how to write a presidential inaugural speech

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How To Write A Presidential Speech

Katie Clower

The Importance of a Presidential Speech

Presidential speeches have been a prevalent and important part of our country’s society and culture since Washington’s inauguration in April of 1789 in which the first inaugural address, and presidential speech in general, was delivered. Since then, we as a country have beared witness to countless presidential and political speeches. Some have been moving, some inspirational and motivating, some heartbreaking and tear-jerking. Others have made us cringe out of anger, fear, or disappointment. Some have simply fallen flat, having been described as boring or awkward or unsettling.

Many presidential speeches are remembered and regarded to this day, despite how many decades or centuries ago they were delivered. Often, we remember and reflect on those which were the most special and important. But, in some cases the horribly written or delivered ones stick out in our minds, too. This writing guide is designed, in part, for those presidential or politician candidates and hopefuls to use as a tool to ensure their own speeches will be remembered and reflected on for years to come, for their positive messages and audience responses, not the opposite.

If you are not or do not plan to be a politician or president, do not stop reading! This guide is also written with the average person, even one with little to no political ties or aspirations, in mind. Public speech is a large aspect and topic of discussion in our society, one that has become critical to the presidential process. As such, many of us may be fascinated by and curious about the process of constructing and delivering a successful presidential speech. This guide will convey all of this information via data and analyses of previous both renowned and failed presidential speeches, deductions of what it was that made them so great or so catastrophic, syntheses of expert research and findings on the topic, and more. It does so in a casual, easy-to-follow tone, further making it a read for all.

Another reason this guide is applicable to everyone is because the speech-making tips and techniques shared throughout the text are true for not just political speech, but any form. Everyone has to deliver pitches, speeches, or presentations at some point in their lives or careers. The conclusion section emphasizes how the information and advice shared in this guide can apply to and help with all other forms of speech writing and delivering. With all of this in mind, this guide is meant for truly anyone who wants to take the time to read and be informed.

Goals of the Speech

Presidential speeches have become increasingly important over time as a means to connect with and appeal to the people in order to articulate and drive forward presidential goals, deliver or reflect on tragic or positive news, and more. As Teten put it in his study, “speeches are the core of the modern presidency” (334). He finds that while “in the past, speechmaking, as well as public appeal in the content of speeches, was not only infrequent but discouraged due to precedent and technology,” today it is one of the most important and most frequently utilized presidential tools (Teten, 334). Allison Mcnearney states that “even in an age of Twitter, the formal, spoken word from the White House carries great weight and can move, anger or inspire at home and around the world.” These findings make perfecting this method of communication with the people even more crucial to master. One part of doing so requires keeping in mind what the main, general goals of these speeches are.

Connection to Audience

While presidents and politicians deliver many different types of speeches which often have contrasting tones and messages depending on the occasion, there is always an exigence for politicians to make efforts to connect with their audience. This in turn results in a more positive audience perception and reaction to both the president and his speech. Later in the guide, specific rhetorical and linguistic strategies and moves will be discussed which have proven effective in fostering a connection with audience members through speech.

This overall notion of establishing connection works to break down barriers and make the audience feel more comfortable with and trusting of the speech giver. McNearney points to FDR as a president who successfully connected with the people, largely, she claims, through his fireside chats. The fireside chats exemplified a president making use of the media for the first time “to present a very carefully crafted message that was unfiltered and unchallenged by the press” (McNearney). Today, we often see our presidents use Twitter as a media avenue to connect and present their “unfiltered” version of a policy or goal.

Lasting Message

Another central and overarching goal presidents and politicians should keep in mind when writing and delivering a speech is to make it lasting and memorable. It is challenging to predict what exactly will resonate with people in a way that makes a speech long remembered. Many of the various rhetorical and linguistic techniques outlined in section III have helped former presidents deliver speeches that have become known as some of “the greats.”

Sometimes it is a matter of taking risks with a speech. Martin Luther King and Barack Obama are among some of the most powerful speech-givers our country has seen. Both men took risks in many of their speeches. Mcnearney points to Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech as being “risky” in its focus and discussion on racial tensions in the country, an often avoided or untouched conversation. But, the speech was well-received and well-remembered, proving this risk was worth it.

What to Do: Rhetorical and Linguistic Moves

A conjunction of previous findings from various scholars and my own research make up this section to portray the effective rhetorical and linguistic strategies that have been employed in successful presidential speech.

Emotive Language

In section II one of the central goals discussed in a presidential speech is to appeal to one’s audience . An effective way to do so is through emotive language and general emotional appeal. In their study, Erisen et al. note the value of “strik[ing] an emotional chord with the public” as a means to gain public support, increase public awareness, and overall aid presidents in pursuing their political agendas (469). They work to prove the effectiveness of this strategy through an analysis of an Obama speech, delivered during a time of growing economic crisis in the country.

Erisen et al. identify Obama’s implementation of both emotional and optimistic tones as rhetorical moves to connect with and appeal to his audience of constituents. The success of his use of emotionally-related rhetorical strategies are evident findings that came out of a survey that “reported that 68% of speech-watchers had a ‘positive reaction’ and that 85% felt ‘more optimistic’ about the direction the country was heading” (Erisen et al., 470). Stewart et al. also find that “more emotionally evocative messages… lead to higher levels of affective response by viewers” (125). This clear data indicates the power connecting with an audience through emotion can have on their response and future outlook.

Optimistic Tone

Along with Obama’s “optimistic tone” described above, others have employed what has been described as both hopeful and reassuring tones as rhetorical moves to appeal to an audience. Two of the ten “most important modern presidential speeches,” as selected by the nonpartisan affiliated scholars of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, are JFK’s address on the space effort and FDR’s first inaugural address (McNearney). JFK’s address was successful and well-received because of the hopeful tone he employs when discussing the goal to land a man on the moon. He gave the people an optimistic perspective on this lofty goal, making “Americans feel like there was nothing we couldn’t do” (McNearney). In his inaugural address, Roosevelt too pairs bold claims with optimism and reassurance to his audience.

Inclusive Language

Another found strategy utilized by presidents to appeal to their audience through speech is the use of inclusive language. In Teten’s study, he looks at the use of the words “we” and “our”, specifically, in presidential State of the Union Addressesses over time. His findings revealed a steady increase in these words within the speeches over time. The usage of these “public address and inclusion words” create an appeal with presidents’ audiences because they help presidents in creating “an imagined community in which the president and his listeners coexist on a level plane (Teten, 339-342). These findings illustrate the importance of not presenting oneself as an omnipotent power and leader, but rather a normal citizen of the country like all of those watching. Identifying oneself with the audience this way breaks down any barriers present.

Persuasive Language

Persuasion is another often-used rhetorical strategy, especially during presidential campaigns. In their study about “language intensity,” Clementson et al. look at the use of “persuasive language” as a strategy presidential candidates employ during their campaigns. They assert that “candidates seem to vary their language as they try to persuade audiences to perceive them favorably” (Clementson et al., 592). In referring to this persuasive rhetorical strategy, they utilize the term “problem-solution structure” as one which is often well-received by an audience. People appreciate hearing exactly how a president or presidential candidate plans to fix a problem at hand.

What Not to Do

  As stated earlier, while there are many speeches that are excellently written and delivered, there, too, are many speeches that flop. Alexander Meddings wrote an article which spotlights a number of political speeches which he deems some of the “worst” in modern history. In comparing what makes a good versus a bad speech he asserts that “a bad speech must, by definition, be flat, garbled and publicly damaging either for the speaker or for the cause they’re seeking to promote” (Meddings). In looking at some of the characteristics that make up some of the “worst” speeches, this section will highlight what not to do in the process of working to compose and deliver a successful speech.

The research demonstrates that length of speech actually proves very important. In Teten’s study, in addition to looking at inclusive language over time in presidential State of the Union Addresses, he also graphically measured the length, specifically number of words, of the addresses across time. His results proved interesting. There was a rise in length of these speeches from the first one delivered to those delivered in the early 1900s and then there was a sudden and far drop. There was a movement around the time of the drop to make speeches more concise, and it is clear, since they have remained much shorter as time has gone on, this choice was well-received.

Meddings alludes to this in his piece, describing both William Henry Harrison’s presidential inaugural address and Andrew Johnson’s vice-presidential inaugural address as some of the worst speeches, largely because of how dragged out they were. A very important aspect of speech-giving is capturing the audience’s attention, and this cannot be accomplished through a lengthy, uninteresting oration.

Lying And/or Contradiction

Though it should be fairly obvious that one should not lie in a speech, for the consequences will be great, there have been a number of presidents and politicians who have done so. Regan, Clinton, and Trump are all among the presidents and politicians who have made false statements or promises within speeches. Though it is understandable that a politician would want to speak towards what he or she knows will resonate and appeal to the audience, doing so in a false or manipulative way is not commendable and will lead to much greater backlash than just being honest.

Word Choice

Some politicians have been caught lying in speeches when trying to cover up a controversy or scandal. Though one should try to avoid any sort of controversy, a president or person in power has to expect to have to talk on some difficult or delicate topics. This is where careful word choice becomes vital. Often the way to ensure a speech is written eloquently, carefully, and inoffensively is through various rounds of editing from a number of different eyes.

Applications to All Forms of Speech-Giving

This guide should prove helpful for not only those looking to run for office, but for everyone. The various strategies and techniques given within this guide are, for the most part, broad enough that they can be applied to any form of speech-giving or presenting. We will all have to give a speech, a toast, a presentation, and countless other forms of written or oral works in our lives. Refer to this guide when doing so.

In terms of political or presidential speech specifically, though, in a sense there is not a clear formula for how to write and deliver them. In studies looking at various different successful presidential speeches, orators, and speechwriters, it is clear they all have their own unique style and form that works for them. But, the tips provided in this guide will certainly work to help to create a proficient and successful political speech writer and orator.

Works Cited

Clementson, David E., Paola Pascual-Ferr, and Michael J. Beatty. “When does a Presidential Candidate seem Presidential and Trustworthy? Campaign Messages through the Lens of Language Expectancy Theory.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 46.3 (2016): 592-617.  ProQuest. Web. 10 Dec. 2019.

Erisen, Cengiz, and José D. Villalotbos. “Exploring the Invocation of Emotion in Presidential Speeches.” Contemporary Politics , vol. 20, no. 4, 2014, pp. 469–488., doi:10.1080/13569775.2014.968472.

McNearney, Allison. “10 Modern Presidential Speeches Every American Should Know.”

History.com , A&E Television Networks, 16 Feb. 2018, www.history.com/news/10-modern-presidential-speeches-every-american-should-know.

Meddings, Alexander. “The 8 Worst Speeches in Modern Political History.”

HistoryCollection.co , 9 Nov. 2018, historycollection.co/8-worst-speeches-modern-political-history/7/.

Stewart, Patrick A., Bridget M. Waller, and James N. Schubert. “Presidential Speechmaking

Style: Emotional Response to Micro-Expressions of Facial Affect.” Motivation and Emotion 33.2 (2009): 125-35. ProQuest. Web. 1 Oct. 2019.

Teten, Ryan. “Evolution of the Modern Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Presentation and

Development of the State of the Union Address.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 33.2 (2003): 333-46. ProQuest. Web. 30 Sep. 2019.

Writing Guides for (Almost) Every Occasion Copyright © 2020 by Katie Clower is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to write an inaugural address

The inaugural address is the center stage of american public life. it is a place where rhetorical ambition is expected. it symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power -- something relatively rare in human history..

By William McKenzie|Contributor

4:03 PM on Jan 10, 2017 CST

There are speeches, and then there are speeches. An inaugural address seems to be in a class of its own. In Lincoln's case, his words ended up chiseled in stone at the Lincoln Monument. How does a president, or president-elect, even start tackling an address that could shape history?

