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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
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 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.
God bless you, and thank you.
Ronald Reagan |
