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The oath of office of the president of the United States is the oath or affirmation that the president of the United States takes upon assuming office. The wording of the oath is specified in Article II, Section One, Clause 8, of the United States Constitution, and a new president is required to take it before exercising or carrying out any official powers or duties.
This clause is one of three oath or affirmation clauses in the Constitution, but it is the only one that actually specifies the words that must be spoken. Article I, Section 3 requires Senators, when sitting to try impeachments, to be "on Oath or Affirmation." Article VI, Clause 3, similarly requires the persons specified therein to "be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution." The presidential oath requires much more than that general oath of allegiance and fidelity. This clause enjoins the new president to swear or affirm: "I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Text
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Ceremony
A newly elected or re-elected president of the United States begins his four-year term of office at noon on the twentieth day of January following the election, and, by tradition, takes the oath of office during an inauguration on that date; prior to 1937 the president's term of office began on March 4. If January 20 falls on a Sunday, the president will be sworn in that day by taking the oath privately, but will then re-take the oath in a public ceremony the next day, on January 21.
Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency upon the death or resignation of the president. In these situations the oath of office was administered to the new president as quickly as possible, as doing so allowed the presidency to continue uninterrupted.
Administration
While the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the presidential oath of office, it has been administered by the chief justice beginning with John Adams, except following the death of a sitting president. George Washington was sworn into office during his first inauguration, on April 30, 1789, by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston. William Cranch, chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, administered the oath to Millard Fillmore on July 10, 1850, when he became president after the death of Zachary Taylor. Upon being informed of Warren Harding's death, while visiting his family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., a notary public. Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963; the only time a woman has administered the oath of office. Overall, the presidential oath has been administered by 15 chief justices (one of whom—William Howard Taft—was also a former president), one associate justice, four federal judges, two New York state judges, and one notary public.
Option of affirmation
The Constitutional language gives the option to "affirm" instead of "swear." While the reasons for this are not documented, it may relate to certain Christians, including Quakers, who apply this scripture literally: "But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation" (James 5:12, KJV). Franklin Pierce is the only president known to have used the word "affirm" rather than "swear." Herbert Hoover is often listed to have used "affirm" as well, owing to his being a Quaker, but a newsreel taken of the ceremony indicates that the words used were "solemnly swear." Richard Nixon, who was also a Quaker, swore, rather than affirmed.
Forms
There have been two forms of administering, and taking, the oath of office.
Under the first form, now in disuse, the administrator articulated the constitutional oath in the form of a question, and modifying the wording from the first to the second person, as in, "Do you, George Washington, solemnly swear ..." and then requested an affirmation. At that point a response of "I do" or "I swear" completed the oath.[citation needed]
It is believed that this was the common procedure at least until the early 20th century. In 1881, the New York Times article covering the swearing in of Chester A. Arthur, reported that he responded to the question of accepting the oath with the words, "I will, so help me God." In 1929, Time magazine reported that the Chief Justice William H. Taft began the oath uttering, "You, Herbert Hoover, do you solemnly swear ...", Hoover replied with a simple "I do."
Under the second, and current form, the administrator articulates the oath in the affirmative, and in the first person, so that the president takes the oath by repeating it verbatim.[citation needed] Franklin Roosevelt, in 1933, stood silent as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes recited the entire oath, then repeated that oath from beginning to end himself. By the time of Harry Truman's inauguration in 1949, the practice was for the chief justice to utter the oath in phrases, with the president repeating those phrases, until the oath was completed.
Use of Bibles
By convention, incoming presidents raise their right hand and place the left on a Bible while taking the oath of office. In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office with an altar Bible borrowed from the St. John's Lodge No. 1, Ancient York Masons lodge in New York, and he kissed the Bible afterward.
Subsequent presidents up to and including Harry S. Truman, followed suit in kissing the Bible, although in 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower said a prayer at the end instead. Truman, Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama each swore the oath on two Bibles.
The large leather-bound Bible used by Joe Biden had been in the Biden family since 1893.
Thomas Jefferson and Calvin Coolidge did not use a Bible in their oath-taking ceremonies. Theodore Roosevelt did not use the Bible when taking the oath in 1901, nor did John Quincy Adams, who swore on a book of law, with the intention that he was swearing on the Constitution. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in at his first inauguration on a Roman Catholic missal on Air Force One, believing it was a Bible, in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy; he swore in on a Bible at his second inauguration.
Donald Trump swore on two Bibles for his first inauguration: one given to him by his mother when he was a child, and the Lincoln Bible. These two Bibles were present at Trump's side during his second inauguration, but he did not place his hand on them.
"So help me God"
The First Congress explicitly prescribed the phrase "So help me God" in oaths under the Judiciary Act of 1789 for all U.S. judges and officers other than the president. It was prescribed even earlier under the various first state constitutions as well as by the Second Continental Congress in 1776. Although the phrase is mandatory in these oaths, the said Act also allows for the option that the phrase be omitted by the officer, in which case it would be called an affirmation instead of an oath: "Which words, so help me God, shall be omitted in all cases where an affirmation is admitted instead of an oath." In contrast, the oath of the president is the only oath specified in the Constitution. It does not include the closing phrase "So help me God," and it also allows for the optional form of an affirmation which is not considered an oath. In practice, most presidents, at least during the last century, have opted to take the oath (rather than an affirmation), to use a Bible to do so, and also to close the oath with the customary phrase.
There is currently debate as to whether or not George Washington, the first president, added the phrase to his acceptance of the oath. The earliest known source indicating Washington added "So help me God" to his acceptance, not to the oath, is attributed to Washington Irving, aged six at the time of the inauguration, and first appears 65 years after the event. The only contemporary account that repeats the oath in full, a report from the French consul, Comte de Moustier, states only the constitutional oath, without reference to Washington's adding "So help me God" to his acceptance.
