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
truckdrivers. 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 andthe 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 win 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. Godbless you, and thank
you.