The inaugural address is the center stage of American public life. It is a place where rhetorical ambition is expected. It symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power -- something relatively rare in human history. It provides the public, Congress and members of a new president's own administration an indication of his tone and vision. It is intended to express the best, most inspiring, most unifying version of president's core beliefs. And that requires knowing your core beliefs.

I read that you went back and studied all prior inaugural addresses before starting to work on President Bush's 2001 inaugural address. What did you learn from that experience? Would you recommend it for others who go through this process?

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It is a pretty tough slog in the early 19 th century, before getting to Abraham Lincoln and the best speech of American history, his Second Inaugural Address. That speech is remarkable for telling a nation on the verge of a military victory that had cost hundreds of thousands of lives that it was partially responsible for the slaughter; that its massive suffering represented divine justice.

Strictly speaking, it is only necessary to read the greatest hits among inaugurals to get a general feel. But it would be a mistake to miss some less celebrated but worthy efforts such as Richard Nixon in 1968: "America has suffered from a fever of words... we cannot learn from each other until we stop shouting at one another." This theme of national unity is a consistent thread throughout inaugural history.

Having worked on two inaugural addresses, and read so many, do they by and large set the stage for the next four years? Or, are they mostly forgotten?

Some of the speeches are undeniably forgettable. But even those are never really forgotten. They are some of the most revealing documents of presidential history, when a chief executive tries to put his ideals and agenda into words. Students of the presidency will read those speeches to help understand a president's self-conception and the political atmosphere of his time.

What was the writing and editing process like with President Bush on these addresses? And what did you all learn from the first address that shaped the second one in 2005?

President Bush's first inaugural address was intended to be a speech of national unity and healing. He had just won a difficult election in which he lost the popular vote (which certainly sounds familiar). It was a moment of some drama, with his opponent, Vice President Gore, seated on the podium near the President-Elect.

President Bush would often edit speeches by reading them aloud to a small group of advisers, which he did several times at Blair House during the transition. "Our unity, our Union," he said in his first inaugural, "is a serious work of leaders and citizens and every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity."

The second inaugural was quite different, not so much a speech of national unity as a speech of national purpose. President Bush had a strong vision of what he wanted his second inaugural to accomplish. "I want it to be the freedom speech," he told me in the Cabinet room after the first Cabinet meeting following his reelection had broken up. It was intended to be a tight summary of Bush's foreign policy approach, setting high goals while recognizing great difficulties in the post-9/11 world.

"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion," he said. "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."

Globalization figured prominently as a theme in Donald Trump's victorious presidential campaign. I would assume we are likely to hear more in his address about America's place in the globalized economy. But what do you think? What themes are we likely to hear?

We are seeing a reaction to globalization across the western world, and this set of issues certainly motivated a portion of President-elect Trump's coalition. It is essential for political leaders to help a generation of workers prepare for an increasingly skills-based economy. It is a fantasy, however, for a political leader to promise the reversal of globalization, any more than he or she could promise the reversal of industrialization. Trump should address the struggles of middle and working class Americans. But it is deceptive and self-destructive to blame those struggles on trade and migrants.

What happens after these big speeches are given? Do presidents and the team that helped prepare them go back to the White House and high-five each other? I guess it would be a little indecorous to throw Gatorade buckets on each other, like victorious football teams do after winning the Super Bowl.

As I remember it, the new president attends a lunch hosted by congressional leaders. Then he goes to the reviewing stand in front of the White House for the inaugural parade. (Jimmy Carter actually walked in the parade a bit.)

I remember entering the White House that afternoon, walking into the Roosevelt Room (where senior staff and other meetings take place) and watching a workman take down the picture of Franklin Roosevelt from above the fireplace and put up the picture of Teddy Roosevelt. I felt fortunate to be present at a great tradition. In fact, every day at the White House was an honor.

This Q&A was conducted by William McKenzie, editor of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute. Email:  [email protected] . 

William McKenzie|Contributor

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An inaugural speech captures the triumphs and hopes for the future in the winner of a political campaign. After a long and tiresome journey to the top of the political heap, you now can rejoice and let others in on your victory. But before you put that pen to paper or those fingers to the keyboard, you may want to learn a few important tips on what makes an inaugural speech great and how to inspire the citizens you preside over to create change.

Reflect on the moments that led to your victory. Think of the setbacks and the struggles you endured to finally reach this office. You will want to jot down a few distinct memories that touched you in terms of your fight to gain the position you now have. Try to add to your notes as much detailed information of such memories so that you will write more easily when you begin.

Recognize a theme that symbolizes your platform, as well as your fight to gain office. A recurrent theme of President Obama’s campaign was “hope,” and in his inaugural speech, he presented that theme by discussing the trials American people have faced through the years and how they always overcame them through determination and hope (see Ref 1, 3).

Craft an outline that has at least three parts; an introduction, a body and a conclusion. In your outline, use the notes and theme to create an organized list of what you want to say in your speech (see Ref 2).

Start the speech by writing a powerful opening that draws your audience in, making them want to hear more. You can begin with a line that sums up what your supporters feel; in Obama’s speech, he stated that “I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.” Yet you can also begin with a story that mirrors the trials and tribulations you faced and will soon take on as a newly elected leader. Whatever you decide, just make sure it captures your audience’s attention.

Write the following paragraphs addressing your citizens’ desires and fears. You can use figurative language to describe your positions on subjects, but it is best to be direct and simplistic when discussing more serious events or situations. You, as a leader, have received the office because people believed that you represented the future so you should keep them believing that, while also remaining honest and somewhat stoic. Becoming too emotional will not give you an air of leadership, so keep that in mind when writing the speech.

End the speech with a call to arms for your fellow citizens. Let them know that you will do your best but that you can only achieve great things with their help. Bring the speech full circle by addressing your theme in a subtle way, and leave your audience with an inspirational last sentence.

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Gerri Blanc began her professional writing career in 2007 and has collaborated in the research and writing of the book "The Fairy Shrimp Chronicles," published in 2009. Blanc holds a Bachelor of Arts in literature and culture from the University of California, Merced.

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UPDATED January 17, 2013

Build your own inaugural address, 1. how will you draw on america's past.

Presidents frequently reflect on the nation's history.

March 5, 1849 Zachary Taylor, like many before him, cited George Washington.

To defend your policies

“We are warned by the admonitions of history and the voice of our own beloved Washington to abstain from entangling alliances with foreign nations.”

January 20, 1973 Richard Nixon resigned in 1974.

To win public support

“Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four years in America's history, so that on its 200th birthday America will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a beacon of hope for all the world.”

January 20, 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower's first Inaugural Address.

To measure national progress

“We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man's history.”

January 20, 1993 Bill Clinton took office in 1993.

To show a changing world

“When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.”

2. How will you acknowledge the moment?

Absent a crisis, Inaugural Addresses often emphasize continuity of government.

January 20, 1981 Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter.

Celebrate how routine it is

“The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are.”

March 4, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt urged action to fight the Great Depression

Push for immediate action

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

March 4, 1845 James Polk, like many early presidents, celebrated the Constitution.

Honor the Constitution

“The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.”

March 4, 1873 Ulysses S. Grant won re-election overwhelmingly in 1872.

Proclaim victory over your enemies

“I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication.”

3. What is America's biggest challenge?

Economic problems are among the most cited threats.

March 4, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 started a large-scale program of public works.

End mass unemployment

“Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.”

January 20, 2005 George W. Bush's second Inaugural Address focused on expanding freedom.

Spreading freedom

“From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?”

March 4, 1897 William McKinley entered office amid a depression and arguments over a gold standard.

Protecting our credit

“The credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the inviolability of its obligations must be preserved. This was the commanding verdict of the people, and it will not be unheeded.”

January 20, 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson helped establish Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps.

Reducing inequality

“In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry.”

4. What is the role of government?

Views of govenrment have evolved, from frequent praise after the Revolutionary War to increased skepticism today.

January 20, 1937 Franklin D. Roosevelt said that government must act during the Great Depression.

To solve our biggest problems

“Democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable.”

January 20, 1981 Ronald Reagan won his first term in the face of a weak economy.

To get out of the way

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

January 20, 2009 Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012.

To be practical

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.”

March 4, 1817 James Monroe and other early presidents frequently praised government.

To continue being awesome

“The heart of every citizen must expand with joy when he reflects how near our Government has approached to perfection; that in respect to it we have no essential improvement to make.”

5. How will you unite Americans?

As early as Thomas Jefferson, presidents have urged Americans to unite after close elections.

March 4, 1801 Thomas Jefferson won office after the bitter, partisan election of 1800.

Cite shared values

“But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

January 20, 1961 John F. Kennedy spoke of "defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger."

Appeal to sense of duty

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

March 4, 1881 James A. Garfield said Americans should accept emancipation.

Show how we have moved past old problems

“My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our controversies.”

March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln appealed for states to rejoin the Union.

Warn of disunion

“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. ”

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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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Write your own inaugural address

Here's the view of @BarackObama on Jan. 21 for #inaug2013 pic.twitter.com/X4bigfLn — JCCIC (@JCCIC) January 13, 2013

Thousands of viewers will brave lengthy, maze-like security procedures and frigid temperatures on Inauguration Day for the chance to watch -- and hear -- history being made.

Inspiring that crowd and the millions watching at home is no easy task for a president, or a presidential speechwriter.  Fortunately for them, the best speeches generally follow a similar structure: A greeting, description of the state of the country, plans to address major issues, and an appeal to the crowd before concluding.

Words Matter: What an Inaugural Address Means Now

Jan 15, 2021, 6:35 AM

UNIFYING THEME:  Polarization: Its Past, Present and Future

Presidents' words create national identity. For better or worse, presidential rhetoric tells the American people who they are.  Ultimately, a president's voice must provide the American people with a concrete vision of how-and more importantly, why-to move forward together.

RELATED NEWS  featuring Vanessa Beasley:

• U.S. News & World Report:   "Limited Power for the World's Most Powerful Man"  (July 16, 2021)

By Vanessa B. Beasley , Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Presidents' words matter.  Such a statement may seem especially relevant right now, but it has been true throughout the course of U.S. history. Richard Neustadt wrote in 1960 that "presidential power is the power to persuade," and much of his focus was on how chief executives must bargain with members from other branches of government. Yet consider how much of presidents' executive action can be done through their words alone as well as how far those words can now reach due to the rise of mass and social media. They can veto, nominate, declare war, agree to peace, issue executive orders, define the state of the union, and pardon.  Today, as Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson have argued, "[P]residential rhetoric is the source of executive power, enhanced in the modern presidency by the ability to speak where, when, and on whatever topic they choose and to reach a national audience through coverage by the electronic media."

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, many are thinking about the difference between what a president's words can do and what they should do.  Recent images of the Capitol steps captured this contrast clearly when insurrectionists, determined to break into the building and terrorize its occupants, transformed the scaffolding installed for the ceremony of a peaceful transfer of power on Inauguration Day into scaling ladders.  In the days since, amidst heightened fears for public safety, there have been recurring questions about what kinds of security will be required on Inauguration Day 2021.  But what kinds of words could possibly be deployed as well?

When we consider the history of what most presidents have said when inaugurated, it is worth remembering this is an invented tradition; there is no Constitutional requirement for a new president to give an inaugural address. The actual requirement is only for the new president to be sworn in and take an oath per Article II, Section 1.  Yet ever since George Washington chose to give an inaugural address in April 1789, in New York City, his successors have given such a speech.  In addition to becoming a traditional part of a larger civic ritual, over time this speech has come to occupy a unique space in the public performance of the presidency.

Listening to-and later, watching-an inaugural address can inform both U.S. citizens and the broader world alike what kind of leader a new president will be.  Think of a young John F. Kennedy, inexperienced in foreign policy, giving his inaugural address at the height of the Cold War, with outgoing president (and architect of D-Day) Dwight Eisenhower nearby in camera shot from almost every angle.  Today Kennedy's inaugural address may be remembered for its elegant, moving chiasmus-"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"-focused on domestic service. On the day it was given, though, the visual message designed for a global television audience in general and the Soviet Union in particular was meant to be just as noticeable: The United States might have a new president, but it was no less prepared to protect democracy around the world.

