Washington, Jan 21: Usha Vance became the first Indian-American and Hindu Second Lady after her husband J.D. Vance was sworn in as the 50th Vice President of the US on Monday.

She held the Bible in one hand, and their daughter Mirabel Rose in the other, as Vance placed his left hand on the religious text, and raising his right hand took the oath of office.

President Donald Trump said later that Usha Vance is smarter than her husband and that he might have picked her as the Vice President.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a mentor to Usha Vance, administered the oath to her husband.

J.D. Vance was sworn in before President Donald Trump took the oath of office.

Before the Vances came to the podium, military personnel in ceremonial uniforms brought their children, Ewan Blaine, 7, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel Rose, 3, to the podium.

The boys wore formal suits, and Usha Vance was dressed in pink.

She beamed and looked admiringly at J.D. Vance as he repeated the oath after Kavanaugh.

J.D. Vance's mother, Beverly Aikins who has given up drugs, stood with the family during the ceremony.

Usha Vance is the daughter of Telugu immigrants from India, Radhakrishna "Krish" Chilukuri, an aerospace engineer, and Lakshmi Chilukuri, the provost at the University of California, San Diego.

J.D. Vance and Usha met while they were studying law at Yale University.

J.D. Vance, who came from a broken family with his mother a drug addict, and suffered poverty, credited Usha in his memoir with being his "spirit guide" who helped him navigate the Ivy League university and professional life.

Raised by his grandmother, Vance joined the military to escape the dysfunction of life in Middleton, Ohio, and got his break with admission to Yale, where he said he felt out of place.

He wrote: "In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha's presence made me feel at home."

They married in 2014.

After briefly practicing law, J.D. Vance turned to business as a venture capitalist.

Entering politics, he was elected to the Senate in 2022.

Usha Vance is a corporate litigator who left a prestigious law firm after he was named the Vice President candidate.

She worked previously as a clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Kavanaugh while he was an appeals court judge.

J.D. Vance also influenced her.

She switched her membership from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

--IANS

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