INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
John F. Kennedy
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1961
***
Heavy snow fell the night before the inauguration, but thoughts
about cancelling the plans were overruled. The election of 1960
had been close, and the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts was
eager to gather support for his agenda. He attended Holy Trinity
Catholic Church in Georgetown that morning before joining
President Eisenhower to travel to the Capitol. The Congress had
extended the East Front, and the inaugural platform spanned the
new addition. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice
Earl Warren. Robert Frost read one of his poems at the ceremony.
***
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President
Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend
clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party,
but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a
beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn
I before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears l
prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands
the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of
human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our
forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief
that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state,
but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first
revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to
friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new
generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient
heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of
those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed,
and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we
shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and
the success of liberty.
This much we pledge--and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share,
we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little
we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is
little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at
odds and split asunder.
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we
pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have
passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We
shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we
shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own
freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly
sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe
struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best
efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is
required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because
we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society
cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are
rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special
pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new
alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in
casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of
hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our
neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression
or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power
know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own
house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations,
our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far
outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of
support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for
invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and
to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary,
we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew
the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction
unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental
self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are
sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they
will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take
comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the
cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread
of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain
balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.
So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is
not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to
negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of
belaboring those problems which divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise
proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the
absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control
of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of
its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the
deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage
the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the
command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the
oppressed go free."
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of
suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a
new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are
just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it
be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this
Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest
the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was
founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give
testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans
who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms,
though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we
are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle,
year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man:
tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance,
North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful
life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum
danger. I do not shank from this responsibility--I welcome it. I
do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other
people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the
devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country
and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light
the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for
you--ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for
you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the
world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice
which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead
the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing
that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Lyndon Baines Johnson
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1965
***
President Johnson had first taken the oath of office on board Air
Force One on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was
assassinated in Dallas. The election of 1964 was a landslide
victory for the Democratic Party. Mrs. Johnson joined the
President on the platform on the East Front of the Capitol; she
was the first wife to stand with her husband as he took the oath
of office. The oath was administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Leontyne Price sang at the ceremony.
***
My fellow countrymen, on this occasion, the oath I have taken
before you and before God is not mine alone, but ours together. We
are one nation and one people. Our fate as a nation and our future
as a people rest not upon one citizen, but upon all citizens.
This is the majesty and the meaning of this moment.
For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history
decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own.
Even now, a rocket moves toward Mars. It reminds us that the world
will not be the same for our children, or even for ourselves m a
short span of years. The next man to stand here will look out on a
scene different from our own, because ours is a time of change--
rapid and fantastic change bearing the secrets of nature,
multiplying the nations, placing in uncertain hands new weapons
for mastery and destruction, shaking old values, and uprooting old
ways.
Our destiny in the midst of change will rest on the unchanged
character of our people, and on their faith.
THE AMERICAN COVENANT
They came here--the exile and the stranger, brave but frightened--
to find a place where a man could be his own man. They made a
covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty,
bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all
mankind; and it binds us still. If we keep its terms, we shall
flourish.
JUSTICE AND CHANGE
First, justice was the promise that all who made the journey would
share in the fruits of the land.
In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless
poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go
hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer
and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars,
young people must be taught to read and write.
For the more than 30 years that I have served this Nation, I have
believed that this injustice to our people, this waste of our
resources, was our real enemy. For 30 years or more, with the
resources I have had, I have vigilantly fought against it. I have
learned, and I know, that it will not surrender easily.
But change has given us new weapons. Before this generation of
Americans is finished, this enemy will not only retreat--it will
be conquered.
Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his
fellow, saying, "His color is not mine," or "His beliefs are
strange and different," in that moment he betrays America, though
his forebears created this Nation.
LIBERTY AND CHANGE
Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self-
government. It was our Bill of Rights. But it was more. America
would be a place where each man could be proud to be himself:
stretching his talents, rejoicing in his work, important in the
life of his neighbors and his nation.
This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth
seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men. We
must work to provide the knowledge and the surroundings which can
enlarge the possibilities of every citizen.
The American covenant called on us to help show the way for the
liberation of man. And that is today our goal. Thus, if as a
nation there is much outside our control, as a people no stranger
is outside our hope.
Change has brought new meaning to that old mission. We can never
again stand aside, prideful in isolation. Terrific dangers and
troubles that we once called "foreign" now constantly live among
us. If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled,
in countries we barely know, that is the price that change has
demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant.
Think of our world as it looks from the rocket that is heading
toward Mars. It is like a child's globe, hanging in space, the
continents stuck to its side like colored maps. We are all fellow
passengers on a dot of earth. And each of us, in the span of time,
has really only a moment among our companions.
How incredible it is that in this fragile existence, we should
hate and destroy one another. There are possibilities enough for
all who will abandon mastery over others to pursue mastery over
nature. There is world enough for all to seek their happiness in
their own way.
Our Nation's course is abundantly clear. We aspire to nothing that
belongs to others. We seek no dominion over our fellow man. but
man's dominion over tyranny and misery.
But more is required. Men want to be a part of a common
enterprise--a cause greater than themselves. Each of us must find
a way to advance the purpose of the Nation, thus finding new
purpose for ourselves. Without this, we shall become a nation of
strangers.
UNION AND CHANGE
The third article was union. To those who were small and few
against the wilderness, the success of liberty demanded the
strength of union. Two centuries of change have made this true
again.
No longer need capitalist and worker, farmer and clerk, city and
countryside, struggle to divide our bounty. By working shoulder to
shoulder, together we can increase the bounty of all. We have
discovered that every child who learns, every man who finds work,
every sick body that is made whole--like a candle added to an
altar--brightens the hope of all the faithful.
So let us reject any among us who seek to reopen old wounds and to
rekindle old hatreds. They stand in the way of a seeking nation.
Let us now join reason to faith and action to experience, to
transform our unity of interest into a unity of purpose. For the
hour and the day and the time are here to achieve progress without
strife, to achieve change without hatred--not without difference
of opinion, but without the deep and abiding divisions which scar
the union for generations.
THE AMERICAN BELIEF
Under this covenant of justice, liberty, and union we have become
a nation--prosperous, great, and mighty. And we have kept our
freedom. But we have no promise from God that our greatness will
endure. We have been allowed by Him to seek greatness with the
sweat of our hands and the strength of our spirit.
I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered,
changeless, and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the
excitement of becoming--always becoming, trying, probing, falling,
resting, and trying again--but always trying and always gaining.
In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our
heritage again.
If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we
learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom
asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest
on those who are most favored.
