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DWIGHT D.EISENHCWER
worst record in our history."
ments, 1313 East 60th Street, Chi-
The report of the Governors' Con-
cago 37, III.
I5 q Second Inaugural Address.
Fanuary 21, 1957
Delivered in person at the Capitol ]
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr.
Speaker, members of my family and friends, my countrymen, and
the friends of my country wherever they may be:
We meet again, as upon a like moment four years ago, and
again you have witnessed my solemn oath of service to you.
I, too, am a witness, today testifying in your name to the prin-
ciples and purposes to which we, as a people, are pledged.
Before all else, we seck, upon our common labor as a nation,
the blessings of Almighty God. And the hopes in our hearts
fashion the deepest prayers of our whole people.
May we pursue the right-without self-rightcousness.
May we know unity-without conformity.
60
Pablic Paper - The Presidents
+ The 0.5
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957
I
15
May we grow in strength-without pride in self.
May we, in our dealings with all peoples of the earth, ever
speak truth and serve justice.
And so shall America-in the sight of all men of good will-
prove true to the honorable purposes that bind and rule us as a
people in all this time of trial through which we pass.
We live in a land of plenty, but rarcly has this carth known
such peril as today.
In our nation work and wealth abound. Our population
grows. Commerce crowds our rivers and rails, our skies, harbors
and highways. Our soil is fertile, our agriculture productive.
The air rings with the song of our industry-rolling mills and
blast furnaces, dynamos, dams and assembly lines-the chorus of
America the bountiful.
Now this is our home-yet this is not the whole of our world.
For our world is where our full destiny lics-with men, of all
peoples and all nations, who are or would be free. And for
them-and so for us-this is no time of case or of rest.
In too much of the earth there is want, discord, danger. New
forces and new nations stir and strive across the carth, with power
to bring, by their fate, great good or great evil to the free world's
future. From the descrts of North Africa to the islands of the
South Pacific one third of all mankind has entered upon an his-
toric struggle for a new freedom: freedom from grinding poverty.
Across all continents, nearly a billion people seek, sometimes al-
most in desperation, for the skills and knowledge and assistance
by which they may satisfy from their own resources, the material
wants common to all mankind.
No nation, however old or great, escapes this tempest of change
and turmoil. Some, impoverished by the recent World War,
seek to restore their means of livelihood. In the heart of Europe,
Germany still stands tragically divided. So is the whole con-
tinent divided. And so, too, all the world.
The divisive force is International Communism and the power
that it controls.
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The designs of that power, dark in purpose, are clear in prac-
tice. It strives to seal forever the fate of those it has enslaved.
It strives to break the tics that unite the free. And it strives to
capture-to exploit for its own greater power-all forces of
change in the world, especially the needs of the hungry and the
hopes of the oppressed.
Yet the world of International Communism has itself been
shaken by a fierce and mighty force: the readiness of men who
love freedom to pledge their lives to that love. Through the night
of their bondage, the unconquerable will of heroes has struck
with the swift, sharp thrust of lightning. Budapest is no longer
merely the name of a city; henceforth it is a new and shining
symbol of man's yearning to be free.
Thus across all the globe there harshly blow the winds of
change. And, we-though fortunate be our lot-know that we
can never turn our backs to them.
We look upon this shaken earth, and we declare our firm
and fixed purpose-the building of a peace with justice in a
world where moral law prevails.
The building of such a peace is a bold and solemn purpose.
To proclaim it is easy. To serve it will be hard. And to attain
it, we must be aware of its full meaning-and ready to pay its
full price.
We know clearly what we seek, and why.
We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.
And now, as in no other age, we seek it because we have been
warned, by the power of modern weapons, that peace may be
the only climate possible for human life itself.
Yet this peace we seek cannot be born of fear alone: it must
be rooted in the lives of nations. There must be justice, sensed
and shared by all peoples, for, without justice the world can
know only a tense and unstable truce. There must be law, stead-
ily invoked and respected by all nations, for without law, the
world promises only such meager justice as the pity of the strong
upon the weak. But the law of which we speak, comprehending
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957
15
the values of freedom, affirms the equality of all nations, great
and small.
Splendid as can be the blessings of such a peace, high will be
its cost: in toil patiently sustained, in help honorably given, in
sacrifice calmly borne.
We are called to meet the price of this peace.
To counter the threat of those who seek to rule by force, we
must pay the costs of our own needed military strength, and
help to build the security of others.
