Senator
Mathias, Chief Justice Burger, Vice President Bush,
Speaker O'Neill, Senator Dole, Reverend Clergy, members of
my family and friends, and my fellow citizens:
This
day has been made brighter with the presence here of one
who, for a time, has been absent Senator John Stennis.
God
bless you and welcome back.
There
is, however, one who is not with us today: Representative
Gillis Long of Louisiana left us last night. I wonder if
we could all join in a moment of silent prayer. (Moment of
silent prayer.) Amen.
There
are no words adequate to express my thanks for the great
honor that you have bestowed on me. I will do my utmost to
be deserving of your trust.
This
is, as Senator Mathias told us, the 50th time that we the
people have celebrated this historic occasion. When the
first President, George Washington, placed his hand upon
the Bible, he stood less than a single day's journey by
horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. There were 4
million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today we are 60
times as many in a union of 50 States. We have lighted the
world with our inventions, gone to the aid of mankind
wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed
to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed. And
yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago.
When
I took this oath four years ago, I did so in a time of
economic stress. Voices were raised saying we had to look
to our past for the greatness and glory. But we, the
present-day Americans, are not given to looking backward.
In this blessed land, there is always a better tomorrow.
Four
years ago, I spoke to you of a new beginning and we have
accomplished that. But in another sense, our new beginning
is a continuation of that beginning created two centuries
ago when, for the first time in history, government, the
people said, was not our master, it is our servant; its
only power that which we the people allow it to have.
That
system has never failed us, but, for a time, we failed the
system. We asked things of government that government was
not equipped to give. We yielded authority to the National
Government that properly belonged to States or to local
governments or to the people themselves. We allowed taxes
and inflation to rob us of our earnings and savings and
watched the great industrial machine that had made us the
most productive people on Earth slow down and the number
of unemployed increase.
By
1980, we knew it was time to renew our faith, to strive
with all our strength toward the ultimate in individual
freedom consistent with an orderly society.
We
believed then and now there are no limits to growth and
human progress when men and women are free to follow their
dreams.
And
we were right to believe that. Tax rates have been
reduced, inflation cut dramatically, and more people are
employed than ever before in our history.
We
are creating a nation once again vibrant, robust, and
alive. But there are many mountains yet to climb. We will
not rest until every American enjoys the fullness of
freedom, dignity, and opportunity as our birthright. It is
our birthright as citizens of this great Republic, and
we'll meet this challenge.
These
will be years when Americans have restored their
confidence and tradition of progress; when our values of
faith, family, work, and neighborhood were restated for a
modern age; when our economy was finally freed from
government's grip; when we made sincere efforts at
meaningful arms reduction, rebuilding our defenses, our
economy, and developing new technologies, and helped
preserve peace in a troubled world; when Americans
courageously supported the struggle for liberty,
self-government, and free enterprise throughout the world,
and turned the tide of history away from totalitarian
darkness and into the warm sunlight of human freedom.
My
fellow citizens, our Nation is poised for greatness. We
must do what we know is right and do it with all our
might. Let history say of us, "These were golden
years when the American Revolution was reborn, when
freedom gained new life, when America reached for her
best."
Our
two-party system has served us well over the years, but
never better than in those times of great challenge when
we came together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as
Americans united in a common cause.
Two
of our Founding Fathers, a Boston lawyer named Adams and a
Virginia planter named Jefferson, members of that
remarkable group who met in Independence Hall and dared to
think they could start the world over again, left us an
important lesson. They had become political rivals in the
Presidential election of 1800. Then years later, when both
were retired, and age had softened their anger, they began
to speak to each other again through letters. A bond was
reestablished between those two who had helped create this
government of ours.
In
1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence, they both died. They died on the same day,
within a few hours of each other, and that day was the
Fourth of July.
In
one of those letters exchanged in the sunset of their
lives, Jefferson wrote: "It carries me back to the
times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were
fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is
most valuable to man, his right to self-government.
Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead
threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless ...
we rode through the storm with heart and hand."
Well,
with heart and hand, let us stand as one today: One people
under God determined that our future shall be worthy of
our past. As we do, we must not repeat the
well-intentioned errors of our past. We must never again
abuse the trust of working men and women, by sending their
earnings on a futile chase after the spiraling demands of
a bloated Federal Establishment. You elected us in 1980 to
end this prescription for disaster, and I don't believe
you reelected us in 1984 to reverse course.
At
the heart of our efforts is one idea vindicated by 25
straight months of economic growth: Freedom and incentives
unleash the drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the
core of human progress. We have begun to increase the
rewards for work, savings, and investment; reduce the
increase in the cost and size of government and its
interference in people's lives.
We
must simplify our tax system, make it more fair, and bring
the rates down for all who work and earn. We must think
anew and move with a new boldness, so every American who
seeks work can find work; so the least among us shall have
an equal chance to achieve the greatest things to be
heroes who heal our sick, feed the hungry, protect peace
among nations, and leave this world a better place.
The
time has come for a new American emancipation a great
national drive to tear down economic barriers and liberate
the spirit of enterprise in the most distressed areas of
our country. My friends, together we can do this, and do
it we must, so help me God.
