Which U.S. presidents did not use a Bible at their inaugurations and why?
Executive summary
A small but notable group of U.S. presidents did not place their hand on a Bible when taking the presidential oath, for reasons that cluster into three categories: unclear or undocumented early ceremonies, conscious secular principle, and emergency or logistical necessity; the chief examples cited by historians and reportage are John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Calvin Coolidge, with several early presidents’ Bible use remaining uncertain in the historical record [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. The evidence for some early presidents is fragmentary, and accounts vary across reputable sources, so any list beyond the well-documented modern exceptions should be treated as interpretive, not exhaustive [6] [5].
1. Early presidents and the documentary gap: why we can’t always say a Bible was used
Researchers note that inauguration practices in the 18th and early 19th centuries were not consistently recorded, so historians cannot definitively say a Bible was used at every early swearing-in; scholars such as Michael Nelson stress that for many presidents up through James K. Polk the presence of a Bible is not provable even though later tradition assumes it, and the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies lists no Bible for several early presidents including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Quincy Adams in some instances [6] [5]. That documentary uncertainty means accounts that claim “every president used a Bible except three” oversimplify the fragmentary primary record [6].
2. John Quincy Adams: a law volume as a deliberate civic choice
John Quincy Adams is the clearest substantive example of a president who deliberately used a non‑biblical text—he took the oath on a volume of U.S. laws rather than a Bible at his 1825 inauguration—an act reported repeatedly in historical summaries and popular treatments and presented as a statement that law, not scripture, governed his assumption of office [7] [2] [8]. That choice aligns with early‑Republic debates about the appropriate role of religion in civic ceremony, and contemporary sources and historians treat Adams’s use of a law book as intentional rather than accidental [7].
3. Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge: emergency, haste, and regional custom
Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in hurriedly after William McKinley’s assassination and contemporaneous recollections suggest no Bible was used in that immediate, improvised oath—witnesses such as the owner of the Wilcox Mansion later recalled Roosevelt raised his hand without a Bible present [1] [9]. Calvin Coolidge’s first oath, administered at his family home by his father (a notary public), also lacked a formal Bible use: Coolidge later explained that although his mother’s Bible lay on the table, Vermont and Massachusetts practice and his New England Puritan roots did not require placing the hand on the book during an oath [4] [10]. Both cases illustrate non‑religious causes—urgency and local custom—rather than overt secular protest.
4. Lyndon B. Johnson: the missal on Air Force One and exigent circumstances
Lyndon B. Johnson’s first swearing‑in came hours after President Kennedy’s assassination aboard Air Force One; the book used was a Roman Catholic missal found on the plane, and Johnson reportedly assumed it was a Bible—this substitution is one of the clearest modern instances where necessity drove the deviation from the common Bible ritual [3] [2]. The episode underscores that the Constitution requires the oath’s words but places no textual requirement on what an oath may be laid upon, a legal point stressed by historians and civil‑liberty commentators [3] [10].
5. Motives, myths and debates: separation of church and state and the weight of tradition
Some presidents—most notably Thomas Jefferson in popular narratives and John Quincy Adams in practice—are associated with principle‑based nonuse because of strong commitments to separation of church and state, while others skipped the Bible for practical reasons; yet many claims about who “didn’t use a Bible” rest on spotty records or later interpretation, and different sources produce different lists, reflecting alternative agendas: religious‑tradition boosters emphasize continuity while secularists highlight exceptions to stress constitutional neutrality [4] [5] [6]. Where the documentary record is thin, reporting necessarily relies on secondary accounts and institutional lists that can diverge, so definitive claims beyond the modern, well‑documented cases should be hedged [6] [5].