President Trump and Vice President Vance chose Bibles of personal and national significance for their swearing-in ceremony, continuing the largely symbolic tradition.
Trump selected two Bibles, according to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, though he did not actually place his hand on either of them. He recited the oath of office with his right hand in the air as first lady Melania Trump stood next to him, holding the stack of books.
One was a revised standard version that Trump's mother gave him to mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation in 1955, embossed with his name on the front cover.
The other was the Lincoln Bible, which was first used during that president's March 1861 inauguration.
The velvet-bound, burgundy tome, which lives at the Library of Congress, has been used three times since Lincoln took office: by President Barack Obama at his two inaugurations, and by Trump during his 2017 swearing-in.
Vance took the oath of office using a family Bible that belonged to Bonnie Blanton Vance, his late maternal great-grandmother who raised him as his mother struggled with addiction.
Vance's stories of his grandma's resilience, protectiveness and spunk dominated the 2016 memoir that propelled him to fame, Hillbilly Elegy, as well as his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.
"Mamaw," as she was known, gave Vance the King James Bible on the day he left home for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in 2003.
The Constitution does not actually require presidents to be sworn in using Bibles, though many — dating back to George Washington — have done so, according to the Library of Congress.
While Washington used a Bible "opened at random and in haste" during his inauguration, many presidents have intentionally chosen editions that send a certain message.
Some, including Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, were sworn in on Washington's original Bible.
Others have used two: Richard Nixon used two family Bibles, while Harry Truman used a facsimile of a Gutenberg Bible, as well as the Bible he used after Franklin Roosevelt's death four years earlier. In addition to the Lincoln Bible, Obama took the oath in 2013 on a Bible that had belonged to Martin Luther King Jr. — on another Inauguration Day that overlapped with MLK Day.
Copyright 2025 NPR
