Presidential Inaugural Bibles
VirtueOnline Exclusive
By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
12/16/2008
NEW YORK---The American Bible Society will make history in January during the presidential inauguration when President-elect Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States is presented with a Bible from the historic organization that dates back more than 200 years. The presentation by ABS will be the first time this event has occurred in U.S. history.
Following the November 4 election for a new President, the leadership of the American Bible Society contacted Emmett Beliveau, executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee 2009, requesting an audience with him to make arrangements to present the new President with a special gift.
Next month, as a Church of Christ member, incoming President Barack Obama is to be presented with an official King James Version Personalized Presidential Edition Bible. How this will happen, is still in the works.
A letter dated Jan. 20, 2009, and addressed to President Obama, says, "As a 193-year-old American institution laying at the intersection of faith, culture and public life, it is our desire to be a resource to you personally and institutionally." President Dr. R. Lamar Vest and the Rev. Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson, the ABS Chairman of the Board, jointly wrote the letter.
"As you embark upon your journey," the letter continues, "may this Bible be a source of Divine inspiration and a still small voice during times of sacred contemplation. ..."
However, the new 44th President is not the first American chief executive to receive Scriptures from the American Bible Society, but he will be the first President to receive an ABS Presidential Bible as a part of the inaugural festivities. The Society hopes the new President will use its gift Bible during his swearing in ceremonies. However, that has not yet been determined. Many times, an incoming President will use a family heirloom Bible which has deep personal and spiritual meaning for him.
Usually when the new president takes the Oath of Office, he places his left hand on the Bible with his right hand raised towards God as he pronounces the words making him the President of the United States. This tradition was started with George Washington on April 30, 1789. The words the President recites are prescribed by the Constitution. The placing of the hand on the Bible to swear an oath is an English custom, which would have been familiar to the Anglican practicing Washington. This action also allowed the country's Founding Father, a deeply spiritual man, to assert the principle of freedom of religion rather than freedom from religion, which is what it has become today's interpretation of the principle of separation of church and state.
The words of the Presidential Oath of Office, as decreed by the Constitution, do not include the ending "So help me God." Many presidents have spontaneously added that phrase. Legend says George Washington did. So did Abraham Lincoln, a deist, who reportedly quipped that his 1861 oath was "registered in Heaven." While a 1789 statute requires federal judges and executive officers to add the phrase seeking the Deity's aid in their oaths of office, Presidents are not similairly required.
As a Mason, America's first President used the Masonic Bible. This Bible has since come to be known as the "Washington Bible". This same Bible was used in 1921 by Warren G. Harding, a Baptist; in 1953 by Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Presbyterian; and again in 1989 by George W.H. Bush, an Episcopalian.
As an American five-star general and a graduate of West Point, President Eisenhower added the use of the West Point Bible to both inaugurations. President Bush, Sr., also used a family Bible, which was held by his son, George W. Bush, a Methodist, in 2001. President Bush, Jr. hoped to use the Washington Bible, as his father had, but Inaugural Day inclement weather prevented the fragile old tome from being used a fifth time.
Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist, also used a family Bible for his 1977 swearing in ceremony, while Richard Nixon, a Quaker, used two family Bibles for his presidential oaths.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, a Disciple of Christ member, used a family Bible for his second inauguration in 1965. On Nov. 22, 1963, he used a Catholic Missal when he hastily took the Oath of Office aboard the crowded Air Force One. The Presidents' plane was on the tarmac at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, that late November Friday. Even though Johnson was not Catholic, slain President John F. Kennedy was and his Missal was found in the President's desk. (The Catholic Missal contains the liturgy and Scripture readings used in the celebration of a Catholic Mass, which is very similar to the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.)
Usually the new president takes the Presidential Oath of Office on the steps the U.S. Capitol, which is the "House of Congress" representing the legislative branch of government. The brief 35 word oath -- sans the president's name and usual ending -- is administered by the Chief Justice of the United States who represents the judicial branch of government. The new president embodies the executive branch of government. The Bible is a hint towards the spiritual. In modern times, the Holy Book has been held by the incoming First Lady, harking back to Lady Bird Johnson who was the first First Lady to hold the Bible for her husband's swearing in ceremony in 1969.
Other presidents who used the family Bible were Ronald Reagan, a Presbyterian, who used his Mother Nelle's Bible at both his inaugurations and Bill Clinton, a Southern Baptist, who used his maternal Grandmother Edith Cassidy's Bible to take both his Presidential Oaths of Office.