We must use our skills and knowledge and, at times, our sub-
stance, to help others rise from misery, however far the scene
of suffering may be from our shores. For wherever in the world
a people knows desperate want, there must appear at least the
spark of hope, the hope of progress-or there will surely rise at
last the flames of conflict.
We recognize and accept our own deep involvement in the
destiny of men everywhere. We are accordingly pledged to
honor, and to strive to fortify, the authority of the United Nations.
For in that body rests the best hope of our age for the assertion
of that law by which all nations may live in dignity.
And beyond this general resolve, we are called to act a re-
sponsible role in the world's great concerns or conflicts-whether
they touch upon the affairs of a vast region, the fate of an island
in the Pacific, or the use of a canal in the Middle East. Only
in respecting the hopes and cultures of others will we practice
the equality of all nations. Only as we show willingness and
wisdom in giving counsel-in receiving counsel-and in sharing
burdens, will we wisely perform the work of peace.
For one truth must rule all we think and all we do. No people
can live to itself alone. The unity of all who dwell in freedom
is their only sure defense. The economic need of all nations-
in mutual dependence-makes isolation an impossibility: not
even America's prosperity could long survive if other nations
did not also prosper. No nation can longer be a fortress, lone
445599-58-7
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and strong and safe. And any people, secking such shelter for
themselves, can now build only their own prison.
Our pledge to these principles is constant, because we believe
in their rightness.
We do not fear this world of change. America is no stranger
to much of its spirit. Everywhere we see the seeds of the same
growth that America itself has known. The American experi-
ment has, for generations, fired the passion and the courage of
millions elsewhere seeking freedom, equality, opportunity. And
the American story of material progress has helped excite the
longing of all needy peoples for some satisfaction of their human
wants. These hopes that we have helped to inspire, we can
help to fulfill.
In this confidence, we speak plainly to all peoples.
We cherish our friendship with all nations that are or would
be free. We respect, no less, their independence. And when, in
time of want or peril, they ask our help, they may honorably
receive it; for we no more seek to buy their sovercignty than we
would sell our own. Sovereignty is never bartered among free
men.
We honor the aspirations of those nations which, now captive,
long for freedom. We seek neither their military alliance nor
any artificial imitation of our society. And they can know the
warmth of the welcome that awaits them when, as must be, they
join again the ranks of freedom.
We honor, no less in this divided world than in a less tor-
mented time, the people of Russia. We do not dread, rather do
we welcome, their progress in education and industry. We wish
them success in their demands for more intellectual freedom,
greater security before their own laws, fuller enjoyment of the
rewards of their own toil. For as such things come to pass, the
more certain will be the coming of that day when our peoples
may freely meet in friendship.
So we voice our hope and our belief that we can help to heal
this divided world. Thus may the nations cease to live in trem-
64.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Dwight D. Eiscnhower, 1957
I 16
bling before the menace of force. Thus may the weight of fear
and the weight of arms bc taken from the burdened shoulders of
mankind.
This, nothing less, is the labor to which we arc called and our
strength dedicated.
And so the prayer of our people carries far beyond our own
frontiers, to the wide world of our duty and our destiny.
May the light of freedom, coming to all darkened lands, flame
brightly--until at last the darkness is no more.
May the turbulence of our age yicld to a truc time of peace,
when men and nations shall share a life that honors the dignity
of cach, the brotherhood of all.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: This text follows the White
occasions the oath was administered
House release of the Address. The
by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
President began speaking at 12:22
The President's opening words
P. m. on Monday, January 21, 1957,
"Mr. Chairman" referred to Robert
from a platform erected on the steps
V. Fleming, chairman of the In-
of the central east front of the Cap-
augural Committee.
itol. Immediately before speaking,
As published in the Congressional
the President repeated the oath of
Record (vol. 103, P. 728) and in
office which he had taken at the
Senate Document 15 (85th Cong.,
White House on Sunday, January 20,
Ist sess.), the Address is entitled
when his first term ended. On both
"The Price of Peace."
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DWIGHT EISENHOWER
I
q Inaugural Address. January 20, 1953
[Delivered in person at the Capitol
MY FRIENDS, before I begin the expression of those thoughts
that I deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me
the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. And
Lok that you bow your heads:
Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future
associates in the Executive branch of Government join me in
bereeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication
ta the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens
everywhere.
Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong,
and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and
by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern
shall be for all the people regardless of station, race or calling.
May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those
who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing
political faiths; SO that all may work for the good of our beloved
country and Thy glory. Amen.
My fellow citizens:
The world and WC have passed the midway point of a century
of continuing challenge. We sense with all our faculties that
forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as
rasely before in history.
This fact defines the meaning of this day. We are summoned
by this honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the
act of one citizen swearing his oath of service, in the presence
of God. We are called as a people to give testimony in the sight
of the world to our faith that the future shall belong to the free.
Since this century's beginning, a time of tempest has seemed
to come upon the continents of the earth. Masses of Asia have
awakened to strike off shackles of the past. Great nations of
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Europe have fought their bloodiest wars. Thrones have toppled
and their vast empires have disappeared. New nations have been
born.
For our own country, it has been a time of recurring trial.
We have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed
through the anxicties of depression and of war to a summit un-
matched in man's history. Seeking to secure peace in the world,
we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne to the
shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea.
In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping
to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we
live. In our quest of understanding, we beseech God's guidance.
We summon all our knowledge of the past and we scan all signs
of the future. We bring all our wit and all our will to meet
the question:
How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness
toward the light? Are we nearing the light--a day of freedom
and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another
night closing in upon us?
Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, con-
cerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood
today and our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems
is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that
involves all humankind.
This trial comes at a moment when man's power to achieve
good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest
fears of all ages. We can turn rivers in their courses, level
mountains to the plains. Oceans and land and sky are avenues
for our colossal commerce. Disease diminishes and life lengthens.
Yet the promise of this life is imperiled by the very genius that
has made it possible. Nations amass wealth. Labor sweats to
create-and turns out devices to level not only mountains but
also cities. Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final
gift, the power to crase human life from this planet.
At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
I
I
our faith. This faith is the abiding creed of our fathers. It is our
faith in the deathless dignity of man, governed by cternal moral
and natural laws.
This faith defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond
debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable
rights, and that make all men equal in His sight.
In the light of this equality, we know that the virtucs most
cherished by free people-love of truth, pride of work, devotion
to country-all are treasures equally precious in the lives of the
most humble and of the most exalted. The men who mine coal
and fire furnaces, and balance ledgers, and turn lathes, and pick
cotton, and heal the sick and plant corn-all serve as proudly
and as profitably for America as the statesmen who draft treaties
and the legislators who enact laws.
This faith rules our whole way of life. It decrees that we, the
people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve. It asserts that we
have the right to choice of our own work and to the reward of
our own toil. It inspires the initiative that makes our productivity
the wonder of the world. And it warns that any man who seeks
to deny equality among all his brothers betrays the spirit of the
free and invites the mockery of the tyrant.
It is because we, all of us, hold to these principles that the
political changes accomplished this day do not imply turbulence,
uphcaval or disorder. Rather this change expresses a purpose of
strengthening our dedication and devotion to the precepts of our
founding documents, a conscious renewal of faith in our country
and in the watchfulness of a Divine Providence.
The enemics of this faith know no god but force, no devotion
but its use. They tutor men in treason. They feed upon the
hunger of others. Whatever defies them, they torture, especially
the truth.
Here, then, is joined no argument between slightly differing
philosophies. This conflict strikes directly at the faith of our
fathers and the lives of our sons. No principle or treasure that we
hold, from the spiritual knowledge of our free schools and
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Public Papers of the Presidents
churches to the creative magic of free labor and capital, nothing
lies safely beyond the reach of this struggle.
Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark.
The faith we hold belongs not to us alone but to the free of
all the world. This common bond binds the grower of rice in
Burma and the planter of wheat in Iowa, the shepherd in southern
Italy and the mountaineer in the Andes. It confers a common
dignity upon the French soldier who dies in Indo-China, the
British soldier killed in Malaya, the American life given in Korca.
We know, beyond this, that we are linked to all free peoples
not merely by a noble idea but by a simple need. No free people
can for long cling to any privilege or enjoy any safety in economic
solitude. For all our own material might, even we need markets
in the world for the surpluses of our farms and our factories.
Equally, we need for these same farms and factories vital materials
and products of distant lands. This basic law of interdependence,
so manifest in the commerce of peace, applies with thousand-fold
intensity in the event of war.
