Trump's choice of Bible

The symbolism of Trump’s two inaugural Bible choices, from Lincoln to his mother

By Katie Mettler January 18

Abraham Lincoln swore the oath upon this Bible, which President-elect Donald Trump has selected for his swearing-in. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

When George Washington took the oath of office as the country’s first president in 1789, he placed his hand upon the Bible while speaking those solemn 35 words required by the Constitution, beginning a tradition that has come to define the pomp and circumstance of Inauguration Day.
And though the act of swearing upon a Bible held significance at the time, the particular book he chose did not.
It was, historians say, an afterthought. Organizers had simply forgotten to bring one, so they grabbed the closest holy book they could find — a nearby Masonic lodge’s altar Bible — and Washington made his promise.
But in the two centuries since then, the act of choosing an inaugural Bible — or Bibles — has become far more symbolic.

[The power of the presidential oath and how Donald Trump could use it]

Franklin Delano Roosevelt used his family’s Bible, written in Dutch and printed in 1686. John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic elected to the White House, chose a Douay Bible. And when his second inauguration fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President Obama chose to lay his hand upon a book of Holy Scripture that belonged to the civil rights leader.
The story behind the Bible adds gravitas — and gives media commentators something to talk about.
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced his choices: a Bible his mother gifted him in 1955 when he graduated from Presbyterian Sunday school and the one President Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration.