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What is an inaugural address.
Presidents of the United States deliver a plethora of speeches during their time in office. One of the most important of them all is the inaugural address. What is an inaugural address? What is the intention of the speech, why is it so significant, and how can the President be sure to get it right?
What is an inaugural address?
The inaugural address is the speech delivered by the President following their Oath of Office. It is a chance to speak directly to the nation and provide a clear message about the four years ahead. When well-crafted and delivered effectively, it can give the President a positive start to their first term .
Delivering an Address During an Inauguration
The inaugural address is a massive moment in the long inauguration process. There is a grand ceremony on the western front of the United States Capitol where the President and Vice President are sworn into office to begin the new term. After the oath at noon, the new President delivers their speech to the nation.
The position of the ceremony allows the President to speak to hundreds of guests in attendance, but also thousands lining the National Mall and the millions watching on TV worldwide. It is no surprise that there is a lot of pressure to get the speech just right.
Everything from the structure and length of the speech to the tone and eloquence of the delivery falls under a microscope. People will judge the new President based on these words, especially those that voted for the other guy. So, each speech must be bipartisan, inspiring, perfectly composed, and just the right length.
The Length of an Inaugural Address
There is no specific length for an inaugural address. Presidents can make theirs as long or as short as they want. Some choose the former to make the most of their time and say all they need to say, while others keep it short and sweet.
President George Washington’s second inaugural address was a good example of keeping things short. As the only person to hold office, there was no precedent in place or any expectation for a long speech and drawn-out speech. So, he said just 135 words, repeated the oath, and returned to work.
Over the decades, the speech has become a more symbolic moment in the ceremony, with greater expectations over the message and length. When Washington’s Vice President , John Adams, won his election, he delivered a speech of 2308 words – including one 737-word sentence. The longest ever came from William Henry Harrison , with an 8,445-word address in the pouring rain.
Quality Over Quantity Helps With a Good Inaugural Address
The length of a speech is nowhere near as important as the message within. We will probably forget how long we spent waiting for a speech to end but will share quotes and videos from a good speech for a long time. So, each new President has to ensure that they set out their goals and principles in an appropriately presidential manner without going too far.
Franklin D Roosevelt was a good example of one who knew when to keep things short and to the point. His fourth address did not overstay its welcome at just 559 words. By this point, the nation knew the man and his ideals as he had been elected to a historic fourth term. On top of that, Roosevelt was keen to keep things simple with a basic ceremony at the White House due to America’s involvement in World War II.
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Creating a Strong Bipartisan Address
An inauguration marks a new chapter in the nation’s history, so it makes sense for the President to highlight this after taking the oath. Some will reflect on the chance to make improvements for the nation or to lead them out of times of trouble. Others will reaffirm their desire to continue their hard work and dedication for a second term.
Ideally, these speeches should be bipartisan. This isn’t a time to talk down to the opposition in victory or to talk about all the ways a previous administration failed the nation. Doing so runs the risk of causing a divide in the crowds of people watching – either at the National Mall or on TV.
President Joe Biden’s 2021 address is a good example of this with its opening lines. “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope. Of renewal and resolve.” This speech set a strong positive tone, whereas his predecessor, Donald Trump’s speech, was criticized for its bleak and dystopian outlook.
Who Writes the Presidential Inaugural Address?
You might assume that the President is the one to write the speech if it is such an important moment for them to articulate their vision and goals. However, the scale of the occasion and scrutiny of the speech means that this isn’t always the case. In the past, the first presidents undoubtedly did spend hours penning their own speeches, but not today.
The idea of the political speech writer is not such a big deal these days. We know that the White House has a communications team to create important speeches – often with multiple versions depending on a desired tone or outcome. They have been in use since the days of Calvin Coolidge .
Therefore, it makes sense that this grand public address is another writer’s work. They are typically skilled and trusted members of the President’s team who can take the ideas and references given by the President and spin them into gold.
The Inaugural Address Will Always Be an Important Moment in the Presidency
There will always be debate over who created the best or worst inaugural addresses in history. Often, the oratory skills of the man elevate the words into something even more profound. What is clear is that these speeches have great power, and each President must get it just right. Otherwise, the inauguration day address will go into the history books for all the wrong reasons.
Alicia Reynolds
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What Day Is Inauguration Day?
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Inauguration of the president of the United States
Inauguration Day is the day when the president-elect and vice-president-elect are sworn in and take office.
When is Inauguration Day?
Inauguration Day occurs every four years on January 20 (or January 21 if January 20 falls on a Sunday). The inauguration ceremony takes place at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC. The next presidential inauguration is scheduled to be on January 20, 2025.
What is the presidential oath of office?
The vice-president-elect is sworn in first and repeats the same oath of office, in use since 1884, as senators, representatives, and other federal employees:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Around noon, the president-elect recites the following oath in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
What events take place on Inauguration Day?
The inauguration is planned by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC). Inaugural events include the swearing-in ceremony, the inaugural address, and the pass in review. Learn more about each event from the JCCIC.
For more information on the history of presidential inaugurations, explore the inaugural materials from the collections of the Library of Congress.
How do you get tickets to the presidential inauguration?
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies makes a limited number of inauguration tickets available to the public through members of Congress. Tickets are free and allow you to watch in person on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol as the president and vice president are sworn in on January 20, 2025.
Tickets will be available from your members of Congress in the weeks leading up to the inauguration. Some members may begin accepting requests for tickets before then.
Find your senators and your member of the House of Representatives.
LAST UPDATED: September 17, 2024
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The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500
Inaugural Address by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The United States Capitol
11:52 AM EST
THE PRESIDENT: Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.
This is America’s day.
This is democracy’s day.
A day of history and hope.
Of renewal and resolve.
Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.
Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.
The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.
We have learned again that democracy is precious.
Democracy is fragile.
And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.
We look ahead in our uniquely American way – restless, bold, optimistic – and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.
I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here.
I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation.
As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.
I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington.
But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.
On “We the People” who seek a more perfect Union.
This is a great nation and we are a good people.
Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.
We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.
Much to repair.
Much to restore.
Much to heal.
Much to build.
And much to gain.
Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now.
A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.
It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.
Millions of jobs have been lost.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.
A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.
A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.
And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.
To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.
It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:
In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”
My whole soul is in it.
Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:
Bringing America together.
Uniting our people.
And uniting our nation.
I ask every American to join me in this cause.
Uniting to fight the common foes we face:
Anger, resentment, hatred.
Extremism, lawlessness, violence.
Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.
With unity we can do great things. Important things.
We can right wrongs.
We can put people to work in good jobs.
We can teach our children in safe schools.
We can overcome this deadly virus.
We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care secure for all.
We can deliver racial justice.
We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.
I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.
I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.
But I also know they are not new.
Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.
The battle is perennial.
Victory is never assured.
Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.
In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.
And, we can do so now.
History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.
We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.
We can treat each other with dignity and respect.
We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.
For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.
No progress, only exhausting outrage.
No nation, only a state of chaos.
This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.
And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.
If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.
We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.
And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.
Let us listen to one another.
Hear one another. See one another.
Show respect to one another.
Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.
Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.
And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.
My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.
America has to be better than this.
And, I believe America is better than this.
Just look around.
Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance.
Yet we endured and we prevailed.
Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream.
Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote.
Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office – Vice President Kamala Harris.
Don’t tell me things can’t change.
Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.
And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground.
That did not happen.
It will never happen.
Not tomorrow.
To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.
To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart.
And if you still disagree, so be it.
That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength.
Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.
And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans.
I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.
Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.
What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?
I think I know.
Opportunity.
And, yes, the truth.
Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.
There is truth and there are lies.
Lies told for power and for profit.
And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.
I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation.
I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.
But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do.
We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.
We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.
If we show a little tolerance and humility.
If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment. Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.
There are some days when we need a hand.
There are other days when we’re called on to lend one.
That is how we must be with one another.
And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.
My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other.
We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.
We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus.
We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.
I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.
We will get through this, together
The world is watching today.
So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it.
We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.
Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.
We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.
We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.
We have been through so much in this nation.
And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.
To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.
Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country.
This is a time of testing.
We face an attack on democracy and on truth.
A raging virus.
Growing inequity.
The sting of systemic racism.
A climate in crisis.
America’s role in the world.
Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.
But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities.
Now we must step up.
It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.
And, this is certain.
We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era.
Will we rise to the occasion?
Will we master this rare and difficult hour?
Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?
I believe we must and I believe we will.
And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story.
It’s a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me.
It’s called “American Anthem” and there is one verse stands out for me:
“The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day What shall be our legacy? What will our children say?… Let me know in my heart When my days are through America America I gave my best to you.”
Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.
If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children’s children will say of us they gave their best.
