Time: January 20, 1993 Location: Capitol Building
Fellow citizens:
Today we celebrate the miracle of America's renewal. This ceremony takes place in the dead of winter, yet, through our words and the faces we show the world, we have prompted the return of spring - the return of the world's oldest democracy, and the vision and courage to recreate America.
When our nation's founders courageously declared American independence to the world and made their purpose known to God, they knew that change was necessary if America was to endure. Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve the American ideal - change for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though we march to the beat of today's times, our mission is timeless. Every generation of Americans, the Department must define what it means to be an American. Today, a generation that grew up in the shadow of the Cold War takes on new responsibilities in the world. A world bathed in the sunshine of freedom, but still threatened by old grudges and new scourges.
We grew up in unparalleled prosperity, inheriting what is still the world's strongest economy. But our economy has been weakened by business failures, stagnant wage growth, rising inequality and deepening divisions among our people.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just read, people rode horses to carry that message slowly across the land, and then came ships to carry it across the oceans. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are instantly broadcast to billions of people around the globe. Communication and commerce are global, investment is fluid; technology is almost magical; the ideal of a better life is now universal. Today, we Americans seek to survive by competing peacefully with people around the world. Far-reaching and powerful forces are shaking and transforming our world, and the imperative of our time is whether we can make change our friend, not our enemy.
This new world has already brought prosperity to millions of Americans who can compete and win. But when most people work more and earn less, when it is impossible for some to work at all, when the burden of health care costs overwhelms families and puts businesses large and small on the brink of bankruptcy, when the fear of crime prevents law-abiding citizens from moving freely, and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the kind of life we are calling them to, we have failed to make change our friend, not our enemy. change our friend. We knew that we had to face the harsh truth and take strong steps. But instead of doing so, we have listened, to the point of depleting our resources, destroying our economy, and shaking our confidence.
We face staggering challenges, but we are equally staggeringly powerful, Americans have historically been a restless, ever-seeking, and hopeful people, and today we must bring the vision and strength of those who have gone before us to our task. From the Revolution, through the Civil War, through the Great Depression, and right up to the Civil Rights Movement, our people have always been determined to build the pillars of our history out of successive crises.
Thomas Jefferson argued that in order to preserve the foundations of our country, we need to make exciting changes from time to time. My fellow Americans, our time is the time of change; let us embrace it!
Our democracy must become not only the envy of the world, but the driving force behind a national renaissance. There is nothing wrong in America that cannot be righted by what is right. And so we make a vow today to end this era of stagnant stagnation and laissez-faire, and a new era of rejuvenated America has begun.
We must have courage if we are to revitalize America. We must do what no one before us has had to do. We must invest more in our people, in their jobs and their futures, and at the same time, we must reduce our massive debt. And we must do all of this in a world where we need to compete for every opportunity. It will not be easy: it will require sacrifice. But it can be done, and it can be done fairly and reasonably. We are not sacrificing for the sake of sacrifice; we must provide for our country as a family provides for its children.
The founders of our country looked at themselves through the eyes of future generations. We must do the same. Anyone who has ever paid attention to a child sleeping blindfolded in the twilight knows what future generations mean, and that future generations are the world to come - the ideals for which we hold ourselves, the planet to which we borrow, and to which we have a sacred responsibility. We must do what America does best: provide more opportunity for all, hold all more accountable.
It is time to break the vice of seeking only freebies from government and others. Let us all take more responsibility not only for ourselves and our families, but for our communities and our country.
If we are to revitalize America, we must revitalize our democracy. This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, has often been a place of deceit and strife. Bigwigs jockey for power, endlessly fretting over the rise and fall of officials, and forgetting about the people who put us here and fed us with their hard work and sweat.
Americans deserve better. There are people in this city today who want to make things a little better. So I say to all those present: let us resolve to reform politics so that the clamor of power and privilege no longer overwhelms the voice of the people. Let us set aside personal interests. In this way we can perceive America's ills and see the hope of government. Let us resolve to make government what Franklin D. Roosevelt called a place of "bold and lasting experimentation," a government that looks to the future, not to the past. Let us return this capital to the people to whom it belongs.
If we are to revitalize America, we must meet challenges at home and abroad. There is no longer a clear line between foreign and domestic affairs - the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world arms race - it all affects us all.
As we rebuild at home, we will not shy away from the challenges of this new world, nor will we miss the opportunities. We will work with our allies to effect change, lest we be swallowed up by it. And when our vital interests are challenged, or when the will and conscience of the international community are flouted, we will act - using peaceful diplomacy when possible, and force when necessary.
The brave Americans serving our country today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and everywhere else are proof of our resolve.
But our greatest strength is the power of our ideas. These ideas are still in their infancy in many countries. We rejoice to see these ideas being embraced around the world. Our hopes, our hearts, are bound up with the people who are building democracy and freedom on every continent. Their cause is also America's cause.