The historical debate over who first used "So help me God" is marred by ignoring the two forms of giving the oath. The first, now in disuse, is when the administrator articulates the constitutional oath in the form of a question, as in, "Do you George Washington solemnly swear ...", requesting an affirmation. At that point a response of "I do" or "I swear" completes the oath. Without verbatim transcripts, the scant existing evidence shows this was the common procedure at least until the early 20th century. In 1865 the Sacramento Daily Union covered the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln finished his oath with "So help me God," and he kissed the Bible. The Daily Union account is embellished in several ways, and other newspaper accounts published nearer to the ceremony do not mention the phrase (but they do not quote the oath in any form). In 1881, the New York Times article covering the swearing in of Chester A. Arthur reported that he responded to the question of accepting the oath with the words, "I will, so help me God." In 1929, Time magazine reported that the chief justice began the oath uttering, "You, Herbert Hoover, do you solemnly swear ..." Hoover replied with a simple "I do."
A contemporaneous newspaper account of Lincoln's 1865 inauguration states that Lincoln appended the phrase "So help me God" to the oath. This newspaper report is followed by another account, provided later in the same year after Lincoln's death (April 15, 1865), that Lincoln said "So help me God" during his oath. The evidence pertaining to the 1865 inauguration is much stronger than that pertaining to Lincoln's 1861 use of the phrase. Several sources claim that Lincoln said "So help me God" at his 1861 inauguration, yet these sources were not contemporaneous to the event. During the speech, Lincoln stated that his oath was "registered in Heaven," something some have taken as indicating he likely uttered the phrase "So help me God." Conversely, there was a claim made by A. M. Milligan (a Presbyterian minister who advocated for an official Christian U.S. government) that letters were sent to Abraham Lincoln asking him to swear to God during his inaugurations, and Lincoln allegedly wrote back saying that God's name was not in the Constitution, and he could not depart from the letter of that instrument.[full citation needed]
Richard Gardiner's research published in the White House History Quarterly, November 2024, offers contemporary evidence for presidents who used the phrase going back to William Henry Harrison in 1841, and Andrew Jackson.
All federal judges and executive officers were required as early as 1789 by statute to include the phrase unless they affirmed, in which case the phrase must be omitted. Given that nearly every president-elect since President Franklin D. Roosevelt has recited the additional phrase, it is likely that the majority of presidents-elect have uttered it.
Mishaps
- In 1909, when President William Howard Taft was sworn in, Chief Justice Melville Fuller misquoted the oath, but the error was not publicized at the time. The mistake was similar to the one Taft himself would make twenty years later when, as Chief Justice, he swore in President Hoover. Recalling the incident, Taft wrote, "When I was sworn in as president by Chief Justice Fuller, he made a similar slip," and added, "but in those days when there was no radio, it was observed only in the Senate chamber where I took the oath."
- In 1925, Chief Justice Taft, himself formerly a president of the United States, administered second oath of President Calvin Coolidge saying "...the office of the President of the United States" instead of "...the office of President of the United States", then continued the oath "and that to the best of my ability" instead of "and will to the best of my ability" as well as "...protect, preserve and defend" instead of the correct order "...preserve, protect and defend".
- Again in 1929, Chief Justice Taft famously garbled the oath when he swore in President Herbert Hoover saying "...the office of the President of the United States" instead of "...the office of President of the United States", then continued the oath "and to the best of my ability" instead of "and will to the best of my ability" as well as using the words "preserve, maintain, and defend the Constitution," instead of "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution." Taft eventually acknowledged his error, but did not think it was important, and Hoover did not retake the oath. In Taft's view, his departure from the text did not invalidate the oath.
- In 1945, President Harry S. Truman's bare initial caused an unusual slip when he first became president and took the oath. At a meeting in the Cabinet Room, Chief Justice Harlan Stone, apparently mistaken about the meaning of Truman's middle initial (which is not an abbreviation but rather the whole middle name in itself), began reading the oath by saying "Do you, Harry Shipp Truman, ..." Truman responded: "I, Harry S. Truman, ..."
- In both his 1953 and 1957 inaugurations, Dwight D. Eisenhower read the line "the office of President of the United States" as "the office of the President of the United States," even as chief justices Fred Vinson (in 1953) and Earl Warren (in 1957) said the line correctly.
- In 1965, Chief Justice Earl Warren prompted Lyndon B. Johnson to say, "the Office of the Presidency of the United States."
- In 1973, President Richard Nixon added the word "and" between "preserve" and "protect," resulting in "preserve and protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Nixon had recited the line correctly during his first inauguration.
- In 2009, Chief Justice John Roberts, while administering the oath to Barack Obama, incorrectly recited part of the oath. Roberts prompted, "That I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully." Obama stopped at "execute," and waited for Roberts to correct himself. Roberts, after a false start, then followed Obama's "execute" with "faithfully," which results in "execute faithfully," which is also incorrect. Obama then repeated Roberts' initial, incorrect prompt, with the word "faithfully" after "United States." The oath was re-administered the next day by Roberts at the White House. This incident provided for the title and much of the content of Jeffrey Toobin's 2012 book, The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court.
List of ceremonies
Since the office of President of the United States came into existence in 1789 there have been 59 public swearing-in ceremonies to mark the commencement of a new four-year presidential term, plus an additional nine marking the start of a partial presidential term following the intra-term death or resignation of an incumbent president. With the 2021 inauguration of Joe Biden, the presidential oath has been taken 76 different times by 45 persons. This numerical discrepancy results chiefly from two factors: a president must take the oath at the beginning of each term of office, and, because Inauguration Day has sometimes fallen on a Sunday, five presidents have taken the oath privately before the public inauguration ceremony. In addition, three have repeated the oath as a precaution against potential later constitutional challenges.