As this example indicates, a presidential inaugural address is arguably less about an individual president and more about how well and fully he (and one day soon, she) comprehends this new role and its symbolic import.  This speech offers the first public test.  Does the new office holder truly know how to act on the oath just taken, acknowledging the necessity to transcend the views of one person or one party?  In other words, this speech signals how much the new president understands what the presidency means-or can mean-to the American people, whose communal shared interests the U.S. president, as opposed to members of Congress shivering behind him, has vowed to safeguard. For this reason, the inaugural address needs to be grounded in historical tradition but also responsive to the emergent needs of its own time.

Arguably, few presidents have understood this need better than Washington did.  In his inaugural address, he referred to the speech itself as his "first official act" as president, a role many of his contemporaries were dubious about due to fears the position would simply replicate the British monarchy or otherwise steer too much power into a nascent federal system.  Within this context, Washington crafted the very first presidential words ever uttered for the purpose of reassuring his audience, those in attendance in the Senate Chamber as well as those who would read about the speech in the following days.  His intentions were clear. He would remain humble and serve despite his own "anxieties," a word he used in the first sentence; remain reverent to the "Almighty Being who rules over the universe" and who might presumably favor the new nation; and, more than anything else, remain obliged to the new Congress (acknowledging he understood the Constitutional limitations imposed on the executive) and therefore the "public good."

To define this wholly new concept of an American public good, Washington did not spell out a policy agenda but identified what his role as its guardian would require: "no local prejudices, or attachments; no separate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests…." With Federalists and Anti-Federalists having been at odds about the structure and scope of the new government, Washington was not only carving out clear ground for the presidency, but he was also providing ideological rivals with an alternative way to view themselves.  They might remain political adversaries, but they should always remember that they were the custodians of an "experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people," who must surely remain focused on "a regard for the public harmony."

It would be up to Washington's successors to similarly define and eventually expand American national identity in such transcendent terms.  As I have argued elsewhere, the great majority of presidents have done so with remarkable similarity, using themes related to civil religion to define American identity as overriding other partisan or sectional allegiances.  Historically, civil religious themes have been associated with American national identity not only because of their pseudo-religious aspects (e.g.,  a promise of providential favor on the United States, as in Washington's inaugural, or the subsequent political appropriation of John Winthrop's scriptural framing of the land as "a shining city on a hill") but also because of the idea that the nation offered its citizens opportunities to become someone new, a recurring theme of American identity also famously captured by early foreign observers such as Crevecoeur and de Tocqueville.

This idea of the inaugural address as an invitation to collective renewal--of convening a new beginning, together--is also one of the patterns identified by Campbell and Jamieson in their study of the characteristic rhetorical elements consistent in all presidential inaugurals over time. Especially after contentious elections, they write, this first speech must respond to an urgent need to "unif[y] the audience by reconstituting its members as 'the people,' who can witness and ratify the ceremony." Viewed through this lens, the address is therefore not only an opportunity for presidents to demonstrate an understanding of their role, but it is also an opportunity for "the people" to do the same.

An example is Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural after the fiercely divisive election of 1800, which was also the first time an incumbent president had not been reelected.  To reunite a divided people, Jefferson did not ignore the reality of the divisions still among them or the unprecedented nastiness of the campaign.  "During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussion and of exertion has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think," he noted, reminding citizens that it was their unique democratic privilege to be able to disagree so openly about politics.  "But this now being decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good." Jefferson was defining American identity by setting a clear boundary:  Americans follow the rules, even when they do not like the outcome.

And yet of course any discussion of Jefferson's definition of American character must state the obvious: Like Washington, he was never really speaking to or about all of the inhabitants of the United States. There was no acknowledgement of enslaved people or indigenous people as part of this common good. There was no sense that these people were part of what was being reunited after an election or at any other time either.  Following the rules of the day, in fact, demanded otherwise, including the violent separation of kin and tribe in order to build a new nation. Likewise, while white women were considered invaluable to a virtuous republic, there was no understanding that their interests might be in any way different from the white men who voted presumably, if not always accurately, for them.

In 2021, an awareness of how many of "the people" have been ignored in prior inaugural addresses raises questions about what an inaugural address means now.  If it is to be rooted in rhetorical traditions, which ones?  Like other genres of presidential speech, inaugural addresses are constructed around pillars of baked-in impulses and assumptions held by previous generations about who deserved to be called an American and whose interests should be included in a non-partisan, unifying sense of the common good. Even one of the most beautiful phrases in any inaugural, Lincoln's appeal to the "better angels of our nature" in his first, gives pause when you realize that the "us" implied in Lincoln's sense of "our nature," was necessarily almost exclusively white and male because of who his intended audience in 1861 was as well as his stated intent in the same speech not to interfere with "the institution of slavery" during his presidency.

Does this fact mean that Lincoln's first words as president, like the traditions they were written to follow, are irrelevant to what presidents should do today when they invite the American people to renew their faith in a democratic republic? To the contrary, they are instructive exactly because they reveal where to begin the rhetorical work that remains to be done:  the revision of a tradition of presidential speech with the explicit goal of expanding the common good into something larger than partisan interest or individual gain, as the previous examples indicate, but also making it clear in unequivocal terms that everyone has a stake in this good.  Everyone.

At this moment, it may be difficult to imagine what that would sound like. Barack Obama's notion of the nation as an imperfect but evolving union comes to mind as one possible foundational trope, even though it originally came from one of his campaign speeches and not the bully pulpit.  It may also be true that, over time, the televised spectacle of the inauguration itself-coverage of the formal breakfast, the fancy dress balls, and even the breathiness of the news announcers pointing out who is and is not attending this time-has increasingly turned our collective attention to the ceremony as primarily a visual event rather an oratorical one.  If this is true, it could explain why Donald Trump clung so tightly to his claims about how many attendees packed onto the Capitol lawn and parade route in January, 2017. Perhaps his belief was that such imagery alone was sufficient to represent a nation united in its hopes for a new president.

Images are rhetorical, to be sure.  I began this essay by referencing the horrific images of the U.S. Capitol on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.  As haunting as those photographs and videos are, and as much as even a rhetorician like myself must concede that words cannot repair everything, words are almost always the place to start looking for both cause and effect.  Now is the moment to take seriously what presidents' words can do.

A president's words on Inauguration Day reveal not only what kind of president he or she will be, but they also should offer an idiom of identity the American people might imagine they can share.  In 2021, as it was in another speech given by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it may be time to think carefully about how words may have the potential to remake America. At minimum, we must consider more expansively and honestly than ever before who "we" are, who "we" have been, and how "we" can move forward if the nation is to be renewed. Does the peaceful transition of power from one U.S. president to another require that a new chief executive give an inaugural address as part of a civic ritual of renewal? No.  Does the prospect of authentic unity among the American people depend on the invocation of an expansive "us" able to imagine a common good not yet realized? Yes.

• Vanessa Beasley

Vanessa Beasley , a Vanderbilt University alumna and expert on the history of U.S. political rhetoric, is vice provost for academic affairs, dean of residential faculty and an associate professor of communication studies. As Vice Provost and Dean of Residential Faculty, she oversees Vanderbilt's growing Residential College System as well as the campus units that offer experiential learning inside and outside of the classroom.

Following stints on the faculty of Texas A&M University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Georgia, she returned to Vanderbilt in 2007 as a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies . Active in the Vanderbilt community, she has served as chair of the Provost's Task Force on Sexual Assault, director of the Program for Career Development for faculty in the College of Arts and Science, and as a Jacque Voegeli Fellow of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities.

Beasley's areas of academic expertise include the rhetoric of American presidents, political rhetoric on immigration, and media and politics. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles, book chapters and other publications, and is the author of two books, Who Belongs in America? Presidents, Rhetoric , and Immigration and You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, 1885-2000.  She was recently named president-elect of the Rhetoric Society of America , set to begin her term in July 2022.

Beasley attended Vanderbilt as an undergraduate and earned a bachelor of arts in speech communication and theatre arts. She also holds a Ph.D. in speech communication from the University of Texas at Austin.

[1] Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Politics of Leadership (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1960), 11.

[2] Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words , 2 nd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 6.

[3] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural-address-2.

[4] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/people/president/george-washington

[5] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/people/president/george-washington

[6] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/people/president/george-washington

[7] Vanessa B. Beasley, You, The People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004).

[8] Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words , 2 nd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

[9] Campbell and Jamieson, Presidents Creating the Presidency , 31.

[10] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural-address-19

[11] Beasley, You, the People.

[12] Authenticated text available at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural-address-34

[13] Authenticated text and audio available at https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88478467

[14] Gary Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992).

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How to Write a Presidential Speech

Last Updated: May 19, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Patrick Muñoz . Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 115,605 times.

Are you running for president? There are some tried and true ways to write an effective campaign speech. Maybe you're running for school president or another office. You want your speech to be memorable and persuasive!

Presidential Speech Template

Opening the Presidential Speech

• You should make this theme simple enough that you can express it in one sentence.
• Make sure that you repeat your theme several times throughout your speech, especially in the beginning, middle, and end.

• You could start the speech with an anecdote, a quip or a strong quote. Don’t be afraid to offer a little humor, but it immediately clears what you would bring to the table. [3] X Research source
• When ending a speech, you could say: “If I am elected school president, I will focus on lengthening lunch hours, adding more student clubs, and reducing student fees.”

• If you’re running for a student position, review sample student campaign speeches. There are many of these templates online.

• For example, if your audience is concerned about the economy, and you have training in economics, mention it--especially if your opponents do not.
• Tell the audience an anecdote relating to what sets you apart. It will make it more memorable.

Developing the Presidential Speech

• The middle of your speech should be the longest because that's where most of your content lies.
• Don't slack off on the beginning and end of your speech. Even though they are shorter, they can make your speech memorable--or forgettable.

• You could open by saying something like: "Here are the three things we need to change."
• Be specific. Use statistics and human anecdotes to highlight the problem. However, be brief. You want to focus on solutions more than problems.

• Boil the speech down to 2 to 3 key issues that you plan to change. Be very specific when you outline your solutions.
• Expand on each of your key promises by detailing the problem and how you plan to address it specifically.
• Don’t make the middle of the speech too dry. Constantly reinforce your personality and theme throughout the details of your promises.

• Go with the flow. If you notice your audience getting ants, liven up your speech or end it early.
• Stick by the event's rules. Some events may require that your speech is only 5 minutes, while others want it to be at least 30 minutes.

• If you are talking about the Vietnam war, you can make yourself more relatable to younger generations by mentioning the soldiers who were no older than themselves.
• If you are running for high school president, say that you will ensure the administration listens to student wishes for a longer lunch break.

• If you are running for school president, mention things you’ve done that helped the school to make you seem more qualified.
• If you come from a coal mining family, and you are giving your speech in a blue-collar area, mention it! This will make you more relatable.

• For example, if you want people to join your campaign, ask them to vote for you. Be sure to thank them for their consideration as well.

Delivering the Presidential Speech

• Some speeches play to people’s fears and anger, but the best ones remain positive and play toward people’s optimism. People want to know how you will improve things.

• This is why broadcast writing is less dense than print writing, generally. When writing a speech, keep the sentences concise.
• Try to use one direct point per sentence. People can understand complex topics better when they are reading.

• You don’t need to fixate on proper grammar, punctuation, and so forth in a speech that will be given verbally (and presidential speeches are designed to be spoken).
• It’s more important to capture the cadences and colloquialisms of regular speech, while staying true to yourself.

• Ancient philosophers who perfected the art of rhetoric called this “pathos.” An appeal to the emotions.
• The philosophers believed that the core of any persuasive speech should be logos (an appeal to reason). However, they believed that speeches without pathos failed to move.