If we succeed, it will not be because of what we have, but it will
be because of what we are; not because of what we own, but, rather
because of what we believe.
For we are a nation of believers. Underneath the clamor of
building and the rush of our day's pursuits, we are believers in
justice and liberty and union, and in our own Union. We believe
that every man must someday be free. And we believe in ourselves.
Our enemies have always made the same mistake. In my lifetime--in
depression and in war--they have awaited our defeat. Each time,
from the secret places of the American heart, came forth the faith
they could not see or that they could not even imagine. It brought
us victory. And it will again.
For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert
and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and
the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We
say "Farewell." Is a new world coming? We welcome it--and we will
bend it to the hopes of man.
To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close
friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road,
and to all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat
today what I said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will
lead and I will do the best I can."
But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and
to the old dream. They will lead you best of all.
For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give
me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before
this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?"
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Richard Milhous Nixon
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969
***
An almost-winner of the 1960 election, and a close winner of the
1968 election, the former Vice President and California Senator
and Congressman had defeated the Democratic Vice President, Hubert
Humphrey, and the American Independent Party candidate, George
Wallace. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office
for the fifth time. The President addressed the large crowd from a
pavilion on the East Front of the Capitol. The address was
televised by satellite around the world.
***
Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President
Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow
citizens of the world community:
I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment. In
the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps
us free.
Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique.
But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are
set that shape decades or centuries.
This can be such a moment.
Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time,
the hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be
realized. The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate,
within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken
centuries.
In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new
horizons on earth.
For the first time, because the people of the world want peace,
and the leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on
the side of peace.
Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary
as a nation. Within the lifetime of most people now living,
mankind will celebrate that great new year which comes only once
in a thousand years--the beginning of the third millennium.
What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live
in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours
to determine by our actions and our choices.
The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.
This honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world
at last out of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of
peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.
If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that
we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for
mankind.
This is our summons to greatness.
I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.
The second third of this century has been a time of proud
achievement. We have made enormous strides in science and industry
and agriculture. We have shared our wealth more broadly than ever.
We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its
continued growth.
We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its
promise real for black as well as for white.
We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today. I know
America's youth. I believe in them. We can be proud that they are
better educated, more committed, more passionately driven by
conscience than any generation in our history.
No people has ever been so close to the achievement of a just and
abundant society, or so possessed of the will to achieve it.
Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our
weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope.
Standing in this same place a third of a century ago, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and
gripped in fear. He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles:
"They concern, thank God, only material things."
Our crisis today is the reverse.
We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit;
reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into
raucous discord on earth.
We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division,
wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment.
We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.
To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.
To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.
When we listen to "the better angels of our nature," we find that
they celebrate the simple things, the basic things--such as
goodness, decency, love, kindness.
Greatness comes in simple trappings.
The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to
surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.
To lower our voices would be a simple thing.
In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of
words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can
deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds;
from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one
another--until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be
heard as well as our voices.
For its part, government will listen. We will strive to listen in
new ways--to the voices of quiet anguish, the voices that speak
without words, the voices of the heart--to the injured voices, the
anxious voices, the voices that have despaired of being heard.
Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.
Those left behind, we will help to catch up.
For all of our people, we will set as our goal the decent order
that makes progress possible and our lives secure.
As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build on what has
gone before--not turning away from the old, but turning toward the
new.
In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws,
spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our
previous history.
In pursuing our goals of full employment, better housing,
excellence in education; in rebuilding our cities and improving
our rural areas; in protecting our environment and enhancing the
quality of life--in all these and more, we will and must press
urgently forward.
We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can be transferred
from the destruction of war abroad to the urgent needs of our
people at home.
The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.
But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.
Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist
the legions of the concerned and the committed.
What has to be done, has to be done by government and people
together or it will not be done at all. The lesson of past agony
is that without the people we can do nothing; with the people we
can do everything.
To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the energies of our
people--enlisted not only in grand enterprises, but more
importantly in those small, splendid efforts that make headlines
in the neighborhood newspaper instead of the national journal.
With these, we can build a great cathedral of the spirit--each of
us raising it one stone at a time, as he reaches out to his
neighbor, helping, caring, doing.
I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease. I do not call for a
life of grim sacrifice. I ask you to join in a high adventure--one
as rich as humanity itself, and as exciting as the times we live
in.
The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of
his own destiny.
Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is
truly whole.
The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents; we achieve
nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.
As we measure what can be done, we shall promise only what we know
we can produce, but as we chart our goals we shall be lifted by
our dreams.
No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward
at all is to go forward together.
This means black and white together, as one nation, not two. The
laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is to give
life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born
equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before
man.
As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go
forward together with all mankind.
Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown, make it welcome;
where peace is fragile, make it strong; where peace is temporary,
make it permanent.
After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of
negotiation.
Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of
communication will be open.
We seek an open world--open to ideas, open to the exchange of
goods and people--a world in which no people, great or small, will
live in angry isolation.
We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to
make no one our enemy.
Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a peaceful
competition--not in conquering territory or extending dominion,
but in enriching the life of man.
As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds
together--not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new
adventure to be shared.
With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the
burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift up
the poor and the hungry.
But to all those who would be tempted by weakness, let us leave no
doubt that we will be as strong as we need to be for as long as we
need to be.
Over the past twenty years, since I first came to this Capital as
a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of the nations of the
world.
I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great
forces, the hatreds, the fears that divide the world.
I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there
is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged
diplomacy.
I also know the people of the world.
I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the pain of a man
wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who has lost her son. I
know these have no ideology, no race.
I know America. I know the heart of America is good.
I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my country, the deep
concern we have for those who suffer, and those who sorrow.
I have taken an oath today in the presence of God and my
countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United
States. To that oath I now add this sacred commitment: I shall
consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can
summon, to the cause of peace among nations.
Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:
The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but
the peace that comes "with healing in its wings"; with compassion
for those who have suffered; with understanding for those who have
opposed us; with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth
to choose their own destiny.
Only a few short weeks ago, we shared the glory of man's first
sight of the world as God sees it, as a single sphere reflecting
light in the darkness.
As the Apollo astronauts flew over the moon's gray surface on
Christmas Eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of earth--and in
that voice so clear across the lunar distance, we heard them
invoke God's blessing on its goodness.
In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald
MacLeish to write:
"To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in
that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as
riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness
in the eternal cold--brothers who know now they are truly
brothers."
In that moment of surpassing technological triumph, men turned
their thoughts toward home and humanity--seeing in that far
perspective that man's destiny on earth is not divisible; telling
us that however far we reach into the cosmos, our destiny lies not
in the stars but on Earth itself, in our own hands, in our own
hearts.
We have endured a long night of the American spirit. But as our
eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse
the remaining dark. Let us gather the light.
Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of
opportunity. So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness--
and, "riders on the earth together," let us go forward, firm in
our faith, steadfast in our purpose, cautious of the dangers; but
sustained by our confidence in the will of God and the promise of
man.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Richard Milhous Nixon
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1973
***
The election of 1972 consolidated the gains that the President had
made with the electorate in 1968. Although the Democratic Party
maintained majorities in the Congress, the presidential ambitions
of South Dakota Senator George McGovern were unsuccessful. The
oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger on
a pavilion erected on the East Front of the Capitol.
***
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Senator Cook,
Mrs. Eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good
country we share together:
When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit,
depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of
destructive conflict at home.
As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of
peace in the world.
The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace?
Let us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be
what other postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat
and isolation that leads to stagnation at home and invites new
danger abroad.
Let us resolve that this will be what it can become: a time of
great responsibilities greatly borne, in which we renew the spirit
and the promise of America as we enter our third century as a
nation.
This past year saw far-reaching results from our new policies for
peace. By continuing to revitalize our traditional friendships,
and by our missions to Peking and to Moscow, we were able to
establish the base for a new and more durable pattern of
relationships among the nations of the world. Because of America's
bold initiatives, 1972 will be long remembered as the year of the
greatest progress since the end of World War II toward a lasting
peace in the world.
The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is
merely an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for
generations to come.
It is important that we understand both the necessity and the
limitations of America's role in maintaining that peace.
Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no
peace.
Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no
freedom.
But let us clearly understand the new nature of America's role, as
a result of the new policies we have adopted over these past four
years.
We shall respect our treaty commitments.
We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the
right to impose its will or rule on another by force.
We shall continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the
limitation of nuclear arms, and to reduce the danger of
confrontation between the great powers.
We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world.
But we shall expect others to do their share.
The time has passed when America will make every other nation's
conflict our own, or make every other nation's future our
responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how
to manage their own affairs.
Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own
future, we also recognize the responsibility of each nation to
secure its own future.
Just as America's role is indispensable in preserving the world's
peace, so is each nation's role indispensable in preserving its
own peace.
Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move
forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring
down the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too
long, and to build in their place bridges of understanding--so
that despite profound differences between systems of government,
the people of the world can be friends.
Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak
are as safe as the strong--in which each respects the right of the
other to live by a different system--in which those who would
influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and
not by the force of their arms.
Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but
gladly--gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the
noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage; gladly, also,
because only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities
abroad will we remain a great Nation, and only if we remain a
great Nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at
home.
We have the chance today to do more than ever before in our
history to make life better in America--to ensure better
education, better health, better housing, better transportation, a
cleaner environment--to restore respect for law, to make our
communities more livable--and to insure the God-given right of
every American to full and equal opportunity.
Because the range of our needs is so great--because the reach of
our opportunities is so great--let us be bold in our determination
to meet those needs in new ways.
Just as building a structure of peace abroad has required turning
away from old policies that failed, so building a new era of
progress at home requires turning away from old policies that have
failed.
Abroad, the shift from old policies to new has not been a retreat
from our responsibilities, but a better way to peace.
And at home, the shift from old policies to new will not be a
retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to progress.
Abroad and at home, the key to those new responsibilities lies in
the placing and the division of responsibility. We have lived too
long with the consequences of attempting to gather all power and
responsibility in Washington.
Abroad and at home, the time has come to turn away from the
condescending policies of paternalism--of "Washington knows best."
A person can be expected to act responsibly only if he has
responsibility. This is human nature. So let us encourage
individuals at home and nations abroad to do more for themselves,
to decide more for themselves. Let us locate responsibility in
more places. Let us measure what we will do for others by what
they will do for themselves.
That is why today I offer no promise of a purely governmental
solution for every problem. We have lived too long with that false
promise. In trusting too much in government, we have asked of it
more than it can deliver. This leads only to inflated
expectations, to reduced individual effort, and to a
disappointment and frustration that erode confidence both in what
government can do and in hat people can do.
Government must learn to take less from people so that people an
do more for themselves.
Let us remember that America was built not by government, but by
people--not by welfare, but by work--not by shirking
responsibility, but by seeking responsibility.
In our own lives, let each of us ask--not just what will
government do for me, but what can I do for myself?
In the challenges we face together, let each of us ask--not just
how can government help, but how can I help?
Your National Government has a great and vital role to play. And I
pledge to you that where this Government should act, we will act
boldly and we will lead boldly. But just as important is the role
that each and every one of us must play, as an individual and as a
member of his own community.
From this day forward, let each of us make a solemn commitment in
his own heart: to bear his responsibility, to do his part, to live
his ideals--so that together, we can see the dawn of a new age of
progress for America, and together, as we celebrate our 200th
anniversary as a nation, we can do so proud in the fulfillment of
our promise to ourselves and to the world.
As America's longest and most difficult war comes to an end, let
us again learn to debate our differences with civility and
decency. And let each of us reach out for that one precious
quality government cannot provide--a new level of respect for the
rights and feelings of one another, a new level of respect for the
individual human dignity which is the cherished birthright of
every American.
Above all else, the time has come for us to renew our faith in
ourselves and in America.
In recent years, that faith has been challenged.
Our children have been taught to be ashamed of their country,
ashamed of their parents, ashamed of America's record at home and
of its role in the world.
At every turn, we have been beset by those who find everything
wrong with America and little that is right. But I am confident
that this will not be the judgment of history on these remarkable
times in which we are privileged to live.
America's record in this century has been unparalleled in the
world's history for its responsibility, for its generosity, for
its creativity and for its progress.
Let us be proud that our system has produced and provided more
freedom and more abundance, more widely shared, than any other
system in the history of the world.
Let us be proud that in each of the four wars in which we have
been engaged in this century, including the one we are now
bringing to an end, we have fought not for our selfish advantage,
but to help others resist aggression.
Let us be proud that by our bold, new initiatives, and by our
steadfastness for peace with honor, we have made a break-through
toward creating in the world what the world has not known before--
a structure of peace that can last, not merely for our time, but
for generations to come.
We are embarking here today on an era that presents challenges
great as those any nation, or any generation, has ever faced.
We shall answer to God, to history, and to our conscience for the
way in which we use these years.
As I stand in this place, so hallowed by history, I think of
others who have stood here before me. I think of the dreams they
had for America, and I think of how each recognized that he needed
help far beyond himself in order to make those dreams come true.
Today, I ask your prayers that in the years ahead I may have God's
help in making decisions that are right for America, and I pray
for your help so that together we may be worthy of our challenge.
Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four
years in America's history, so that on its 200th birthday America
will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a
beacon of hope for all the world.
Let us go forward from here confident in hope, strong in our faith
in one another, sustained by our faith in God who created us, and
striving always to serve His purpose.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Jimmy Carter
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1977
***
The Democrats reclaimed the White House in the 1976 election. The
Governor from Georgia defeated Gerald Ford, who had become
President on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of President
Nixon. The oath of office was taken on the Bible used in the first
inauguration by George | Washington; it was administered by Chief
Justice Warren Burger on the East Front of the Capitol. The new
President and his family surprised the spectators by walking from
the Capitol to the White House after the ceremony.
***
For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for
all he has done to heal our land.
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the
inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school
teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to
changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."
Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first
President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on
the Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless
admonition from the ancient prophet Micah:
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God." (Micah 6: 8)
This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication
within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President
may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can
provide it.
Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long
quest for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited
the founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation. I have
no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in
the old dream.
Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of
both spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-
definition which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also
imposes on us a special obligation, to take on those moral duties
which, when assumed, seem invariably to be in our own best
interests.
You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to
be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create
together a new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength
can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to
minimize my mistakes.
Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and
pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together
in the right.
The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in
our country--and in one another. I believe America can be better.
We can be even stronger than before.
Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic
principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own
government we have no future. We recall in special times when we
have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no
prize was beyond our grasp.
But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to
drift. We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an
inferior quality of life for any person. Our Government must at
the same time be both competent and compassionate.
We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we
are now struggling to enhance equality of opportunity. Our
commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our
natural beauty preserved; the powerful must not persecute the
weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.
We have learned that "more" is not necessarily "better," that even
our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can
neither answer all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot
afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we
meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice
for the common good, we must simply do our best.
Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And
we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to
demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of
emulation.
To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not
behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards
here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is
essential to our strength.
The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more
numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding
their place in the sun--not just for the benefit of their own
physical condition, but for basic human rights.
The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit,
there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to
undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just
and peaceful world that is truly humane.
We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so
sufficient that it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength
based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of
ideas.
We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight
our wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are
the enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.
We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our
idealism with weakness.
Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of
freedom elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference
for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for
individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is
clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would
be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all
people.
The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to
ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries.
We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the
world's armaments to those necessary for each nation's own
domestic safety. And we will move this year a step toward ultimate
goal--the elimination of all nuclear weapons from this Earth. We
urge all other people to join us, for success can mean life
instead of death.
Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a
serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the
hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might
say this about our Nation:
- that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search
for humility, mercy, and justice;
- that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of
different race and region and religion, and where there had been
mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;
- that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;
- that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis
of our society;
- that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment
under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the
poor;
- and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own
Government once again.
I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had
built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on
international policies which reflect our own most precious values.
These are not just my goals, and they will not be my
accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing
moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding
American dream.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Ronald Reagan
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1981
***
For the first time, an inauguration ceremony was held on the
terrace of the West Front of the Capitol. Chief Justice Warren
Burger administered the oath of office to the former broadcaster,
screen actor, and Governor of California. In the election of 1980,
the Republicans won the White House and a majority in the Senate.
On inauguration day, American hostages held by the revolutionary
government of Iran were released.
***
Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President
Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill,
Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here
today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in
the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The
orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution
routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few
of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many
in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is
nothing less than a miracle.
Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did
to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the
transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a
united people pledged to maintaining a political system which
guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other,
and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining
the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.
The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are
confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We
suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations
in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions,
penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-
income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of
millions of our people.
Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human
misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair
return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful
achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.
But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public
spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit,
mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary
convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to
guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic
upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our
means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we
think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that
same limitation?
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be
no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning
today.
The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several
decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they
will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the
capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to
be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our
problem.
From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society
has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government
by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the
people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself,
then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of
us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The
solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out
to pay a higher price.
We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a
special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows
no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it
crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who
raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our
factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we
are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks,
cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people,"
this breed called Americans.
Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous,
growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans,
with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting
America back to work means putting all Americans back to work.
Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of
runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of
this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived
economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our
system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous
America at peace with itself and the world.
So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a
government--not the other way around. And this makes us special
among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except
that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the
growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the
consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal
establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between
the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to
the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that
the Federal Government did not create the States; the States
created the Federal Government.
Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention
to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work-work
with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back.
Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it;
foster productivity, not stifle it.
If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved
so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because
here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius
of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom
and the dignity of the individual have been more available and
assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this
freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling
to pay that price.
It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are
proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that
result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is
time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit
ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us
believe, loomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a
fate that will all on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a
fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the
creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national
renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our
strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we
are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to
look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory
gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed
all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a
counter--and they are on both sides of that counter. There are
entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who
create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals
and families whose taxes support the Government and whose
voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and
education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values
sustain our national life.
I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these
heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the
heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land.
Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams,
the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.
We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your
makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen,
and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when
they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-
sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?
Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an
unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I
did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of
presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have
slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken
aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of
government. Progress may be slow--measured in inches and feet, not
miles--but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this
industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to
lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first
priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.
On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have
been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph
Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his
fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be
despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to
decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and
the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."
Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act
worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure
happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our
children's children.
And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as
having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the
exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now
have freedom.
To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will
strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and
firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will
strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our
friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty
is not for sale.
As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential
adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest
aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it,
sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now or ever.
Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for
conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action
is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We
will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing
that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use
that strength.
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the
arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral
courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in
today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do
have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and
prey upon their neighbors.
I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held
on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation
under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would
be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in
future years it should be declared a day of prayer.
This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been
held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol.
Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this
city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall
are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George
Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to
greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory
into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to
Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his
eloquence.
And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the
Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the
meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.
Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the
far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with
its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of
David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has
been paid for our freedom.
Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I
spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood,
The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on
Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in
a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left
his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with
the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was
killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy
artillery fire.
We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf
under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words:
"America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I
will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my
utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me
alone."
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of
sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were
called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort,
and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our
capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with
God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now
confront us.
And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.
God bless you, and thank you.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Ronald Reagan
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1985
***
January 20 was a Sunday, and the President took the oath of
office, administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger, in the Grand
Foyer of the White House. Weather that hovered near zero that
night and on Monday forced the planners to cancel many of the
outdoor events for the second inauguration. For the first time a
President took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda. The oath
was again administered by Chief Justice Burger. Jessye Norman sang
at the ceremony.
