WASHINGTON: At his swearing-in on Friday, Donald Trump will stand before a crowd of thousands and place his hand on his own Bible and, symbolically, on that used by Abraham Lincoln 156 years before.
The president-elect´s inauguration committee on Tuesday announced that Trump would be sworn by Chief Justice John Roberts, using two books.
The first -- embossed with his name -- was given to Trump by his mother when he graduated from New York´s Sunday Church Primary School in 1955.
Trump will also place his hand on the same Bible used by Lincoln at his first inauguration ceremony in 1861.
Then, Lincoln called on a nation in the first throes of civil war to listen to the "better angels" of its nature.
Today, Trump will take charge of a country not so violently divided, but divided nonetheless.
Trump was elected after a bitter campaign that frequently turned to racial and ethnic themes.
"President-elect Trump is humbled to place his hand on Bibles that hold special meaning both to his family and to our country," said Trump´s pointman for the inauguration ceremony Tom Barrack.
The Lincoln Bible was also used by President Barack Obama when he was sworn in as America´s first black president in 2009 and then again after re-election in 2013.
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