| Date | Type | Event | Location | Oath administered by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 30, 1789 (Thursday) | Public | First inauguration of George Washington | Balcony, Federal Hall New York, New York | Robert Livingston Chancellor of New York |
| March 4, 1793 (Monday) | Second inauguration of George Washington | Senate Chamber, Congress Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | William Cushing Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court | |
| March 4, 1797 (Saturday) | Inauguration of John Adams | House Chamber, Congress Hall | Oliver Ellsworth Chief Justice of the United States | |
| March 4, 1801 (Wednesday) | First inauguration of Thomas Jefferson | Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. | John Marshall Chief Justice of the United States | |
| March 4, 1805 (Monday) | Second inauguration of Thomas Jefferson | Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1809 (Saturday) | First inauguration of James Madison | House Chamber, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1813 (Thursday) | Second inauguration of James Madison | |||
| March 4, 1817 (Tuesday) | First inauguration of James Monroe | Front steps, Old Brick Capitol | ||
| March 5, 1821 (Monday) | Second inauguration of James Monroe | House Chamber, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1825 (Friday) | Inauguration of John Quincy Adams | |||
| March 4, 1829 (Wednesday) | First inauguration of Andrew Jackson | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1833 (Monday) | Second inauguration of Andrew Jackson | House Chamber, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1837 (Saturday) | Inauguration of Martin Van Buren | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Roger B. Taney Chief Justice of the United States | |
| March 4, 1841 (Thursday) | Inauguration of William Henry Harrison | |||
| April 6, 1841 (Tuesday) | Private | Inauguration of John Tyler | Brown's Indian Queen Hotel, Washington, D.C. | William Cranch Chief Judge, U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia |
| March 4, 1845 (Tuesday) | Public | Inauguration of James K. Polk | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Roger B. Taney Chief Justice |
| March 5, 1849 (Monday) | Inauguration of Zachary Taylor | |||
| July 10, 1850 (Wednesday) | Inauguration of Millard Fillmore | House Chamber, U.S. Capitol | William Cranch Circuit Court Judge | |
| March 4, 1853 (Friday) | Inauguration of Franklin Pierce | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Roger B. Taney Chief Justice | |
| March 4, 1857 (Wednesday) | Inauguration of James Buchanan | |||
| March 4, 1861 (Monday) | First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln | |||
| March 4, 1865 (Saturday) | Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln | Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice of the United States | ||
| April 15, 1865 (Saturday) | Private | Inauguration of Andrew Johnson | Kirkwood House Hotel, Washington, D.C. | |
| March 4, 1869 (Thursday) | Public | First inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | |
| March 4, 1873 (Tuesday) | Second inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant | |||
| March 3, 1877 (Saturday) | Private | Inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes | Red Room, White House | Morrison Waite Chief Justice of the United States |
| March 5, 1877 (Monday) | Public | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1881 (Friday) | Inauguration of James A. Garfield | |||
| September 20, 1881 (Tuesday) | Private | Inauguration of Chester A. Arthur | Chester A. Arthur Home, New York, New York | John R. Brady Justice of the New York Supreme Court |
| September 22, 1881 (Thursday) | Public | The Vice President's Room, U.S. Capitol | Morrison Waite Chief Justice | |
| March 4, 1885 (Wednesday) | First inauguration of Grover Cleveland | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1889 (Monday) | Inauguration of Benjamin Harrison | Melville Fuller Chief Justice of the United States | ||
| March 4, 1893 (Saturday) | Second inauguration of Grover Cleveland | |||
| March 4, 1897 (Thursday) | First inauguration of William McKinley | Front of original Senate Wing U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1901 (Monday) | Second inauguration of William McKinley | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| September 14, 1901 (Saturday) | Private | First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt | Ansley Wilcox Home, Buffalo, New York | John R. Hazel Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York |
| March 4, 1905 (Saturday) | Public | Second inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Melville Fuller Chief Justice |
| March 4, 1909 (Thursday) | Inauguration of William Howard Taft | Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1913 (Tuesday) | First inauguration of Woodrow Wilson | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Edward D. White Chief Justice of the United States | |
| March 4, 1917 (Sunday) | Private | Second inauguration of Woodrow Wilson | The President's Room, U.S. Capitol | |
| March 5, 1917 (Monday) | Public | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| March 4, 1921 (Friday) | Inauguration of Warren G. Harding | |||
| August 3, 1923 (Friday) | Private | First inauguration of Calvin Coolidge | Coolidge Homestead, Plymouth Notch, Vermont | John Calvin Coolidge Vermont Justice of the peace |
| August 21, 1923 (Tuesday) | Willard Hotel Washington, D.C. | Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia | ||
| March 4, 1925 (Wednesday) | Public | Second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | William H. Taft Chief Justice of the United States |
| March 4, 1929 (Monday) | Inauguration of Herbert Hoover | |||
| March 4, 1933 (Saturday) | First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt | Charles E. Hughes Chief Justice of the United States | ||
| January 20, 1937 (Wednesday) | Second inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt | |||
| January 20, 1941 (Monday) | Third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt | |||
| January 20, 1945 (Saturday) | Fourth inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt | South Portico, White House | Harlan F. Stone Chief Justice of the United States | |
| April 12, 1945 (Thursday) | Private | First inauguration of Harry S. Truman | Cabinet Room, White House | |
| January 20, 1949 (Thursday) | Public | Second inauguration of Harry S. Truman | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Fred M. Vinson Chief Justice of the United States |
| January 20, 1953 (Tuesday) | First inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower | |||
| January 20, 1957 (Sunday) | Private | Second inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower | East Room, White House | Earl Warren Chief Justice of the United States |
| January 21, 1957 (Monday) | Public | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| January 20, 1961 (Friday) | Inauguration of John F. Kennedy | |||
| November 22, 1963 (Friday) | Private | First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson | Air Force One, Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas | Sarah T. Hughes Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas |
| January 20, 1965 (Wednesday) | Public | Second inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | Earl Warren Chief Justice |
| January 20, 1969 (Monday) | First inauguration of Richard Nixon | |||
| January 20, 1973 (Saturday) | Second inauguration of Richard Nixon | Warren Burger Chief Justice of the United States | ||
| August 9, 1974 (Friday) | Inauguration of Gerald Ford | East Room, White House | ||
| January 20, 1977 (Thursday) | Inauguration of Jimmy Carter | East Portico, U.S. Capitol | ||
| January 20, 1981 (Tuesday) | First inauguration of Ronald Reagan | West Front, U.S. Capitol | ||
| January 20, 1985 (Sunday) | Private | Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan | Entrance Hall, White House | |
| January 21, 1985 (Monday) | Public | Rotunda, U.S. Capitol | ||
| January 20, 1989 (Friday) | Inauguration of George H. W. Bush | West Front, U.S. Capitol | William Rehnquist Chief Justice of the United States | |
| January 20, 1993 (Wednesday) | First inauguration of Bill Clinton | |||
| January 20, 1997 (Monday) | Second inauguration of Bill Clinton | |||
| January 20, 2001 (Saturday) | First inauguration of George W. Bush | |||
| January 20, 2005 (Thursday) | Second inauguration of George W. Bush | |||
| January 20, 2009 (Tuesday) | First inauguration of Barack Obama | John Roberts Chief Justice of the United States | ||
| January 21, 2009 (Wednesday) | Private | Map Room, White House | ||
| January 20, 2013 (Sunday) | Second inauguration of Barack Obama | Blue Room, White House | ||
| January 21, 2013 (Monday) | Public | West Front, U.S. Capitol | ||
| January 20, 2017 (Friday) | First inauguration of Donald Trump | |||
| January 20, 2021 (Wednesday) | Inauguration of Joe Biden | |||
| January 20, 2025 (Monday) | Second inauguration of Donald Trump | Rotunda, U.S. Capitol | ||
| Date | Type | Event | Location | Oath administered by |
Notes
- As of 2025[update]. While there have been 47 presidencies, only 45 individuals have served as president. Two presidents have served non-consecutive terms: and thus, conventionally, Grover Cleveland is numbered as both the 22nd and 24th U.S. president, and Donald Trump is numbered as both the 45th and 47th U.S. president.
