As Donald J. Trump raised his right hand to be sworn in as president on Monday, his left remained at his side. Even though his wife, Melania Trump, had two Bibles, Mr. Trump didn’t put his hands on them either.
The long tradition of taking the presidential oath with one hand on a Bible dates back to George Washington and was observed by Mr. Trump in 2017. But it is not a requirement.
It was not immediately clear why Mr. Trump did not get his hands on any of the Bibles that Mrs. Trump was holding — a family Bible and a Bible used by Abraham Lincoln. The White House did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
At his first inauguration, George Washington used the altar Bible from a nearby Masonic lodge and kissed it after taking the oath.
But the Constitution simply requires that the president take the oath of office before taking office. This does not require a Bible or any religious text.
Yet presidents have overwhelmingly followed Washington’s lead. (Franklin Pierce, in 1853, broke the precedent of also embracing the Bible.)
In rare cases where the Bible has not been used, presidents have gotten their hands on something that symbolizes a higher power. John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, got his hands on a law book. Lyndon B. Johnson, aboard Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, used a Catholic prayer missal found on the plane.
When Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, he did not use a Bible.
Tim Balk reports contributed.