They did their duty.
They healed a broken land. My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.
Before God and all of you I give you my word.
I will always level with you.
I will defend the Constitution.
I will defend our democracy.
I will defend America.
I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.
Not of personal interest, but of the public good.
And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.
Of unity, not division.
Of light, not darkness.
An American story of decency and dignity.
Of love and of healing.
Of greatness and of goodness.
May this be the story that guides us.
The story that inspires us.
The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.
We met the moment.
That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.
That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.
That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.
So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time.
Sustained by faith.
Driven by conviction.
And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.
May God bless America and may God protect our troops.
Thank you, America.
12:13 pm EST
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Presidential Inaugural Addresses
Published: January 22, 2021
"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section I
In addition to the Constitutionally-mandated Oath of Office, Presidents since George Washington have customarily given inaugural addresses upon assuming office. On GovInfo, these addresses are included within the daily and bound versions of the Congressional Record. Until 1937, Presidential Inaugurations were held on March 4th. The date was changed to January 20th as part of the 20th Amendment .
For Presidents prior to Ulysses S. Grant, see the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies' Inaugurations site .
Inaugural Addresses
Joseph r. biden jr. (2021-2025).
- Inaugural Address - Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Donald J. Trump (2017-2021)
- Inaugural Address - Friday, January 20, 2017
Barack Obama (2009-2017)
- First Inaugural Address - Tuesday, January 20, 2009
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, January 21, 2013
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
- First Inaugural Address - Saturday, January 20, 2001
- Second Inaugural Address - Thursday, January 20, 2005
William J. Clinton (1993-2001)
- First Inaugural Address - Wednesday, January 20, 1993
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, January 20, 1997
George Bush (1989-1993)
- Inaugural Address - Friday, January 20, 1989
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
- First Inaugural Address - Tuesday, January 20, 1981
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, January 21, 1985
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
- Inaugural Address - Thursday, January 20, 1977
Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977)
- Swearing-In following the Resignation of President Nixon - Friday, August 09, 1974
Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)
- First Inaugural Address - Monday, January 20, 1969
- Second Inaugural Address - Saturday, January 20, 1973
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
- Swearing-In following the Death of President Kennedy - Friday, November 22, 1963
- Inaugural Address - Wednesday, January 20, 1965
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
- Inaugural Address - Friday, January 20, 1961
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
- First Inaugural Address - Tuesday, January 20, 1953
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, January 21, 1957
Harry S. Truman (1949-1953)
- Swearing-In following the Death of President Roosevelt - Thursday, April 12, 1945
- Inaugural Address - Thursday, January 20, 1949
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
- First Inaugural Address - Saturday, March 04, 1933
- Second Inaugural Address - Wednesday, January 20, 1937
- Third Inaugural Address - Monday, January 20, 1941
- Fourth Inaugural Address - Saturday, January 20, 1945
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
- Inaugural Address - Monday, March 04, 1929
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
- Swearing-In following the Death of President Harding - Friday, August 03, 1923
- Inaugural Address - Wednesday, March 04, 1925
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
- Inaugural Address - Friday, March 04, 1921
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
- First Inaugural Address - Tuesday, March 04, 1913
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, March 05, 1917
William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
- Inaugural Address - Thursday, March 04, 1909
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
- Swearing-In following the Assassination of President McKinley - Saturday, September 14, 1901
- Inaugural Address - Saturday, March 04, 1905
William McKinley (1897-1901)
- First Inaugural Address - Thursday, March 04, 1897
- Second Inaugural Address - Monday, March 04, 1901
Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
- Second Inaugural Address - Saturday, March 04, 1893
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
- Inaugural Address - Monday, March 04, 1889
Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)
- First Inaugural Address - Wednesday, March 04, 1885
Chester Arthur (1881-1885)
- Swearing-In following the Assassination of President Garfield - Tuesday, September 20, 1881
James A. Garfield (1881)
- Inaugural Address - Friday, March 04, 1881
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
- Inaugural Address - Monday, March 05, 1877
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)
- First Inaugural Address - Thursday, March 04, 1869
- Second Inaugural Address - Tuesday, March 04, 1873
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Presidential Inaugurations: The Inaugural Address
Copyright © White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this article may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for reprint permissions should be addressed to [email protected]
President Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865, near the end of the Civil War.
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George Washington delivered the first inaugural address, invoking God’s guidance, demurring about his qualifications for presidential tasks, and declaring his intention to accept no salary -- save expenses -- while serving. It was Washington who in 1793 gave the shortest inaugural address of 135 words, while William Henry Harrison ’s 1841 speech, lasting almost two hours, was the longest at 8,455 words.
Inaugural speeches set the tone for the incoming administration. Sometimes they are intended to persuade, as when Abraham Lincoln in 1861 urged the seceding southern states to avoid war, or to heal and reconcile, as when he stated his policy toward the defeated Confederacy in 1865, promising "malice toward none" and "charity for all."
Some presidents have spoken directly to the nation’s concerns. Franklin D. Roosevelt ’s 1933 inaugural assertion, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," allayed the panic of a people gripped by the Great Depression. John F. Kennedy ’s 1961 challenge — "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" — sent an idealistic message, calling for change and sacrifice.
Usually bipartisan and unifying, the inaugural address gives the president a first "center stage" opportunity to introduce his vision to the nation and the world.
This photograph is of President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivering his First Inaugural Address in Washington, D.C. on March 4, 1933.
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Behind Inaugural Speeches, Meaningful Words
What words do presidents focus on most in their inaugural addresses? Explore speeches, from Washington to Obama
George Washington's First Inaugural Address
George Washington delivered his first inaugural address before a joint session of Congress in New York City’s Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. Washington, stepping into the newly created role of president, spoke of the importance of government’s duty to the public. He was deferential to his fellow patriots, almost hesitant to take on the role of the leader of the nation: “I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
By the time Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. In his speech, relying on frequent references to the Constitution, Lincoln argued that the Union was indissoluble: “Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
With the Civil War coming to an end, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural emphasized the need for national reconciliation to continue the task of preserving the Union: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Historian and Lincoln biographer Ronald C. White Jr. deemed the Second Inaugural Lincoln’s greatest speech, describing it as a “culmination of Lincoln’s own struggle over the meaning of America, the meaning of the war, and his own struggle with slavery.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Theodore Roosevelt's Inaugural Address
Theodore Roosevelt took his first oath of office following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. In 1904, Roosevelt was elected to the White House, winning 56 percent of the popular vote. His inauguration was a festive affair, with a contingent of Rough Riders joining in the procession. But the tone of Roosevelt’s inaugural speech was somber, as he used the occasion to call attention to the unprecedented challenges facing the United States during an era of rapid industrialization: “[The] growth in wealth, in population, and in power as this nation has seen during the century and a quarter of its national life is inevitably accompanied by a like growth in the problems which are ever before every nation that rises to greatness.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Woodrow Wilson's Second Inaugural Address
President Woodrow Wilson had campaigned for re-election on the slogan “He kept us out of war.” But by the time he delivered his second inaugural address on March 5, 1917, war with Germany seemed inevitable. In his speech, Wilson declared: “The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we would have it so or not.” Wilson also enunciated a list of principles—such as freedom of navigation on the seas and the reduction of national armaments—that foreshadowed the “Fourteen Points” speech he would deliver to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Second Inaugural Address
Buoyed by a decisive re-election victory—including strong gains by the Democratic Party in Congress—Roosevelt laid out his continuing plans to bring America out of the Great Depression. “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished,” the president said. But Roosevelt counseled hope instead of despair, arguing that government has the “innate capacity to protect its people” and “to solve problems once considered unsolvable.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Third Inaugural Address
With Europe and Asia already engulfed in war, Roosevelt’s Third Inaugural warned Americans about the “peril of inaction.” He spoke in broad terms about nations and spirit, and perceptively compared the threats confronting the United States to those facing Washington and Lincoln in generations past. “Democracy is not dying,” he declared. “We know it because we have seen it revive—and grow.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Fourth Inaugural Address
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his fourth and final inaugural address in 1945. With the nation still at war, it was considered inappropriate to mark the occasion with festivities—and his speech, less than 600 words long, echoed the day’s solemn tone. Much of the address focused on the perils of isolationism: “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Harry S. Truman's Inaugural Address