- Inaugurations sort alphabetically by president's last name.
- Term began Sunday, March 4.
- Term began when President Harrison died on April 4.
- Term began when President Taylor died on July 9.
- Term began when President Garfield died on September 19.
- Term began when President Harding died on August 2.
- Term began Sunday, January 20.
- Term began Tuesday, January 20, despite the "mishap" of the public oath being repeated correctly in private the next day.
- due to the cold weather in Washington, D.C.
See also
- Presidential Succession Act
- Oath of office of the vice president of the United States
- United States presidential transition
References
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- Larson, Edward J.; Shesol, Jeff. "Twentieth Amendment". Interactive Constitution. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Constitution Center. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
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- Benjamin Franklin Morris, ed. (1865). Memorial record of the nation's tribute to Abraham Lincoln. W. H. & O. H. Morrison. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
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- Peter Selby (1900). Anecdotal Lincoln. Thompson & Thomas. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
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- Foster, James Mitchell (1894) [1894]. Christ the King. Boston: James H. Earle. p. 277. In fact, Milligan did write to Lincoln, but his request was not that Lincoln add "so help me God" to the Oath, but rather that the name of Jesus Christ be added to the U.S. Constitution. [1]
- Foster, James Mitchell (1890). Reformation Principles Stated and Applied. Chicago and New York: F. H. Revell. pp. 234–235.[permanent dead link]
- “So Help Me God”: The Beginnings of an Inaugural Tradition by Richard Gardiner
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- McCullough, p. 347.
- "Lyndon B. Johnson Oath of Office, January 20, 1965". YouTube. 19 June 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- Williams, Pete (January 20, 2009). "About That Oath Flub". MSNBC. Archived from the original on January 21, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- File:Barack Obama Oath of Office.ogg
- "Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts' mistake". CNN. January 21, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- Obama is Sworn in for Second Time, BBC News. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- "Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- "Spiegel Grove: Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- "Chester A. Arthur House". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- "Wilson to Take Oath Sunday: First Swearing Into Office on March 4 Will Be Repeated the Following Day". The New York Times. November 15, 1916. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- Arbelbide, C. L. (Winter 2000). "Abrupt Transition". Prologue. Vol. 32, no. 4. The National Archives. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- "Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts' mistake". CNN. January 21, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- "Obama to take private oath in brief family service".
External links
- Forrest Church, Ph.D., "Did George Washington Say 'So Help Me God'?"
- Video on YouTube Video of inaugurations from Franklin D. Roosevelt – Barack H. Obama
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The oath of office of the president of the United States is the oath or affirmation that the president of the United States takes upon assuming office The wording of the oath is specified in Article II Section One Clause 8 of the United States Constitution and a new president is required to take it before exercising or carrying out any official powers or duties source source source source source source source track Chief Justice John Roberts administering the presidential oath of office to Donald Trump on January 20 2025 This clause is one of three oath or affirmation clauses in the Constitution but it is the only one that actually specifies the words that must be spoken Article I Section 3 requires Senators when sitting to try impeachments to be on Oath or Affirmation Article VI Clause 3 similarly requires the persons specified therein to be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution The presidential oath requires much more than that general oath of allegiance and fidelity This clause enjoins the new president to swear or affirm I will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States TextBefore he enter on the Execution of his Office he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States CeremonyFederal judge Sarah T Hughes administering the presidential oath of office to Lyndon B Johnson following the assassination of John F Kennedy November 22 1963 A newly elected or re elected president of the United States begins his four year term of office at noon on the twentieth day of January following the election and by tradition takes the oath of office during an inauguration on that date prior to 1937 the president s term of office began on March 4 If January 20 falls on a Sunday the president will be sworn in that day by taking the oath privately but will then re take the oath in a public ceremony the next day on January 21 Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency upon the death or resignation of the president In these situations the oath of office was administered to the new president as quickly as possible as doing so allowed the presidency to continue uninterrupted AdministrationFranklin D Roosevelt being administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes on March 4 1933 the first of Roosevelt s four presidential inaugurations While the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the presidential oath of office it has been administered by the chief justice beginning with John Adams except following the death of a sitting president George Washington was sworn into office during his first inauguration on April 30 1789 by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston William Cranch chief judge of the U S Circuit Court administered the oath to Millard Fillmore on July 10 1850 when he became president after the death of Zachary Taylor Upon being informed of Warren Harding s death while visiting his family home in Plymouth Notch Vermont Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father John Calvin Coolidge Sr a notary public Federal Judge Sarah T Hughes administered the oath of office to Lyndon B Johnson aboard Air Force One after John F Kennedy s assassination on November 22 1963 the only time a woman has administered the oath of office Overall the presidential oath has been administered by 15 chief justices one of whom William Howard Taft was also a former president one associate justice four federal judges two New York state judges and one notary public Option of affirmation The Constitutional language gives the option to affirm instead of swear While the reasons for this are not documented it may relate to certain Christians including Quakers who apply this scripture literally But above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation James 5 12 KJV Franklin Pierce is the only president known to have used the word affirm rather than swear Herbert Hoover is often listed to have used affirm as well owing to his being a Quaker but a newsreel taken of the ceremony indicates that the words used were solemnly swear Richard Nixon who was also a Quaker swore rather than affirmed Forms There have been two forms of administering and taking the oath of office Under the first form now in disuse the administrator articulated the constitutional oath in the form of a question and modifying the wording from the first to the second person as in Do you George Washington solemnly swear and then requested an affirmation At that point a response of I do or I swear completed the oath citation needed It is believed that this was the common procedure at least until the early 20th century In 1881 the New York Times article covering the swearing in of Chester A Arthur reported that he responded to the question of accepting the oath with the words I will so help me God In 1929 Time magazine reported that the Chief Justice William H Taft began the oath uttering You Herbert Hoover do you solemnly swear Hoover replied with a simple I do Under the second and current form the administrator articulates the oath in the affirmative and in the first person so that the president takes the oath by repeating it verbatim citation needed Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 stood silent as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes recited the entire oath then repeated that oath from beginning to end himself By the time of Harry Truman s inauguration in 1949 the practice was for the chief justice to utter the oath in phrases with the president repeating those phrases until the oath was completed Use of BiblesJoe Biden takes the oath of office on the Biden family Bible January 20 2021 By convention incoming presidents raise their right hand and place the left on a Bible while taking the oath of office In 1789 George Washington took the oath of office with an altar Bible borrowed from the St John s Lodge No 1 Ancient York Masons lodge in New York and he kissed the Bible afterward Subsequent presidents up to and including Harry S Truman followed suit in kissing the Bible although in 1953 Dwight D Eisenhower said a prayer at the end instead Truman Eisenhower Richard Nixon George H W Bush Barack Obama each swore the oath on two Bibles The large leather bound Bible used by Joe Biden had been in the Biden family since 1893 Thomas Jefferson and Calvin Coolidge did not use a Bible in their oath taking ceremonies Theodore Roosevelt did not use the Bible when taking the oath in 1901 nor did John Quincy Adams who swore on a book of law with the intention that he was swearing on the Constitution Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in at his first inauguration on a Roman Catholic missal on Air Force One believing it was a Bible in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of John F Kennedy he swore in on a Bible at his second inauguration Donald Trump swore on two Bibles for his first inauguration one given to him by his mother when he was a child and the Lincoln Bible These two Bibles were present at Trump s side during his second inauguration but he did not place his hand on them So help me God The First Congress explicitly prescribed the phrase So help me God in oaths under the Judiciary Act of 1789 for all U S judges and officers other than the president It was prescribed even earlier under the various first state constitutions as well as by the Second Continental Congress in 1776 Although the phrase is mandatory in these oaths the said Act also allows for the option that the phrase be omitted by the officer in which case it would be called an affirmation instead of an oath Which words so help me God shall be omitted in all cases where an affirmation is admitted instead of an oath In contrast the oath of the president is the only oath specified in the Constitution It does not include the closing phrase So help me God and it also allows for the optional form of an affirmation which is not considered an oath In practice most presidents at least during the last century have opted to take the oath rather than an affirmation to use a Bible to do so and also to close the oath with the customary phrase George H W Bush being administered the oath of office by Chief Justice William Rehnquist on January 20 1989 There is currently debate as to whether or not George Washington the first president added the phrase to his acceptance of the oath The earliest known source indicating Washington added So help me God to his acceptance not to the oath is attributed to Washington Irving aged six at the time of the inauguration and first appears 65 years after the event The only contemporary account that repeats the oath in full a report from the French consul Comte de Moustier states only the constitutional oath without reference to Washington s adding So help me God to his acceptance The historical debate over who first used So help me God is marred by ignoring the two forms of giving the oath The first now in disuse is when the administrator articulates the constitutional oath in the form of a question as in Do you George Washington solemnly swear requesting an affirmation At that point a response of I do or I swear completes the oath Without verbatim transcripts the scant existing evidence shows this was the common procedure at least until the early 20th century In 1865 the Sacramento Daily Union covered the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln Lincoln finished his oath with So help me God and he kissed the Bible The Daily Union account is embellished in several ways and other newspaper accounts published nearer to the ceremony do not mention the phrase but they do not quote the oath in any form In 1881 the New York Times article covering the swearing in of Chester A Arthur reported that he responded to the question of accepting the oath with the words I will so help me God In 1929 Time magazine reported that the chief justice began the oath uttering You Herbert Hoover do you solemnly swear Hoover replied with a simple I do A contemporaneous newspaper account of Lincoln s 1865 inauguration states that Lincoln appended the phrase So help me God to the oath This newspaper report is followed by another account provided later in the same year after Lincoln s death April 15 1865 that Lincoln said So help me God during his oath The evidence pertaining to the 1865 inauguration is much stronger than that pertaining to Lincoln s 1861 use of the phrase Several sources claim that Lincoln said So help me God at his 1861 inauguration yet these sources were not contemporaneous to the event During the speech Lincoln stated that his oath was registered in Heaven something some have taken as indicating he likely uttered the phrase So help me God Conversely there was a claim made by A M Milligan a Presbyterian minister who advocated for an official Christian U S government that letters were sent to Abraham Lincoln asking him to swear to God during his inaugurations and Lincoln allegedly wrote back saying that God s name was not in the Constitution and he could not depart from the letter of that instrument full