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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Draft Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13474
Folder ID Number:
13474-001
Folder Title:
Inaugural Address, 1/20/90
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25
6
1
1
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 20, 1989
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF THE PRESIDENT
The Capitol
12:05 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice
President Quayle, Senator Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole,
Congressman Michel, and fellow citizens, neighbors and friends.
There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our
hearts, and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our
nation I thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for
America. (Applause.)
I've just repeated word-for-word the oath taken by George
Washington 200 years ago; and the Bible on which I placed my hand is
the Bible on which he placed his.
It is right that the memory of Washington be with us
today, not only because this is our Bicentennial Inauguration, but
because Washington remains the father of our country. And he would,
I think, be gladdened by this day. For today is the concrete
expression of a stunning fact: Our continuity these 200 years since
our government began.
We meet on democracy's front porch. A good place to talk
as neighbors, and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is
made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.
And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to
bow your heads.
'Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank you for your
love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the
shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do
your work, willing to heed and hear your will, and write on our
hearts these words: "Use power to help people.' For we are given
power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in
the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is
to serve people. Help us remember, Lord. Amen.'
I come before you and assume the presidency at a moment
rich with promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we
can make it better.
For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by
freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of
the dictator is over. (Applause.) The totalitarian era is passing,
its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient lifeless tree.
A new breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by
freedom stands ready to push on. There is new ground to be broken,
and new action to be taken.
There are times when the future seems thick as a fog; you
sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right path.
But this is a time when the future seems a door you can
walk right through -- into a room called Tomorrow.
MORE
- 2 -
Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy --
through the door to freedom.
Men and women of the world move toward free markets --
through the door to prosperity.
The people of the world agitate for free expression and
free thought -- through the door to the moral and intellectual
satisfactions that only liberty allows.
We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's
right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and
prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech,
free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the
state. (Applause.)
For the first time in this century -- for the first time
in perhaps all history -- man does not have to invent a system by
which to live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which
form of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from
the kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves.
We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope
of a saint: In crucial things, unity -- in important things,
diversity -- in all things, generosity.
America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil
-- a place we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not
loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has
meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for
good.
But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are.we
enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of
work and sacrifice?
My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They
are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what
matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a
bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it
means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his
home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it.
And what do we want the men and women who work with us to
say when we are. no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed
than anyone around us? or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had
gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of
friendship?
No president, no government, can teach us to remember
what is best in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead
this government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the
quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but of
must. better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then he
America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in
high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It
is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the
world.
My friends, we have work to do. (Applause.) There are
the homeless, lost and roaming, there are the children who have
nothing -- no love and no normalcy -- there are those who cannot free
themselves of enslavement to whatever addiction -- drugs, welfare,
the demoralization that rules the slums. There is crime to be
conquered, the rough crime of the streets. There are young women to
be helped who are about to become mothers of children they can't care
for and might not love. They need our care, our guidance, and our
education, though we bless them for choosing life.
MORE
- 3 -
The old solution, the old way, was to think that public
money alone could end these problems. But we have learned that that
is not SO. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to
bring down. We have more will than wallet, but will is what we need.
We will make the hard choices, looking at what we have
and perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on
honest need and prudent safety.
And then we will do the wisest thing of all -- we will
turn to the only resource we have that in times of need always grows:
the goodness and the courage of the American people. (Applause.)
And I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of
others -- a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job
done. We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent
of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only
leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is
stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War has
come of age.
I have spoken of a thousand points of light -- of all the
community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the
nation, doing good.
We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes
leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the
White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and
the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I'll ask
every member of my government to become involved.
The old ideas are new again because they are not old,
they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism
that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.
(Applause.)
We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and
the Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the
House and the Senate. And we must bring the federal budget into
balance, and we must ensure that America stands before the world
united -- strong, at peace and fiscally sound. But of course things
may be difficult.
We need compromise; we've had dissension. We need
harmony; we've had a chorus of discordant voices.
