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BUSH BECOMES
PRESIDENT:
Saturday, January 20, 2001
President George W. Bush's Inaugural Speech
 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.
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