The following 1600 words comprise William Jefferson Clinton'sInaugural Presidential Address given from noon to 12:15 P.M.,January 20, 1993.
[Capitals represent emphasis, extra commas represent pauses,long pauses are represented by ellipses (. . .).]
My fellow citizens, today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.This ceremony is held in the depth of winter, but by the words we speakand the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn inthe world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courageto reinvent America. When our founders boldly declared America'sindependence to the world, and our purposes to the Almighty, they knewthat America, to endure, would have to change. Not change for changesake, but change to preserve America's ideals: life, liberty, thepursuit of happiness.
Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless.Each generation of American's must define what it means to be an American.On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for hishalf-century of service to America . . . and I thank the millions of menand women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression,fascism and communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes newresponsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom, butthreatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised inunrivalled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world'sstrongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages,increasing inequality, and deep divisions among OUR OWN people.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold,news travelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the oceanby boat. Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcastinstantaneously to billions around the world. Communications andcommerce are global. Investment is mobile. Technology is almost magical,and ambition for a better life is now universal.
We earn our livelihood in America today in peaceful competition withpeople all across the Earth. Profound and powerful forces are shakingand remaking our world, and the URGENT question of our time is whetherwe can make change our friend and not our enemy. This new world hasalready enriched the lives of MILLIONS of Americans who are able tocompete 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 devastatesfamilies and threatens to bankrupt our enterprises, great and small;when the fear of crime robs law abiding citizens of their freedom; andwhen millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we arecalling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.
We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps,but we have not done so. Instead we have drifted, and thatdrifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy,and shaken our confidence. Though our challenges are fearsome,so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing,hopeful people, and we must bring to our task today the visionand will of those who came before us. From our Revolution to theCivil War, to the Great Depression, to the Civil Rights movement,our people have always mustered the determination to construct fromthese crises the pillars of our history. Thomas Jefferson believedthat to preserve the very foundations of our nation we would needdramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow Americans,this is OUR time. Let us embrace it.
Our democracy must be not