citation needed Richard Gardiner s research published in the White House History Quarterly November 2024 offers contemporary evidence for presidents who used the phrase going back to William Henry Harrison in 1841 and Andrew Jackson All federal judges and executive officers were required as early as 1789 by statute to include the phrase unless they affirmed in which case the phrase must be omitted Given that nearly every president elect since President Franklin D Roosevelt has recited the additional phrase it is likely that the majority of presidents elect have uttered it MishapsBarack Obama being administered the oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts for the second time on January 21 2009 In 1909 when President William Howard Taft was sworn in Chief Justice Melville Fuller misquoted the oath but the error was not publicized at the time The mistake was similar to the one Taft himself would make twenty years later when as Chief Justice he swore in President Hoover Recalling the incident Taft wrote When I was sworn in as president by Chief Justice Fuller he made a similar slip and added but in those days when there was no radio it was observed only in the Senate chamber where I took the oath In 1925 Chief Justice Taft himself formerly a president of the United States administered second oath of President Calvin Coolidge saying the office of the President of the United States instead of the office of President of the United States then continued the oath and that to the best of my ability instead of and will to the best of my ability as well as protect preserve and defend instead of the correct order preserve protect and defend Again in 1929 Chief Justice Taft famously garbled the oath when he swore in President Herbert Hoover saying the office of the President of the United States instead of the office of President of the United States then continued the oath and to the best of my ability instead of and will to the best of my ability as well as using the words preserve maintain and defend the Constitution instead of preserve protect and defend the Constitution Taft eventually acknowledged his error but did not think it was important and Hoover did not retake the oath In Taft s view his departure from the text did not invalidate the oath In 1945 President Harry S Truman s bare initial caused an unusual slip when he first became president and took the oath At a meeting in the Cabinet Room Chief Justice Harlan Stone apparently mistaken about the meaning of Truman s middle initial which is not an abbreviation but rather the whole middle name in itself began reading the oath by saying Do you Harry Shipp Truman Truman responded I Harry S Truman In both his 1953 and 1957 inaugurations Dwight D Eisenhower read the line the office of President of the United States as the office of the President of the United States even as chief justices Fred Vinson in 1953 and Earl Warren in 1957 said the line correctly In 1965 Chief Justice Earl Warren prompted Lyndon B Johnson to say the Office of the Presidency of the United States In 1973 President Richard Nixon added the word and between preserve and protect resulting in preserve and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States Nixon had recited the line correctly during his first inauguration In 2009 Chief Justice John Roberts while administering the oath to Barack Obama incorrectly recited part of the oath Roberts prompted That I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully Obama stopped at execute and waited for Roberts to correct himself Roberts after a false start then followed Obama s execute with faithfully which results in execute faithfully which is also incorrect Obama then repeated Roberts initial incorrect prompt with the word faithfully after United States The oath was re administered the next day by Roberts at the White House This incident provided for the title and much of the content of Jeffrey Toobin s 2012 book The Oath The Obama White House and the Supreme Court List of ceremoniesSince the office of President of the United States came into existence in 1789 there have been 59 public swearing in ceremonies to mark the commencement of a new four year presidential term plus an additional nine marking the start of a partial presidential term following the intra term death or resignation of an incumbent president With the 2021 inauguration of Joe Biden the presidential oath has been taken 76 different times by 45 persons This numerical discrepancy results chiefly from two factors a president must take the oath at the beginning of each term of office and because Inauguration Day has sometimes fallen on a Sunday five presidents have taken the oath privately before the public inauguration ceremony In addition three have repeated the oath as a precaution against potential later constitutional challenges Date Type Event Location Oath administered by April 30 1789 Thursday Public First inauguration of George Washington Balcony Federal Hall New York New York Robert Livingston Chancellor of New York March 4 1793 Monday Second inauguration of George Washington Senate Chamber Congress Hall Philadelphia Pennsylvania William Cushing Associate Justice U S Supreme Court March 4 1797 Saturday Inauguration of John Adams House Chamber Congress Hall Oliver Ellsworth Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1801 Wednesday First inauguration of Thomas Jefferson Senate Chamber U S Capitol Washington D C John Marshall Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1805 Monday Second inauguration of Thomas Jefferson Senate Chamber U S Capitol March 4 1809 Saturday First inauguration of James Madison House Chamber U S Capitol March 4 1813 Thursday Second inauguration of James Madison March 4 1817 Tuesday First inauguration of James Monroe Front steps Old Brick Capitol March 5 1821 Monday Second inauguration of James Monroe House Chamber U S Capitol March 4 1825 Friday Inauguration of John Quincy Adams March 4 1829 Wednesday First inauguration of Andrew Jackson East Portico U S Capitol March 4 1833 Monday Second inauguration of Andrew Jackson House Chamber U S Capitol March 4 1837 Saturday Inauguration of Martin Van Buren East Portico U S Capitol Roger B Taney Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1841 Thursday Inauguration of William Henry Harrison April 6 1841 Tuesday Private Inauguration of John Tyler Brown s Indian Queen Hotel Washington D C William Cranch Chief Judge U S Circuit Court of the District of Columbia March 4 1845 Tuesday Public Inauguration of James K Polk East Portico U S Capitol Roger B Taney Chief Justice March 5 1849 Monday Inauguration of Zachary Taylor July 10 1850 Wednesday Inauguration of Millard Fillmore House Chamber U S Capitol William Cranch Circuit Court Judge March 4 1853 Friday Inauguration of Franklin Pierce East Portico U S Capitol Roger B Taney Chief Justice March 4 1857 Wednesday Inauguration of James Buchanan March 4 1861 Monday First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln March 4 1865 Saturday Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln Salmon P Chase Chief Justice of the United States April 15 1865 Saturday Private Inauguration of Andrew Johnson Kirkwood House Hotel Washington D C March 4 1869 Thursday Public