***
Senator Mathias, Chief Justice Burger, Vice President Bush, Speaker
O'Neill, Senator Dole, Reverend Clergy, members of my family and
friends, and my fellow citizens:
This day has been made brighter with the presence here of one who,
for a time, has been absent--Senator John Stennis.
God bless you and welcome back.
There is, however, one who is not with us today: Representative
Gillis Long of Louisiana left us last night. I wonder if we could
all join in a moment of silent prayer. (Moment of silent prayer.)
Amen.
There are no words adequate to express my thanks for the great
honor that you have bestowed on me. I will do my utmost to be
deserving of your trust.
This is, as Senator Mathias told us, the 50th time that we the
people have celebrated this historic occasion. When the first
President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he
stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw,
untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of
13 States. Today we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States.
We have lighted the world with our inventions, gone to the aid of
mankind wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed
to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed. And yet we
stand together as we did two centuries ago.
When I took this oath four years ago, I did so in a time of
economic stress. Voices were raised saying we had to look to our
past for the greatness and glory. But we, the present-day
Americans, are not given to looking backward. In this blessed
land, there is always a better tomorrow.
Four years ago, I spoke to you of a new beginning and we have
accomplished that. But in another sense, our new beginning is a
continuation of that beginning created two centuries ago when, for
the first time in history, government, the people said, was not
our master, it is our servant; its only power that which we the
people allow it to have.
That system has never failed us, but, for a time, we failed the
system. We asked things of government that government was not
equipped to give. We yielded authority to the National Government
that properly belonged to States or to local governments or to the
people themselves. We allowed taxes and inflation to rob us of our
earnings and savings and watched the great industrial machine that
had made us the most productive people on Earth slow down and the
number of unemployed increase.
By 1980, we knew it was time to renew our faith, to strive with
all our strength toward the ultimate in individual freedom
consistent with an orderly society.
We believed then and now there are no limits to growth and human
progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams.
And we were right to believe that. Tax rates have been reduced,
inflation cut dramatically, and more people are employed than ever
before in our history.
We are creating a nation once again vibrant, robust, and alive.
But there are many mountains yet to climb. We will not rest until
every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and
opportunity as our birthright. It is our birthright as citizens of
this great Republic, and we'll meet this challenge.
These will be years when Americans have restored their confidence
and tradition of progress; when our values of faith, family, work,
and neighborhood were restated for a modern age; when our economy
was finally freed from government's grip; when we made sincere
efforts at meaningful arms reduction, rebuilding our defenses, our
economy, and developing new technologies, and helped preserve
peace in a troubled world; when Americans courageously supported
the struggle for liberty, self-government, and free enterprise
throughout the world, and turned the tide of history away from
totalitarian darkness and into the warm sunlight of human freedom.
My fellow citizens, our Nation is poised for greatness. We must do
what we know is right and do it with all our might. Let history
say of us, "These were golden years--when the American Revolution
was reborn, when freedom gained new life, when America reached for
her best."
Our two-party system has served us well over the years, but never
better than in those times of great challenge when we came
together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans united
in a common cause.
Two of our Founding Fathers, a Boston lawyer named Adams and a
Virginia planter named Jefferson, members of that remarkable group
who met in Independence Hall and dared to think they could start
the world over again, left us an important lesson. They had become
political rivals in the Presidential election of 1800. Then years
later, when both were retired, and age had softened their anger,
they began to speak to each other again through letters. A bond
was reestablished between those two who had helped create this
government of ours.
In 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,
they both died. They died on the same day, within a few hours of
each other, and that day was the Fourth of July.
In one of those letters exchanged in the sunset of their lives,
Jefferson wrote: "It carries me back to the times when, beset with
difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same
cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to
self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave
ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless
... we rode through the storm with heart and hand."
Well, with heart and hand, let us stand as one today: One people
under God determined that our future shall be worthy of our past.
As we do, we must not repeat the well-intentioned errors of our
past. We must never again abuse the trust of working men and
women, by sending their earnings on a futile chase after the
spiraling demands of a bloated Federal Establishment. You elected
us in 1980 to end this prescription for disaster, and I don't
believe you reelected us in 1984 to reverse course.
At the heart of our efforts is one idea vindicated by 25 straight
months of economic growth: Freedom and incentives unleash the
drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human
progress. We have begun to increase the rewards for work, savings,
and investment; reduce the increase in the cost and size of
government and its interference in people's lives.
We must simplify our tax system, make it more fair, and bring the
rates down for all who work and earn. We must think anew and move
with a new boldness, so every American who seeks work can find
work; so the least among us shall have an equal chance to achieve
the greatest things--to be heroes who heal our sick, feed the
hungry, protect peace among nations, and leave this world a better
place.
The time has come for a new American emancipation--a great
national drive to tear down economic barriers and liberate the
spirit of enterprise in the most distressed areas of our country.
My friends, together we can do this, and do it we must, so help me
God.-- From new freedom will spring new opportunities for growth,
a more productive, fulfilled and united people, and a stronger
America--an America that will lead the technological revolution,
and also open its mind and heart and soul to the treasures of
literature, music, and poetry, and the values of faith, courage,
and love.
A dynamic economy, with more citizens working and paying taxes,
will be our strongest tool to bring down budget deficits. But an
almost unbroken 50 years of deficit spending has finally brought
us to a time of reckoning. We have come to a turning point, a
moment for hard decisions. I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a
question, and now I put the same question to all of you: If not
us, who? And if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going
forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget. We can
then begin reducing the national debt.
I will shortly submit a budget to the Congress aimed at freezing
government program spending for the next year. Beyond that, we
must take further steps to permanently control Government's power
to tax and spend. We must act now to protect future generations
from Government's desire to spend its citizens' money and tax them
into servitude when the bills come due. Let us make it
unconstitutional for the Federal Government to spend more than the
Federal Government takes in.
We have already started returning to the people and to State and
local governments responsibilities better handled by them. Now,
there is a place for the Federal Government in matters of social
compassion. But our fundamental goals must be to reduce dependency
and upgrade the dignity of those who are infirm or disadvantaged.
And here a growing economy and support from family and community
offer our best chance for a society where compassion is a way of
life, where the old and infirm are cared for, the young and, yes,
the unborn protected, and the unfortunate looked after and made
self
And there is another area where the Federal Government can play a
part. As an older American, I remember a time when people of
different race, creed, or ethnic origin in our land found hatred
and prejudice installed in social custom and, yes, in law. There
is no story more heartening in our history than the progress that
we have made toward the "brotherhood of man" that God intended for
us. Let us resolve there will be no turning back or hesitation on
the road to an America rich in dignity and abundant with
opportunity for all our citizens.