When President Harry S. Truman delivered his inaugural address on January 20, 1949, the cold war was well underway: The Iron Curtain had fallen over Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union had attempted to blockade West Berlin and the United States had begun implementing its policy of “containment” by providing financial and military aid to Greece and Turkey. In his speech, Truman outlined an ambitious “program for peace and freedom,” emphasizing four courses of action: strengthening the effectiveness of the United Nations; promoting world economic recovery; strengthening freedom-loving nations against the dangers of aggression; and launching an initiative “for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is perhaps best known for its use of the coupling, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” But, during an era of rising cold war tensions, Kennedy also addressed an international audience: “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.” Like other presidents before and since, Kennedy expressed optimism about the ability of the current generation of Americans to confront the unique burdens that had been placed upon them. Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address
The cornerstone of Ronald Reagan’s economic and legislative philosophy is well summarized by his assertion that “In our present time, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” (Compare the prominence of the word “government” in Reagan’s First Inaugural and Roosevelt’s Second, and you’ll see how the two transformational icons viewed their role as president.) On the day of the inauguration, the U.S. hostages in Iran were released after 444 days in captivity. Reagan referenced the crisis in saying, “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.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Ronald Reagan's Second Inaugural Address
On a frigid winter day—so cold that the ceremony took place in the Capitol Rotunda instead of on the Capitol’s west steps—Ronald Reagan spoke of restricting the scope of federal government, pledging to keep Americans safe from undue “economic barriers” and to “liberate the spirit of enterprise” for all. The president also addressed national security, emphasizing the responsibility of the United States to promote democracy abroad. Reagan denounced the immorality of nuclear weapons and mutual assured destruction, and used his address to further his case for a missile defense shield. Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Bill Clinton's First Inaugural Address
Bill Clinton defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush in 1992, when the country was in the midst of an economic recession. Yet his speech largely focused on America’s place in the world during an era of unprecedented economic and political globalization: “There is no longer 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.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Bill Clinton's Second Inaugural Address
During his campaign for re-election in 1996, President Clinton promoted the theme of building a bridge to the 21st century. His second inaugural speech touched upon the same theme, and Clinton spoke optimistically about setting “our sights upon a land of new promise.” In a twist on President Reagan’s famous line from his first inaugural, Clinton said: “Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We—the American people—we are the solution.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
George W. Bush's First Inaugural Address
Following years of political scandals and bitter fighting between President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress, many pundits praised President George W. Bush’s first inaugural speech for its themes of compassion, service, character—and especially the promise to bring civility to politics. Newsweek’s Evan Thomas wrote: “Bush studied John F. Kennedy’s brief Inaugural Address before preparing his own. Bush’s themes of courage and service echoed JFK’s—without the heavy overhang of the ‘long twilight struggle’ of the cold war, but with the same emphasis on duty and commitment, words Bush repeated several times.” Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
George W. Bush's Second Inaugural Address
President George W. Bush’s second inaugural address was delivered in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Seeking to place his foreign policy in a broad, historical context, Bush declared: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” Bush had told his chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, “I want this to be the freedom speech.” Gerson didn’t disappoint: during the course of the 21-minute address, Bush used the words “freedom,” “free” and “liberty” 49 times. Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Barack Obama's First Inaugural Address
Barack Obama's inaugural address cited the historic change his presidency represents and candidly recognized the many challenges facing the nation in his term ahead, from war abroad to economic turmoil at home. "The challenges we face are real. They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time," he declared. "But know this, America—they will be met." He promised "bold and swift action" to restore the economy. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." Read the full speech at: Bartelby.org
Barack Obama's Second Inaugural Address
Barack Obama’s second inaugural address reiterated his campaign theme of fairness, explaining that a nation can’t succeed "when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.” Starting many statements with “we, the people,” Obama called on citizens to work together to achieve an agenda that was lauded by liberals but criticized by conservatives. He became the first president to reference protecting gay rights in an inaugural address, and highlighted climate change, declaring, “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.”(Written by Marina Koren) Read the full speech at: Bartelby.com
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President Biden’s inauguration speech: What he said and what it means
Inaugural address asserts that ‘unity is the path forward’ with honest admission of nation’s ‘historic moment of crisis and challenge’, article bookmarked.
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In his inaugural address, US President Joe Biden appealed for national unity and a battle for the common good, a stark departure from now-former president Donald Trump’s vision of “carnage” and an assertion of American individualism in his remarks four years ago.
The 46th president was sworn in at 11.48am on the steps of the US Capitol, which just two weeks ago was smothered in tear gas during an insurrection mounted by the former president’s supporters, driven by the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from them.
On Tuesday night, at the foot of the reflecting pool in front of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Mr Biden and now-vice president Kamala Harris also led a solemn memorial to recognise the more than 400,000 Americans who died from Covid-19.
Those twin crises – facing democracy and public health – join the threats of racial injustice, the climate emergency, and a lagging economy and mass unemployment that have thrived under the previous administration.
Read more: Follow live updates and news on Inauguration Day 2021
Mr Biden campaigned on a promise of unity but did not dismiss the realities that have demanded it. His 21-minute inaugural address, following a chaotic transition and a lethal attempt to upend the transfer of power, expanded on that message and called on Americans to meet it.
‘This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve’
From the steps of the US Capitol, the president called his election and the inauguration a “triumph not of a candidate but of the cause, the cause of democracy,” with the spectre of the former president’s trails of falsehoods and a violent insurrection – and thousands of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital – surrounding him. “Democracy has prevailed,” he said.
“On this hallowed ground just a few days ago, violence sought to shake the Capitol’s very foundation,” he said. “We came together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power.”
‘Much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities’
Mr Biden’s administration includes offices and cabinet-level positions specifically to address the crises he inherits, and he has outlined an extensive list of Day One plans, including executive orders to overturn the former president’s severe immigration actions.
He said that the US must be “restless, bold, optimistic” and “set sights on a nation we can be, we must be.”
“This is a great nation – we’re good people, and over the centuries through storm and strife, through peace and war, we’ve come so far, we still have so far to go,” he said.
His ambitious 100-day plan also includes a $1.9trn legislative coronavirus relief package, which Democratic lawmakers will seek to quickly pass through Congress.
‘The most elusive thing in all of democracy: Unity’
Mr Biden has explicitly pointed out the rising threats of white supremacists and racial injustice and condemned lawmakers and other officials who have endorsed Mr Trump’s efforts to undermine American voters. Critics have argued that the president’s insistence on “unity” dismisses fascist violence and racism, placing the burden on Democrats to repair the nation rather than begin a meaningful period of reckoning.
But the president’s bipartisan message speaks more to the common “foes” among Americans: anger, resentment, disease, joblessness and hopelessness, among others.
He said the US has always been in a “constraint struggle” to live up to its creed “that we’re all created equal.”
“Our better angels have always prevailed,” he said. “Without unity there is bitterness and fury … No nation, only a state of chaos … This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
He said that “politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path.”
“Disagreement must not lead to disunion,” he said.
Americans must be “willing to stand in another person’s shoes, as my mom would say, just for a moment,” he said. “Here’s the thing about life: there’s no accounting for what faith will deal you.”
‘Common objects of their love’
Mr Biden, who is Catholic, invoked St Augustine in his appeal to unity: “A people are a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.”
He listed the “common objects” loved among Americans – opportunity, security, dignity, respect, honor, and, “yes, the truth.”
‘The leading force of good in the world’
In a message to other nations, he assured that “America has been tested, and has come out stronger for it,” but didn’t mention the fractured foreign policy under the previous administration. He pledged to “repair our alliances” and make the US a “leading force of good in the world."
On Day One, the Biden administration will rejoin the Paris climate agreement. Within his first 10 days, he intends to roll out an extensive immigration reform plan that includes efforts to reunite families separated by federal law enforcement at the US-Mexico border.
The administration also will confront the joint comprehensive plan of action with Iran, crafted under the Obama Administration, with a new State Department helmed by Obama-era officials.
‘My first act as president’
President Biden led a moment of silent prayer to recognise the more than 400,000 Americans who died from the coronavirus.
He also called on Americans to do their part, without addressing specifics, but with an honest admission of the difficulties ahead.
“We’re going to be tested,” he said. “Are we going to step up, all of us? It’s time for boldness. There is so much to do … We will be judged, you and I, how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. … Will we master this rare and difficult hour?”
“I believe we must, I believe we will,” he added. “And when we do we will write the next great chapter in American history.”
‘American Anthem’
As he closed his remarks, he quoted from Gene Sheer’s 1998 composition “American Anthem,” which he called his “favorite song”. The song was also performed at George W Bush’s inauguration.
President Biden recited these lines: “What shall be our legacy? What will our children say? Let them say of me / I was one who believed / In sharing the blessings / I received /Let me know in my heart / When my days are through / America, America / I gave my best to you.”
“Let’s add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of this great nation,” he said.
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'This Is America's Day': Biden's Inaugural Address, Annotated
Joe Biden gives his inaugural address on Wednesday. Caroline Amenabar/NPR hide caption
Joe Biden gives his inaugural address on Wednesday.