• Have a clear idea of what you want to say. Keep the finest details confined to notes so that you can refer to them if you need to.
• Remember that giving a speech is theater. You need to be dramatic and show passion, but you don’t want to stumble over words or look down like you’re reading it.

• They say that when people get in trouble, it’s usually because they went negative.

• The best place to include a joke is in the opening of your speech. Create a rapport with the audience and use a joke that is specific to the location.
• Stay away from any offensive jokes and make sure a joke is appropriate to the occasion.

• Show, don't tell. Show your telling points with vivid human stories or a relatable anecdote.

Expert Q&A

• Remember to have good posture while you're giving your speech. Thanks Helpful 13 Not Helpful 1
• If you don't win the election, just remember to be a good sport to everybody. Your opportunities in the future are more likely to become greater. Thanks Helpful 11 Not Helpful 1
• Make eye contact. It's important not to spend the entire speech looking down! Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://blog.prepscholar.com/good-persuasive-speech-topics
• ↑ Patrick Muñoz. Voice & Speech Coach. Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6sm47j-Am4
• ↑ http://presidentialrhetoric.com/campaign2012/index.html
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/publicspeaking/chapter/17-3-organizing-persuasive-speeches/
• ↑ http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/writing-a-school-election-speech.html

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Lesson Plan: 2021 Joe Biden Inauguration Viewing Guides

What Makes a Good Inaugural Address

Historian and author Michael Beschloss used examples of five historic inaugural addresses to discuss what makes an effective inaugural address. He cited the inaugural address of Lincoln (1865), Roosevelt (1933), Kennedy(1961), Reagan 1981, Bush (2001), and Obama (2009).

Description

This lesson provides several activities for students to help them understand events occurring on inauguration day and interpret the inaugural address that will be given by Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. Teachers can choose to have students view the inaugural address and use one of several viewing guides to analyze the speech. Activities and handouts include a note-taking chart, guiding questions, topical analysis, an evaluative rubric, and a BINGO game.

Teachers have the option of assigning one of the following viewing guides to students as they watch the January 20, 2021 inauguration of Joseph Biden. Each of these Google Docs include the links to the introductory video clip, a link to the inauguration and the individual assignment/activities. These assignments can be completed in steps as a class or students can complete these assignments on their own. To access and complete these assignments, students can make a copy of the following Google resources. Students can submit these assignments digitally by linking their completed copy of the Google Doc handout.

Handout: Inauguration General Note-Taking Chart (Google Doc)

Handout: Inaugural Address Guiding Questions (Google Doc)

Handout: Inauguration BINGO (Google Doc)

Handout: Analyzing the Inaugural Address by Topic (Google Doc)

• Handout: Inaugural Address Rubric Evaluation (Google Doc)

Before beginning class, have students brainstorm answers to the following questions. This can be adapted to synchronous remote learning by having students answer in the chat or on the discussion board.

What challenges are currently facing the country?

• What issues should President Biden include in his inaugural address?

INTRODUCTION:

Introduce the idea of an inaugural address by having them view the following video clip featuring author and historian Michael Bechloss. Students should answer each of the questions associated with the video clip.

Video Clip: What Makes a Good Inaugural Address (8:51)

What challenges faced Franklin Roosevelt in 1933? How did he use his inaugural speech to address these challenges?

According to Michael Bechloss, what makes a good speech?

How did Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address in 1865 meet the challenges of the time?

Why was the date of inauguration changed after the 1933 inauguration?

What was the focus of John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address? Why did he do this?

What similarities exist between the inaugural addresses discussed by Michael Bechloss?

Why is an understanding of history important to writing an effective inaugural address?

• Based on this information, what advice would you give to an incoming president as they write their inaugural address?

INAUGURATION DAY:

Using the video clip in the introduction as foundation, the following activities can be used to help students understand and analyze President Biden’s inaugural address on January 20, 2021. Choose one of the following activities for students to complete when viewing election night coverage.

Students can view coverage of the 2021 inauguration using the link below:

Video Clip: Video Clip: President Biden Inaugural Address (21:37)

INAUGURAL ADDRESS ACTIVITIES AND VIEWING GUIDES:

NOTE-TAKING CHART:

Students will use this handout as they view the inaugural address to take notes and focus on specific elements of the speech such as:

Specific Issues/Topics Discussed

Tone and Images Used

Words and Ideas Repeated Throughout

Notable Quotes/Historic Events/Important Documents Referenced

Principles of Government/American Ideals Referenced

The Role of Government in Addressing the Nation’s Problems

• Priorities for His Presidency

To demonstrate understanding, students will address the following question:

• What was the overall message of this inaugural address? Use examples from above to support your response.

GUIDING QUESTIONS:

This handout uses questions to focus student’s attention on aspects of the speech such as:

Goal/Audience/ Primary Messages

Structure of the Speech

• Effectiveness of the Speech
• In your opinion, did the president accomplish the goal of this speech? Why or why not?

INAUGURATION BINGO:

With this activity, students will use the handout linked below to play a BINGO game while watching inauguration coverage on C-SPAN. They should complete the BINGO board by writing words, topics or phrases that might be discussed during the coverage. As they watch the coverage, they will mark their board when a word or topic is mentioned. They should also take notes on what this term means and how it was used.

After viewing the debate, use the BINGO chart and the notes to answer the following prompt:

Based on what you watched, what were your overall impressions of the inauguration?

• What questions do you have after watching it?

ANALYZING THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY TOPIC:

Using this handout, students will view the inaugural address and identify three topics discuss in the speech. For each topic, they should take notes on the following ways President Biden discussing this topic.

Description of the Topic

Examples Used

Importance of this Topic

• Proposals to Address This Topic

To demonstrate understanding, students will address the following questions:

What topics were emphasized throughout the speech? What topics or issues are not discussed in his speech? Why do you think this is?

• Summarize the overall message of this inaugural address. How does the president use individual issues and topics above to give this message?

INAUGURAL ADDRESS RUBRIC:

Handout: Inaugural Address Rubric Evaluation (Google Doc) Students will use the rubric on the handout to evaluate President Biden’s speech. Student will consider the following factors as they view the inaugural address:

Organization/Clarity

Facts/Examples

Relevance of Supporting Points

• Visual/Non-Verbal Performance
• Using the information above, how would you rate the performance of the president during his inaugural address?

ALTERNATIVE/EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

Historical Analysis: Using one of the following options, have students view one or more of the previous presidential inaugural address starting in the 1981.

Inaugural Address General Note-Taking Chart (Google Doc)

Inaugural Address Guiding Questions (Google Doc)

Presidential Inaugural Address Rubric (Google Doc)

Inaugural Address Analysis by Topic (Google Doc)

Historical Analysis (Google Doc)

• Comparing Historical Inaugural Addresses (Google Doc)

ALTERNATIVE/EXTENSION ACTIVITY:

Write a Letter to the New President- Write a letter to President Biden explaining an issue or topic that you would like him to discuss in his inaugural address. In this letter, explain the issue and why it is important to the nation.

ADDITIONAL PROMPTS:

• How does the inauguration represent all three branches of government?

How does the inauguration represent a peaceful transfer of power?

Why are inaugural addresses significant to a president’s legacy?

How can inaugural address be used to unite the country?

• What is the overall purpose of an inaugural address?

Related Article

• INAUGURAL ADDRESS - The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

Additional Resources

• Lesson Plan: Analyzing Historical Presidential Inaugural Addresses
• Bell Ringer: What Makes a Good Inaugural Address
• Chief Justice
• Inaugural Address
• Inaugural Committee
• Oath Of Office
• Transfer Of Power

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 10:27 am.

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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Rubenstein Center Scholarship

The Inaugural Address

Origins, Shared Elements, and Elusive Greatness

• Colleen Shogan Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center

George Washington established the tradition of the inaugural address on April 30, 1789. After taking the presidential oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, he gave a speech inside the Senate chamber before members of Congress and invited dignitaries. Approximately one hundred people heard Washington speak. Many of the formal details, such as the location for the administration of the oath and his speech, were determined by parallel committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate. 1

Representative James Madison of Virginia persuaded Washington to give a short speech about governing values and principles rather than a long, detailed lecture elucidating plans for his presidency. 2 Senator William Maclay of Pennsylvania noted that President Washington, not particularly comfortable with oratory, trembled as he spoke during the twenty-minute address. In addition to his aversion to public speaking, Washington was also likely affected by the enormous grandeur of the moment marking the inception of a constitutional democracy in the United States. 3 Indeed, Washington began by admitting that “no greater event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order.” 4 Washington’s tempered reluctance and measured ambition are emphasized throughout his first inaugural, perhaps reflective of the doubts entertained by Anti-Federalists that an independent, unitary executive was not compatible with the principles of republican government.

Currier & Ives 1876 lithograph of the first inauguration of George Washington.

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Since Washington established the tradition of the inaugural address (such practice is not required by the United States Constitution), presidents have used their first speech to speak about the nation’s past, hopes for the future, and their general policy goals for the next four years. While public expectation and tradition dictate some constraints, considerable latitude remains, enabling presidents to adapt the address to their particular speaking style or preferred leadership posture.

Inaugural addresses vary in length, with an average of 2,337 words. William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech in history at 8,460 words. 5 The length of the speech may have cost Harrison his life; he contracted pneumonia soon thereafter and died one month later.

Due to developments in technology and expectations of the president’s public leadership, the method of delivery, its traditions, and immediate audience for the inaugural address has changed over time. In 1797, John Adams reversed the order of the oath and address, giving his speech first and then reciting the oath of office. Thomas Jefferson spoke inside the newly built Senate chamber in the United States Capitol in 1801; his address was subsequently distributed in writing by the National Intelligencer newspaper. In 1817, James Monroe became the first president to take the oath and give his inaugural address outdoors, in front of the Old Brick Capitol. In 1845, James Polk’s inaugural address was transmitted by telegraph, widening the proximate audience. During his second inauguration in 1865, Abraham Lincoln took the oath first and then gave his speech, reversing the previously established order. 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. In 1981, Ronald Reagan became the first president to take the oath of office and give his inaugural address on the West Front of the Capitol, facilitating a larger in-person audience. Previously, the East Portico of the Capitol had been used. In 1997, the Bill Clinton gave the first inaugural address broadcast live through the internet. 6

Photograph of Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address in 1865.

Although the transmission of inaugural addresses and the mode of dissemination have changed over time, it does not necessarily follow that form determines substance. 7 In fact, a careful examination indicates that common elements in inaugural addresses persist throughout American history.

Communication scholars Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson treat the inaugural address as its own rhetorical genre. They argue that five key elements establish the inaugural as its own classification of presidential speech. 8 Throughout American history, inaugural addresses typically contain the following arguments or attributes:

• Unification of the audience after an election
• Celebration of the nation’s communal values
• Establishment of political principles or policy goals for the president’s term in office
• Demonstration of understanding executive power’s constitutional limits
• Focusing on the present while incorporating elements of the past and future

Thinking about inaugural addresses as a distinct type of rhetoric enables an analysis that focuses on the similarities of speeches over time. Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. believed that the inaugural address, as a genre of presidential rhetoric, was disadvantaged due to the numerous formulaic constraints placed upon it. He remarked in 1965, “The platitude quotient tends to be high, the rhetoric stately and self-serving, the ritual obsessive, and the surprises few.” 9

Despite Schlesinger’s doubts, several inaugural addresses have withstood the test of time and become noteworthy examples of presidential rhetoric. The persistence of common rhetorical elements throughout American history does not negate the fact that certain speeches have distinguished themselves as exemplary. 10

John F. Kennedy meets with poet Robert Frost in the White House’s Green Room on Inauguration Day in 1961.