The American people summoned the change we celebrate today. You spoke in unambiguous unison. You turned out in unprecedented numbers to vote. You have transformed Congress, the presidency, and the political process itself. Yes, it was you, my fellow Americans, who brought back the spring.
Now, we must do the work that needs to be done this season. Now, I turn to that work with all the power of my office. I ask the Congress to join me in this work. No President, no Congress, no administration can accomplish this mission alone. Fellow citizens, you, too, must play a role in our nation's renaissance.
I challenge a new generation of young Americans to devote themselves to this season of giving - to act in accordance with your idealism so that less fortunate children are helped, the poor are cared for, and divided communities are reconnected. There is much to be done - indeed enough that millions who are still young in spirit can also give.
In giving, we recognize the simple but powerful truth that we need each other. We must care for each other. Today we are not merely celebrating America, we are dedicating ourselves once again to the American ideal: an ideal born in revolution and renewed by the challenges of two centuries; an ideal that has stood the test of the realization that the fortunate or the unfortunate could have swapped places but for fate; an ideal made sublime by the conviction that our country is capable of realizing the deepest unity in the midst of the manifold feints, an ideal that has been made noble by the conviction that our country is capable of realizing the deepest unity in the midst of the manifold feints. It is an ideal made noble by the conviction that our country can realize the deepest unity out of the multifariousness of its many feints; it is an ideal overflowing with the conviction that America's long and gallant journey must continue forever. My fellow citizens, as we enter the twenty-first century, let us begin our work with vigor and hope, with confidence and discipline, and let us finish it. The Bible says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, but if we are not discouraged, in due time we shall reap a harvest."
From the top of this mountain of joy, we hear a call from the valley for us to give. We have heard the sound of the trumpet. We have changed the guard. Now, in our individual ways, we must answer that call with God's help.
Thank you all. God bless you all.
January 20, 1993
My fellow citizens :
Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.
This ceremony is held in the But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent the world. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America. When our founders boldly declared America's independence to the world and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America, to endure, would have to change. Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve America's ideals; life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve America's ideals; life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.
On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America. And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and Communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.
Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions of people around the world.
This is the first time I have ever seen the world's most important event, and it is the first time I have seen it. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.
Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal.
Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.
Profound and powerful forces are shaking and
Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.
This new world has already This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care is too high, it is too expensive. But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small; when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom; and abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our
We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps. But we have not done so. Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.
From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great Depression, we have eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence. Civil War, to the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.
Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time. Let us embrace it.
Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.
And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift; a new season of American democracy. And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift; a new season of American renewal has begun. To renew America, we must be bold. We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt. It will not be easy; it will require sacrifice. But it can be done, and done fairly, not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake. We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its children.
Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity. We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world to come; the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet. Posterity is the world to come; the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility. We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.
It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing, from our government or from each other. Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country. To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.
This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation. Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly. people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.
Americans deserve better, and in this city today, there are people who want to do better. And so I say to all of us here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that we are not the only ones who want to do better. And so I say to all of us here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people. Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent experimentation," a government for our people. Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent experimentation," a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays. Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.
To renew America, we must meet challenges abroad as well as to renew the United States. There is no longer division between what is foreign and what is domestic; the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world's population, and the world's population of the world. There is no longer division between what is foreign and what is domestic; the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world arms race; they affect us all.
Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.
While America rebuilds the world, we must continue to lead the world.
While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges, nor fail to seize the opportunities, of this new world. Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us.
When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will work to shape change. When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act; with peaceful diplomacy when ever possible, with force when necessary. The brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else they stand are testament to our resolve. Across the world, we see them embraced, and we rejoice. Our hopes, our hearts, our hands, are with those on every continent who are building democracy and freedom. Our hopes, our hearts, our hands, are with those on every continent who are building democracy and freedom. Their cause is America's cause.
The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today. You have raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus. You have cast your votes in historic numbers. And you have changed the face of Congress, the presidency and the political process itself. Yes, you, my fellow Americans have forced the spring. Now, we must do the work the season demands.
To that work I now turn, with all the authority of my office. I ask the Congress to join with me. My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal. I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service; to act on your idealism by helping troubled people. I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service; to act on your idealism by helping troubled children, keeping company with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities. There is so much to be done; enough indeed for millions of others who are still young in spirit to give of themselves in service, too.
In serving, we recognize a simple but powerful truth, we need each other. And we must care for one another. Today, we do more than celebrate America; we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.
In serving, we recognize a simple but powerful truth, we need each other. Today, we do more than celebrate America; we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.
An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge. An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other. An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity. And so, my fellow Americans, at the edge of the 21st century, let us begin with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done. The scripture says, "And let us not be weary in well-doing. us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not."
From this joyful mountaintop of celebration, we hear a call to service in the valley. From this joyful mountaintop of celebration, we hear a call to service in the valley. We have heard the trumpets. We have changed the guard. And now, each in our way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.
And now, each in our way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.
Thank you, and God bless you all.