Updated at 12:22 p.m. ET
Joe Biden addressed the nation for the first time as its 46th president on Wednesday. Biden spoke at a scaled-down event before a divided nation still reeling from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and from the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 400,000 Americans.
But his remarks were ones of hope.
"This is America's day. This is democracy's day, a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve through a crucible for the ages," he said. "America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge."
Inauguration Day: Live Updates
Watch live: inauguration day ceremony and events.
NPR reporters from the Washington Desk and across the newsroom are providing live fact checks and analysis of Biden's remarks. Watch the address and read the annotations below. Follow NPR's full online coverage in our live blog .
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Presentation Inaugurations: Stepping into History
The first inauguration.
George Washington set a precedent for future presidents when he delivered the first inaugural address on April 30, 1789. Washington used the opportunity to discuss some of his positions, including his refusal to take a salary while in office:
"When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country...the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. ...being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates... be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require."
The rejection of a salary despite its inclusion in the Constitution did not become a common part of subsequent inaugural addresses. However, George Washington's religious invocation did start a presidential trend:
"[I]t would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe...No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States."
Religious references, ranging from secular invocations such as Jefferson's "Infinite Power" and Martin Van Buren's "Divine Being" to a mention of "Almighty God," have appeared in almost every president's inaugural address. What do these religious references contribute to the inaugural ceremony? Why are they so common? What do they tell you about the nation?
The Bible used in George Washington's inaugural oath has appeared in other inaugurations. In his 1989 inaugural address, George H.W. Bush noted,
"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...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."
Read the Full Text: Joe Biden's Inaugural Address
President biden's inaugural address called for unity to overcome challenges, published january 20, 2021 • updated on january 20, 2021 at 1:26 pm.
Read the full text of Joseph R. Biden's Inaugural Address, as delivered on Jan. 20, 2021:
Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans.
This is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve.
Through a crucible for the ages. America's been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause. The cause of democracy.
The people, the will of the people, has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded. We've learned, again, that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
President Biden Calls for Unity in Inaugural Address
Kamala Harris' Inauguration Attire Champions Black Designers
So now on this hallowed ground, where just a few days ago, violence sought to shake the capitol's very foundation, we come together as one nation under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.
As we look ahead in our uniquely American way, restless, bold, optimistic, and set our sights on a nation we know we can be and we must be. I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here today. I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I know the resilience of our constitution and the strength, the strength of our nation as does President Carter, who I spoke with last night who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.
I have just taken the sacred oath each of those patriots have taken, the oath first sworn by George Washington.
The American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us. On we the people, who seek a more perfect union. This is a great nation. We are good people. Over the centuries, through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we come so far. But we still have far to go.
We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities -- much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain.
Few people in our nation's history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we are in now: A once in a century virus that silently stalks the country. It has taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II. Millions of jobs have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.
A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making, moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.
A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clear.
And now a rise at political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.
To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul, and to secure the future of America, requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: Unity. Unity.
In another January on New Year's Day in 1893, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The president put pen to paper and said, and I quote, "If my name ever goes down in history, it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it." My whole soul was in it. Today on this January day, my whole soul is in this, bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation and I ask every American to join me in this cause.
Uniting to fight the foes we face: Anger, resentment, and hatred. Extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness, and hopelessness. With unity, we can do great things, important things. We can write wrongs, we can put people to work and good jobs, we can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome the deadly virus. We can reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all.
We can deliver racial justice and make America once again the leading force for good in the world. I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.
The battle is perennial and victory is never assured. Through civil war, the great depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. We can do that now. History, faith, and reason show the way. The way of unity.
We can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of this is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. Unity is the path forward. We must meet this moment as the United States of America.
If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail. We have never ever failed in America. We have acted together.
Today at this time and this place, let's start afresh. All of us. Let's begin to listen to one another again. Hear one another, see one another, show respect to one another.
Politics does not have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement does not have to be a cause for total war. We must reject the culture to which facts themselves are manipulated and manufactured.
My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this. America has to be better than this. I believe America is so much better than this.
Look around. Here we stand in the shadow of the capitol dome, completed amid the civil war when the union itself was hanging in the balance. Yet we endured, we prevailed.
Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.
And here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground.
It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.
For all those who have supported our campaign, I'm humbled by the faith you've placed in us. To all those who did not support us, let me say this, hear me out as we move forward, take a measure of me and my heart, and if you still disagree, so be it.
That's democracy. That's America. The right to dissent peaceably within the guardrails of our republic is perhaps this nation's greatest strength. Hear me clearly, disagreement must not lead to disunion. And I pledge this to you. I will be a president for all Americans. All Americans.
And I promise you, I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.
Many centuries ago, St. Augustine, the saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love, defined by the common objects of their love.
What are the common objects we as Americans love that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity. Security. Liberty. Dignity. Respect. Honor. And, yes, the truth.
Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders, leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation, to defend the truth and defeat the lies.
Look, I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand like my dad they lay in bed at night staring at the ceiling wondering can I keep my health care? Can I pay my mortgage? Thinking about their families. About what comes next. I promise you, I get it.
But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don't look like you or worship the way you do or don't get their news from the same sources you do.
We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.
We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility. And if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes as my mom would say, just for a moment, stand in their shoes. Because here's the thing about life. There's no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand, there are other days when we're called to lend a hand. That's how it has to be. That's what we do for one another. And if we are of this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. And we can still disagree.
My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we're going to need each other. We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.
We're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation. One nation.
And I promise you this -- as the Bible says, woe may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. We will get through this together. Together.
Look folks, all my colleagues I serve with in the House and the Senate up here, we all understand the world is watching, watching all of us today. So here's my message to those beyond our borders.
America has been tested, and we've come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday's challenges but today's and tomorrow's challenges.
And we'll lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.
We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security. Look, you all know, we've been through so much in this nation. And my first act as president, I'd like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those who we lost this past year to the pandemic, those 400,000 fellow Americans. Moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
We'll honor them by becoming the people and the nation we know we can and should be. So I ask you, let's say a silent prayer for those who have lost their lives and those left behind and for our country.
Folks, this is a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and untruth, a raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis, America's role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways, but the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with one of the gravest responsibilities we've had.
Now we're going to be tested. Are we going to step up, all of us? It's time for boldness, for there's so much to do. And this is certain -- I promise you, we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. Will we rise to the occasion is the question. Will we master this rare and difficult hour?
Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world to our children? I believe we must. I'm sure you do as well. I believe we will. And when we do, we'll write the next great chapter in the history of the United States of America, the American story. A story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me. It's called "American anthem."
There's one verse that stands out, at least for me. And it goes like this: "The work and prayers of the century have brought us to this day. What shall be our legacy, what will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through. America, America, I gave my best to you."
Let's add, let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our great nation. If we do this, then when our days are through, our children and our children's children will say of us they gave their best, they did their duty, they healed a broken land.
My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath. Before God and all of you, I give you my word, I will always level with you. I will defend the Constitution. I'll defend our democracy. I'll defend America. And I'll give all, all of you, keep everything I do in your service, thinking not of power but of possibilities, not of personal interest but the public good.
And together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment.
Democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch but thrived, that America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generation to follow.
So with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasks of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts.
May God bless America, and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.
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Historic Documents
"ask not what your country can do for you".
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 before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears 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 neighbours 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 belabouring 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 endeavour, 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 shrink 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 endeavour 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.
- Daniel Webster's "Seventh of March" Speech
- FDR's Infamy Speech
This public-domain content provided by the Independence Hall Association , a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1942. Publishing electronically as ushistory.org. On the Internet since July 4, 1995.
Kennedy's Inaugural Address
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Inaugural Address (1933)
- March 04, 1933
Introduction
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address is perhaps the most famous speech of its kind in American history, with its memorable phrase, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In it he diagnosed the Depression as a symptom of moral decay, and promised to set things right now that the “money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.” This would mean a far more activist federal government, and, in particular, a far stronger presidency. Indeed, he told his listeners that if Congress did not respond quickly and forcefully enough to his initiatives, he would ask for “broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”
Source: Samuel Rosenman, ed., The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Year of Crisis, 1933 , (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library, 2005), pp. 11–16.
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish. [1]
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. [2] We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.
Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.
There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.
Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.
The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States – a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor – the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others – the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.
Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.
But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis – broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.
We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.
- 1. A reference to Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
- 2. Roosevelt is alluding to the story of Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple in Jerusalem. The story is in Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19: 45:48, and John 2:13-16.
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Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
Lincoln's first inaugural address to the nation.
Fellow-Citizens of the United States:
In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of this office."
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that--
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:
Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?
There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?
Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?
I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.
It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.
I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as acontract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?
Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."