Let us resolve that we the people will build an American
opportunity society in which all of us--white and black, rich and
poor, young and old--will go forward together arm in arm. Again,
let us remember that though our heritage is one of blood lines
from every corner of the Earth, we are all Americans pledged to
carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth.
I have spoken of our domestic goals and the limitations which we
should put on our National Government. Now let me turn to a task
which is the primary responsibility of National Government-the
safety and security of our people.
Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer
for peace on Earth. Yet history has shown that peace will not
come, nor will our freedom be preserved, by good will alone. There
are those in the world who scorn our vision of human dignity and
freedom. One nation, the Soviet Union, has conducted the greatest
military buildup in the history of man, building arsenals of
awesome offensive weapons.
We have made progress in restoring our defense capability. But
much remains to be done. There must be no wavering by us, nor any
doubts by others, that America will meet her responsibilities to
remain free, secure, and at peace.
There is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost
of national security, and that is to reduce the need for it. And
this we are trying to do in negotiations with the Soviet Union. We
are not just discussing limits on a further increase of nuclear
weapons. We seek, instead, to reduce their number. We seek the
total elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the
Earth.
Now, for decades, we and the Soviets have lived under the threat
of mutual assured destruction; if either resorted to the use of
nuclear weapons, the other could retaliate and destroy the one who
had started it. Is there either logic or morality in believing
that if one side threatens to kill tens of millions of our people,
our only recourse is to threaten killing tens of millions of
theirs?
I have approved a research program to find, if we can, a security
shield that would destroy nuclear missiles before they reach their
target. It wouldn't kill people, it would destroy weapons. It
wouldn't militarize space, it would help demilitarize the arsenals
of Earth. It would render nuclear weapons obsolete. We will meet
with the Soviets, hoping that we can agree on a way to rid the
world of the threat of nuclear destruction.
We strive for peace and security, heartened by the changes all
around us. Since the turn of the century, the number of
democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on
the march, and nowhere more so than our own hemisphere. Freedom is
one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.
People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for
those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress.
America must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is
our best ally.
And it is the world's only hope, to conquer poverty and preserve
peace. Every blow we inflict against poverty will be a blow
against its dark allies of oppression and war. Every victory for
human freedom will be a victory for world peace.
So we go forward today, a nation still mighty in its youth and
powerful in its purpose. With our alliances strengthened, with our
economy leading the world to a new age of economic expansion, we
look forward to a world rich in possibilities. And all this
because we have worked and acted together, not as members of
political parties, but as Americans.
My friends, we live in a world that is lit by lightning. So much
is changing and will change, but so much endures, and transcends
time.
History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And
as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before
us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our
democracy--or we would have been standing at the steps if it
hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of
our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general
falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely
President paces the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to
preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to
each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song
echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.
It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic,
daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song.
We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are
together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the
Author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us
close as we fill the world with our sound--sound in unity,
affection, and love--one people under God, dedicated to the dream
of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now
to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.
God bless you and may God bless America.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
George Bush
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1989
***
The 200th anniversary of the Presidency was observed as George
Bush took the executive oath on the same Bible George Washington
used in 1789. The ceremony occurred on a platform on the terrace
of the West Front of the Capitol. The oath of office was
administered by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. After the
ceremony the President and Mrs. Bush led the inaugural parade from
the Capitol to the White House, walking along several blocks of
Pennsylvania Avenue to greet the spectators.
***
Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Quayle, Senator
Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole, Congressman Michel, and
fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends:
There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts
and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our Nation, I
thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for America.
I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George
Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I placed my hand
is the Bible on which he placed his. It is right that the memory
of Washington be with us today, not only because this is our
Bicentennial Inauguration, but because Washington remains the
Father of our Country. And he would, I think, be gladdened by this
day; for today is the concrete expression of a stunning fact: our
continuity these 200 years since our government began.
We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as
neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is
made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.
And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your
heads:
Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love.
Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the
shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to
do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our
hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given
power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in
the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it
is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. Amen.
I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with
promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make
it better. For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by
freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day
of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old
ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. A new
breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready
to push on. There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be
taken. There are times when the future seems thick as a fog; you
sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right
path. But this is a time when the future seems a door you can walk
right through into a room called tomorrow.
Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the
door to freedom. Men and women of the world move toward free
markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world
agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to
the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.
We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's right: Freedom
is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life
for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free
elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state.
For the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps
all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to
live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which form
of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from the
kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves. We must
act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In
crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all
things, generosity.
America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place
we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not loudly and
proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning
beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. But
have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled
with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work
and sacrifice?
My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not
the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We
cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank
account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be
a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home,
his neighborhood and town better than he found it. What do we want
the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer
there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us?
Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and
stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?
No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best
in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead this
government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the
quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but
of better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then
he must.
America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high
moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is
to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the
world. My friends, we have work to do. There are the homeless,
lost and roaming. There are the children who have nothing, no
love, no normalcy. There are those who cannot free themselves of
enslavement to whatever addiction--drugs, welfare, the
demoralization that rules the slums. There is crime to be
conquered, the rough crime of the streets. There are young women
to be helped who are about to become mothers of children they
can't care for and might not love. They need our care, our
guidance, and our education, though we bless them for choosing
life.
The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money
alone could end these problems. But we have learned that is not
so. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to bring
down. We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need. We
will make the hard choices, looking at what we have and perhaps
allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest
need and prudent safety. And then we will do the wisest thing of
all: We will turn to the only resource we have that in times of
need always grows--the goodness and the courage of the American
people.
I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new
activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done. We must
bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the
elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only
leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is
stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War
has come of age.
I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community
organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation,
doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes
leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in
the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people
and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will
ask every member of my government to become involved. The old
ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless:
duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its
expression in taking part and pitching in.
We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and the
Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the
House and the Senate. We must bring the Federal budget into
balance. And we must ensure that America stands before the world
united, strong, at peace, and fiscally sound. But, of course,
things may be difficult. We need compromise; we have had
dissension. We need harmony; we have had a chorus of discordant
voices.
For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has grown a
certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard the
statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but
each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been
far apart and untrusting of each other. It has been this way since
Vietnam. That war cleaves us still. But, friends, that war began
in earnest a quarter of a century ago; and surely the statute of
limitations has been reached. This is a fact: The final lesson of
Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by
a memory. A new breeze is blowing, and the old bipartisanship must
be made new again.
To my friends--and yes, I do mean friends--in the loyal
opposition--and yes, I mean loyal: I put out my hand. I am putting
out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you
Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the
offered hand. We can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But
when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at
the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when
our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the
Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on
which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon and hard. But
in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They
didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the
merely partisan. "In crucial things, unity"--and this, my friends,
is crucial.