So we are persuaded by necessity and by belief that the strength
of all free peoples lics in unity; their danger, in discord.
To produce this unity, to meet the challenge of our time, destiny
has laid upon our country the responsibility of the free world's
leadership.
So it is proper that we assure our friends once again that, in
the discharge of this responsibility, we Americans know and we
observe the difference between world leadership and imperialism;
between firmness and truculence; between a thoughtfully calcu-
lated goal and spasmodic reaction to the stimulus of emergencies.
We wish our friends the world over to know this above all: we
face the threat-not with dread and confusion-but with con-
fidence and conviction.
We feel this moral strength because we know that we are not
helpless prisoners of history. We are free men. We shall remain
free, never to be proven guilty of the one capital offense against
freedom, a lack of stanch faith.
4
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
I
In pleading our just cause before the bar of history. and in
pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain
fixed principles. These principles are:
I. Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those
who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship
to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression
and promote the conditions of peace. For, as it must be the
supreme purpose of all free men, so it must be the dedication of
their leaders, to save humanity from preying upon itself.
In the light of this principle, we stand ready to engage with
any and all others in joint effort to remove the causes of mutual
fear and distrust among nations, so as to make possible drastic
reduction of armaments. The sole requisites for undertaking
such effort are that-in their purpose-they be aimed logically
and honestly toward secure peace for all; and that-in their
result-they provide methods by which every participating nation
will prove good faith in carrying out its pledge.
2. Realizing that common sense and common decency alike
dictate the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate
an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for
security. Americans, indeed, all free men, remember that in the
final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a
prisoner's chains.
3. Knowing that only a United States that is strong and im-
mensely productive can help defend freedom in our world, we
view our Nation's strength and security as a trust upon which
rests the hope of free men everywhere. It is the firm duty of each
of our free citizens and of every free citizen everywhere to place
the cause of his country before the comfort, the convenience of
himself.
4. Honoring the identity and the special heritage of each
nation in the world, we shall never use our strength to try to
impress upon another people our own cherished political and
economic institutions.
5. Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven
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friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their
own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them
to assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just
burdens in the common defense of freedom.
6. Recognizing economic health as an indispensable basis of
military strength and the free world's peace, we shall strive to
foster everywhere, and to practice ourselves, policies that en-
courage productivity and profitable trade. For the impoverish-
ment of any single people in the world means danger to the
well-being of all other peoples.
7. Appreciating that economic need, military security and
political wisdom combine to suggest regional groupings of free
peoples, we hope, within the framework of the United Nations,
to help strengthen such special bonds the world over. The nature
of these ties must vary with the different problems of different
areas.
In the Western Hemisphere, we enthusiastically join with all
our neighbors in the work of perfecting a community of fraternal
trust and common purpose.
In Europe, we ask that enlightened and inspired leaders of the
Western nations strive with renewed vigor to make the unity of
their peoples a reality. Only as free Europe unitedly marshals
its strength can it effectively safeguard, even with our help, its
spiritual and cultural heritage.
8. Conceiving the defense of freedom, like freedom itself, to
be one and indivisible, we hold all continents and peoples in equal
regard and honor. We reject any insinuation that one race or
another, one people or another, is in any sense inferior or
expendable.
9. Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all
people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an
eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an
honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever
cease.
By these rules of conduct, we hope to be known to all peoples.
6
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
I I
By their observance, an carth of peace may become not a vision
but a fact.
This hope-this supreme aspiration-must rule the way we
live.
Wc must be ready to dare all for our country. For history docs
not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in
purpose.
We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept
whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values
its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
These basic precepts are not lofty abstractions, far removed
from matters of daily living. They are laws of spiritual strength
that generate and define our material strength. Patriotism means
equipped forces and a prepared citizenry. Moral stamina means
more energy and more productivity, on the farm and in the
factory. Love of liberty means the guarding of every resource
that makes freedom possible-from the sanctity of our families
and the wealth of our soil to the genius of our scientists.
And so each citizen plays an indispensable role. The produc-
tivity of our heads, our hands and our hearts is the source of all
the strength we can command, for both the enrichment of our
lives and the winning of the peace.
No person, no home, no community can be beyond the reach of
this call. We are summoned to act in wisdom and in conscience,
to work with industry, to teach with persuasion, to preach with
conviction, to weigh our every deed with care and with compas-
sion. For this truth must be clear before us: whatever America
hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the
heart of America.
