Vice President-elect Mike Pence will have a special connection to a past president when he raises his right hand to be sworn in as the second in command of the United States.
The Columbus native’s left hand will rest on two Bibles of importance to him on Friday.
“I am going to be using Ronald Reagan’s Bible. I’m also going to be using one of our personal Bibles from home; it will be different than the one I used when I was inaugurated as governor,” Pence said Friday.
The Bible that Reagan — the 40th U.S. president — used for both of his presidential inaugurations was a family Bible given to him by his mother, and opened to II Chronicles 7:14, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
Reagan also used it for both of his gubernatorial inaugurations, Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said.
Pence has said previously that Reagan was a hero of his and one source of inspiration for him to go into politics — the factor for asking to use the former president’s Bible.
The Reagan family Bible belongs to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, and has been a permanent display at the presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, California, Lotter said.
The vice president-elect was at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last year, making a speech there Sept. 8.
Pence’s inauguration will be the first time the Reagan family Bible has been outside of the Reagan family or foundation’s possession, and one of Reagan’s top aides is transporting the Bible to Washington, D.C., Lotter said.
Both Bibles will both be opened and stacked on top of each other, Pence said.
The person who will administer his oath of office is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“I’m incredibly honored that he accepted. He’s in his 25th year on the Supreme Court and has developed an extraordinary judicial record,” Pence said.