For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has
grown a certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard
the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but
each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been far
apart and untrusting of each other.
It's been this way since Vietnam. That war cleaves us
still. But, friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a
century ago, and surely the statute of limitations has been reached.
This is a fact: The final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation
can long afford to be sundered by a memory.
A new breeze is blowing -- and the old bipartisanship
must be made new again. (Applause.)
To my friends -- and, yes, I do mean friends -- in the
loyal opposition -- and, yes, I mean loyal, I put out my hand.
I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker.
I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Majority Leader.
For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered
MORE
- 4 -
hand.
And we can't turn back clocks and I don't want to. But
when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at
the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our
mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the
Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on
which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon, and hard. But
in the end, let us produce.
The American people await action. They didn't send us
here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan.
(Applause.) "In crucial things, unity" -- and this, my friends, is
crucial.
To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed
vow; we will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is
a reluctant fist; once made, strong and can be used with great
effect.
There are today Americans who are held against their will
in foreign lands and Americans who are unaccounted for. Assistance
can be shown here and will be long remembered. Goodwill begets
goodwill. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on.
"Great nations like great men must keep their word."
When America says something, America means it, whether a treaty, or
an agreement, or a VOW made on marble steps. (Applause.) We will
always try to speak clearly, for candor is a compliment. But
subtlety, too, is good and has its place.
While keeping our alliances and friendships around the
world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new closeness with
the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security and with
progress. One might say that our new relationship in part reflects
the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But hope is good.
And so is strength. And vigilance.
Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel
the understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in
democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled.
But my thoughts have been turning the past few days to
those who would be watching at home.
To an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when
the flag goes by, and the woman who will tell her sons the words of
the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean that
on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum,
inescapably connected by the ties that bind.
Our children are watching in schools throughout our great
land. And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day.
For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite
that can go higher and higher with the breeze.
And to all I say, no matter what your circumstances or
where you are, you are part of this day; you are part of the life of
our great nation. (Applause.)
A president is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek
"a window on men's souls." In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance,
an easy-goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.
There are few clear areas in which we as a society must
rise up united and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is
drugs. And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may
as well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body,
the soul of our country. And there is much to be done and to be
said, but take my word for it -- this scourge will stop. (Applause.)
MORE
- 5 -
And so there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins.
And I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is
ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our
challenges are great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are
endless, God's love is truly boundless.
Some see leadership as high drama and the sound of
trumpets calling. And sometimes it is that. But I see history as a
book with many pages -- and each day we fill a page with acts of
hopefulness and meaning.
The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds --
and so today a chapter begins --- a small and stately story of unity,
diversity, and generosity -- shared, and written, together.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United
States of America. (Applause.)
END
12:25 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 20, 1989
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF THE PRESIDENT
The Capitol
12:05 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice
President Quayle, Senator Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole,
Congressman Michel, and fellow citizens, neighbors and friends.
There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our
hearts, and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our
nation I thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for
America. (Applause.)
I've just repeated word-for-word the oath taken by George
Washington 200 years ago; and the Bible on which I placed my hand is
the Bible on which he placed his.
It is right that the memory of Washington be with us
today, not only because this is our Bicentennial Inauguration, but
because Washington remains the father of our country. And he would,
I think, be gladdened by this day. For today is the concrete
expression of a stunning fact: Our continuity these 200 years since
our government began.
We meet on democracy's front porch. A good place to talk
as neighbors, and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is
made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.
And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to
bow your heads.
'Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank you for your
love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the
shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do
your work, willing to heed and hear your will, and write on our
hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given
power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in
the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is
to serve people. Help us remember, Lord. Amen.'
I come before you and assume the presidency at a moment
rich with promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we
can make it better.
For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by
freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of
the dictator is over. (Applause.) The totalitarian era is passing,
- 2 -
Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy --
through the door to freedom.
Men and women of the world move toward free markets --
through the door to prosperity.
