Trump did not place hand on Bible for oath of office during his inauguration

President Donald Trump did not place his hand on the Bible as he took the oath of office during his inauguration on Monday.

First lady Melania Trump stood next to the president holding two Bibles, but the 47th president of the United States didn’t place his hand on either as he raised his right hand to take the presidential oath, which Chief Justice John Roberts issued.

Melania Trump was holding her husband’s personal Bible, which was given to him by his mother, and the Lincoln Bible that President Abraham Lincoln used to take the oath of office in 1861.

There is no legal requirement for the president to place his hand on the Bible. According to Article VI, Clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution, which covers oaths of office, members of Congress, state legislatures, and executive and judicial officers throughout the country are bound “by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution.

“But,” it continues, “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

During his first inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, Trump placed his right hand atop two Bibles held by the first lady as Roberts swore him in as the 45th president.

Trump took the oath of office on Monday immediately after Vice President JD Vance was sworn in by Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. As Vance took the oath of office, he placed his right hand on a Bible that was held by his wife, Usha Vance, as she also held one of their three children.

During his presidential campaign, Trump endorsed the “God Bless the USA Bible” that, according to its website, was “inspired by” country singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad.

“Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote at the time, directing his supporters to a website selling the Bibles for $59.99.

During his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump spoke of God protecting his life when he was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt at a July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Just a few months ago, in that beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear,” Trump said. “But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”

Trump is not the first president to take the oath of office without placing his hand on a Bible. At least four presidents took the oath sans the Bible.

The nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams, was sworn into office in 1825 while reading a law book, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. President Theodore Roosevelt also did not use a Bible when he took the oath of office in 1901 in the aftermath of the assassination of President William McKinley, according to the committee.

In the wake of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One by placing his left hand on a Catholic missal, or prayer book, according to the LBJ Presidential Library.

In his autobiography, President Calvin Coolidge, the nation’s 30th president, claimed he did not use a Bible for the oath. “The oath was taken in what we always called the sitting room, by the light of the kerosene lamp, which was the most modern form of lighting that had then reached the neighborhood,” Coolidge wrote. “The Bible which had belonged to my mother lay on the table at my hand. It was not officially used, as it is not the practice in Vermont or Massachusetts to use a Bible in connection with the administration of an oath.”