How do presidents pray? The beginning of a beautiful tradition

This morning marks the 64th annual National Prayer Breakfast and President Obama's last time attending the remarkable tradition while in office. 

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - On the first Thursday in February, the members of Congress and evangelical Christians gather together in one room for the Prayer Breakfast, originally called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. 

The event is commonly believed to have originated when President Eisenhower was invited to join a prayer circle, according to USA Today. However, the original prayer circle was created by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant and Methodist minister in the mid-1930s. In 1953, Eisenhower came to find the prayer group through Republican Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, according to Time.

So, from Eisenhower to Obama, how do presidents pray? USA Today put together excerpts from some of the most memorable Prayer Breakfast moments taken from the American Presidency Project.

Dwight Eisenhower, 1953

"Today I think that prayer is just simply a necessity, because by prayer I believe we mean an effort to get in touch with the Infinite. We know that even our prayers are imperfect. Even our supplications are imperfect. Of course they are. We are imperfect human beings. But if we can back off from those problems and make the effort, then there is something that ties us all together. We have begun in our grasp of that basis of understanding, which is that all free government is firmly founded in a deeply-felt religious faith."

John F. Kennedy, 1963

"This morning we pray together; this evening apart. But each morning and each evening, let us remember the advice of my fellow Bostonian, the Reverend Phillips Brooks: 'Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.'"

Lyndon Johnson, 1964

"In these last 70 days, prayer has helped me to bear the burdens of this first office which are too great to be borne by anyone alone.

We who hold public office are enjoined by our Constitution against enacting laws to tell the people when or where or how to pray. All our experience and all our knowledge proves that injunction is good. for, if government could ordain the people's prayers, government could also ordain its own worship--and that must never be. The separation of church and state has served our freedom well because men of state have not separated themselves from church and faith and prayer."

Richard Nixon, 1969

"In these days in which religion is not supposed to be fashionable in many quarters, in these days when skepticism and even agnosticism seems to be on the upturn, over half of all the letters that have come into our office have indicated that people of all faiths and of all nations in a very simple way are saying: 'We are praying for you, Mr. President. We are praying for this country. We are praying for the leadership that this Nation may be able to provide for this world.'

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"As I read those letters I realized how great was my responsibility and how great was your responsibility, those who share with me these days in government.

"I realize that people whom we will never meet have this deep religious faith which has run through the destiny of this land from the beginning.

"I realize that we carry on our shoulders their hopes, but more important, we are sustained by their prayers."

Gerald Ford, 1975

"Since we last met, I have discovered another aspect of the power of prayer: I have learned how important it is to have people pray for me. It is often said that the presidency is the loneliest job in the world. Yes, and in a certain sense, I suppose it is. Yet, in all honesty, I cannot say that I have suffered from loneliness these past six months.

Jimmy Carter, 1980

"The Bible says even the worst sinners love and pray for their friends, the ones who love them. And sometimes we don't go that one more step forward in growth, not on a single cataclysmic, transforming experience, but daily, and count those against whom we are alienated. At least every day, list them by name, and say, 'God, I pray for that person or those people.' 

"And you might say, 'Why in the world should I ask God for thanks - give thanks, for something that seems to me so bad or so damaging?' Well, growth in a person's life, growth for a nation, growth spiritually, all depend on our relationship with God. And the basis for that growth is an understanding of God's purpose, and a sharing of difficult responsibilities with God through prayer."

Ronald Reagan, 1984

"If you could add together the power of prayer of the people just in this room, what would be its megatonnage? And have we maybe been neglecting this and not thinking in terms of a broader basis in which we pray to be forgiven for the animus we feel towards someone in perhaps a legitimate dispute, and at the same time recognize that while the dispute will go on, we have to realize that that other individual is a child of God even as we are and is beloved by God, as we like to feel that we are."

George H.W. Bush, 1989

"And shouldn't we also remember, with all that we have to be grateful for, to pause each day to offer a prayer of thanksgiving. All of us should not attempt to fulfill the responsibilities we now have without prayer and a strong faith in God.

Bill Clinton, 1999

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"So I ask you to reflect on all we have seen and heard and felt today. I ask you to pray for peace, for the peacemakers, and for peace within each of our hearts - in silence."

George W. Bush, 2001

"I believe in the power of prayer. It's been said, 'I would rather stand against the cannons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous.' The prayers of a friend are one of life's most gracious gifts. My family and I are blessed by the prayers of countless Americans. Over the last several months, Laura and I have been touched by the number of people who come up and say, 'We pray for you.' Such comforting words. I hope Americans will continue to pray that everyone in my administration finds wisdom and always remembers the common good."

Barack Obama, 2012

"I have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment, asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong. I know that He will guide us. He always has, and He always will. And I pray his richest blessings on each of you in the days ahead."