To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed vow: We
will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is a
reluctant fist; but once made, strong, and can be used with great
effect. There are today Americans who are held against their will
in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for.
Assistance can be shown here, and will be long remembered. Good
will begets good will. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly
moves on.
Great nations like great men must keep their word. When America
says something, America means it, whether a treaty or an agreement
or a vow made on marble steps. We will always try to speak
clearly, for candor is a compliment, but subtlety, too, is good
and has its place. While keeping our alliances and friendships
around the world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new
closeness with the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security
and with progress. One might say that our new relationship in part
reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But
hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance.
Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the
understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in
democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled. But my thoughts have
been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at
home to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when
the flag goes by, and the women who will tell her sons the words
of the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean
that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a
continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that bind.
Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land.
And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day. For
democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite
that can go higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say:
No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part
of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation.
A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window
on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy-
goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.
There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up
united and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is drugs.
And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as
well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body,
the soul of our country. And there is much to be done and to be
said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop.
And so, there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins. I do
not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our
problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are
great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless,
God's love is truly boundless.
Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets
calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book
with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of
hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the
story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately
story of unity, diversity, and generosity--shared, and written,
together.
Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
***
Bill Clinton's First Inaugural Address
[As presented on the Internet by Project Gutenberg on January 20th, 1993]
My fellow citizens, today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.
This ceremony is held in the depth of winter, but by the words we speak
and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in
the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage
to reinvent America. When our founders boldly declared America's independence
to the world, and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America,
to endure, would have to change. Not change for change sake, but change
to preserve America's ideals: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.
Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless.
Each generation of American's must define what it means to be an American.
On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his
half-century of service to America. . .and I thank the millions of men
and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression,
fascism and communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new
responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom, but threatened
still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in unrivalled prosperity,
we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by
business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions
among OUR OWN people.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news
travelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the ocean by boat.
Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to
billions around the world. Communications and commerce are global.
Investment is mobile. Technology is almost magical, and ambition for
a better life is now universal.
We earn our livelihood in America today in peaceful competition with people
all across the Earth. Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking
our world, and the URGENT question of our time is whether we can make change
our friend and not our enemy. This new world has already enriched the lives
of MILLIONS of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when
most people are working harder for less, when others cannot work at all,
when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt
our enterprises, great and small; when the fear of crime robs law abiding
citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot
even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made
change our friend.
We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps,
but we have not done so. Instead we have drifted, and that
drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy,
and shaken our confidence. Though our challenges are fearsome,
so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing,
hopeful people, and we must bring to our task today the vision
and will of those who came before us. From our Revolution to the
Civil War, to the Great Depression, to the Civil Rights movement,
our people have always mustered the determination to construct from
these crises the pillars of our history. Thomas Jefferson believed
that to preserve the very foundations of our nation we would need
dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow Americans,
this is OUR time. Let us embrace it.
Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of
our OWN renewal. There is nothing WRONG with America that cannot be cured
by what is RIGHT with America.
And so today we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift,
and a new season of American renewal has begun.
To renew America we must be bold. We must do what no generation
has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people,
in their jobs, and in their future, and at the same time cut
our massive debt. . .and we must do so in a world in which
we must compete for every opportunity. It will not be easy.
It will require sacrifice, but it can be done, and done fairly.
Not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for OUR own sake.
We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its
children. Our founders saw themselves in the light of posterity.
We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes
wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world
to come, the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have
borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibilities.
We must do what America does best, offer more opportunity TO all
and demand more responsibility FROM all.
It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing:
from our government, or from each other. Let us all take more
responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families, but for our
communities and our country. To renew America we must revitalize
our democracy. This beautiful capitol, like every capitol since
the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation.
Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is
IN and who is OUT, who is UP and who is DOWN, forgetting those people
whose toil and sweat sends us here and paves our way.
Americans deserve better, and in this city today there are people
who want to do better, and so I say to all of you here, let us resolve
to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down
the voice of the people. Let us put aside personal advantage, so that we
can feel the pain and see the promise of America. Let us resolve to make
our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent
experimentation, a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays."
Let us give this capitol back to the people to whom it belongs.
To renew America we must meet challenges abroad, as well as at home.
There is no longer a clear division between what is foreign and what is
domestic. The world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis,
the world arms race: they affect us all. Today as an old order passes, the new
world is more free, but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old
animosities, and new dangers. Clearly, America must continue to lead the world
we did so much to make. While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink
from the challenges nor fail to seize the opportunities of this new world.
Together with our friends and allies, we will work together to shape change,
lest it engulf us. When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and
conscience of the international community is defied, we will act; with peaceful
diplomacy whenever possible, with force when necessary. The brave Americans
serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else
they stand, are testament to our resolve, but our greatest strength is the
power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands. Across the world,
we see them embraced and we rejoice. Our hopes, our hearts, our hands,
are with those on every continent, who are building democracy and freedom.
Their cause is America's cause. The American people have summoned the change
we celebrate today. You have raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus,
you have cast your votes in historic numbers, you have changed the face of
congress, the presidency, and the political process itself. Yes, YOU, my
fellow Americans, have forced the spring. Now WE must do the work the
season demands. To that work I now turn with ALL the authority of my office.
I ask the congress to join with me; but no president, no congress,
no government can undertake THIS mission alone.
My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal.
I challenge a new generation of YOUNG Americans to a season of service,
to act on your idealism, by helping troubled children, keeping company
with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities. There is so much
to be done. Enough, indeed, for millions of others who are still young
in spirit, to give of themselves in service, too. In serving we recognize
a simple, but powerful, truth: we need each other, and we must care for
one another. Today we do more than celebrate America, we rededicate
ourselves to the very idea of America, an idea born in revolution,
and renewed through two centuries of challenge, an idea tempered by
the knowledge that but for fate, we, the fortunate and the unfortunate,
might have been each other; an idea ennobled by the faith that our nation
can summon from its myriad diversity, the deepest measure of unity;
an idea infused with the conviction that America's journey long, heroic
journey must go forever upward.
And so, my fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st Century,
let us begin anew, with energy and hope, with faith and discipline,
and let us work until our work is done. The Scripture says: "And let us
not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
From this joyful mountaintop of celebration we hear a call to service in
the valley. We have heard the trumpets, we have changed the guard,
and now each in our own way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.
Thank you, and God bless you all.
End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Bill Clinton's Inaugural Address
***
Second Inaugural Address of
President William J. Clinton
January 20, 1997
***
My fellow citizens:
At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century,
let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in
the next century. It is our great good fortune that time and chance
have put us not only at the edge of a new century, in a new millennium,
but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs--
a moment that will define our course, and our character,
for decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever young.
Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let us set our
sights upon a land of new promise.
The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of the bold
conviction that we are all created equal. It was extended and preserved
in the 19th century, when our nation spread across the continent,
saved the union, and abolished the awful scourge of slavery.
Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto the world stage
to make this the American Century.
And what a century it has been. America became the world's mightiest
industrial power; saved the world from tyranny in two world wars
and a long cold war; and time and again, reached out across the globe
to millions who, like us, longed for the blessings of liberty.
Along the way, Americans produced a great middle class and security
in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning and opened
public schools to all; split the atom and explored the heavens;
invented the computer and the microchip; and deepened the
wellspring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights
for African Americans and all minorities, and extending the circle
of citizenship, opportunity and dignity to women.
Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and another
time to choose. We began the 19th century with a choice, to
spread our nation from coast to coast. We began the 20th century
with a choice, to harness the Industrial Revolution to our values of
free enterprise, conservation, and human decency. Those choices made
all the difference. At the dawn of the 21st century a free people
must now choose to shape the forces of the Information Age and the
global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our people,
and, yes, to form a more perfect union.
When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain
than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our nation.
In these four years, we have been touched by tragedy,
exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement.
America stands alone as the world's indispensable nation.
Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Once again,
we are building stronger families, thriving communities,
better educational opportunities, a cleaner environment.
Problems that once seemed destined to deepen now bend to our efforts:
our streets are safer and record numbers of our fellow citizens have
moved from welfare to work.
And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate
over the role of government. Today we can declare:
Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution.
We--the American people--we are the solution. Our founders
understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough
to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common
challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.
As times change, so government must change. We need a new
government for a new century--humble enough not to try to solve
all our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to
solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives
within its means, and does more with less. Yet where it can stand up
for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give
Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday
lives, government should do more, not less. The preeminent mission
of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity--not
a guarantee, but a real opportunity--to build better lives.
Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us.
Our founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty
and our union depends upon responsible citizenship. And we need
a new sense of responsibility for a new century. There is work to do,
work that government alone cannot do: teaching children to read;
hiring people off welfare rolls; coming out from behind locked doors
and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs
and crime; taking time out of our own lives to serve others.
Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal
responsibility--not only for ourselves and our families,
but for our neighbors and our nation. Our greatest responsibility
is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century.
For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America.
The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future--
will we be one nation, one people, with one common destiny,
or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?
The divide of race has been America's constant curse.
And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices.
Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or
political conviction are no different. These forces have nearly
destroyed our nation in the past. They plague us still.
They fuel the fanaticism of terror. And they torment the lives
of millions in fractured nations all around the world.
These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of course,
those who are hated, robbing both of what they might become.
We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk
in the far regions of the soul everywhere. We shall overcome them.
And we shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people
who feel at home with one another.
Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity
will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come
to those who can live together, learn together, work together,
forge new ties that bind together.
As this new era approaches we can already see its broad outlines.
Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical province of physicists;
today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren.
Scientists now are decoding the blueprint of human life.
Cures for our most feared illnesses seem close at hand.
The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps.
Instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once were our
adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and culture give us a
chance to lift the fortunes and spirits of people the world over.
And for the very first time in all of history, more people on this
planet live under democracy than dictatorship.
My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable century,
we may ask, can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass
the achievements of the 20th century in America and to avoid
the awful bloodshed that stained its legacy? To that question,
every American here and every American in our land today must answer
a resounding "Yes."
This is the heart of our task. With a new vision of government,
a new sense of responsibility, a new spirit of community,
we will sustain America's journey. The promise we sought
in a new land we will find again in a land of new promise.
In this new land, education will be every citizen's most
prized possession. Our schools will have the highest standards in
the world, igniting the spark of possibility in the eyes of every
girl and every boy. And the doors of higher education will be open
to all. The knowledge and power of the Information Age will be
within reach not just of the few, but of every classroom, every
library, every child. Parents and children will have time not only
to work, but to read and play together. And the plans they make at
their kitchen table will be those of a better home, a better job, the
certain chance to go to college.
Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our children,
because no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore.
Everyone who can work, will work, with today's permanent
under class part of tomorrow's growing middle class. New miracles
of medicine at last will reach not only those who can claim care now,
but the children and hardworking families too long denied.
We will stand mighty for peace and freedom, and maintain a strong defense
against terror and destruction. Our children will sleep free from
the threat of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Ports and airports,
farms and factories will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas.
And the world's greatest democracy will lead a whole world of democracies.
Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations--
a nation that balances its budget, but never loses the balance of its values.
A nation where our grandparents have secure retirement and health care,
and their grandchildren know we have made the reforms necessary to sustain
those benefits for their time. A nation that fortifies the world's most
productive economy even as it protects the great natural bounty of
our water, air, and majestic land.
And in this land of new promise, we will have reformed our politics
so that the voice of the people will always speak louder than the din
of narrow interests--regaining the participation and deserving the trust
of all Americans.
Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever moving forward
toward realizing the full potential of all its citizens. Prosperity and
power--yes, they are important, and we must maintain them. But let us
never forget: The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress
we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's
wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency
of the human spirit.
Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today
spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall, in words
that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he
told of his dream that one day America would rise up and treat all
its citizens as equals before the law and in the heart. Martin
Luther King's dream was the American Dream. His quest is our quest:
the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has
been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and labors
we will redeem the promise of America in the 21st century.
To that effort I pledge all my strength and every power of my office.
I ask the members of Congress here to join in that pledge.
The American people returned to office a President of one
party and a Congress of another. Surely, they did not do this to
advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship they
plainly deplore. No, they call on us instead to be repairers of the breach,
and to move on with America's mission.
America demands and deserves big things from us--and nothing big
ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom
of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said:
"It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division."
Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of this time.
For all of us are on that same journey of our lives, and our journey,
too, will come to an end. But the journey of our America must go on.
And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there is much to dare.
The demands of our time are great and they are different. Let us meet them
with faith and courage, with patience and a grateful and happy heart.
Let us shape the hope of this day into the noblest chapter in our history.
Yes, let us build our bridge. A bridge wide enough and strong enough for
every American to cross over to a blessed land of new promise.
May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names
we may never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land
into a new century with the American Dream alive for all her children;
with the American promise of a more perfect union a reality
for all her people; with America's bright flame of freedom
spreading throughout all the world.
From the height of this place and the summit of this century,
let us go forth. May God strengthen our hands for the good work ahead--
and always, always bless our America.