The peace we seek, then, is nothing less than the practice and
fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves and in our deal-
ings with others. This signifies more than the stilling of guns,
casing the sorrow of war. More than escape from death, it is
a way of life. More than a haven for the weary, it is a hope for
the brave.
7
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4
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This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of
trial. This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery,
with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God.
My citizens--I thank you.
NOTE: This text follows the White east front of the Capitol. Immedi-
House release of the address. The
ately before the address the oath of
President spoke from a platform
office was administered by Chief
erected on the steps of the central Justice Fred M. Vinson.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Standard Form 63
November 1961
GSA FPMR (41 CFR) 101-11.6
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# GPO : 1967 OF 265-598
ETHN F. KENNEDY
I
Inaugural Address
January 20, 1961
Delivered in person at the Capitol ]
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr.
spiritual origins we share, we pledge the
Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice
loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is
President Nixon, President Truman, Rev-
little we cannot do in a host of cooperative
erend Clergy, fellow citizens:
ventures. Divided, there is little we can
We observe today not a victory of party
do-for we dare not meet a powerful chal-
but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing
lenge at odds and split asunder.
an end as well as a beginning-signifying
To those new states whom we welcome
renewal as well as change. For I have sworn
to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word
before you and Almighty God the same
that one form of colonial control shall not
solemn oath our forchears prescribed nearly
have passed away merely to be replaced by
a century and three quarters ago.
a far more iron tyranny. Wc shall not al-
The world is very different now. For
ways expect to find them supporting our
man holds in his mortal hands the power
view. But we shall always hope to find
to abolish all forms of human poverty and
them strongly supporting their own free-
all forms of human life. And yet the same
dom-and to remember that, in the past,
revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears
those who foolishly sought power by riding
fought are still at issue around the globe--
the back of the tiger ended up inside.
the belief that the rights of man come not
To those peoples in the huts and villages
from the generosity of the state but from the
of half the globe struggling to break the
hand of God.
bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best
We dare not forget today that we are the
efforts to help them help themselves, for
heirs of that first revolution. Let the word
whatever period is required-not because the
go forth from this time and place, to friend
communists may be doing it, not because
and foe alike, that the torch has been passed
we seck their votes, but because it is right.
to a new generation of Americans-born in
If a free society cannot help the many who
this century, tempered by war, disciplined
are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our
To our sister republics south of our border,
ancient heritage-and unwilling to witness
we offer a special pledge-to convert our
or permit the slow undoing of those human
good words into good deeds-in a new alli-
rights to which this nation has always been
ance for progress-to assist free men and
committed, and to which we are committed
free governments in casting off the chains
today at home and around the world.
of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of
Lct every nation know, whether it wishes
hope cannot become the prcy of hostile pow-
us well or ill, that we shall pay any price,
crs. Let all our neighbors know that we
bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
shall join with them to oppose aggression or
any friend, oppose any foc to assure the sur-
subversion anywhere in the Americas. And
vival and the success of liberty.
let every other power know that this Hemi-
This much we pledge-and more.
sphere intends to remain the master of its
To those old allies whose cultural and
own house.
I
Cublic Papersol The Presidents
of the
[I] Jan. 20
Public Papers of the Presidents
To that world assembly of sovereign states,
eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and
the United Nations, our last best hope in an
encourage the arts and commerce.
age where the instruments of war have far
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners
outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew
of the earth the command of Isaiah-to
our pledge of support-to prevent it from
"undo the heavy burdens
(and) let the
becoming merely a forum for invective-to
oppressed go free."
strengthen its shield of the new and the
And if a beach-head of cooperation may
weak-and to enlarge the area in which its
push back the jungle of suspicion, let both
writ may run.
sides join in creating a new endeavor, not
Finally, to those nations who would make
a new balance of power, but a new world of
themselves our adversary, we offer not a
law, where the strong are just and the weak
pledge but a request: that both sides begin
secure and the peace preserved.
anew the quest for peace, before the dark
All this will not be finished in the first
powers of destruction unleashed by science
one hundred days. Nor will it be finished
engulf all humanity in planned or accidental
in the first one thousand days, nor in the life
self-destruction.
of this Administration, nor even perhaps in
We dare not tempt them with weakness.
our lifetime on this planet. But let us
For only when our arms are sufficient be-
begin.
yond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more
that they will never be employed.
