Following is a transcript of President George W. Bush's
inaugural address.
President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens,
the peaceful
transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our
country. With a
simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our
nation.
(APPLAUSE)
And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with
spirit and ended
with grace.
(APPLAUSE)
I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of
America's leaders
have come before me, and so many will follow.
We have a place, all of us, in a long story--a story we
continue, but whose
end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became
a friend and
liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that
became a
servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the
world to protect
but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.
It is the American story--a story of flawed and fallible people,
united
across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise
that everyone
belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant
person was
ever born.
Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in
our laws. And
though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed,
we must follow
no other course.
Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and
democracy
was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind,
taking root in
many nations.
Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it
is the inborn
hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust
we bear and
pass along. And even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way
yet to
travel.
While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise,
even the
justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are
limited by
failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of
their birth.
And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a
continent, but
not a country.
We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our
union, is the
serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And
this is my
solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice
and
opportunity.
(APPLAUSE)
I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power
larger than
ourselves who creates us equal in His image.
And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us
onward.
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are
bound by
ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our
interests and
teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be
taught these
principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant,
by embracing
these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.
(APPLAUSE)
Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's
promise through
civility, courage, compassion and character.
America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a
concern for
civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and
respect, fair
dealing and forgiveness.
Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty
because, in a
time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.
But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does
not lead the
cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the
hearts of
children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their
gifts and
undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and
decline, the
vulnerable will suffer most.
We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a
tactic or a
sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism,
of community
over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to
shared
accomplishment.
America, at its best, is also courageous.
Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and
war, when
defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must
choose if the
example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn
us. We must
show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems
instead of passing
them on to future generations.
(APPLAUSE)
Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance
and apathy
claim more young lives.
We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our
children from
struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce
taxes, to recover
the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise
of working
Americans.
(APPLAUSE)
We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness
invite challenge.
(APPLAUSE)
We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new
century is spared
new horrors.
The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake:
America
remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a
balance of
power that favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our
interests. We
will show purpose without arrogance. We will meet aggression and
bad faith
with resolve and strength. And to all nations, we will speak for
the values
that gave our nation birth.
(APPLAUSE)
America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American
conscience,
we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our
nation's promise.
And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children
at risk are
not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they
are failures of
love.
(APPLAUSE)
And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no
substitute for
hope and order in our souls.
Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are
not strangers,
they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us
are diminished
when any are hopeless.
(APPLAUSE)
Government has great responsibilities for public safety and
public health,
for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work
of a nation,
not just a government.
And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a
mentor's
touch or a pastor's prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and
mosque lend our
communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place
in our plans
and in our laws.
(APPLAUSE)
Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can
listen to
those who do.
And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded
traveler on
the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.
America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility
is valued and
expected.
Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is
a call to
conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper
fulfillment.
We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in
commitments. And we
find that children and community are the commitments that set us
free.
Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty
and family
bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of
decency which give
direction to our freedom.
Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a
saint of our
times has said, every day we are called to do small things with
great love.
The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.
I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my
convictions with
civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak
for greater
justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to
live it as
well.
In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the
care of our
times.
What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask
you to seek a
common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms
against easy
attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I
ask you to be
citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects;
responsible
citizens, building communities of service and a nation of
character.
(APPLAUSE)
Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we
believe in
ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When
this spirit of
citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it.
When this
spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.
(APPLAUSE)
After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia
statesman John
Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ``We know the race is not to the
swift nor
the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the
whirlwind
and directs this storm?''
Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his
inauguration. The years
and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would
know: our
nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.
We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with
his purpose.
Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is
fulfilled in service
to one another.
Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that
purpose today,
to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the
dignity of our
lives and every life.
This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still
rides in the
whirlwind and directs this storm.
God bless you all, and God bless America.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company