Monday, January 14, 2013

Obama to take oath using Martin Luther King’s bible

Martin Luther King jr.Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States on 21 January. As is tradition, he will do by placing one hand on the Bible. 

Four years ago, he used Abraham Lincoln’s bible; this time he will be using the black leather bible which Martin Luther King carried with him on all his journeys as a pastor, to find inspiration for his sermons and in his battle for civil rights.
 
Obama, who is the first president since 1861 to use the Lincoln Bible, will be the third to use two different bibles for his inauguration. His predecessors, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon also used two bibles. 

The Washington Post reports this is one of the many details in what looks like a complex inauguration ceremony. Details which are gradually emerging as the big day approaches.
 
King’s family issued a statement saying that he would be “deeply moved” to see Obama use the travelling Bible on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “and we hope it can be a source of strength for the President as he begins his second term.”
 
The Presidential Inaugural Commission in charge of organising the ceremony has informed that Obama and the Vice President Joe Biden will take their oath privately on 20 January, as is required by the American Constitution. 

For this first ceremony the President will use the bible belonging to the first lady’s family. 

Michele’s father, Fraser Robertson III, had given the bible to his wife on mother’s day in 1958.