History records two presidents who did not have the Bible as a part of their inaugural swearing in ceremony. The first was John Quincy Adams in 1825. The younger Adams -- who was 30 at the time his father, John Adams, a Unitarian, became the second President in 1797 -- was a Unitarian. Being a man of deep faith, he felt the Bible was too holy for use politically, so he swore his Oath of Office upon a book of laws containing the Constitution itself, since he was swearing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," and not specifically proclaiming his Christian faith. Theodore Roosevelt, a Dutch Reformed Church member, did not use a Bible when he took his first Oath of Office in 1901. However, as President Teddy he did use the Holy Writ in 1905.
Several presidents have used two Bibles for their oath taking - Eisenhower used the Washington Bible and West Point Bible in 1953; Richard Nixon used two family Bibles for both his oaths; and President Bush Sr., perched an open family Bible on top of the open Washington Bible.
In 1897, William McKinley, a Methodist, didn't use a family heirloom, but instead used a Bible given to him by his Methodist church congregation. Other presidential preferences have been lost to history.
Usually, the Bible will be open to a favorite passage or verse chosen by the incoming president The Psalms and Proverbs have been used the most. Old and New Testament passages have been cited. However, only presidents Truman and Bush, Sr. zeroed in on St. Matthew's Gospel. President Bush, Jr. kept the Bible closed during his swearing in ceremonies, as did Presidents Truman and Kennedy. Truman was the last President to kiss the Bible after pronouncing his oath.
Then there is Franklin Pierce who was an Episcopalian. While he used a Bible in his 1853 inauguration ceremony, he simply made a statement of affirmation rather than swear an oath. Nor did he kiss the Bible afterwards.
President Obama will not be the first American President to receive an ABS Presidential Bible. Woodrow Wilson, a Presbyterian, received a Bible in 1919 for use at the Paris Peace Conference which eventually led to the Treaty of Versailles and the end of the Great War (Word War I). Truman received a Bible as a 1945 Thanksgiving present for use in the Oval Office. In 1953, Eisenhower, received Bibles in 77 different languages for use by White House guests. Ike was given an ABS Bible in 1957 commemorating the 500 millionth copy printed.; in 1966 Lyndon Johnson, got the 750 millionth ABS Bible printed honoring the 150th anniversary of the Society's work. The one billionth Bible was presented to Richard Nixon in 1971. Finally, George W. Bush, a Methodist, was presented an ABS Bible in honor of his ancestor who had worked during the early days at the American Bible Society.
The only First Lady to receive a special American Bible Society Scriptures was Mamie Eisenhower, who in 1974 received the first copy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Edition of the Good News for Modern Man. The American Bible Society is noted for producing that modern American English translation.
"This is where faith and culture intersect," explained Autumn Black, the Public Relations Director of ABS. "We want to be able to personally support President Obama in his faith walk."
Black hopes that the new President will be able to glean kernels of wisdom from the Holy Writ, which will help him as he assumes leadership of the country and a position of stature in the world.
"This is exciting work," Black noted. "We see this as being beneficial to the country and world."
The American Bible Society has been a part of the spiritual fabric of the United States since its foundation in 1816. Since then the ABS has worked hard to help insure the Scriptures become a part of everyday life starting in 1817 when ABS Bibles were given to sailors aboard the USS John Adams, beginning a continuing relationship with the armed forces. In 1846, soldiers in the Mexican American War had access to ABS Bibles. Both Union and Confederate forces had ABS Bibles during the Civil War.
Always on the cutting edge of spiritual need, the American Bible Society was the first organization to put Bibles in hotels for travelers, the first to create a Braille Bible for the blind, and the first to translate the Scriptures into a Native American language. In addition, when Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, Missouri, bound for Sacramento, California, an ABS Bible was tucked in their saddle bags along with their precious cargo of letters.
Several former Presidents have also served at the helm of the American Bible Society including: the Sixth President, John Quincy Adams; the nineteenth President, non-denominationalist Rutherford B. Hayes, and the twenty-third President, Presbyterian Benjamin Harrison.
Before that two former presidents of the American Bible Society were deeply involved with the very founding of this nation. The first president of the American Bible Society was Elias Boudinot, a Presbyterian, who was also the fourth president of the Confederation Congress. An early ABS president was the first Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay, an Anglican, who also served as the fourth president of the Second Continental Congress.
The American Bible Society is noted for giving out Bibles to notable personages and world leaders. Most recently, they presented special Bibles to two renowned world religious leaders. His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI was presented with a one-of-a-kind Polygot Bible. A Poverty and Justice Bible was ceremoniously given to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
The American Bible Society is proud to claim that it shares God's Word with the world thus uniquely fulfilling Christ's Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, as outlined in St. Matthew 28:19 and St. Luke 24:47.
"It is our mission to make the Bible available to every person in a language they can understand," President Obama's letter reads. "...so they may experience its life-changing message."
---Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.
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