Bible in the Schools: Presidents

Presidents
Regardless of our Presidents' political positions, the Bible has been revered by the men who have held our nation's highest office.

No book of any kind ever written has ever so affected the whole of life of a people. -- President Warren G. Harding

I have but this to say, the Bible is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. -- President Abraham Lincoln

The Bible is endorsed by the ages. Our civilization is built upon its words. In no other book is there such a collection of inspired wisdom, realty, and hope. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face. The Bible can touch hearts, order minds and refresh souls.-- President Ronald Reagan

When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty. -- President Woodrow Wilson

It is necessary for the welfare of the nation that men's lives be based on the principles of the Bible. No man, educated or uneducated, can afford to be ignorant of the Bible. -- President Theodore Roosevelt

While President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was elected the first president of the Washington, D.C. public school board, which used the Bible as a reading text in the classroom.

The more profoundly we study this wonderful book [the Bible], and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation. -- President William McKinley

Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties; write its precepts on your hearts, and practice them in your lives. -- President Ulysses S. Grant

I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and pleasure. -- President Woodrow Wilson

So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens to their country and respectable members of society. -- President John Quincy Adams

We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt

As Commander-in-Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 25, 1941

I invite all Americans to discover the great inspiration and knowledge that can be obtained through thoughtful reading of the Bible. -- President George W. Bush