On this day in 1789, in New York City, Mason George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America. The bible he took his oath of office on, was a Masonic Bible that would be used for years to come as the Bible that future presidents would use in their oath of office.

The George Washington Masonic Bible was bound in London, England in 1767; the Bible was brought to the colonies and given by Jonathan Hampton to the Saint John's Lodge in lower Manhattan, three years later when he became grand master.
Just before George Washington was to take the oath of office on the steps of the federal building in New York City on April 30, 1789, it was discovered that there was no bible on hand. Then the New York Governor Robert Livingston, as Masonic Grand Master, borrowed the lodge's bible from St. John's Lodge, which had meeting rooms just a short distance away. A statue of Washington marks the site in front of the present day Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, City.
The Bible was a London import bound in maroon Moroccan leather with silver hasps, as probably close to a year's wages for the average fellow. Despite its age and history, the lodge today puts no monetary value on the book. I guess the word is priceless, a representative said.
Other presidents placing their left hand on the Masonic Bible were Warren G. Harding in 1921, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, and Jimmy Carter in 1977. Among the six only Washington and Harding were masons. Between travels, it is maintained by the National Park Service in a protective display case at Federal Hall and is open to Genesis 49 and 50, the pages on which Washington rested his hand to be sworn in.

On April 30, 1939, the New York Worlds Fair opens in New York City. The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by Mason and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and New York Governor Herbert Lehman, ushered in the first day of Television broadcasting from New York.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, N.Y. Graduate of Harvard in 1904, and attended Columbia U. Law School, 1904-07. Practiced law in New York City from 1907-33. Was member of N.Y. state senate, 1910-13, when he resigned to become assistant secretary of the Navy, 1913-20. He was elected to governorship of New York two terms, 1929-33. He was Democratic nominee for vice president in 1920. He became president in 1933, serving until his death in 1945. Elected to four terms, he was the only president ever to serve more than two terms. A member of Holland Lodge No. 8, N.Y.C., he received his degrees, Oct. 10, Nov. 14, Nov. 28, 1911. Received the 32 Degree AASR (NJ) at Albany, N.Y. Feb. 28, 1929, while governor of N.Y. Member of Cypress Shrine Temple, Albany, N.Y.; Tri-Po-Bed Grotto, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Greenwood Forest Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Warwick, N.Y. In 1930 he was appointed representative of the Grand Lodge of Georgia near the Grand Lodge of New York. He was present and took part in the degree, when his son Elliott was raised Feb. 17, 1933 in Architect Lodge No. 519, N.Y.C., and was made and honorary member of that lodge on this occasion. He was at the time president-elect. On Nov. 7, 1935 two more sons, James and Franklin D. were raised in this lodge, and their father was present. He was an honorary member of Washington Centennial Lodge No. 14 (March 15, 1933), and Stansbury Lodge No. 24, Nov. 21, 1919, both of Washington, D.C., as well as Capitol Forest No. 104 of the Tall Cedars in that city (March 31, 1933). He was elected an honorary member of Almas Shrine Temple, Washington, D.C. on March 23, 1934. He was made honorary member of Tri-City Chapter No. 103, National Sojourners, Londonville, N.Y., on Feb. 18, 1931. During his years as president, he received many delegations of Freemasons at the White House. On April 13, 1934 he became the first honorary grand master of the Order of DeMolay. He entered the Celestial Lodge on April 12, 1945 at Warm Springs, Georgia.