First inauguration of Ulysses S Grant East Portico U S Capitol March 4 1873 Tuesday Second inauguration of Ulysses S Grant March 3 1877 Saturday Private Inauguration of Rutherford B Hayes Red Room White House Morrison Waite Chief Justice of the United States March 5 1877 Monday Public East Portico U S Capitol March 4 1881 Friday Inauguration of James A Garfield September 20 1881 Tuesday Private Inauguration of Chester A Arthur Chester A Arthur Home New York New York John R Brady Justice of the New York Supreme Court September 22 1881 Thursday Public The Vice President s Room U S Capitol Morrison Waite Chief Justice March 4 1885 Wednesday First inauguration of Grover Cleveland East Portico U S Capitol March 4 1889 Monday Inauguration of Benjamin Harrison Melville Fuller Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1893 Saturday Second inauguration of Grover Cleveland March 4 1897 Thursday First inauguration of William McKinley Front of original Senate Wing U S Capitol March 4 1901 Monday Second inauguration of William McKinley East Portico U S Capitol September 14 1901 Saturday Private First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt Ansley Wilcox Home Buffalo New York John R Hazel Judge U S District Court for the Western District of New York March 4 1905 Saturday Public Second inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt East Portico U S Capitol Melville Fuller Chief Justice March 4 1909 Thursday Inauguration of William Howard Taft Senate Chamber U S Capitol March 4 1913 Tuesday First inauguration of Woodrow Wilson East Portico U S Capitol Edward D White Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1917 Sunday Private Second inauguration of Woodrow Wilson The President s Room U S Capitol March 5 1917 Monday Public East Portico U S Capitol March 4 1921 Friday Inauguration of Warren G Harding August 3 1923 Friday Private First inauguration of Calvin Coolidge Coolidge Homestead Plymouth Notch Vermont John Calvin Coolidge Vermont Justice of the peace August 21 1923 Tuesday Willard Hotel Washington D C Adolph A Hoehling Jr Judge U S District Court for the District of Columbia March 4 1925 Wednesday Public Second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge East Portico U S Capitol William H Taft Chief Justice of the United States March 4 1929 Monday Inauguration of Herbert Hoover March 4 1933 Saturday First inauguration of Franklin D Roosevelt Charles E Hughes Chief Justice of the United States January 20 1937 Wednesday Second inauguration of Franklin D Roosevelt January 20 1941 Monday Third inauguration of Franklin D Roosevelt January 20 1945 Saturday Fourth inauguration of Franklin D Roosevelt South Portico White House Harlan F Stone Chief Justice of the United States April 12 1945 Thursday Private First inauguration of Harry S Truman Cabinet Room White House January 20 1949 Thursday Public Second inauguration of Harry S Truman East Portico U S Capitol Fred M Vinson Chief Justice of the United States January 20 1953 Tuesday First inauguration of Dwight D Eisenhower January 20 1957 Sunday Private Second inauguration of Dwight D Eisenhower East Room White House Earl Warren Chief Justice of the United States January 21 1957 Monday Public East Portico U S Capitol January 20 1961 Friday Inauguration of John F Kennedy November 22 1963 Friday Private First inauguration of Lyndon B Johnson Air Force One Dallas Love Field Dallas Texas Sarah T Hughes Judge U S District Court for the Northern District of Texas January 20 1965 Wednesday Public Second inauguration of Lyndon B Johnson East Portico U S Capitol Earl Warren Chief Justice January 20 1969 Monday First inauguration of Richard Nixon January 20 1973 Saturday Second inauguration of Richard Nixon Warren Burger Chief Justice of the United States August 9 1974 Friday Inauguration of Gerald Ford East Room White House January 20 1977 Thursday Inauguration of Jimmy Carter East Portico U S Capitol January 20 1981 Tuesday First inauguration of Ronald Reagan West Front U S Capitol January 20 1985 Sunday Private Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan Entrance Hall White House January 21 1985 Monday Public Rotunda U S Capitol January 20 1989 Friday Inauguration of George H W Bush West Front U S Capitol William Rehnquist Chief Justice of the United States January 20 1993 Wednesday First inauguration of Bill Clinton January 20 1997 Monday Second inauguration of Bill Clinton January 20 2001 Saturday First inauguration of George W Bush January 20 2005 Thursday Second inauguration of George W Bush January 20 2009 Tuesday First inauguration of Barack Obama John Roberts Chief Justice of the United States January 21 2009 Wednesday Private Map Room White House January 20 2013 Sunday Second inauguration of Barack Obama Blue Room White House January 21 2013 Monday Public West Front U S Capitol January 20 2017 Friday First inauguration of Donald Trump January 20 2021 Wednesday Inauguration of Joe Biden January 20 2025 Monday Second inauguration of Donald Trump Rotunda U S Capitol ZZZ Date ZZZ Type ZZZ Event ZZZ Location ZZZ Oath administered by Notes As of 2025 update While there have been 47 presidencies only 45 individuals have served as president Two presidents have served non consecutive terms and thus conventionally Grover Cleveland is numbered as both the 22nd and 24th U S president and Donald Trump is numbered as both the 45th and 47th U S president Inaugurations sort alphabetically by president s last name Term began Sunday March 4 Term began when President Harrison died on April 4 Term began when President Taylor died on July 9 Term began when President Garfield died on September 19 Term began when President Harding died on August 2 Term began Sunday January 20 Term began Tuesday January 20 despite the mishap of the public oath being repeated correctly in private the next day due to the cold weather in Washington D C Map showing locations where the oath of office was first taken marked with a green O or a green dot for scheduled occurrences Locations where presidencies ended unexpectedly are marked with a red X a red dot denoted scheduled transitions The nine sets of names shown in black denote the location where presidencies have ended intra term due to the incumbent s death four presidents have died of natural causes and four were assassinated names underlined in grey or resignation one noted by a superscript R The inset at the bottom of the map is Oath or Affirmation Clause Article II Section One Clause 8 of the U S Constitution See alsoPresidential Succession Act Oath of office of the vice president of the United States United States presidential transitionReferencesKesavan Vasan Essays on Article II Oath of Office The Heritage Foundation Archived from the original on April 21 2012 Retrieved July 20 2016 The Constitution of the United States of America Analysis and Interpretation Centennial Edition Interim Edition Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 26 2013 PDF Washington DC U S Government Printing Office 2013 p 13 Larson Edward J Shesol Jeff Twentieth Amendment Interactive Constitution Philadelphia Pennsylvania National Constitution Center Retrieved August 1 2019 Arbelbide C L Winter 2000 Abrupt Transition Prologue Vol 32 no 4 Washington D C National Archives