On April 30, 1789, the 225th anniversary of George
Washington’s first inaugural ceremony, K. C. Davis posted a promotional blog
for the September 2012 edition of his book, Don’t Know Much About George Washington’s Fashion Statement..
Here’s a snippet:
For the inauguration he was dressed in a brown
suit, white silk stockings, and shoes with silver buckles, and he carried a
sword. The suit cloth was made in a mill in Hartford, Connecticut, and
Washington had said that he hoped it would soon be “unfashionable for agentleman to appear in any other dress” than one of American manufacture.
Standing on the second- floor balcony, the
“Father of Our Country” took the oath of office on a Masonic Bible. Legend has
it that he kissed the Bible and said, “So help me God”— words not required by
the Constitution.
1 comment:
K.C. Davis got it wrong about GW having kissed the Bible.
It's safe to say that Washington did kiss the Bible. For one thing GW's kissing the Bible was reported in the contemporary press (see here).
Secondly, when New York State Chancellor Robert Livingston administered the presidential oath he did so in a fashion that met the requirements prescribed by New York State statute, so that the oath taker would hold his hand on a bible during recitation of the oath, and kiss it on completion (see here).
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