To determine which are considered the most regarded examples of the genre, I consulted the recent rankings of inaugural addresses from six organizations: U.S. News and World Report , the Council on Foreign Relations, USA Today , the Washington Post , ABC News , and CNN . 11 These were the top searched rankings for “best inaugural addresses” online. After compiling a database of all rankings, I determined that there are five inaugural addresses in American history are commonly cited as the most historic, eloquent, and memorable. In chronological order with brief descriptions, they are:

Thomas Jefferson (1801)

In his first inaugural address, Jefferson realized the importance of a peaceful transition of power. After a contested election decided by the House of Representatives, he reached out to his political opponents in his speech, famously stating: “We are all republicans. We are all federalists.” He also established a firm call for unity and reconciliation: “Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind.”

Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Lincoln’s second inaugural address was delivered shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War and less than six weeks before his assassination. Perhaps heralded as the most eloquent inaugural in American history, the speech attempted to examine the war and slavery in a broader context and establish principles for Reconstruction. His concluding sentence is often quoted, although not always in its entirety: “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."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933)

In his first inaugural, Roosevelt confronted the paralyzing force of the economic depression engulfing the country by diminishing its power: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He then used a biblical reference (“money changers”) to describe those financiers responsible for money shortages. Then, Roosevelt argued for the aggressive, yet constitutional, use of federal power to ease the blight: “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.”

John F. Kennedy (1961)

This short, 14-minute speech contains perhaps the most famous sentence in the history of inaugural addresses: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy’s famous call for public service was one of the few lines in his speech focused on domestic policy. Most of the speech focused on the United States, foreign policy, and the Cold War. He included a number of principles to follow in world affairs, including “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

Ronald Reagan (1981)

When Reagan became president, the nation faced an economic slowdown, rising inflation, and high unemployment. Reagan argued that a reduction in size and scope of the federal government was the answer: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” After acknowledging the challenges ahead, Reagan infused his speech with unbridled optimism. He stated: “Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look.”

The inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981, the first inaugural ceremony held on the West Front of the United States Capitol.

What do the most memorable inaugural addresses in American history have in common? First, they emphatically signify the end of political division and campaigning in an attempt to foster national unity. Second, they emphasize enduring governing principles instead of specific policy proposals. Third, they underscore the collective nature of ideas rather than focusing on the president in first person as the sole originator of those conceptions (“we” rather than “I”). Lastly, they tend to be shorter, under 2,000 words. 12 The abbreviated length may indicate the speech contains a singular theme or focus. 13

Inaugural addresses are the first time a new chief executive speaks directly the American people about their vision for the next four years. The purpose of inaugural rhetoric is not to sway public opinion. Instead, the text of inaugural speeches provides an initial blueprint of governance for the electorate. Additionally, inaugural addresses serve as a guidepost for historians, both contemporary and forthcoming, who will subsequently evaluate and contextualize a president’s decisions and leadership. For these reasons, it is no surprise that presidents and their closest advisers spend considerable time and energy crafting these speeches. The gravitas surrounding a presidential inaugural address is a familiar reminder that there is no second chance for a first impression.

This article was originally published on November 18, 2020

Footnotes & Resources

• Edward J. Larson. The Return of George Washington 1783-1789 . New York: HarperCollins, 2014. pp. 287-288.
• Richard Brookhiser. Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. New York: The Free Press, 1996. p. 76.
• “George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789.” The National Archives . https://www.archives.gov/legis...
• “Washington’s Inaugural Address of 1789: A Transcription.” The National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/exhib...
• “Inaugural Address Lengths.” https://www.potus.com/presiden...
• CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs...
• Colleen J. Shogan. “Rhetorical Moralism in the Plebiscitary Presidency: New Speech Forms and Their Ideological Entailments.” Studies in American Political Development , 17 (Fall 2003) 149-167.
• Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words . 2nd edition. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Jill Lepore. “The Speech.” The New Yorker . Vol. 84, Issue 44 (January 12, 2009), p. 49.
• Lee Sigelman. “Presidential Inaugurals: The Modernization of a Genre.” Political Communication , 13 (1996) 81-92.
• While not a large meta-analysis, by surveying six lists of the “best inaugural addresses” in American history, the confidence of these five addresses being the most historically noteworthy is substantial. The rankings are provided here: https://www.cfr.org/blog/remembering-best-and-worst-inaugural-addresses, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/01/18/the-10-most-famous-inaugural-addresses/, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/17/best-and-worst-inaugural-addresses/96664320/, https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/01/18/the-5-best-inaugural-addresses, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/best-worst-inaugural-addresses/story?id=18253082, https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/20/politics/top-5-inaug-addresses/index.html.
• The exception is Ronald Reagan’s 1981 speech, which was 2,463 words.
• “What the Best Inaugural Addresses Have in Common.” Vox. January 19, 2017.

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In April 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York City. Constitutional guidelines for inaugurations are sparse, offering only the date and the words of the oath. All else is driven by tradition. After the oath is administered the president gives an address, usually one stressing national unity. Inaugural events have become more elaborate over the years, including

White House History Table of Contents

NUMBERS 1 THROUGH 6 (COLLECTION I) WHITE HOUSE HISTORY • NUMBER 1 1 — Foreword by Melvin M. Payne 5 — President Kennedy’s Rose Garden by Rachel Lambert Mellon 13 — White House Album: History in the Camera’s Eye by Oliver Jensen 23 — The Association’s Twentieth Year by Nash Castro 29 — History in White House Silver by Joseph D. Carr 39 — Stone Walls Preserved by James I. McDaniel 46 — A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of

National History Day Resources

The 2024 National History Day (NHD) theme is Turning Points in History. The White House Historical Association offers a variety of resources to assist students working on NHD projects.

The Presidency and Historic Preservation Symposium Contributors

Elaine Rice Bachmann

White House History - Selected Back Issues and Articles

White house history live, classroom resource packets, inauguration 2021 virtual events.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York City. Later he said of this new presidential role, "I walk on untrodden ground." Inauguration Day began with the sounds of ceremonial artillery and church bells ringing across New York City, our nation's first capital. At noon Washington made his way through large crowds to Federal Hall where

Presidential Inaugurations: A Court of Honor

A reviewing stand is usually constructed for the use of the president during the inaugural parade, the necessity arising as inaugural parades got longer — sometimes lasting for more than five hours. The design of these stands has varied greatly over time, with some being little more than platforms, while others were ornate two-story edifices. In the past, additional grandstands were co

Presidential Inaugurations: Celebrate New Times

Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 inaugural, the first held in the city of Washington, bore little resemblance to modern extravaganzas. Avoiding monarchical touches, Jefferson, after walking to the Capitol for his swearing-in, read his address, and returned to his boarding house. As time passed, simple civilian and militia escorts eventually evolved into fancy inaugural parades. Grover Cleveland’s 1885 inaugural parade lasted three hour

The Official 2024 White House Christmas Ornament

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Presidential Speeches

January 20, 2021: inaugural address, about this speech.

January 20, 2021

Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021. In his Inaugural Address, he stressed the need for the country to come together in unity. Speaking to those who voted for him and to those who did not, Biden made the strong case that together the country could move forward to contain the coronavirus pandemic and improve the economy. His address was in stark contrast to President Donald Trump's Inaugural Address four years earlier. 

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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.

More Joe Biden speeches

Recipe for an Inaugural Address

About this resource, overview  .

In this lesson for middle grades, students consider what “ingredients” might go into the speech that will launch a president’s term in office as they examine some of the most memorable inaugural addresses of the past.

Procedure  

1. Ask students to imagine being an advisor to the newly-elected president who has asked for ideas about what to put into his or her upcoming inaugural address. “Give me your recipe,” the president-elect says, “because we need to start cookin’!” You begin by writing down some notes and questions.

Go over this list of “ingredients” and related questions with the whole class, either writing on the board or presenting as a handout.

Inaugural Address Ingredients

One nation, indivisible What words will help bring people together following a hard-fought election? What to say to those who voted for a different candidate? What are the basic beliefs and principles that unite us as Americans? Historical moment Where have we come from as a nation? What are the great challenges and opportunities of this time in history? What kind of future are we looking at? Goals What will the priorities of this administration be? What new course is the president charting for the country? Audiences/messages Who else is the speech aimed at? Along with the American people, which groups at home and around the world should the president be addressing? And what are the messages? Inspiration How can the president best convey a sense of hope? What can this speech do to help get citizens energized and involved? Emotional content What other feelings or attitudes should be expressed given the current circumstances and mood of the country? Language and form How should the speech be structured? In what ways can the president use language that will lift the address to a level above that of other speeches given while still keeping it in his or her own voice?

2. Continue with students in their role as advisors: Using these categories and the related questions, examine some outstanding inaugural addresses from the past, beginning with John F. Kennedy’s.

Hand out copies of JFK’s inaugural address. Divide the class into seven small groups, and assign a category to each team. Ask them to read Kennedy’s speech, and to search for evidence of whether he incorporated the particular ingredient and in what ways. The whole class reassembles and each group reports its findings.

3. As a homework assignment, ask students to go through a similar process on their own with one of the following speeches:

Abraham Lincoln – March 4, 1865 Franklin D. Roosevelt – March 4, 1933 Ronald Reagan – January 20, 1981

Read these speeches online.

4. Students should now be prepared to write a “Memo to the President-Elect” with their suggested ingredients for his or her upcoming speech.

5. Finally, have the class read and listen to the most recent inaugural address, analyzing and comparing it with the “recipes” contained in their memoranda.

Connections to Curricula (Standards)  

National History Standards - US History, Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

• Standard 2: How the Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Vietnam influenced domestic and international politics
• Standard 3: Domestic policies after World War II
• Standard 4: The struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties

National History Standards - Historical Thinking Standards 

• B. Reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage.
• A. Consider multiple perspectives.
• B. Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas.

Common Core State Standards

• ELA College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language
• ELA – Reading Informational Texts, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Literacy in History/Social Studies for grades 6-8.

C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

• Discipline 1 - Developing questions and planning inquiries;
• Discipline 2 - Applying disciplinary concepts and tools (History and Civics)
• Discipline 3 - Evaluating sources and using evidence; and
• Discipline 4 - Communicating conclusions and taking informed action

National Council of Teachers of English : Standards 1,3,5,6,7,8,9, and 12

Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework

• 8.T4: Rights and responsibilities of citizens

Massachusetts English Language Arts Framework

• Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language

President Kennedy's inaugural address (video plus transcript)

The American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara, an online source for all presidential inaugural addresses

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

About  Search

Inaugural Addresses

Table of Inaugural Addresses

Washington 1789 - Biden 2021

Included here as "Inaugural Addresses" are speeches made by elected presidents following a public ceremony in which they take the oath of office.  "Accidental" presidents may also have given (or issued) a prominent address following taking office, but we do not classify those as Inaugural Addresses.

Citation: Gerhard Peters, "Table of Presidential Inaugural Addresses," The American Presidency Project . Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/324108

• ‹ Cabinet Members Not in Attendance (Designated Survivor) from 1984, and Frequency By Department
• Farewell Addresses ›

How to Write an Inaugural Address

Published january 10, 2017.

