Does It Matter That Trump Didn’t Put His Hand on the Bible When Taking His Oath of Office?

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President Donald Trump takes his oath of office on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Screengrab from YouTube / @WhiteHouse

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Some are making much of the fact that President Trump did not place his hand on the Bible while being sworn in as 47th president of the United States during his inauguration Monday, Jan. 20. Others, however, are critiquing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for beginning the presidential oath before Melania Trump arrived with the Bibles Trump was to use.

Trump Inauguration: Swearing In Ceremony Draws Comment 

Numerous media outlets and social media users noted that Trump did not place his hand on a Bible as he took the oath of office during his second inauguration. Instead, his wife, Melania, held two Bibles next to her husband as he recited his oath with his right hand raised and his left hand by his side.

“Anyone notice this as well?” said one person on X. “Trump while taking the oath of office never put his hand on the bible. Wait until the evangelicals find out. Laughing.”

RELATED: Franklin Graham Compares Trump to Moses, Vance to Aaron in Inauguration Prayer

“The first President of the United States in over 100 years to not put his hand on the Bible while taking the oath of office,” posted the X account Protect Kamala Harris. “I think you’ve been duped, evangelicals!” Vice President J.D. Vance did place his hand on the Bible while taking his oath prior to Trump. Notably, Trump did place his hand on the Bible during his first inauguration in 2017.

It is not quite accurate to say that Trump is the first person in over 100 years not to take the oath of office on the Bible. In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who admittedly thought he was using a Bible, ended up using a missal to be sworn in while on Air Force One following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A missal is a Roman Catholic book containing prayers for mass.

It appears that prior to Johnson, the next most recent president not to be sworn in using a Bible was Calvin Coolidge during his first inauguration in 1923 (Coolidge did use a Bible for his second inauguration in 1925). Coolidge’s father, a notary public, swore Coolidge in at a farm in Vermont after President Warren G. Harding died. A Bible was present but not used.

Other presidents who did not use a Bible during their oaths of office include Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 (following the assassination of William McKinley) and John Quincy Adams in 1825. Nevertheless, the majority of American presidents have followed the tradition started in 1789 by George Washington, who took the oath of office with a Bible borrowed from a Masonic lodge.

A number of people have pointed out that a president swearing on the Bible is tradition and is not required by the Constitution. Viewers of the ceremony also pointed out that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts began Trump’s swearing in before Melania Trump arrived at her husband’s side with the Bibles and before Trump’s family had gathered around him.

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Jessica Lea
Jessica is a content editor for ChurchLeaders.com and the producer of The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast. She has always had a passion for the written word and has been writing professionally for the past five years. When Jessica isn't writing, she enjoys West Coast Swing dancing, reading, and spending time with her friends and family.

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