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, 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're 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've 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: government is the problem. From time to time we've
been tempted to belie\e 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. Well, 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. Well, 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 factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us
when we're 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 opportunities 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's 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're too great a nation to limit
ourselves to small dreams. We're 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're in a time when there are not heroes, they 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're 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're 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.
Now, I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of
these heroes. I could say "you" and "your," because I'm
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're sick, and provide opportunity 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've 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. It is 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 ail, 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'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being
held on this day, and for that I'm 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 Inaugural Day
in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.
This is he first time in our history that this ceremony has been
held, as you've 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 upon 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 kind 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 barbershop 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're 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.
Cod bless you, and thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 12 noon from a platform erected at
the West Front of the Capitol. Immediately before the address,
the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Warren E.
Burger.
In his opening remarks, the President referred to Rev. Donn D.
Moomow, senior pastor, Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles,
Calif.
The address was broadcast live on radio and television.