Michael Gerson helped craft the first and second inaugural addresses of President George W. Bush. Now a Washington Post columnist, he underscores in this interview the significance of inaugural addresses, how they came about in George W. Bush's administration, and what we might hear in President-elect Donald Trump's address. As the former chief White House speechwriter puts it, the point of an inaugural is for a president to express the best, most inspiring and unifying version of his core beliefs.There are speeches, and then there are speeches. An inaugural address seems to be in a class of its own. In Lincoln's case, his words ended up chiseled in stone at the Lincoln Monument. How does a president, or president-elect, even start tackling an address that could shape history?The inaugural address is the center stage of American public life. It is a place where rhetorical ambition is expected. It symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power -- something relatively rare in human history. It provides the public, Congress and members of a new president's own administration an indication of his tone and vision. It is intended to express the best, most inspiring, most unifying version of president's core beliefs. And that requires knowing your core beliefs. I read that you went back and studied all prior inaugural addresses before starting to work on President Bush's 2001 inaugural address. What did you learn from that experience? Would you recommend it for others who go through this process?It is a pretty tough slog in the early 19th century, before getting to Abraham Lincoln and the best speech of American history, his Second Inaugural Address. That speech is remarkable for telling a nation on the verge of a military victory that had cost hundreds of thousands of lives that it was partially responsible for the slaughter; that its massive suffering represented divine justice.Strictly speaking, it is only necessary to read the greatest hits among inaugurals to get a general feel. But it would be a mistake to miss some less celebrated but worthy efforts such as Richard Nixon in 1968: "America has suffered from a fever of words... we cannot learn from each other until we stop shouting at one another." This theme of national unity is a consistent thread throughout inaugural history. Having worked on two inaugural addresses, and read so many, do they by and large set the stage for the next four years? Or, are they mostly forgotten?Some of the speeches are undeniably forgettable. But even those are never really forgotten. They are some of the most revealing documents of presidential history, when a chief executive tries to put his ideals and agenda into words. Students of the presidency will read those speeches to help understand a president's self-conception and the political atmosphere of his time.What was the writing and editing process like with President Bush on these addresses? And what did you all learn from the first address that shaped the second one in 2005?President Bush's first inaugural address was intended to be a speech of national unity and healing. He had just won a difficult election in which he lost the popular vote (which certainly sounds familiar). It was a moment of some drama, with his opponent, Vice President Gore, seated on the podium near the President-Elect.President Bush would often edit speeches by reading them aloud to a small group of advisers, which he did several times at Blair House during the transition. "Our unity, our Union," he said in his first inaugural, "is a serious work of leaders and citizens and every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity." The second inaugural was quite different, not so much a speech of national unity as a speech of national purpose. President Bush had a strong vision of what he wanted his second inaugural to accomplish. "I want it to be the freedom speech," he told me in the Cabinet room after the first Cabinet meeting following his reelection had broken up. It was intended to be a tight summary of Bush's foreign policy approach, setting high goals while recognizing great difficulties in the post-9/11 world."We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion," he said. "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."Globalization figured prominently as a theme in Donald Trump's victorious presidential campaign. I would assume we are likely to hear more in his address about America's place in the globalized economy. But what do you think? What themes are we likely to hear?We are seeing a reaction to globalization across the western world, and this set of issues certainly motivated a portion of President-elect Trump's coalition. It is essential for political leaders to help a generation of workers prepare for an increasingly skills-based economy. It is a fantasy, however, for a political leader to promise the reversal of globalization, any more than he or she could promise the reversal of industrialization. Trump should address the struggles of middle and working class Americans. But it is deceptive and self-destructive to blame those struggles on trade and migrants. What happens after these big speeches are given? Do presidents and the team that helped prepare them go back to the White House and high-five each other? I guess it would be a little indecorous to throw Gatorade buckets on each other, like victorious football teams do after winning the Super Bowl.As I remember it, the new president attends a lunch hosted by congressional leaders. Then he goes to the reviewing stand in front of the White House for the inaugural parade. (Jimmy Carter actually walked in the parade a bit.)I remember entering the White House that afternoon, walking into the Roosevelt Room (where senior staff and other meetings take place) and watching a workman take down the picture of Franklin Roosevelt from above the fireplace and put up the picture of Teddy Roosevelt. I felt fortunate to be present at a great tradition. In fact, every day at the White House was an honor.This Q&A was conducted by William McKenzie, editor of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute. Email: [email protected]. Michael Gerson was George W. Bush's speechwriter and is now a columnist for The Washington Post. Email: [email protected]  Continue reading...

MIT Office of the President

• Writing & Speeches

Inaugural Address

Thank you, Madam Chair.

• President Hockfield. President Reif. For everything you’ve done to foster the strength, spirit and potential of MIT – thank you!  I aspire to build on what you achieved for the Institute. 
• President Sheares Ashby – Valerie, my old friend! I’m a little overcome by the kindness of your remarks. And I can’t believe you even managed to be here, with your own inauguration barely in the rearview mirror! 
• To our dear, distinguished guests from across higher education – the warmest welcome and hello!
• To all those who may be watching remotely, near and far ­– from our neighbors in Cambridge and Boston, to the great global family of MIT, including our alumni, 145,000 strong;
• To our entire campus community – this small city of intrepid problem-solvers;
• And to my family and friends, and all of you gathered here in Killian Court, under the world’s largest umbrella (Just in case!)…                                                                                

I’m so grateful you chose to be part of this solemn,  ancient  ceremony. And this afternoon, I hope to inspire you to join us in something important and  new .

*          *

So, ideally, I’ve piqued your curiosity! Now: Please hold on to that sensation – that  wanting to know  – while I offer a few observations.

• I’ll venture my opinion on what university leaders are good for
• I’ll talk about why I came to MIT – and what I’ve found
• I’ll sketch out how we can fulfill our potential: our opportunities and our obligations
• And I’ll ask you to join me in meeting the moment ­– together.

*          *          *

(To my fellow university leaders: I’m starting with a question that may feel a little bit…close to home. But I don’t worry! I’ve got you!)

“What are university leaders good for?”

I got my first inkling about 30 years ago. Before I was a vice dean or a provost or a president, I was a cancer biologist. A hands-on, pipette-and-centrifuge, buckets-and-buckets-of-frog-eggs biologist. My lab had maybe 12 people – and we did the most fundamental, curiosity-driven research you can imagine, tinkering and tinkering with biological systems to understand the deep cell biology and biochemistry that go wrong when cells turn cancerous.

It was fascinating. And I  loved  it.

There’s nothing like the pleasure of being part of a team when an experiment shows you something new – something no one else has ever seen before.

On the days when you’re in the flow, you never want to leave the lab.

But there were also other kinds of days!

On those days, I was frustrated – because I needed things I could not get on my own. I needed the institution to transform the way it recruited young researchers, so we could get the best graduate students. And I needed it to invest in sophisticated core facilities, so I could sequence all those proteins we’d purified.

In other words, selfishly, to do the science I loved, I needed the  collective  to  work .

So I took my first job in academic administration. And over a number of years – with help from lots and lots of people – I helped to make those changes happen.

For my lab, the new talent and core facilities were terrific! And it turned out that they were  also  terrific for many other labs in the medical school, and across the whole campus. 

And  that  was when I began to understand what university leaders are good for. I started to see that leadership makes a difference: that I could lead the way to changes that accelerated progress way   beyond the narrow band of my research.

So I took on new leadership roles. And each time, by listening to voices from across the community, I found new ways that I could help the whole:

• Things like improving the quality of life for all our students
• Developing staff leaders at every level
• Building a more diverse faculty – and more.

So – 30 years on – what are university leaders good for?

Picture a place like MIT.

In effect, every day we send out 1,000 expeditions to explore the mountain range of New Knowledge and Innovation. Curiosity unbounded!

For the faculty, researchers and students involved, it’s exhilarating and exhausting; fascinating and frustrating; unpredictable and very, very hard. You rarely know for sure if you’re on the right path – or heading for another dead end. The people who succeed are guilty of an outrageous persistence against all odds.

So, in that high-risk, high-reward picture, what are university leaders good for?

Three things – that add up to something big.

• First, we can help provision the trip – the right resources and the right talent.
• Second, we can clear away bureaucratic boulders that block the trail.
• And finally: We can scout out the best routes for scaling the toughest peaks – and build and inspire the right teams to get there. This capacity to link vision and action –  that  may be the greatest accelerant of all.

If we do those three things right, we create an environment in which every individual has the freedom and support to flourish and grow, and in which we all have a sense of community, connection and shared purpose – those human bonds that allow us to go farther and faster together than any of us could go alone.

Striving for that ideal of university leadership – that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.

(OK, technically, the dogs get me out of bed. But it  is  what gets me to my desk!)

And I love this work! So last fall, when MIT’s presidential search committee came knocking, I was happily settled at a school I loved, in a role that still held interesting challenges. I was not in a mood to leave.

But frankly, when the MIT offer came, I could not possibly say no.

Not because I dreamt of living where winter is five months and spring is five days. Not because of some alluring new title.

But because there is simply no place quite like MIT.

Dozens of great research universities are represented here today. Yet even in this distinguished company, MIT has a distinctive recipe for impact: this community’s signature ability to foster the very best in fundamental research and harness it to confront society’s hardest problems.

As humanity struggles with so many interlocking global crises, it has never needed the people of MIT more than it does now.

For those of us who are called to the challenge of leadership, the world always offers lots of opportunities. But very few could be more compelling than the chance, in this moment, to lead MIT.

Since I arrived in January, I’ve spent nearly all my time on a “listening tour.” I’ve met with many dozens of people across the Institute, in every role.

And I have to say – as a longtime fan of novels that leap between past, present and future – getting to know MIT has felt like a kind of time travel.

In four months, I’ve flown over the whole course of MIT’s 162-year history – including momentous achievements, times of great pride and great struggle, and many acts of delightful irreverence. I’ve been beamed into past controversies. I’ve visited the good old days. I’ve heard MIT-student-tales from 50 years ago – and talked with seniors who’ll graduate next month. I’ve seen MIT grow from a scrappy little technical school to its present scope and stature.

And – most important – in exploring MIT’s past and present, I’ve gotten tantalizing glimpses of the future.

My first week on the job included reviewing young faculty who were up for promotion – three long days, back to back. Honestly, you cannot imagine a more intoxicating introduction to the human potential of MIT: one candidate after another, each somehow more impressive than the last. And each of them a window into the future of knowledge, and the future of MIT.

Reviewing these incredible talents was a preview of one of the striking aspects of this community: That the fuel for what gets done here is the brilliant creativity of each and every individual.

It’s like a night sky, impossibly dense with stars. Each one particular and beautiful. In the darkness, when we look up, we naturally look for patterns and connections. That’s the pleasure of picking out a constellation: It doesn’t dim the stars within it. But it holds our attention, because it creates a larger meaning.

In my listening tour conversations, that image has come to me again and again. Because everywhere, in every setting, I’ve heard an intense desire to see the people of MIT come together, in meaningful ways, to meet all the great challenges of our time. Above all, and most urgently: to marshal a bold, tenacious response to the run-away crisis of climate change.

I’ve found a community of people who, to a person, treasure the best aspects of MIT’s history and culture, and take great pride in its achievements. Yet I’ve also found a place – always decentralized and further fragmented by the pandemic – that is still finding its way back to a shared center.

There’s a palpable craving for re-attachment and connection. If you’ll allow me: What I hear in all of this is a craving for new constellations.

*          *         

In coming to MIT, I’ve found something magnificent: In its history, culture, character and achievements; in its people, and their clear-eyed focus on the hardest problems.

In short, like so many of you before me, in coming here, in a wonderful new way, I found my people – and I Have Truly Found Paradise. 

Yet I’ve also learned – from MIT’s unstoppable engineers! – that  even paradise can be optimized!  So let me talk a bit about what that might look like.

Since I’m still trying to unlock minor local mysteries, like how MIT numbers its buildings and courses, for me to bring forth today some detailed strategic vision would be arrogant in the extreme.

Instead, I want to take  you  on a little “trip through time,” to the  future  – a decade or so from now.

Setting the dial for the year 2033  – we can see an MIT that is, in important ways, deeply the same – just as quirky, nerdy, unconventional and bold. An MIT that is true to its fundamental purpose. But we also see an Institute that has built up its core strengths to be ready for whatever comes next.