But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.
In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.
The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.
That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?
Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?
All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.
From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.
Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?
Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.
I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.
One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive- slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.
Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.
The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.
By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
"Something Notable and Striking": John Adams Writes about the Boston Tea Party, 1773
"I wish you to be exceedingly watchfull": George Washington to George Weedon, September 1781
"we fight get beat and fight again": nathanael greene to george washington, 1781, you may also like.
Biden's Inauguration Day speech, annotated
Biden mixed grandfatherly advice and a personal plea for unity with soaring quotations from President Abraham Lincoln as he sought to bring the country together, end what he called an “uncivil war,” and mobilize Americans against both the raging pandemic and the political divisions that have characterized the past few years. A relatively short speech with a theme of healing and new beginning, it brought to mind the greatest of all inaugural addresses, Lincoln’s second, as he tried to bring the US out of the Civil War.
Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, my distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.
Note that now-ex-President Donald Trump didn’t attend. He is the first American president since 1869 to skip his successor’s inauguration. Back then it was Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached by Congress. Today it’s Trump, the first President to be impeached twice . Biden did welcome Mike Pence, the outgoing vice president, who did attend.
Also note here that Biden mentioned “Leader” Schumer. Chuck Schumer wasn’t yet Senate Majority Leader at the time of the speech. He acquires that title with the swearing-in of Georgia’s two new Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff , on Wednesday afternoon. Mitch McConnell was majority leader at noon but becomes minority leader later Wednesday.
This is America’s day . This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope. Of renewal and resolve. Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, the cause of democracy. The will of the people has been heard and the will of people has been heeded.
“America’s day” is the way Biden put it, but a large portion of the country is smarting at his victory.
We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
So now on this hallowed ground where just a few days ago violence sought to shake the Capitol’s very foundation , we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries. We look ahead in our uniquely American way — restless, bold, optimistic — and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.
Biden did not shy away from bringing up the threat posed by Trump’s effort to undermine the election and the effort by Trump’s followers to stop the counting of electoral votes at the Capitol just two weeks ago. Here, the new President declared victory for democracy — but he clearly wants to move on. Unity is going to be the main theme of this speech.
I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here. I thank them from the bottom my heart. You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation — as does President Carter, who I spoke with last night, who cannot be with us today , but whom we salute for his lifetime in service.
Former President Jimmy Carter is in his 90s, so he skipped the event. Former Vice President Dick Cheney was also unable to attend.
I have just taken a sacred oath that each of those patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington. But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us. On ‘we, the people,’ who seek a more perfect Union . This is a great nation and we are a good people. And over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.
The oath is written in the Article II of Constitution , the nation’s founding document. Every President has to take it.
Biden sprinkled many references to US history and great speeches throughout his remarks. Here’s “We the People” and “a more perfect Union,” which comes from the preamble of the Constitution.
We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility. Much to repair. Much to restore. Much to heal. Much to build. And much to gain .
Listing the difficulties we face during this time of division and pandemic was expected. But Biden suggested this is a time possibility and there’s much to gain. That speaks to the message of optimism he’s laced throughout his career.
Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now. A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country. It has taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II .
The death toll is hard to comprehend. More than 400,000 Americans have died in less than a year, on Trump’s watch.
Millions of jobs have been lost . Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed . A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. A cry for survival comes from the planet itself , a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.
This is an incredible time, as Biden suggested. All of these threats, it should be noted, were to some degree denied or rejected by now-former President Trump.
To overcome these challenges — to restore the soul and secure the future of America — requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity. Unity.
Unity is the most important thing in this speech and it may be just as hard to convince Democrats angry at what Trump was able to do in his four years to get on board with coming together as it will be to convince Republicans angry that Trump lost.
In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said — and I quote — “If my name ever goes down into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”
My whole soul is in it. Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together, uniting our people and uniting our nation .
I ask every American to join me in this cause, uniting to fight the foes we face: anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness. With unity, we can do great things, important things. We can right wrongs and we can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome the deadly virus. We can reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all. We can deliver racial justice. We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.
This call to Americans is important. Biden effectively told Americans he can’t do it on his own. This was the “ask what you can do for your country” element of this speech.
I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real but I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal, and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart .
The battle is perennial and victory is never assured. Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward and we can do that now. History, faith and reason show the way — the way of unity. We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury; no progress, only exhausting outrage; no nation, only a state of chaos.
Biden acknowledged the complicated reality of the American ideal here, but argued the country ultimately gets things right, when enough Americans join the effort to move toward the “more perfect union.”
This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail. We have never, ever, ever, ever failed in America when we’ve acted together.
And so today, at this time and in this place, let’s start afresh, all of us . Let’s begin to listen to one another again, hear one another, see one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war, and we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated, and even manufactured .
Biden here confronted a core challenge to his call for unity: that so much of the country has been led — in large part by Trump himself — to believe in falsehoods.
My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this. America has to be better than this, and I believe America is so much better than this. Just look around. Here we stand, in the shadow of the Capitol dome, as was mentioned earlier, completed amid the Civil War when the union itself was literally hanging in the balance . Yet, we endured. We prevailed.
The dome was under construction during the entire Civil War , being built as the country was being torn apart, and completed in 1866.
Here we stand, looking out on the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream . Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protesters tried to block brave women marching for the right to vote, and today we mark the swearing in of the first woman in American history elected to national office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Don’t tell me things can’t change.
King’s speech was during the March on Washington in 1963.
The Women’s Suffrage Parade was in 1913, ahead of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Each of those were protest movements long in the making and they included large gatherings of people.
The Mall Wednesday was largely cleared of people due to security concerns as well as the pandemic.
Here we stand, across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.
This phrase comes from the Gettysburg Address . Arlington Cemetery is located at the former plantation home of Robert E. Lee and is where many Americans who have died in combat are interred. Instead of the normal post-inaugural lunch with lawmakers after this speech, Biden traveled to Arlington after his speech to pay his respects.
And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people , to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.
Biden rejected the riotous mob, but he also placed the January 6 storming of the Capitol alongside key moments in US history. Their defeat is the country’s victory.
To all those who supported our campaign, I am humbled by the faith you placed in us. To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart, and if you still disagree, so be it. That’s democracy. That’s America . The right to dissent peaceably within the guardrails of our republic is perhaps this nation’s greatest strength.
Yet, hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion, and I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans. All Americans. And I promise you, I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.
Returning to his theme of unity, Biden personally asked his political opponents to give him a chance. They got more attention in this speech than his supporters.
Many centuries ago, St. Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love, defined by the common objects of their love .
Biden is a deeply religious man and just the second Catholic US President. Read more here a bout Saint Augustine .
What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think I know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor, and — yes — the truth. Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies, lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and a responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders, leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation, to defend the truth and defeat the lies.
Biden promised to help all Americans. But he reminded his listeners, several times in this speech, that keeping this democracy together will demand an adherence to facts. That could be the biggest break from the Trump era.
Look, I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand, like my dad, they lay in bed, staring — at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering, “Can I keep my health care? Can I pay my mortgage?” Thinking about their families, about what comes next. I promise you, I get it.
This was interestingly informal language for an inaugural address. This part was the FDR-esque Fireside Chat.
But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes. As my mom would say, “Just for a moment, stand in their shoes.”
“End this uncivil war” should be the most-remembered line from this speech.
Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days, you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand. That’s how it has to be. That’s what we do for one another. And if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. We can still disagree.
Biden’s belief in fate is an element of his faith. And his call to help others is rooted in that and will be evident in his efforts to expand health care coverage and help Americans hurt by the pandemic — including those who didn’t vote for him, another shift back to old norms and away from Trump’s habit of favoring states or voters who supported him.
My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we’re going to need each other. We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. We’re entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation. One nation. And I promise you this, as the Bible says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” We will get through this together. Together.
This is Psalm 30:5 : “For His anger endureth but a moment, and in His favor is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Biden added a collectivist tinge to this verse.
Look, folks, all my colleagues I served with in the House and the Senate up here, we all understand the world is watching, watching all of us today. So here’s my message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we’ve come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges but today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. And we’ll lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example .
Given the importance of foreign policy to Biden’s senate and vice presidential career, it got relatively short attention in this speech. By talking about “rebuilding alliances,” he made clear he aims to undo Trump’s “America First” approach of removing the US from treaties and alliances and his bullying of other countries with threats.
We’ll be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security. Look, you all know we’ve been through — through so much in this nation. In my first act as President, I’d ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all of those who we lost in this past year due to the pandemic , those 400,000 fellow Americans — moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors and co-workers. We will honor them by becoming the people and the nation we know we can and should be. So I ask you, let’s say a silent prayer for those who’ve lost their lives and those left behind and for our country.