The people. of the world agitate for free expression and
free thought -- through the door to the moral and intellectual
satisfactions that only liberty allows.
We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's
right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and
prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech,
free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the
state. (Applause.)
For the first time in this century -- for the first time
in perhaps all history -- man does not have to invent a system by
which to live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which
form of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from
the kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves.
We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope
of a saint: In crucial things, unity -- in important things,
diversity -- in all things, generosity.
America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil
-- a place we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not
loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has
meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for
good.
But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we
enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of
work and sacrifice?
My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They
are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what
matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a
bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it
means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his
home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it.
And what do we want the men and women who work with us to
say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed
than anyone around us? or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had
gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of
friendship?
No president, no government, can teach us to remember
what is best in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead
this government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the
quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but of
better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then he
must.
America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in
- 3 -
The old solution, the old way, was to think that public
money alone could end these problems. But we have learned that that
is not so. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to
bring down. We have more will than wallet, but will is what we need.
We will make the hard choices, looking at what we have
and perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on
honest need and prudent safety.
And then we will do the wisest thing of all -- we will
turn to the only resource we have that in times of need always grows:
the goodness and the courage of the American people. (Applause.)
And I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of
others -- a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job
done. We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent
of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only
leadership is passed from generation to generation, but SO is
stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War has
come of age.
I have spoken of a thousand points of light -- of all the
community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the
nation, doing good.
We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes
leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the
White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and
the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I'll ask
every member of my government to become involved.
The old ideas are new again because they are not old,
they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism
that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.
(Applause.)
We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and
the Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the
House and the Senate. And we must bring the federal budget into
balance, and we must ensure that America stands before the world
united -- strong, at peace and fiscally sound. But of course things
may be difficult.
We need compromise; we've had dissension. We need
harmony; we've had a chorus of discordant voices.
For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has
grown a certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard
the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but
each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been far
apart and untrusting of each other.
It's been this way since Vietnam. That war cleaves us
still. But, friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a
century ago, and surely the statute of limitations has been reached.
This is a fact: The final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation
- 4 -
hand.
And we can't turn back clocks and I don't want to. But
when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at
the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our
mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the
Executive were capable. of working together to produce a budget on
which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon, and hard. But
in the end, let us produce.
The American people await action. They didn't send us
here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan.
(Applause.) "In crucial things, unity" -- and this, my friends, is
crucial.
To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed
vow; we will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is
a reluctant fist; once made, strong and can be used with great
effect.
There are today Americans who are held against their will
in foreign lands and Americans who are unaccounted for. Assistance
can be shown here and will be long remembered. Goodwill begets
goodwill. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on.
"Great nations like great men must keep their word."
When America says something, America means it, whether a treaty, or
an agreement, or a VOW made on marble steps. (Applause.) We will
always try to speak clearly, for candor is a compliment. But
subtlety, too, is good and has its place.
While keeping our alliances and friendships around the
world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new closeness with
the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security and with
progress. One might say that our new relationship in part reflects
the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But hope is good.
And so is strength. And vigilance.
Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel
the understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in
democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled.
But my thoughts have been turning the past few days to
those who would be watching at home.
To an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when
the flag goes by, and the woman who will tell her sons the words of
the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean that
on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum,
inescapably connected by the ties that bind.
Our children are watching in schools throughout our great
land. And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day.
For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite
that can go higher and higher with the breeze.
And to all I say, no matter what your circumstances or
- 5 -
And so there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins.
And I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is
ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our
challenges are great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are
endless, God's love is truly boundless.
Some see leadership as high drama and the sound of
trumpets calling. And sometimes it is that. But I see history as a
book with many pages -- and each day we fill a page with acts of
hopefulness and meaning.
The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds --
and so today a chapter begins -- a small and stately story of unity,
diversity, and generosity -- shared, and written, together.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United
States of America. (Applause.)
END
12:25 P.M. EST