Did GW or other early presidents say, So Help Me God" when they were sworn in?
The oath of office for United States president, as specified in Article II the constitution, does not include the phrase "so help me God." Contrary to the Architect of the Capital description of President Washington's Inaugural, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Donald R. Kennon, Chief Historian, United States Capitol Historical Society, Dr. Marvin Kranz of the Library of Congress , the Public Broadcasting Service Online Newshour , the CNN Presidential Inaugural Timeline , the WETA Explore DC, the BBC Guide to 2001 inauguration ceremony, the History News Network, the C-SPAN in the classroom, Chief Justice Rehnquist writing for the majority in ELK GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DIST. V. NEWDOW, and Justice Scalia's dissent in McCREARY COUNTY, KENTUCKY, et al., PETITIONERS v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY et al. and many others, there appears to be no reliably corroborated contemporary evidence that any president (excluding Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy) voluntarily appended those words to the oath of office until Chester A Arthur's 1881 inauguration Perley's reminiscences of sixty years in the national metropolis Poore, Benjamin Perley, 1820-1887. Philadelphia: Hubbard, c1886. Pages 428-429. Both the New York Times (page 5) and the Washington Post of September 23, 1881 and many other newspapers reported that Chester Arthur appended those words to his Oath of Office.
Several educational websites, after being alerted about this lack of historical evidence, have removed the unsubstantiated claim that GW appended shmG, including websites sponsored by the White House Historical Association, U. S. Capitol Historical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Shenandoah Caverns & American Celebration on Parade. Dr. Juretta Jordan Hecksher, a Library of Congress’s Digital Reference Team employee, wrote in an email that a colleague of hers at the LoC, Kenneth Drexler, after researching this issue, wrote "The question was whether or not there is primary-source evidence that Washington said 'so help me, God' in 1789. The short answer is that I could find no evidence that he did." A reproduction of the email can be found on History is Elementary Blog, November 12, 2006. The revelation that "so help me God" is another George Washington myth is slowly going public and spreading. One of the earliest internet logs to post on this topic is Boston 1775 blog, October 14, 2006 and a third blog to cover this topic is Positive Liberty blog, November 24, 2006. Hopefully, more action will be taken to correct the historical record on web sites, in future books and statements of historians, comments by Supreme Court Justices, and maybe even politicans. Share this So help me God video by Mike Newdow to help spread the word....
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Several educational websites, after being alerted about this lack of historical evidence, have removed the unsubstantiated claim that GW appended shmG, including websites sponsored by the White House Historical Association, U. S. Capitol Historical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Shenandoah Caverns & American Celebration on Parade. Dr. Juretta Jordan Hecksher, a Library of Congress’s Digital Reference Team employee, wrote in an email that a colleague of hers at the LoC, Kenneth Drexler, after researching this issue, wrote "The question was whether or not there is primary-source evidence that Washington said 'so help me, God' in 1789. The short answer is that I could find no evidence that he did." A reproduction of the email can be found on History is Elementary Blog, November 12, 2006. The revelation that "so help me God" is another George Washington myth is slowly going public and spreading. One of the earliest internet logs to post on this topic is Boston 1775 blog, October 14, 2006 and a third blog to cover this topic is Positive Liberty blog, November 24, 2006. Hopefully, more action will be taken to correct the historical record on web sites, in future books and statements of historians, comments by Supreme Court Justices, and maybe even politicans. Share this So help me God video by Mike Newdow to help spread the word....
[Embedded links to cited sources may be found in the original.]