The inflection point for presidents adding the words seems to have been the United States teetering on the brink of the First World War. In fact, up through Wilson’s private 1917 oath, the phrase was used in, at most, only two of forty oaths, about 5 percent of the time.20 Beginning with Wilson’s public 1917 oath, it was used in thirty-four of thirty-five oaths, about 97 percent of the time.21
