Two ceremonies, three Bibles for Obama's inauguration

January 19, 2013: When President Barack Obama takes the oath of office to officially begin his second term, he'll double up on ceremonies and use three Bibles. Because January 20, the day the Constitution sets for the swearing-in ceremony, falls on a Sunday this year, the president will actually take the oath twice - once officially on the 20^th in a small, private event, and ceremonially the next day on the steps of the Capitol.
The private formalities in the White House on January 20 will have the president place his left hand on his wife's family Bible while he swears the oath of office. For the public ceremony on January 21 at the Capitol, Obama will place his hand on two Bibles, stacked together - one that was owned by Abraham Lincoln and one by Martin Luther King Jr.
The federal holiday marking Rev. King's birthday falls on Jan. 21. The Lincoln Bible was purchased by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court, for Lincoln's use at his swearing-in ceremony March 4, 1861. (The 20th Amendment, ratified in 1933, moved the inauguration date to Jan. 20.) Obama used the Lincoln Bible for his inauguration ceremony in 2009. It is part of the Library of Congress collection. The Presidential Inaugural Committee said in a January 10 press release that the King Bible was used by the civil rights leader and Baptist minister when he traveled.