• The MIT of 2033 has unraveled daunting intellectual puzzles, from mathematics to materials science, urban planning to economics, neuroscience to nuclear engineering, physics to philosophy to finance.
• It has cleared away internal boulders – freeing its people to make important discoveries and innovations.
• In 2033, our undergraduates are thriving with an ambitious new take on MIT’s core curriculum, which is setting the standard for what tomorrow’s leaders need to learn.
• And MIT has truly become a place of inclusive excellence and enthusiastic diversity, where everyone feels that they matter, and they belong.
• I’m proud to tell you that the MIT of 2033 has helped humanity come to grips with the tectonic forces of artificial intelligence, containing its risks and harnessing its power for good.
• The music building isn’t new anymore – but it’s central to a new flowering of the humanities and the arts at MIT, the fields that tell us what it means, and why it matters, that we are human beings – fields that  must  be equal partners in inventing a just, humane and equitable future.
• By forging new synaptic links between engineering and life science, including synthetic biology, the MIT of 2033 has helped invent the future of making, the future of healing, the future of biomedicine itself. And it’s made Greater Boston the hub of the  next  biotech revolution too.
• In 2033, the Met Warehouse is a bustling hub of making and design, sparking new ways of seeing and solving old problems.
• The people of MIT have used the power of entrepreneurship to propel profound solutions out to communities around the world, from preventing pandemics to cleaning up plastic waste.
• And ­the MIT of 2033 is proud that – a decade earlier ­– it helped lead a powerful cross-sector coalition and placed big bets on big solutions, to dramatically accelerate progress against climate change.

I hope you can see yourself in that future – because it will call on all of us, together, to explore and commit to new ways of concentrating our strength and quickening the pace of progress. To be clear: We want every one of our thousand bold expeditions to succeed! And there are many deeply significant areas where we can do more, together, from the bioeconomy to AI.

In fields like these, the world is crying out for courageous thought leadership and practical solutions. For a mind-and-hand place like MIT, answering that call is an opportunity – and frankly an obligation.

But, as so many of you have told me, one subject above all demands our shared attention.

Today, at least 20 percent of MIT faculty work on questions related to climate change: the greatest scientific and societal challenge of this or any age.

The people of MIT are pioneering crucial fields – from nuclear fusion to grid-scale batteries to climate policy. They’re decarbonizing everything from steel production to supply chains to computing, from architecture to agriculture.

That’s fantastic!

But I believe that, with all that talent and imagination, we can and, honestly, we must find new ways to work together, and to work with other sectors and institutions, to achieve even more – much more.

We need to ask ourselves: What is MIT’s contribution going to be? Would we feel satisfied if the answer was, “Well, MIT contributed to the knowledge base”? Would we? Is that enough?

What could we do that would really move the needle – and break the dial? Wouldn’t it make you proud to be part of the team that went all in, on the most important question of our time?

The people of MIT have done this before – and now, in this moment, we can do it too!

So many of MIT’s signature achievements have been triumphs of concerted collaboration:

• The LIGO program, whose thousands of contributors from dozens of institutions together found a way to detect gravitational waves from outer space.
• The Human Genome Project, where MIT scientists contributed a third of all the sequencing.
• The Apollo guidance systems that put humans on the moon.
• The work of MIT’s legendary Rad Lab, whose thirty-five-hundred members developed the radar systems that helped end World War II.

At the time, MIT’s 9 th  president, Karl Taylor Compton, called the Rad Lab “the greatest cooperative research establishment in the history of the world.” And the scientific miracles it achieved, at record speed, were mostly done by very young researchers, across a wide range of fields, with an extraordinary sense of purpose.

To meet the challenge of climate, it’s time for the people of MIT to engage in Rad-Lab-level thinking and commitment again. I want you, and I need you to help me imagine what that should look like, and how it can succeed – the kind of grand creative enterprise in which the energy you release together is greater than what you each put in. A nuclear fusion of problem-solving and possibility!

I certainly would not presume to lay out all the details of this new climate endeavor. That is work we will do together, starting now. We need energy and expertise from every MIT School and the College, from every lab and every center, from every member of the faculty – and from every one of you.

• To our students and postdocs: You are among our most brilliant stars. Help us focus unflinchingly on the horizon of your future and on the urgent need for action now.
• To our faculty and researchers: Let’s do everything we can, as fast as we can. Let’s have the courage to venture the impossible – for our students; for our children and their children; for the world.
• To MIT’s incredible staff: You are critical to the Institute’s success, its unsung heroes. As we take on this great shared challenge, we will need every ounce of your expertise, institutional knowledge and principled leadership.
• To our alumni and friends, and to our steadfast partners on the Corporation: You know, without my saying it, that we cannot do this work as well, or at all, without your support, encouragement and inspiration. 
• To our neighbors in Cambridge and Boston, and to leaders across the Commonwealth: Let’s find ways to support each other in this work, so we can move as fast the moment demands!
• And to my fellow university leaders: This problem will require that we  all  enlist our galaxies of stars. Let’s do this together – and remind the world that so many of the thorniest problems are solved at universities.

But let me be clear: We’re not going to wait around for a perfect vision. We need to start trying new things! Because I am absolutely certain that this urgent project is the singular effort that needs our shared attention. We can only meet this crisis if we’re brave enough to lower our shields, reach out and work together in new ways. And we cannot be satisfied with the normal academic tempo – there simply isn’t time.

You’ll hear more from me soon about how this effort will take shape. I hope many of you will want to participate directly. Please think about how you can answer the call. How will your work help make the whole of our efforts on climate greater than the sum of the parts – a multiplication of our talent and our capacity?

And whatever your role at MIT, I want you to feel part of this. Every member of this community is an essential part of the ecosystem that makes the breakthroughs possible. I want us all to take pride in how this community comes together to meet the existential challenges of humankind. I know I will take great pride in joining you.

I started this speech with a little bit of intrigue: I asked you to hold onto the sensation of  wanting to know . Why?

Because it only takes a few hours on this campus to learn that what propels MIT is an irresistible force: the sheer motive power of curiosity, on every subject, at every scale, across disciplines and without limits:  Curiosity Unbounded . 

It’s the passion to understand how things work, and why, and how they can work better.

In this perilous moment, I believe that curiosity can give us the hope and courage to do what needs to be done.

Importantly, curiosity is  also  the one and only path to understanding one another – to empathy and appreciation and mutual respect. In effect, curiosity is the indispensable first step in both collaboration  and  community.

Today, the problems before us – the problems of human society, and of its only planet so far – require that we harness our curiosity in exceptionally productive ways. The people of MIT have always wanted to know how things work, and how we can be part of big solutions. Now, it’s imperative that we know – and that we help lead the world to action.

In some fleeting way, the world may attend to what I say here today. But I  know  the world will be watching what we  do  next.

Let’s give them something to talk about – something to cheer for, something to join! Something worthy of MIT.

Amanda Gorman discusses her writing process and inspirations in on-campus speech

Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet, hinted at a 2036 presidential run and highlighted the power of poetry.

Gorman was the first U.S. national youth poet laureate and delivered on of her poems at Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, making her the youngest inaugural poet. 

Celebrated poet Amanda Gorman graced the Center For the Arts mainstage Tuesday night as the final speaker of the 2023-24 Distinguished Speakers Series to discuss her renowned poem, “ The Hill We Climb ,” the role of poetry in social justice, and her improbable rise to prominence.

Gorman was the first U.S. national youth poet laureate, and in 2021, she became the youngest inaugural poet when she delivered her poem, “ The Hill We Climb ,” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, days after the Jan. 6 insurrection . 

Speaking onstage with English professor Cristanne Miller, Gorman said tensions leading up to the inauguration almost led her to back out — but instead she saw it as an opportunity to open doors for other young poets. 

After the events of Jan. 6, she rewrote the poem.

“This has to be reckoned with,” Gorman said. “I really, in that poem, wanted to bring us all home to what it feels to be American…What I was trying to do was inspired by the light of souls on the planet. And if people could feel that, that’s a poem worth writing.”

Since 2017 — the year when Urban Word appointed Gorman as the first National Youth Poet Laureate — Gorman drafted her poems with the intention of being selected for a presidential inauguration.

Despite the pressure to consistently create poetry “worthy for a nation,” Gorman remains confident in her abilities, trusting that her strength is earned. She reflected on her efforts to overcome her speech impediment — the result of her auditory processing disorder — and fears of public speaking.

“Confidence is something you have to fight and battle for and grow into. It does not arrive pre-born into people’s heads,” Gorman said. “From going through that work, once you do that journey, no one can take it away from you… Once you do the work of showing up and stepping forward, there’s not a single thing that brings you down.”

She says that confidence powered her to the lectern at the inauguration — and hinted that it could send her to the Oval Office in 2036.

In 2023 — two years after the inauguration — a Florida elementary school restricted access to “The Hill We Climb.” The ban on the poem was one of Gorman’s proudest moments, she said, because it put her among the ranks of history’s great poets. 

“If this poem, at five minutes, can be that threatening that you’re revoking it from schools, it says something to how it speaks to the bedrock of America,” Gorman said. 

Gorman says that confidence powered her to the lectern at the inauguration — and hinted that it could send her to the Oval Office in 2036.

Gorman currently spends her time researching the writings of past African American writers, including the works of Toni Morrison and Martin Luther King Jr. She intends to use her platform to continue the grand legacy of the writers before her, sharing a mantra she repeats before every performance.

“I’m the daughter of Black writers. We’re descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and changed the world,” Gorman recites. “It’s part of history and ancestry but it’s also part of ownership and accountability… I’d better step up.”

As a young Black woman, Gorman knows what it’s like to be underestimated by society. 

“If I were to say anything to young students, it would be to own your voice,” Gorman said. “You have something to say and the world owes it to you to listen.”

At the end of the event, Gorman read a poem from her most recent poetry collection, “Call Us What We Carry,” which explores the pandemic, divisiveness and the past with the question: “How do we move forward with all of that weight?” 

“We continue speaking, writing, hoping, living, loving, fighting,” Gorman said. “That is to say we believe beyond a disaster.” 

Mylien Lai is an assistant arts editor and can be reached at [email protected]  

Jason Tsoi is an assistant features editor and can be reached at [email protected]   

Jason Tsoi is an assistant features editor at The Spectrum . He is an English major with a certificate in journalism. During his free time, he can be found listening to music and watching films. 

Mylien Lai is an assistant arts editor at The Spectrum . Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram. 

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Words of inspiration from an inaugural poet

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Amanda Gorman was the final speaker in this year's Distinguished Speakers Series. Photo: Nancy J. Parisi

By VICKY SANTOS

Published March 28, 2024

The rainy weather didn’t deter a sold-out crowd from showing up for poet and activist Amanda Gorman’s appearance Tuesday night in the Center for the Arts to close the 2023-24 edition of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series. And for their perseverance, audience members were rewarded with a night of inspirational, humorous and engaging dialogue.

Gorman received critical acclaim for performing her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at the 2021 presidential inauguration. She is one of only six poets to ever do so and, at 22, was by far the youngest — the next youngest person, Richard Blanco, was 44.

In addition to her legendary performance at the U.S. Capitol, she has performed at the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center. She is the first National Youth Poet Laureate; the first poet to grace the cover of Vogue magazine; and the first poet to perform at the Super Bowl.

“We conclude another terrific season on an incredibly high note,” President Satish K. Tripathi said in his introduction of Gorman. “It’s been a little over three years since this evening’s speaker enthralled the world. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and only weeks after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Amanda Gorman delivered an electric performance of her poem, ‘The Hill we Climb,’ at President Biden’s inauguration. In five minutes, and with 723 words, Ms. Gorman managed to capture the moment and captivate millions with her message of hope, resilience and healing.”

Gorman received a rousing and enthusiastic round of applause as she walked on stage and joined the evening’s moderator, Cristanne Miller, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Edward H. Butler Professor of English.

“Thank you all so much for such a warm welcome to Buffalo! I had no idea upstate New York knew who I was! Thank you for stroking my pride and my ego,” Gorman joked.

Cristanne Miller (left), SUNY Distinguished Professor and Edward H. Butler Professor of English, moderated the Q&A portion of the evening. Photo: Nancy J. Parisi

Gorman said that while backstage, she had looked through Miller’s new book , “The Letters of Emily Dickinson.” Miller and Gorman spent a few moments talking about their love and admiration of Dickinson before moving onto the questions awaiting Gorman — most of which were submitted previously by audience members and covered topics ranging from overcoming a speech-and-hearing disorder in her youth to the power of poetry and social justice movements.

