Oath of office of the President of the United States with the president-elect repeating those phrases, until the oath was completed. By convention, incoming presidents raise their right hand and place the left on a Bible or other book 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 Truman, followed suit. Dwight Eisenhower broke that tradition in 1953 when he said a prayer instead of kissing the Bible. Theodore Roosevelt did not
White House travel office controversy Office had never been investigated by the media due to its close relationship with press corps members and the plush accommodations it afforded them and favors it did for them. (Congress would later discover that in October 1988, a whistleblower within the Travel Office had alleged financial improprieties; the Reagan White House counsel looked into the claim but took no action.) Republicans and other critics saw the events differently. They alleged that friends of President Bill Clinton, including his third cousin Catherine Cornelius, had sought the firings in order to get the business for themselves. Dale and his staff had