President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends:
This is a day of national consecration, and I am certain that on this day myfellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will addressthem with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our peopleimpels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth,frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in ourcountry today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive andwill prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the onlything we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terrorwhich paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every darkhour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met withthat understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential tovictory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadershipin these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. Theyconcern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunk to fantasticlevels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of allkinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange arefrozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterpriselie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and the savingsof many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem ofexistence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolishoptimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by noplague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conqueredbecause they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankfulfor. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it.Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the verysight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange ofmankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their ownincompetence, have admitted their failure and have abdicated. Practices of theunscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion,rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of anoutworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only thelending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce ourpeople to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations,pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of ageneration of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no visionthe people perish.
Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of ourcivilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measureof that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values morenoble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy ofachievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy, the moral stimulationof work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach usthat our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister toourselves—to our fellow men.
Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the st