“Poetry is the language of revolution. I point out that there’s a reason that, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, there’s a poem and not an essay, and that is not to detract from prose, but just to say there’s something incredibly unique about poetry, which demands us to participate in envisioning our best selves,” Gorman said. “There’s an inherent engine behind poetry, which localizes us around the language that in and of itself is representative of activism. It is not latent; it is not static; it’s voicing the deepest versions of ourselves to improve the world.”

When asked which of her poems is her favorite, Gorman replied it’s “The Hill We Climb,” but probably not for the reasons people may think.

“I’m most proud of it because it’s my most banned poem. I never thought I’d be cool enough to be considered among the Toni Morrisons and James Baldwins and the Margaret Atwoods of the world. I’m like, the Instagramable one — and they’re all taking me so seriously.”

“The fact that this poem, that five minutes, could be that threatening that they’re revoking it from schools — it says something to how it speaks to the bedrock of America.”

Gorman says she reads the notorious poem differently each time she recites it — partly because of the environment and occasion, but also because of a speech impediment.

“Part of what causes my speech impediment is having an auditory-processing disorder, which means you hear things differently — sound is distorted, and that changes as your brain is wiring itself on how to develop speech. Even though I’ve gone through speech therapy, I still have a brain that’s wired to hear all the different versions of what someone might have said.”

Gorman gave the example that if someone said, “go sit on the couch,” a person with an auditory-processing disorder heard a couple different versions of that, including something along the lines of, “go hit the cow.”

“It was really confusing when I was a kid because I wasn’t always able to distinguish what I was hearing. I heard it as it was, but I was also hearing all the different versions of what it could be.”

Gorman says that process carries over to writing words and also when she’s speaking.

“I write whatever my brain is telling me to write, but when I speak, it comes out in different lattices and rhythms.”

Political ambitions

Gorman says she always wrote as if someday she might be writing a poem for an inauguration.

“I think I have always had a little bit of grandiose delusion in my life,” Gorman recalled. “I remember being a little kid and my mom was like, ‘where do you get this optimism from?’ Because every single time there was a raffle or some kind of drawing, I was always at the front of the line because I was sure I was going to win it.”

That same optimism is still guiding Gorman, who says she will be running for president of the United States in 2036.

“It’s not a dream; it’s a plan!” Gorman proclaimed. “My hashtag for my campaign is going to be #coAMANDA in chief.”

Humility accesses humanity

Gorman finished the night reading from her collection “What We Carry.”

“It deals with the pandemic, it deals with history, it deals with divisiveness, but more so it deals with how we move forward in spite of all these,” Gorman said.

“When I write my poems, I try to keep in mind that humility is how to access the humanity.”

Trump promotes Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless The USA Bible': What to know about the book and its long journey

• Former president Donald Trump encourages supporters to buy Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA Bible," a project inspired by Nashville country musician's hit song.
• Resurgent version of Greenwood's Bible project a modified version from original concept, a change that likely followed 2021 shake-up in publishers.

After years with few updates about Lee Greenwood’s controversial Bible, the project is again resurgent with a recent promotion by former President Donald Trump.

“All Americans need to have a Bible in their home and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump said in a video posted to social media Tuesday, encouraging supporters to purchase the “God Bless The USA Bible.” “Religion is so important and so missing, but it’s going to come back.”

Greenwood — the Nashville area country musician whose hit song “God Bless the USA” inspired the Bible with a similar namesake — has long been allies with Trump and other prominent Republicans, many of whom are featured in promotional material for the “God Bless The USA Bible.” But that reputational clout in conservative circles hasn’t necessarily translated to business success in the past, largely due to a major change in the book’s publishing plan.

Here's what to know about the Bible project’s journey so far and why it’s significant it’s back in the conservative limelight.

An unordinary Bible, a fiery debate

The “God Bless The USA Bible” received heightened attention since the outset due to its overt political features.

The text includes the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance, and the lyrics to the chorus to Greenwood’s “God Bless The USA.” Critics saw it as a symbol of Christian nationalism, a right-wing movement that believes the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.

A petition emerged in 2021 calling Greenwood’s Bible “a toxic mix that will exacerbate the challenges to American evangelicalism.” From there, a broader conversation ensued about the standards by which publishers print Bibles.

Gatekeeping in Bible publishing

Greenwood’s early business partner on the project, a Hermitage-based marketing firm called Elite Source Pro, initially reached a manufacturing agreement with the Nashville-based HarperCollins Christian Publishing to print the “God Bless The USA Bible.”  

As part of that agreement, HarperCollins would publish the book but not sell or endorse it. But then HarperCollins reversed course , a major setback for Greenwood’s Bible.

The reversal by HarperCollins followed a decision by Zondervan — a publishing group under HarperCollins Christian Publishing and an official North American licensor for Bibles printed in the New International Version translation — to pass on the project. HarperCollins said the decision was unrelated to the petition or other public denunciations against Greenwood’s Bible.

The full backstory: Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA Bible' finds new printer after HarperCollins Christian passes

A new translation and mystery publisher

The resurgent “God Bless The USA Bible” featured in Trump’s recent ad is an altered version of the original concept, a modification that likely followed the publishing shake-up.

Greenwood’s Bible is now printed in the King James Version, a different translation from the original pitch to HarperCollins.

Perhaps the biggest mystery is the new publisher. That manufacturer is producing a limited quantity of copies, leading to a delayed four-to-six weeks for a copy to ship.  

It’s also unclear which business partners are still involved in the project. Hugh Kirkman, who led Elite Service Pro, the firm that originally partnered with Greenwood for the project, responded to a request for comment by referring media inquiries to Greenwood’s publicist.

The publicist said Elite Source Pro is not a partner on the project and the Bible has always been printed in the King James Version.

"Several years ago, the Bible was going to be printed with the NIV translation, but something happened with the then licensor and the then potential publisher. As a result, this God Bless The USA Bible has always been printed with the King James Version translation," publicist Jeremy Westby said in a statement.

Westby did not have the name of the new licensee who is manufacturing the Bible.

Trump’s plug for the “God Bless The USA Bible” recycled language the former president is using to appeal to a conservative Christian base.

“Our founding fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values,” Trump said in his video on social media. “Now that foundation is under attack perhaps as never before.”

'Bring back our religion’: Trump vows to support Christians during Nashville speech

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.

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Cash-strapped Trump is now selling $60 Bibles, U.S. Constitution included

Rachel Treisman

Then-President Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., during a controversial 2020 photo-op. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Then-President Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., during a controversial 2020 photo-op.

Former President Donald Trump is bringing together church and state in a gilded package for his latest venture, a $60 "God Bless The USA" Bible complete with copies of the nation's founding documents.

Trump announced the launch of the leather-bound, large-print, King James Bible in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday — a day after the social media company surged in its trading debut and two days after a New York appeals court extended his bond deadline to comply with a ruling in a civil fraud case and slashed the bond amount by 61%.

"Happy Holy Week! Let's Make America Pray Again," Trump wrote. "As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible."

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The Bible is inspired by "God Bless the USA," the patriotic Lee Greenwood anthem that has been a fixture at many a Trump rally (and has a long political history dating back to Ronald Reagan). It is the only Bible endorsed by Trump as well as Greenwood, according to its promotional website .

The Bible is only available online and sells for $59.99 (considerably more expensive than the traditional Bibles sold at major retailers, or those available for free at many churches and hotels). It includes Greenwood's handwritten chorus of its titular song as well as copies of historical documents including the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Pledge of Allegiance.

"Many of you have never read them and don't know the liberties and rights you have as Americans, and how you are being threatened to lose those rights," Trump said in a three-minute video advertisement.

"Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back and we have to bring them back fast."

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Trump critics on both sides of the aisle quickly criticized the product, characterizing it as self-serving and hypocritical.

Conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes slammed him for "commodifying the Bible during Holy Week," while Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota critiqued him for "literally taking a holy book and selling it, and putting it out there in order to make money for his campaign."

Trump says the money isn't going to his campaign, but more on that below.

Klobuchar added that Trump's public attacks on others are "not consistent with the teachings of the Bible," calling this "one more moment of hypocrisy." Tara Setmayer, a senior adviser for anti-Trump Republican PAC the Lincoln Project, called it "blasphemous ."

And former Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, trolled Trump with a social media post alluding to his alleged extramarital affairs.

"Happy Holy Week, Donald," she wrote. "Instead of selling Bibles, you should probably buy one. And read it, including Exodus 20:14 ."

Christianity is an increasingly prominent part of his campaign

Trump has made a point of cultivating Christian supporters since his 2016 presidential campaign and remains popular with white evangelicals despite his multiple divorces, insults toward marginalized groups and allegations of extramarital affairs and sexual assault.

And his narrative of being persecuted — including in the courts — appears to resonate with his many Christian supporters.

Trump has increasingly embraced Christian nationalist ideas in public. He promised a convention of religious broadcasters last month that he would use a second term to defend Christian values from the "radical left," swearing that "no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration."

He made similar comments in the Bible promotional video, in which he warned that "Christians are under siege" and the country is "going haywire" because it lost religion.

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"We must defend God in the public square and not allow the media or the left-wing groups to silence, censor or discriminate against us," he said. "We have to bring Christianity back into our lives and back into what will be again a great nation."

Trump himself is not known to be particularly religious or a regular churchgoer. He long identified as Presbyterian but announced in 2020 that he identified as nondenominational .

A Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month found that most people with positive views of Trump don't see him as especially religious, but think he stands up for people with religious beliefs like their own.

Trump said in the promotional video that he has many Bibles at home.

"It's my favorite book," he said, echoing a comment he's made in previous years. "It's a lot of people's favorite book."

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Trump's relationship to the Bible has been a point of discussion and sometimes controversy over the years.

In 2020, amid protests over George Floyd's murder, he posed with a Bible outside a Washington, D.C., church, for which he was widely criticized. U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops had tear-gassed peaceful protesters in the area beforehand, seemingly to make way for the photo-op, though a watchdog report the following year determined otherwise .

That same year, a clip of a 2015 Bloomberg interview, in which Trump declines to name his favorite — or any — Bible verse resurfaced on social media and went viral.

Bible sales are unlikely to solve Trump's financial problems

An FAQ section on the Bible website says no profits will go to Trump's reelection campaign.

"GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign," it says.

However, the site adds that it uses Trump's name, likeness and image "under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC."

Trump is listed as the manager, president, secretary and treasurer of CIC Ventures LLC in a financial disclosure from last year.

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Trump's sales pitch focuses on bringing religion back to America.

"I want to have a lot of people have it," he said at one point in the video. "You have to have it for your heart and for your soul."

But many are wondering whether Trump has something else to gain from Bible sales while facing under mounting financial pressure.

There's his presidential reelection campaign, which has raised only about half of what Biden's has so far this cycle. Trump acknowledged Monday that he "might" spend his own money on his campaign, something he hasn't done since 2016.

There's also his mounting legal expenses, as he faces four criminal indictments and numerous civil cases. Trump posted bond to support a $83.3 million jury award granted to writer E. Jean Carroll in a defamation case earlier this month, and was due to put up another $454 million in a civil fraud case this past Monday.

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His lawyers had said last week that they had approached 30 companies for help making bond, but doing so was a "practical impossibility" — prompting New York's attorney general to confirm that if Trump did not pay, she would move to seize his assets . On Monday, the appeals court reduced the bond amount to $175 million and gave Trump another 10 days to post it.

Trump has evidently been trying to raise money in other ways.

The day after the civil fraud judgment was announced, he debuted a line of $399 golden, high-top sneakers , which sold out in hours . The company behind his social media app, Truth Social, started trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Tuesday, which could deliver him a windfall of more than $3 billion — though he can't sell his shares for another six months.

• Donald J. Trump
• sales pitch
• Christianity