Starting with FDR, presidents have appended "so help me(,) God" to the end
of the inaugural oath. Can someone parse the phrase for me? When people
say, "So help me!" they mean something like "I swear to God" or "May God
punish me if I am not telling the truth." They don't seem to mean a
supplicative "May God help me."

I would be grateful for an informed analysis of how the actual words
signify the phrase's meaning.

Dick

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