On Monday, January 20, former U.S. President Donald Trump took the oath of office with his right hand raised but notably without placing his left hand on the two Bibles held by his wife, Melania Trump. This departure from tradition has stirred questions and discussions online.
During Trump’s first inauguration on January 20, 2017, he followed the customary practice of placing his right hand on two Bibles as Chief Justice John Roberts swore him in as the 45th President of the United States. However, during this recent ceremony, Trump chose to keep his left hand by his side.
Vice President JD Vance was sworn in just prior to Trump by Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Vance followed tradition, placing his right hand on a Bible held by his wife, Usha Vance, who also held one of their children during the ceremony.
While Trump’s choice breaks with modern expectations, he is not the first U.S. president to forego a Bible during the oath of office. Historical precedents reveal at least four presidents who opted for alternatives.
John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, took his oath of office in 1825 while placing his hand on a law book instead of a Bible. Theodore Roosevelt also abstained from using a Bible when sworn in as president in 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley.
Similarly, in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath aboard Air Force One, placing his hand on a Catholic missal — a prayer book — rather than a Bible, as documented by the LBJ Presidential Library.
Trump’s decision marks the first time in over a century that a president has not used a religious book for the oath of office, sparking conversations about the evolving role of tradition in American politica
l ceremonies.
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