When President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence take the oath of office, they'll do so with a nod to President Abraham Lincoln and President Ronald Reagan.
Trump will place his hand on the Lincoln Bible — just as President Obama did for his 2009 and 2013 swearing-in ceremonies. Trump will also take the oath using the Bible his mother gave him in 1955.
The Reagan Foundation will loan President Reagan's family Bible to Pence. That Bible hasn't been used in an inauguration since Reagan's.
Pence, like some previous presidents and vice presidents, will have the Bible open to a specific passage: II Chronicles 7:14. The passage states, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Pence cited the passage on the campaign trail, and it's the same one Reagan had the Bible open to during his inaugurations, according to the the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee.
While most presidents have used a Bible while taking the oath of office, the Constitution doesn't require them to do so.
President John Quincy Adams placed his hand on a "volume of law." President Theodore Roosevelt didn't use a Bible or anything else for his first inauguration. And President Lyndon Johnson reportedly took the oath upon a Catholic missal found aboard Air Force One after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Like Trump and Pence, several presidents have used the Bibles of past presidents they admire. And it seems President George Washington's Bible is quite popular.
Presidents Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush took the oath upon the Masonic Bible Washington used.
President George W. Bush wanted to use the Washington Bible, as well, but rain changed his plans, according to St. John's Lodge No. 1.
In addition to using the Lincoln Bible, Obama paid homage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by using one of his Bibles.
But for many presidents and vice presidents, nothing is more meaningful than taking the oath upon a family Bible. President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush were the most recent presidents to use family Bibles for their oaths.
Even the large size and weight of the Biden family Bible didn't stop Vice President Joe Biden from taking the oath upon it at both inaugurations.
