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
Oath of office of the President of the United States be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation" (James 5:12, KJV). Franklin Pierce was the only president known to use 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, also swore, rather than affirmed. 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