Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President
Clinton, Members of the United States Congress, Reverend Clergy, distinguished guests,
fellow citizens.
On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom
of
our Constitution and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful
for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in
which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you
have witnessed.
At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the
history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended its own freedom by standing watch on distant borders.
After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet,
years of repose, years of sabbatical—and then there came a day of fire.
We have seen our vulnerability and we have seen its deepest
source. For as long as whole regions of the world
simmer in resentment and tyranny, prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse
murder, violence will gather and multiply in destructive power and cross the most
defended borders and raise a mortal threat.
There is only one force of history that can break the reign of
hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of
the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: 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.
America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our
founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this
Earth has rights and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the Maker of heaven and Earth.
Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because
no
one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.
Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It
is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is
the urgent requirement of our Nation’s security, and the calling of our time.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and
support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and
culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend
ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its
nature, must be chosen and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law
and
the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the
institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our
own.
America will not impose its own style of government
on the unwilling.
Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice,
attain their own freedom, and make their own way.
The great objective of ending tyranny is the
concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is
no excuse for avoiding it. America’s influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America’s influence is considerable,
and we will use it confidently in freedom’s cause.
My most solemn duty is to protect this Nation and its people
from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to
test America’s resolve, and have found it firm. We will
persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral
choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally
right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that
women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at
the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear
that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own
people.
America’s belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet
rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by
free dissent and the participation of the governed.
In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there
can be no human rights without human liberty.
Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty—although this time in history,
four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time
for
doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals.
Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we
do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery.
Liberty will come to those who love it. Today, America
speaks anew to the peoples of the world. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness
can know the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your
oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.
Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile
can know America sees you for who you are, the future leaders of your free
country. The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: “Those who deny
freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God,
cannot long retain it.”
The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your
people
you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side. All the allies of the United
States can know we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on
your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom’s
enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote
democracy is a prelude to our enemies’ defeat.
Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens. From all of you, I have asked patience
in
the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country
has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable
to
abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this Nation,
tens of millions have achieved their freedom.
As hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our
efforts, we have lit a fire as well—a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who
feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire
of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.
A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this
cause—in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy; the idealistic work of
helping raise up free governments; the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our
enemies.
Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that
honored their whole lives, and we will always honor
their names and their sacrifice.
All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our
youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and
allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have
seen that life is fragile, evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the
choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your
days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.
America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home—the
unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward
liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.
In America’s ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and
security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence.
This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the
Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision
by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time.
To give every American a stake in the promise and future of
our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an
ownership society.
We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses,
retirement savings, and health
insurance, preparing our people for the challenge of life in a free
society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give
our
fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more
prosperous and just and equal.
In America’s ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character—on
integrity, and tolerance towards others, and the rule of
conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the
self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with
standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of
Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our
people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that
is good and true that came before—ideals of justice and conduct that are the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
In America’s ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, mercy,
and
a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another.
Our Nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and
surround the loss with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see
in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth.
Our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we
cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same
time. From the perspective of a single day, including this day of
dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come
to us are narrowed and few. Did our generations advance the cause of freedom?
And did our character bring credit to that cause?
These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of
every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one
another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions which must be
healed to move forward in great purposes, and I will strive in good faith to heal
them.
Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our
Nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came
like a single hand over a single heart. We can feel
that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of
disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set
free.
We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of
freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human
choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of
mankind, the hunger and dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when
soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched
in peaceful outrage under the banner “Freedom Now,” they were acting on ancient hope
that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but
history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.
When the Declaration of Independence was first read in
public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, “It rang as
if it meant something.” In our time, it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout
the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our
strength—tested but not weary—we are ready for the greatest
achievements in the history of freedom.
May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of
America.