Talk:President of the United States oath of office
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[edit] Merge with Oath of office
These pages repeat each other; I think the United States section of Oath of office should be merged with President of the United States oath of office. Philip Stevens 10:34, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
- Merge, BUT!, I think that President of the United States oath of office should become a redirect to oath of office. (I have put a copy of this discussion on the other page) 10:42, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Claim that all have sworn on a bible
Someone had claimed that all presidents had sworn on a Bible and said the words Washington added. I found a counterexample (Roosevelt) so I've revised the language here. I also added the Nixon reference about using two bibles and added a source in the See Also section for both of my claims. There are disagreemnts of the religion of several of the Presidents, and not all oaths were taken in public, so there are few witnesses to those occasions. For instance, Coolidge was sworn by his father (a notary public) in his father's house in Vermont. For many of the presidents who are attributed with swearing on bibles, nothing is known about those bibles, leading me to wonder whether they actually used a bible. --Dbackeberg
[edit] "as is customary in the united states"
I want to see a citation claiming that "so help me God" is "customary". I'm yanking the sentence that says "so help me God" wasn't something Washington just made up on the spot. --Dbackeberg
The claim that 'George Washington added the words "so help me God" at the end of the oath.' is false. GW did not append shmG in either his 1st or 2nd inauguration, nor did John Adams. Chester Arthur did but few if any presidents before him did. See http://www.nonbeliever.org/commentary/shmG.html
[edit] John Tyler
What evidence is there that John Tyler affirmed? Hoover was a Quaker and so affirmed. A fair bit of evidence that Pierce also affirmed but I can't find anything that states Tyler affirmed that I would trust. --Erp 02:13, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Becomes President when?
This article suggests, a President-elect or a Vice President (upon a President's death, resignation or removal from office), can't become President until taking the oath. If that's the case, every 4 years for about 15-30 minutes, the US Presidency is vacant (President-elects & re-elects don't take their oath at EXACTLY Noon EST [when the term begins], but rather minutes later). Furthermore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Chester A. Arthur, all took their Presidential Oaths of office hours (into the next day) after having assumed the Presidency. GoodDay 23:22, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Question
Can somebody put the difference between affirming the oath and swearing it, i.e., why it matters, if at all? I don't know it, but I'd like to see it.
- Legally, swearing and affirming are equivalent, but the difference is a matter of sensitivity to religious diversity. Some Christian traditions hold the admonition of Jesus to simply "let your yea be yea" forbids swearing oaths. The Founders did not want this requirement for office to be a religious test. It's common in U.S. law to allow an "or affirm" option. Jonathunder 02:52, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
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- Note also that you are not 'affirming the oath'. There is a choice between 'oath' which requires swearing and 'affirmation' for which one simply affirms.--Erp 00:56, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
