As he took the oath of office on Monday, January 20, U.S. President Donald Trump lifted his right hand without touching the two Bibles his wife, Melania, was holding at his side with his left.
The most popular Google search among Americans were in relation to Trump's refusal to touch the Bible on Monday afternoon,.
During his first inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, Trump placed his right hand atop two Bibles held by the first lady as Roberts swore him in as the 45th president.
On Monday, January 20, Trump took the oath of office right after Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh swore in Vice President JD Vance.
While his wife, Usha Vance, cradled one of their three children, Vance placed his right hand on a Bible as he took the oath of office.
However, Trump decided to put his hand by his side rather than on the Bible when it was his turn.
Trump is the first president in more than a century to take the oath of office without touching a holy book, but he is not the first.
The Bible was not present when at least four presidents took the oath.
According to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, John Quincy Adams, the country's sixth president, took the oath of office in 1825 while reading a legal text. The committee also claims that when President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1901 following the assassination of President William McKinley, he did not use a Bible.
In the wake of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One by placing his left hand on a Catholic missal, or prayer book, according to the LBJ Presidential Library.
Below are photos of past Presidents with their hand on the Bible during oath-taking.
