Thursday, January 22, 2009

A Second Time with No Bible

Barack Obama took the oath office a second time from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts - but this time with no Bible. The oath was administered again because Roberts fumbled the wording of the oath the first time on the steps of the Capitol. The change in wording caused Obama to pause during the ceremony

Roberts said, "I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully" when he should have said "I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States."

Obama is the third president to retake the oath because of concerns over the initial swearing-in. The other two re-takers were Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge.

Arthur took over after the assassination James Garfield. He took the oath the first time in a private ceremony but that was followed later by a public one at the Supreme Court.

Coolidge took the oath after Warren Harding died. His father, a justice of the peace, administered it at his home Vermont home. There were questions about whether Coolidge's father was authorized to administer the oath, so Coolidge took it a second time later in Washington.

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