Senator
Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President
Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker
O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few
of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous
occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a
commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority
as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as
it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to
think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the
world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is
nothing less than a miracle.
Mr.
President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you
did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious
cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a
watching world that we are a united people pledged to
maintaining a political system which guarantees individual
liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank
you and your people for all your help in maintaining the
continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.
The
business of our nation goes forward. These United States
are confronted with an economic affliction of great
proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the
worst sustained inflations in our national history. It
distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and
crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly
alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of
our people.
Idle
industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing
human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are
denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which
penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from
maintaining full productivity.
But
great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with
public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon
deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future
for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue
this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social,
cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You
and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our
means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then,
should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not
bound by that same limitation?
We
must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let
there be no misunderstanding we are going to begin to
act, beginning today.
The
economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several
decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months,
but they will go away. They will go away because we, as
Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the
past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this
last and greatest bastion of freedom.
In
this present crisis, government is not the solution to our
problem.
From
time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society
has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that
government by an elite group is superior to government
for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is
capable of governing himself, then who among us has the
capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in
and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions
we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out
to pay a higher price.
We
hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be
for a special interest group that has been too long
neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and
racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It
is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our
streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our
children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are
sick professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks,
cabbies, and truck drivers. They are, in short, "We
the people," this breed called Americans.
Well,
this administration's objective will be a healthy,
vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity
for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or
discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting
all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing
all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All
must share in the productive work of this "new
beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a
revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are
the core of our system and our strength, we can have a
strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the
world.
So,
as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that
has a government not the other way around. And this
makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our
Government has no power except that granted it by the
people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of
government which shows signs of having grown beyond the
consent of the governed.
It
is my intention to curb the size and influence of the
Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the
distinction between the powers granted to the Federal
Government and those reserved to the States or to the
people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal
Government did not create the States; the States created
the Federal Government.
Now,
so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my
intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to
make it work work with us, not over us; to stand by our
side, not ride on our back. Government can and must
provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity,
not stifle it.
If
we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we
achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth,
it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy
and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has
ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the
individual have been more available and assured here than
in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at
times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to
pay that price.
It
is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and
are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our
lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of
government. It is time for us to realize that we are too
great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are
not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an
inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will
fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate
that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the
creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of
national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our
courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and
our hope.
We
have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say
that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't
know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in
and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number,
produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world
beyond. You meet heroes across a counter and they are on
both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with
faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new
jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and
families whose taxes support the Government and whose
voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and
education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their
values sustain our national life.
I
have used the words "they" and "their"
in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you"
and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of
whom I speak you, the citizens of this blessed land.
Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the
dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration,
so help me God.
We
shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of
your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our
countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they
fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide
opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be
equal in fact and not just in theory?
Can
we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is
an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase
Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just
taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution
of the world's strongest economy.
In
the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that
have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps
will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the
various levels of government. Progress may be
slow measured in inches and feet, not miles but we
will progress. Is it time to reawaken this industrial
giant, to get government back within its means, and to
lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our
first priorities, and on these principles, there will be
no compromise.
On
the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might
have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers,
Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts
Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country
is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend
the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important
questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty
of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."
Well,
I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act
worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to
ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children
and our children's children.
And
as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be
seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We
will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope
for those who do not now have freedom.
To
those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will
strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our
support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with
loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations.
We will not use our friendship to impose on their
sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.
As
for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential
adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the
highest aspiration of the American people. We will
negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender
for it now or ever.
Our
forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance
for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.
When action is required to preserve our national security,
we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to
prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the
best chance of never having to use that strength.
Above
all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the
arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and
moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our
adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon
that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by
those who practice terrorism and prey upon their
neighbors.
I
am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are
being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful.
We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for
us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if
on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be
declared a day of prayer.
This
is the first time in history that this ceremony has been
held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the
Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista,
opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At
the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants
on whose shoulders we stand.
Directly
in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George
Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who
came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of
revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one
side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The
Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.
And
then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of
the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his
heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of
Abraham Lincoln.
Beyond
those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on
the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National
Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers
bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a
tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our
freedom.
Each
one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I
spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called
Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and
halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop
Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies
and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
Under
one such marker lies a young man Martin Treptow who
left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to
France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the
western front, he was killed trying to carry a message
between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
We
are told that on his body was found a diary. On the
flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had
written these words: "America must win this war.
Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I
will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as
if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me
alone."
The
crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind
of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of
others were called upon to make. It does require, however,
our best effort, and our willingness to believe in
ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great
deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can
and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
And,
after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are
Americans. God bless you, and thank you.
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