The simple act of acknowledging the dead is new. Biden and Harris held a national memorial ceremony on Tuesday night , on the eve of inauguration.
Folks, this is a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and on truth, a raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis, America’s role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways but the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with one of the gravest responsibilities we’ve had.
All Presidents like to talk about how difficult their challenges will be. But Biden has a point here.
Now we’re going to be tested. Are we going to step up, all of us? It’s time for boldness, for there’s so much to do, and this is certain — I promise you we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.
We will rise to the occasion. The question is, will we master this rare and difficult hour? Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world to our children? I believe we must. I’m sure you do, as well. I believe we will. And when we do, we’ll write the next great chapter in the history of the United States of America, the American story, a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me. It’s called American Anthem.
And there’s one verse that stands out, at least for me, and it goes like this. “The work and prayers of century have brought us to this day, what shall be our legacy. What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through. America, America, I gave my best to you.”
If Trump’s inaugural was known for his phrase “American carnage,” Biden’s could be called “American Anthem.”
Here’s a version of the song , written by Gene Scheer and sung by Norah Jones.
Let’s add — let’s us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our great nation. If we do this, then when our days are through, our children and our children’s children will save us. They gave their best, they did their duty, they healed a broken land.
My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath. Before God and all of you, I give you my word, I will always level with you . I will defend the Constitution. I will defend our democracy. I will defend America. And I will give all, all of you, keep everything I do in your service, thinking not of power but of possibilities, not of personal interest but the public good.
This is a very Biden way to end the speech. Honesty is important to him.
And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear; of unity, not division; of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity. Love and healing. Greatness and goodness.
May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history. We met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch, but thrived. That America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.
That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.
At the start of the ceremony, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that there were “a whole bunch of Bidens” in attendance.
So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasks of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts.
May God bless America, and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.
Relatively succinct and appropriately broad, this was a very good speech.
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Presidential Speeches
January 20, 1961: inaugural address, about this speech.
John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961
In his Inaugural Address, Kennedy pledges to support liberty, commit to allies, avoid tyranny, aid the underprivileged throughout the world, and strengthen the Americas. Kennedy challenges Communist nations to engage in a dialogue with the United States to ensure world peace and stability. The speech is best known for the words: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."
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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 before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears 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 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 of half 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) let the oppressed go free." And if a beach-head 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 one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand 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 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 shrink 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 here 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.
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Read the full text of Biden's inaugural address
By Alex Sundby
January 20, 2021 / 1:38 PM EST / CBS News
President Biden took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, four years after he attended the inauguration of President Trump as the outgoing vice president. Mr. Trump didn't attend Mr. Biden's inauguration, flying instead on Air Force One earlier in the day to his Florida home.
The inauguration comes two weeks after supporters of Mr. Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol , which led authorities to lock down the surrounding area and close the National Mall to the crowd that traditionally gathers on Inauguration Day.
As Mr. Biden moves into the White House, the nation faces both a public health and an economic crisis stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic . The U.S. death toll from the disease surpassed 400,000 on Mr. Trump's last full day in office, and health experts expected it to top half a million in February, Mr. Biden's first full month in office.
Read the full text of Mr. Biden's inaugural address as prepared for delivery below, and follow the latest developments on Inauguration Day here .
Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.
This is America's day.
This is democracy's day.
A day of history and hope.
Of renewal and resolve.
Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.
Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.
The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.
We have learned again that democracy is precious.
Democracy is fragile.
And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol's very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.
We look ahead in our uniquely American way - restless, bold, optimistic - and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.
I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here.
I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation.
As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.
I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took - an oath first sworn by George Washington.
But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.
On "We the People" who seek a more perfect Union.
This is a great nation and we are a good people.
Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.
We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.
Much to repair.
Much to restore.
Much to heal.
Much to build.
And much to gain.
Few periods in our nation's history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we're in now.
A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.
It's taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.
Millions of jobs have been lost.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.
A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.
A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clear.
And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.
To overcome these challenges - to restore the soul and to secure the future of America - requires more than words.
It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:
In another January in Washington, on New Year's Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
When he put pen to paper, the President said, "If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it."
My whole soul is in it.
Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:
Bringing America together.
Uniting our people.
And uniting our nation.
I ask every American to join me in this cause.
Uniting to fight the common foes we face:
Anger, resentment, hatred.
Extremism, lawlessness, violence.
Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.
With unity we can do great things. Important things.
We can right wrongs.
We can put people to work in good jobs.
We can teach our children in safe schools.
We can overcome this deadly virus.
We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care secure for all.
We can deliver racial justice.
We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.
I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.
I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.
But I also know they are not new.
Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.
The battle is perennial.
Victory is never assured.
Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our "better angels" have always prevailed.
In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.
And, we can do so now.
History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.
We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.
We can treat each other with dignity and respect.
We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.
For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.
No progress, only exhausting outrage.
No nation, only a state of chaos.
This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.
And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.
If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.
We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.
And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.
Let us listen to one another.
Hear one another. See one another.
Show respect to one another.
Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.
Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war.
And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.
My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.
America has to be better than this.
And, I believe America is better than this.
Just look around.
Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance.
Yet we endured and we prevailed.
Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream.
Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote.
Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office - Vice President Kamala Harris.
Don't tell me things can't change.
Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.
And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground.
That did not happen.
It will never happen.
Not tomorrow.
To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.
To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart.
And if you still disagree, so be it.
That's democracy. That's America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation's greatest strength.
Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.
And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans.
I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.
Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.
What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?
I think I know.
Opportunity.
And, yes, the truth.
Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.
There is truth and there are lies.
Lies told for power and for profit.
And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders - leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation - to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.
I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation.
I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.
But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don't look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don't get their news from the same sources you do.
We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.
We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.
If we show a little tolerance and humility.
If we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes just for a moment. Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.
There are some days when we need a hand.
There are other days when we're called on to lend one.
That is how we must be with one another.
And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.
My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other.
We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.
We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus.
We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.
I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.
We will get through this, together
The world is watching today.
So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it.
We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.
Not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's.
We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.
We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.
We have been through so much in this nation.
And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.
To those 400,000 fellow Americans - mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.
Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country.
This is a time of testing.
We face an attack on democracy and on truth.
A raging virus.
Growing inequity.
The sting of systemic racism.
A climate in crisis.
America's role in the world.
Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.
But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities.
Now we must step up.
It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.
And, this is certain.
We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era.
Will we rise to the occasion?
Will we master this rare and difficult hour?
Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?
I believe we must and I believe we will.
And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story.
It's a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me.
It's called "American Anthem" and there is one verse stands out for me:
"The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day What shall be our legacy? What will our children say?... Let me know in my heart When my days are through America America I gave my best to you."
Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.
If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children's children will say of us they gave their best.
They did their duty.
They healed a broken land. My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.
Before God and all of you I give you my word.
I will always level with you.
I will defend the Constitution.
I will defend our democracy.
I will defend America.
I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.
Not of personal interest, but of the public good.
And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.
Of unity, not division.
Of light, not darkness.
An American story of decency and dignity.
Of love and of healing.
Of greatness and of goodness.
May this be the story that guides us.
The story that inspires us.
The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.
We met the moment.
That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.
That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.
That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.
So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time.
Sustained by faith.
Driven by conviction.
And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.
May God bless America and may God protect our troops.
Thank you, America.
- Joe Biden 2021 Presidential Inauguration
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
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George Washington's First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
Presidential inaugurations are important civic rituals in our nation's political life. The Constitution requires that presidential electoral votes be opened and counted by the Senate and House of Representatives meeting together, that the candidate with a majority of electoral votes be declared the victor, and that the president-elect, before taking charge of the office, swear an oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
In 1788, the Confederation Congress scheduled the first presidential inauguration for the first Wednesday in March of the following year. However, the early months of 1789 proved to be unseasonably cold and snowy and bad weather delayed many members of the First Federal Congress from arriving promptly in New York City, the temporary seat of government. Until a quorum could be established in both the House and the Senate, no official business could be conducted. Finally, on April 6, 1789 - over a month late - enough members had reached New York to tally the electoral ballots. The ballots were counted on April 6 and George Washington won unanimously with 69 electoral votes. Washington was then notified of his victory and traveled to New York City from his home in Virginia.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath as the first president of the United States. The oath was administered by Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, on a second floor balcony of Federal Hall, above a crowd assembled in the streets to witness this historic event. President Washington and the members of Congress then retired to the Senate Chamber, where Washington delivered the first inaugural address to a joint session of Congress. Washington humbly noted the power of the nations' call for him to serve as president and the shared responsibility of the president and Congress to preserve "the sacred fire of liberty" and a republican form of government.