From
new freedom will spring new opportunities for growth, a
more productive, fulfilled and united people, and a
stronger America an America that will lead the
technological revolution, and also open its mind and heart
and soul to the treasures of literature, music, and
poetry, and the values of faith, courage, and love.
A
dynamic economy, with more citizens working and paying
taxes, will be our strongest tool to bring down budget
deficits. But an almost unbroken 50 years of deficit
spending has finally brought us to a time of reckoning. We
have come to a turning point, a moment for hard decisions.
I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a question, and now
I put the same question to all of you: If not us, who? And
if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going
forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced
budget. We can then begin reducing the national debt.
I
will shortly submit a budget to the Congress aimed at
freezing government program spending for the next year.
Beyond that, we must take further steps to permanently
control Government's power to tax and spend. We must act
now to protect future generations from Government's desire
to spend its citizens' money and tax them into servitude
when the bills come due. Let us make it unconstitutional
for the Federal Government to spend more than the Federal
Government takes in.
We
have already started returning to the people and to State
and local governments responsibilities better handled by
them. Now, there is a place for the Federal Government in
matters of social compassion. But our fundamental goals
must be to reduce dependency and upgrade the dignity of
those who are infirm or disadvantaged. And here a growing
economy and support from family and community offer our
best chance for a society where compassion is a way of
life, where the old and infirm are cared for, the young
and, yes, the unborn protected, and the unfortunate looked
after and made self-sufficient.
And
there is another area where the Federal Government can
play a part. As an older American, I remember a time when
people of different race, creed, or ethnic origin in our
land found hatred and prejudice installed in social custom
and, yes, in law. There is no story more heartening in our
history than the progress that we have made toward the
"brotherhood of man" that God intended for us.
Let us resolve there will be no turning back or hesitation
on the road to an America rich in dignity and abundant
with opportunity for all our citizens.
Let
us resolve that we the people will build an American
opportunity society in which all of us white and black,
rich and poor, young and old will go forward together
arm in arm. Again, let us remember that though our
heritage is one of blood lines from every corner of the
Earth, we are all Americans pledged to carry on this last,
best hope of man on Earth.
I
have spoken of our domestic goals and the limitations
which we should put on our National Government. Now let me
turn to a task which is the primary responsibility of
National Government the safety and security of our
people.
Today,
we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer
for peace on Earth. Yet history has shown that peace will
not come, nor will our freedom be preserved, by good will
alone. There are those in the world who scorn our vision
of human dignity and freedom. One nation, the Soviet
Union, has conducted the greatest military buildup in the
history of man, building arsenals of awesome offensive
weapons.
We
have made progress in restoring our defense capability.
But much remains to be done. There must be no wavering by
us, nor any doubts by others, that America will meet her
responsibilities to remain free, secure, and at peace.
There
is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost
of national security, and that is to reduce the need for
it. And this we are trying to do in negotiations with the
Soviet Union. We are not just discussing limits on a
further increase of nuclear weapons. We seek, instead, to
reduce their number. We seek the total elimination one day
of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.
Now,
for decades, we and the Soviets have lived under the
threat of mutual assured destruction; if either resorted
to the use of nuclear weapons, the other could retaliate
and destroy the one who had started it. Is there either
logic or morality in believing that if one side threatens
to kill tens of millions of our people, our only recourse
is to threaten killing tens of millions of theirs?
I
have approved a research program to find, if we can, a
security shield that would destroy nuclear missiles before
they reach their target. It wouldn't kill people, it would
destroy weapons. It wouldn't militarize space, it would
help demilitarize the arsenals of Earth. It would render
nuclear weapons obsolete. We will meet with the Soviets,
hoping that we can agree on a way to rid the world of the
threat of nuclear destruction.
We
strive for peace and security, heartened by the changes
all around us. Since the turn of the century, the number
of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human
freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than our own
hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest
aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger
for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable
rights that make for human dignity and progress.
America
must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is
our best ally.
And
it is the world's only hope, to conquer poverty and
preserve peace. Every blow we inflict against poverty will
be a blow against its dark allies of oppression and war.
Every victory for human freedom will be a victory for
world peace.
So
we go forward today, a nation still mighty in its youth
and powerful in its purpose. With our alliances
strengthened, with our economy leading the world to a new
age of economic expansion, we look forward to a world rich
in possibilities. And all this because we have worked and
acted together, not as members of political parties, but
as Americans.
My
friends, we live in a world that is lit by lightning. So
much is changing and will change, but so much endures, and
transcends time.
History
is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And
as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled
before us. We stand together again at the steps of this
symbol of our democracy or we would have been standing
at the steps if it hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are
standing inside this symbol of our democracy. Now we hear
again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees
in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely President paces
the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to preserve
the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to
each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and
the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.
It
is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted,
idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage;
that is our song. We sing it still. For all our problems,
our differences, we are together as of old, as we raise
our voices to the God who is the Author of this most
tender music. And may He continue to hold us close as we
fill the world with our sound sound in unity, affection,
and love one people under God, dedicated to the dream of
freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon
now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.
God
bless you and may God bless America.
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