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The Oath

© Brian Tubbs

Last month, President George W. Bush raised his right hand, placed his left on the Bible, and pledged before the nation to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Most Americans view this exercise as perfunctory ceremony, but reciting the presidential oath of office, prescribed in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, is as much a requirement for becoming President as winning the election.

This truth is perhaps best seen when a Vice President takes office on the death of a President. The image of a grim Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office on a crowded airplane, alongside a shocked and grieving Jackie Kennedy remains one of the most gripping photographs in American history.

A similarly heartrending scene played out fewer than twenty years earlier as Vice President Harry Truman was rushed into a crowded Oval Office to be told by Eleanor Roosevelt that her husband was dead and the responsibility of leading the free world had now fallen on him. Truman's oath was temporarily delayed for lack of a Bible, with everyone present all too aware that, until the oath was administered, the nation was without a President.

Since George Washington has sadly lost his exclusive claim to his own February birthday, a holiday we now know as "Presidents' Day," this month presents us with a perfect time to reflect on this honored tradition, one practiced by all our nation's forty-three Presidents as well as all of the executive officers appointed by them: the oath of office.

Merriam-Webster defines an "oath" as "a solemn, usually formal, calling upon God or a god to witness to the truth of what one says, or to witness that one sincerely intends to do what one says" or "a solemn attestation of the truth or inviolability of one's words."

Nolo, an online provider of "do-it-yourself legal solutions," explains that the "best known oath is probably the witness' pledge 'to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth' during a legal proceeding." In the context of public service, Nolo points out that an oath is customary for such an official to declare that he or she will faithfully carry out his or her responsibilities.

This oath is required of every elected official in the United States of America, pursuant to federal, state, and local statutes. The most famous oath is, of course, the presidential oath, but similar oaths are required of Members of Congress, Cabinet officers, judges at every level of government, state legislators, city council members, mayors, and other local officials. It is even required of our military personnel, including yours truly recently sworn into the U.S. Army Chaplain Candidate Program.

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