At that auspicious moment marking the birth of the federal government under the Constitution, Senator William Maclay of Pennsylvania observed that even the great Washington trembled when he faced the assembled representatives and senators. "This great man was agitated and embarrassed," Maclay added, "more than ever he was by the levelled Cannon or pointed Musket." After concluding his remarks, the President and Congress proceeded through crowds lined up on Broadway to St. Paul's Church, where a service was conducted. Social gatherings and festivities closed the nation's first inaugural day. Subsequent presidential inaugurations took place on March 4th (or March 5th when the fourth fell on a Sunday), until the Twentieth Amendment changed the date to January 20th beginning in 1937.
George Washington's First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789; RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate; National Archives
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Jan. 10, 2013: Remarks by U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne S. Verveer at the Institute for International Education (IIE) in Washington, DC.
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Welcome to everyone.
I started today as I often have over the last three decades, by running around the Dish – clockwise, because it’s a little easier on the knees. And as I was climbing toward the top, I was hoping we would have a beautiful California afternoon, just like this one.
I want to express my appreciation to our Board Chair Jerry Yang; members of the Stanford Board of Trustees; Presidents Emeriti Gerhard Casper, John Hennessy, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, and Richard Saller; Provost Jenny Martinez; past Provosts Condoleezza Rice, John Etchemendy, and Persis Drell; the executive cabinet and senior staff of the university.
I want to thank the members of my family who are here, especially my wife Amy, and our children Madeline, Ben, and Noah.
And I want to welcome all of you here today: faculty colleagues, students, postdocs, staff members, alumni, and friends.
The first time I was in Frost Amphitheater was 34 years ago. It was the fall of 1990. I was a Stanford freshman attending Convocation.
As I told this year’s entering class – despite having high hopes that my own first Convocation address would have a deeply enduring impact – I am unable to remember a single word the president said that day in Frost.
What I do remember is the feeling of arriving in California.
I had grown up on the East Coast with a deep love of the outdoors, reading about the pioneering climbs in Yosemite and the whitewater of the High Sierra. When I arrived at Stanford, I was excited to be a student, and I couldn’t wait to get to the mountains.
My memories of Stanford from that time blend the exploration of the classroom – reading literature, studying mathematics, taking classes in computer science and philosophy and economics, writing a thesis on Norman Maclean – with trips to the rivers and peaks of California.
For me, like so many others, the intellectual expansiveness of the Stanford campus has always been intertwined with the physical expansiveness of the American West.
We are reminded of that today, when we can look up at the natural beauty of our surroundings, and look around at this array of scholars, students, and friends who have contributed so much to our academic excellence.
Stanford is the university of the American frontier.
Like the frontier, it is infused with a sense of openness, possibility, and hope that are fundamental to who we are.
Those characteristics are an essential part of what makes this place so distinctive, and will help us define our future.
Since that September day 34 years ago, I have been fortunate to spend most of my adult life at Stanford. I have gotten to see the university as a student, a teacher, a scholar, and an academic leader.
Each of those experiences and perspectives makes the responsibility of becoming Stanford’s 13th president more meaningful and more humbling.
I am conscious that I begin my term as president at a time when American universities are under intense scrutiny. The difficulties we have faced in recent years are evident. Many of them stem from outside influences – global events, politics, skepticism about elite institutions – some from within.
We are criticized for not doing enough to address societal challenges, and for doing too much. We are criticized for suppressing speech, and for permitting it. Our admissions policies, faculty composition, research funding, campus climate, and endowments are the subject of heated debate.
There is no doubt that in the coming years, we will have to navigate challenges.
Our North Star is our fundamental purpose of discovery and learning. We exist as a university to create and share knowledge, and to prepare students to be curious, to think critically, to flourish, and to contribute to the world. This purpose, both simple and profound, gives us a distinctive role in society.
Discovery and learning require fresh ideas, open discussion, sometimes sharp disagreement. It is no accident that Stanford’s first president chose as our motto: “The wind of freedom blows.”
When our former President Gerhard Casper arrived at Stanford, he was so struck by our motto that he dedicated his inaugural address to explaining its origin, and relating it to the freedoms of the university.
These include the freedom of faculty and students to pursue knowledge without constraints; the freedom to challenge orthodoxy, whether old or new; and the freedom to think and speak openly.
These freedoms nurture the conditions for discovery and learning.
These freedoms also provide a guide when it comes to navigating many of the contentious issues we face today.
To be clear, we want Stanford’s students and faculty to engage with the world. We expect them to wrestle with social and political issues. We hope that they will have an influence on the direction of society, pursue public service, and tackle the pressing challenges of our time.
Yet the university’s purpose is not political action or social justice. It is to create an environment in which learning thrives. As Harry Kalven memorably put it, the university’s obligation in challenging times is “to provide a forum for the most searching and candid discussion of public issues.”
This is what we should strive for today: to foster searching discussion, to listen with curiosity, and to ensure the freedom of members of the university to study and learn.
These are goals I will work toward as president, and to which we all can contribute.
It is in this way that we will generate ideas that percolate out and shape the future, and that our students will graduate with the inquisitiveness and knowledge to make a difference. And it is ultimately through those means that we will fulfill our role in society and renew public faith in universities.
It is also essential, when there is so much skepticism, to remind ourselves just how extraordinary an institution we are part of at Stanford.
In the time since I arrived, I am inspired by how our faculty and students have advanced human welfare.
Our faculty have pioneered fields such as optogenetics, bioorthogonal chemistry, market design, and large-scale online education. They have written poetry and history, and expanded our knowledge of the human condition. Our clinicians have built our academic medical center into a national jewel.
Our students have served on the Supreme Court and as prime minister of the United Kingdom. They have won 81 gold medals, 12 just this summer, and founded and built thousands of companies – sometimes here on campus, occasionally in a friend’s garage, or even a Denny’s restaurant. They have won Oscars, Emmys, and Nobel Prizes. More than a hundred thousand have graduated and gone on to lives of meaning and purpose.
Stanford embodies the essential characteristics that, even now, make American universities the envy of the world.
We pursue parallel excellence in research and education. We seek to attract and bring together the great scholars of today and the brightest minds of tomorrow. Nowadays, we take that vision for granted. But when Leland and Jane Stanford set out to create this university, it was a new concept to integrate the research focus of German universities with the British model of college education – a distinctively American combination.
It remains an exceptional one. When it works best, as it often does at Stanford, faculty share their knowledge with students, and students inspire questions and new thinking. The learning goes in both directions.
And of course, what is remarkable at Stanford is the breadth of fields in which that occurs. If you walked around today, the classrooms you passed might have been full of discussion about Victorian poetry, or fluid dynamics, or constitutional law, or the politics of immigration. It is impossible for a curious mind to be bored at Stanford.
We are an engine of innovation. One of the most consequential, and sometimes underappreciated, steps in American history was the decision after World War II to locate scientific research in universities, and to invest at a scale that would ensure U.S. leadership. If our political leaders today have sense, that investment and leadership will continue far into the future.
Stanford took up the challenge – expanding the faculty and student body, becoming the home of a national laboratory, and moving the hospital to campus. We brought a pioneering spirit – the idea that discoveries could move from labs and classrooms to the world. By the end of the 1950s, Stanford had launched the semiconductor industry that became the foundation for Silicon Valley. A few weeks ago, I tried to count the value of Stanford-founded companies and quickly got to over $7 trillion.
Most importantly, we have a culture of openness and exploration.
We are open to people from around the world, from an array of backgrounds, with the widest range of interests, aspirations, values, and beliefs.
We are open to new ways of thinking, to pursuing research that can reshape our understanding of humanity and the world.
We are open in giving our ideas away – to publishing our research so that scholars everywhere can build on our ideas. That commitment distinguishes us from the private sector, and even universities in other parts of the world.
This foundational value of openness is at the heart of American universities.
Our former President Wallace Sterling referred to Stanford’s history as the story of “strong growth from good soil.” I love that description because it captures the place in which we are rooted, and the sense of progress.
There is another quote that I think captures even more of Stanford’s potential. Every morning for the last eight years, as I walked onto the GSB campus, toward the Coupa Cafe, I looked to my left at the engraving by the artist Peter Wegner. It says that Stanford is “dedicated to the things that haven’t happened yet, and the people who are about to dream them up.”
This afternoon, I would like to share three aspirations for Stanford’s future, each of them rooted in the values of openness and exploration.
First, I aspire that this university be open-minded – that as we pursue excellence across the broadest range of disciplines, we foster a culture that embraces inquiry and curiosity.
Last week when I welcomed our new students, I talked about the philosopher Jonathan Lear’s account of Socrates. Lear observes that when people came to talk to Socrates and were confronted with his probing questions, they invariably rushed off in confusion. But Socrates stood still, because he alone was comfortable asking questions and not knowing the answers.
