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    "label": "Remarks Upon Being Sworn in as 38th President [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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    "title": "Remarks Upon Being Sworn in as 38th President [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 1 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nREMARKS BY GERALD R. FORD\nUPON BEING SWORN IN AS\n38TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES\nTHE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.\nAUGUST 9, 1974, 12:00 NOON\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\nNOTE: The Bible upon which Mr. Ford's hand rested was opened to Proverbs,\nthird chapter, the fifth and sixth verses. He learned these verses many years\nago, and often says them as a prayer.\nTrust in the LORD with all thine heart;\nand lean not unto thine own understanding.\nIn all thy ways acknowledge him, and he\nshall direct thy paths.\nMy fellow Americans:\nThe oath I have taken is the same oath that was taken by George Washington\nand by every President under the Constitution. But I assume the Presidency under\nextraordinary circumstances, never before experienced by Americans. This is an\nhour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.\nTherefore, I feel it is my first duty to make an unprecedented compact\nwith my countrymen. Not an inaugural address, not a fireside chat, not a campaign\nspeech. Just a little straight talk among friends. I intend it to be the first\nof many.\nI am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your\nballots. So I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers. And I\nhope that such prayers will also be the first of many.\nIf you have not chosen me by secret ballot, neither have I gained office\nby secret promises. I have not campaigned either for the Presidency or the Vice\nPresidency. I have not subscribed to any partisan platform, I am indebted to no\nman and only to one woman - my dear wife Betty -- as I begin the most difficult\njob in the world.\nI have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it,\nany more than I did the sudden summons to the second office of our government only\neight months ago. Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were and\nare my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people, and acting\nFORD & LIBRARY DERALD\nPage 2\nunder the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then, that I should\npledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people.\nThomas Jefferson said the people are the only sure reliance for the pre-\nservation of our liberty. And down the years Abraham Lincoln renewed this American\narticle of faith, asking: \"Is there any better or equal hope in the world?\"\nI intend, on Monday next, to request of the Speaker of the House of Repre-\nsentatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate the privilege of appearing\nbefore the Congress to share with my former colleagues and with you, the American\npeople, my views on the priority business of the nation, and to solicit your views\nand theirs.\nEven though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go\nforward except together, and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's\nurgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward, now,\ntogether.\nTo the peoples and governments of all friendly nations, and I hope that\ncould encompass the whole world, I pledge an uninterrupted and sincere search for\npeace. America will remain strong and united, but its strength will remain dedi-\ncated to the safety and sanity of the entire family of man as well as to our own\nprecious freedom.\nI believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, and not\nonly government, but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is un-\nbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your President,\nI expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that\nhonesty is always the best policy in the end.\nMy fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.\nOur Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not\nof men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher power, by whatever name we\nhonor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but\nmercy.\nAs we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more\npoisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the Golden Rule to our\npolitical process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hates. FORD\nGERALD LIBRARY\nPage 3\nIn the beginning I asked you to pray for me. Before closing I again ask\nyour prayers for Richard Nixon and for his family.\nMay our former President, who brought peace to millions, find it for him-\nself. May God bless and comfort his wonderful wife and daughters whose love and\nloyalty will forever be a shining legacy to all who bear the lonely burdens of\nthe White House.\nI can only guess at those burdens, although I have witnessed at close hand\nthe tragedies that befell three Presidents and the lesser trials of others.\nWith all the strength and good sense I have gained from life, with all the\nconfidence my family and friends and dedicated staff impart to me, and with the\ngoodwill of the countless Americans I have encountered in recent visits to 40\nStates, I now solemnly reaffirm my promise to you last December 6: to uphold\nthe Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do\nthe very best I can for America.\nGod helping me, I will not let you down.\n###"
}