WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will use the same Bible at his inauguration that Abraham Lincoln used for his swearing-in.
Obama will be the first president since Lincoln to use that Bible, part of the collection of the Library of Congress.
“President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in,” Presidential Inaugural Committee executive director Emmett Beliveau said Tuesday.
Obama is also tracing the train route that Lincoln took and holding a welcome event at the Lincoln Memorial ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. The burgundy velvet Bible with gilded edges was purchased and inscribed by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court. The Associated Press