The point was that college is about asking questions, about recognizing that however much one knows, there is always more to discover. Of course that cuts against today’s world, where it often seems that everyone on the internet believes they have the answers, and feels compelled to share them.
Our campus must be a place where we can ask each other questions, experiment with ideas, and share our own thinking.
These skills are important not just for our own community. In a time of deep division, they are foundational to effect positive change in the world, which is precisely what we envision and hope for in our graduates.
Second, I aspire that our university be open to new ideas – that we are ambitious in exploring the frontiers of knowledge.
Over the next decade, I believe we will be astonished by the breakthroughs made in many fields. We are living at a time when the ability to assimilate vast amounts of information, make predictions, and formulate new hypotheses has the potential to transform discovery.
And we can only begin to imagine the ways in which these technologies will affect so many parts of our lives – including the whole of education.
The frontier is open: new treatments for cancer, radically improved energy storage, and a deeper understanding of human intelligence and behavior.
What we do know is that if you could pick one place on Earth to be during a dramatic acceleration in discovery, it would be here.
Stanford will be the leading university to advance research and teaching, and deepen our understanding of the impact and potential of these technologies.
We are one of the few places where faculty and students from across every field can interact and work together. And crucially, we have the academic strength of the humanities and the arts to keep us from losing sight of the fundamental questions of what it means to be human, what it means to be a citizen, and what it means to live a good life.
Third, I aspire for us to open the reach of a Stanford education – to seek to educate more students from around the world.
The opportunity to learn at Stanford, and from Stanford faculty, is extraordinary. It widens students’ apertures and shows them possibilities that they did not know existed.
That is true for our recently arrived frosh, our newly minted one-Ls at the Law School, our graduate students in biology and literature, the professionals taking summer programs in the Business School, or online courses in engineering. In each case, our students walk away changed by what they have learned, inspired, and prepared to contribute to humanity.
Today, relative to when I was a student, there are an order of magnitude more people with the talent and preparation to benefit from a Stanford education.
I believe that in the coming years, we should find new and creative ways to open a Stanford education to more students. The potential is exceptional, and it spans the world.
Some might argue that this is the wrong time for that aspiration, because the world is moving toward nationalism and parochialism. In fact, it is precisely when there are political divisions that the openness of universities allows us to make our greatest contribution, because at our best, we are among the few institutions that can transcend political differences, enable the exchange of people and ideas, and foster mutual understanding.
This morning on my run around the Dish, when I reached the top, I looked out at the red roofs of the campus, and the San Francisco Bay, and the hills beyond, and of course I was thinking about Stanford and our future.
Let us navigate the challenges ahead by staying true to our distinctive purpose of discovery and learning, and our commitment to the university’s freedoms.
Let us appreciate what an extraordinary institution this is, and its potential to contribute.
And as we look forward, let us aspire to be open – to each other, to new ideas, to the world.
In closing, we can take inspiration from one of our great faculty colleagues, Wallace Stegner, the founder of Stanford’s creative writing program.
I love Stegner’s writing, which captures the beauty and spirit of Stanford and the American West.
He wrote: “One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope.”
Considering our future, I too cannot help but be optimistic.
I suspect the same is true of you, because you chose to be here at Stanford – the university of the American frontier, a place of openness, of exploration, of possibility.
Stanford is our home, and let us pursue our aspirations with hope.
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The inaugural address is the speech delivered by the President following their Oath of Office. It is a chance to speak directly to the nation and provide a clear message about the four years ahead. When well-crafted and delivered effectively, it can give the President a positive start to their first term.
What follows is a list summarizing the JFK inaugural address' main points. The first major point of JFK's speech was to remind the country of the founding political philosophies of the United ...
Presidential inauguration at the western front of the U.S. Capitol facing the National Mall (site since Reagan in 1981) - Joe Biden, January 20, 2021 Presidential inauguration with old overhead ceremonial porch at the eastern front of the U.S. Capitol (Lyndon B. Johnson, January 20, 1965). Between 73 and 79 days after the presidential election, the president-elect of the United States is ...
Inaugural events include the swearing-in ceremony, the inaugural address, and the pass in review. Learn more about each event from the JCCIC. For more information on the history of presidential inaugurations, explore the inaugural materials from the collections of the Library of Congress. How do you get tickets to the presidential inauguration?
The inaugural ceremony is a defining moment in a president's career — and no one knew this better than John F. Kennedy as he prepared for his own inauguration on January 20, 1961. He wanted his address to be short and clear, devoid of any partisan rhetoric and focused on foreign policy.
John Adams' Inaugural address, which totaled 2,308 words, contained the longest sentence, at 737 words. After Washington's second Inaugural address, the next shortest was Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth address on January 20, 1945, at just 559 words. Roosevelt had chosen to have a simple Inauguration at the White House in light of the ...
The first inaugural speech projected by an electronic amplification system was Warren Harding's address in 1921; Calvin Coolidge's in 1925 was the first broadcast on radio; and Herbert Hoover's 1929 inaugural speech was the first recorded on newsreel. Harry Truman received the first televised coverage in 1949.
An inaugural address is a speech delivered by the president of the United States on the day of their inauguration. In this address, President Biden calls for unity, justice, and healing in the face of multiple crises and challenges.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) First Inaugural Address - Saturday, March 04, 1933. Second Inaugural Address - Wednesday, January 20, 1937. Third Inaugural Address - Monday, January 20, 1941. Fourth Inaugural Address - Saturday, January 20, 1945.
George Washington delivered the first inaugural address, invoking God's guidance, demurring about his qualifications for presidential tasks, and declaring his intention to accept no salary -- save expenses -- while serving. It was Washington who in 1793 gave the shortest inaugural address of 135 words, while William Henry Harrison's 1841 speech, lasting almost two hours, was the longest at ...
The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.". Bush had told his chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, "I want this to be the freedom speech.". Gerson ...
Inaugural address asserts that 'unity is the path forward' with honest admission of nation's 'historic moment of crisis and challenge'
America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge. Biden's speech wound up being 21 minutes and 18 seconds long. For comparison, President Trump's inaugural speech, focusing ...
The First Inauguration. George Washington set a precedent for future presidents when he delivered the first inaugural address on April 30, 1789. Washington used the opportunity to discuss some of his positions, including his refusal to take a salary while in office:
Read the full text of Joseph R. Biden's Inaugural Address, as delivered on Jan. 20, 2021: Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice ...
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. 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 before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
Introduction. Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address is perhaps the most famous speech of its kind in American history, with its memorable phrase, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.". In it he diagnosed the Depression as a symptom of moral decay, and promised to set things right now that the "money changers have ...
Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861. Lincoln's first inaugural address to the nation. Fellow-Citizens of the United States: In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President ...
This was interestingly informal language for an inaugural address. This part was the FDR-esque Fireside Chat. But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting ...
Eugene Scott. Updated Jan. 20 at 3:18 p.m. President Biden pleaded for national unity in his inaugural address Wednesday after he was sworn in as the 46th president. Below is a full transcript of ...
In his Inaugural Address, Kennedy pledges to support liberty, commit to allies, avoid tyranny, aid the underprivileged throughout the world, and strengthen the Americas. Kennedy challenges Communist nations to engage in a dialogue with the United States to ensure world peace and stability. The speech is best known for the words: "Ask not what ...
"We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter."FULL COVERAGE: https://abcn.ws/361BpUeSUBSCRIBE to ABC NEWS: https://bit.ly/2vZb6yPWatch Mor...
Joe Biden's inauguration address: "This is America's day" 22:16 President Biden took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, four years after he attended the ...
On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath as the first president of the United States. The oath was administered by Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, on a second floor balcony of Federal Hall, above a crowd assembled in the streets to witness this historic event. President Washington and the members of Congress then ...
Share Remarks at the Inaugural International Forum on Women, Information and Communication Technologies, and Development on X; Email Remarks at the Inaugural International Forum on Women, Information and Communication Technologies, and Development to a friend
The first inauguration of Richard Nixon as the 37th president of the United States was held on Monday, January 20, 1969, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 46th inauguration and marked the commencement of the first and eventually only full term of both Richard Nixon as president and Spiro Agnew as vice president.
First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan. ... 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 ...
We are criticized for suppressing speech, and for permitting it. Our admissions policies, faculty composition, research funding, campus climate, and endowments are the subject of heated debate.
Speech of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Inauguration of the Panguil Bay Bridge ... We are here for the Inauguration of the Panguil Bay Bridge Project—a day that we have long looked forward to. If we take all the time from the very moment of conception of this bridge until today, it is been four decades. ...