. Meanwhile, Lyndon B. Johnson, a Protestant, was sworn in aboard Air Force One using a Roman Catholic missal, shortly after the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. The prayer book had been found at Kennedy’s bedside table on the plane, according to the inauguration committee.