Retrieved August 1 2019 Presidential Election of 1789 George Washington s Mount Vernon Mount Vernon Ladies Association Retrieved October 21 2015 George Washington s Inaugural Address The National Archives Retrieved October 4 2015 President Millard Fillmore 1850 Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Retrieved 2009 01 23 Glenn D Kittler Hail to the Chief The Inauguration Days of our Presidents 1965 page 167 Porter H Dale The Calvin Coolidge Inauguration Revisited An Eyewitness Account by Congressman Porter H Dale Vermont History 1994 Volume 62 pp 214 222 Oath Of Office To Swear Or To Affirm NPR org January 18 2009 Bendat Jim 2012 Democracy s Big Day The Inauguration of Our President 1789 2013 iUniverse pp xi 28 36 ISBN 978 1 935278 47 4 Swallow Wendy July 1 2016 Quaker Presidents and the Oath of Office renofriends org Reno Friends Quaker Meeting Retrieved December 22 2021 YouTube Archived from the original on 2021 12 22 The New Administration President Arthur Formally Inaugurated The New York Times September 23 1881 Time Magazine Mar 25 1929 Retrieved 2009 01 23 dead link Herbert Hoover Takes the Oath of Office February 6 2009 Archived from the original on 2021 12 22 via YouTube Franklin D Roosevelt Oath of office March 4th 1933 June 19 2007 Archived from the original on 2021 12 22 via YouTube Harry S Truman Oath of office January 20th 1949 June 19 2007 Archived from the original on 2021 12 22 via YouTube http www stjohns1 org portal gwib St John s Lodge No 1 Ancient York Masons Joint Congressional Committee on Inauguration Ceremonies website Inauguration of President George Washington 1789 Archived 2009 01 20 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009 02 16 McCullough David 1992 Truman New York Simon and Schuster pp 347 729 ISBN 0 671 86920 5 Harry Truman is a notable example as he bent and kissed the Bible upon taking the oath for the first time on April 12 1945 as well as at his second inauguration Inaugural fun facts Toledo OH WTOL com Retrieved 2010 08 07 Bibles Used in Inaugural Ceremonies Archived from the original on September 25 2015 Retrieved March 24 2015 a href wiki Template Cite web title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Schumaker Erin January 20 2021 The significance of the Bible Joe Biden is using on Inauguration Day abcnews go com ABC News Network Retrieved January 21 2021 Catholic Church Missal Not Bible Used By Johnson For Oath At Dallas Andrew J Glass Washington Post February 26 1967 Kennon Donald 2005 Presidential Inaugurations Past and Present Archived from the original on 2009 01 30 Retrieved 2009 01 30 Glass Andrew J February 26 1967 Catholic Church Missal Not Bible Used by Johnson for Oath at Dallas PDF The Washington Post Retrieved June 15 2014 Martinez Xavier January 20 2025 Trump Takes Oath Without Touching Bible The Wall Street Journal Retrieved January 20 2025 Chasan Aliza January 20 2025 Did Trump put his hand on the Bible at inauguration Here s what to know about the tradition CBS News Retrieved January 20 2025 Georgia Constitution of 1777 GeorgiaInfo University of Georgia Libraries Archived from the original on 2012 11 14 Retrieved 2012 11 28 Intelligence in the War of Independence Central Intelligence Agency Archived from the original on December 10 2008 Retrieved December 26 2008 Oaths of Enlistment and Oaths of Office U S Army Center of Military History Archived from the original on 10 February 2018 Retrieved 31 March 2018 Judiciary Act of 1789 Sec 7 Retrieved 2009 01 24 Peter R Henriques So Help Me God A George Washington Myth that Should Be Discarded History Bytes News Network January 12 2009 Griswold Rufus W 1855 1854 The Republican court or American society in the days of Washington New York D Appleton and Company pp 141 142 Documentary History of the First Federal Congress Vol 15 pp 404 405 Letters from Washington Inauguration Day Sacramento Daily Union April 10 1865 p 8 Retrieved December 18 2018 via California Digital Newspaper Collection The New York herald volume March 05 1865 Image 1 New York Herald 6 March 1865 Retrieved September 25 2019 via Library of Congress Chronicling America Benjamin Franklin Morris ed 1865 Memorial record of the nation s tribute to Abraham Lincoln W H amp O H Morrison Retrieved 2010 08 07 Chittenden Lucius Eugene 1904 Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration Harper amp Brothers Retrieved 2010 08 07 Peter Selby 1900 Anecdotal Lincoln Thompson amp Thomas Retrieved 2010 08 07 First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln The Avalon Project Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University Foster James Mitchell 1894 1894 Christ the King Boston James H Earle p 277 In fact Milligan did write to Lincoln but his request was not that Lincoln add so help me God to the Oath but rather that the name of Jesus Christ be added to the U S Constitution 1 Foster James Mitchell 1890 Reformation Principles Stated and Applied Chicago and New York F H Revell pp 234 235 permanent dead link So Help Me God The Beginnings of an Inaugural Tradition by Richard Gardiner A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation U S Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 1875 Inauguration of the President Facts amp Firsts U S Senate Archived from the original on January 10 2009 Retrieved December 13 2008 stupstickman 2025 01 17 President Calvin Coolidge is sworn in March 4 1925 with Audio Retrieved 2025 01 20 via YouTube Agence France Presse 2009 01 21 Chief justice leads Obama to stumble presidential oath ABS CBN News Retrieved 2010 08 07 No Problems With Today s Oath at the Supreme Court The BLT The Blog of Legal Times Legaltimes typepad com 2009 01 21 Retrieved 2010 08 07 McCullough p 347 Lyndon B Johnson Oath of Office January 20 1965 YouTube 19 June 2007 Retrieved 2009 02 01 Williams Pete January 20 2009 About That Oath Flub MSNBC Archived from the original on January 21 2009 Retrieved January 21 2009 File Barack Obama Oath of Office ogg Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts mistake CNN January 21 2013 Retrieved January 21 2009 Obama is Sworn in for Second Time BBC News Retrieved January 22 2009 Inauguration at the U S Capitol Architect of the Capitol Retrieved January 22 2017 Spiegel Grove Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Center National Park Service U S Department of the Interior Retrieved February 5 2017 Chester A Arthur House National Park Service U S Department of the Interior Retrieved February 5 2017 Wilson to Take Oath Sunday First Swearing Into Office on March 4 Will Be Repeated the Following Day The New York Times November 15 1916 Retrieved February 5 2017 Arbelbide C L Winter 2000 Abrupt Transition Prologue Vol 32 no 4 The National Archives Retrieved February 5 2017 Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts mistake CNN January 21 2009 Retrieved January 21 2009 Obama to take private oath in brief family service External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to Oath of office of the president of the United States Wikiquote has quotations related to Oath of office of the president of the United States Forrest Church Ph D Did George Washington Say So Help Me God Video on YouTube Video of inaugurations from Franklin D Roosevelt Barack H Obama