On January 20, 2025, the United States of America witnessed Donald Trump being sworn in as the 47th president for a second term. He had previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. Trump’s historic victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November 2024 elections marked one of the most significant political comebacks in contemporary US history. The inauguration ceremony, attended by several prominent world leaders, was held inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Aside from former President Grover Cleveland, who served as both the 22nd and 24th president, Trump is only the second individual in over 230 years of American governance to regain the presidency after losing re-election. However, as with much of Trump’s tenure, the event wasn’t without questionable moments.
According to USA Today, during the swearing-in ceremony, President-elect Donald Trump kept his left hand at his side instead of placing it on one of the two Bibles held by his wife, Melania. Does this matter? Not according to the Constitution, which does not mandate specific hand placement during the oath of office.
Article II of the Constitution requires the president to recite the official oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The Constitution also protects religious freedom, stating that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Thus, presidents and public officials are not required to use a Bible when taking their oath of office—it is entirely optional, as long as the specific words are correctly recited.
According to the South Florida outlet, in 2017, Donald Trump swore in using the Lincoln Bible, provided during Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court. Lincoln’s family Bible was unavailable at the time, as it was still packed and on its way to Washington from Springfield, Illinois, along with the Lincoln family’s other belongings. Trump also used a Bible that had belonged to his mother.
Similarly, former President Barack Obama used the Lincoln Bible during his first swearing-in ceremony in 2009. For his second swearing-in in 2013, he paired the Lincoln Bible with one that had belonged to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a recognized leader of the American civil rights movement. King organized considerable peaceful protests as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, including the iconic March on Washington in 1963. Likewise, In 1789, George Washington also took the oath of office with a Bible borrowed from a Masonic Lodge.
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Usually, a formal oath for public officials and higher authorities is taken with one hand on a religious book like a Bible, Quran Torah, or a hold book in other religions, which signifies that there has to be some amount of morality, honesty, and integrity involved while serving the state. Subsequently, after the oath and further formalities, Trump delivered his first speech as the president where he said that “the golden age of America begins right now” and the crowd applauded.