than mine, will rest the final success or fail-
But neither can two great and powerful
ure of our course. Since this country was
groups of nations take comfort from our pres-
founded, each generation of Americans has
ent course-both sides overburdened by the
been summoned to give testimony to its na-
cost of modern weapons, both rightly
tional loyalty. The graves of young Ameri-
alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly
cans who answered the call to service
atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain
surround the globe.
balance of terror that stays the hand of man-
Now the trumpet summons us again-
kind's final war.
not as a call to bear arms, though arms we
So let us begin anew-remembering on
need-not as a call to battle, though em-
both sieles that civility is not a sign of weak-
battled we are-but a call to bear the burden
ness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.
of a long twilight struggle, year in and year
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let
out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribula-
us never fear to negotiate.
tion"-a struggle against the common enc-
Let both sides explore what problems unite
mies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and
us instead of belaboring those problems
war itself.
which divide us.
Can we forge against these enemies a
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate
grand and global alliance, North and South,
serious and precise proposals for the inspec-
East and West, that can assure a more fruit-
tion and control of arms-and bring the
ful life for all mankind? Will you join in
absolute power to destroy other nations un-
that historic effort?
der the absolute control of all nations.
In the long history of the world, only a
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders
few generations have been granted the role
of science instead of its terrors. Together
of defending freedom in its hour of maxi-
let us explore the stars; conquer the deserts,
mum danger. I do not shrink from this
2
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
John F. Kennedy, 1961
Jan. 21 [2]
and
responsibility-I welcome it. I do not be-
sacrifice which WC ask of you. With a good
lieve that any of us would exchange places
conscience our only sure reward, with his-
with any other people or any other genera-
tory the final judge of our deeds, let us go
to
non. The energy, the faith, the devotion
forth to lead the land we love, asking His
the
which we bring to this endeavor will light
blessing and His help, but knowing that
our country and all who serve it-and the
here on earth God's work must truly be our
may
glow from that fire can truly light the world.
own.
both
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:52 p.m. from a
not
what your country can do for you-ask what
platform crected at the cast front of the Capitol.
of
you can do for your country.
Immediately before the address the oath of office
work
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not
was administered by Chief Justice Warren.
The President's opening words "Reverend Clergy"
what America will do for you, but what
referred to His Eminence Richard Cardinal Cushing,
first
together we can do for the freedom of man.
Archbishop of Boston; His Eminence Archbishop
shed
lakovos, head of the Greek Archdiocese of North
Finally, whether you are citizens of Amer-
life
and South America; the Reverend Dr. John Barclay,
ica or citizens of the world, ask of us here
pastor of the Central Christian Church, Austin, Tex.;
in
and Rabbi Dr. Nelson Glucck, President of the
the same high standards of strength and
us
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio.
fail-
has
na-
vice
We
cm-
and
a
uth.
in
a
rule
this
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
SECRET
January 8, 1968
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
From: Henry A. Kissinger
This is just a reminder that you agreed to include
in your Inaugural Address some statement to the
effect that we believe in open lines of communica-
tion to Moscow.
As we discussed on Saturday, I shall tell my
Soviet contact that on January 17 this will be
done.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
January 14, 1969
POR THE PRESIDENT-EINCE
From: Henry A. Kissinger
Subject: Proposed Foreign Policy Section of Your
Insugural Address
I CA attaching the outline of the insugural. Some version
of the underlined senctences on pago three should be in for
the redsons we have discussed. I shall be happy to explain the
grounds for the other passages. In general, the attempt WAS to
strike a note of sober, precise, methodical, undromatic progress.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
America Has come to the end of an era in foreign affairs. In
1945 to faced a world in disarray; wherever NO turned others needed
our help to rebuild their shattered economies, to maintain domectic
order and to dofend themselves from foreign aggression. In many parts
of the world, what we did not do ourselves was not done at all.
Today, nearly twonty-five years later, the world has changed--the
world's needs have altered. Europe has grown in strength and stability;
Japan is a great economic power; the impulse to freedom has produced
scores of new nations in every part of the globe.
Our task in the fifties was to prevent chaos. Today our challenge
is to build a world system founded on freedom and justice. Too often
the tack seems overwholming: Young Americans are dying in Vietnam.
The Middle East remains a powderkeg. Europe is still divided. The
new nations are often torn by bitter domestic conflict. Some nations
systematically exploit the suffering of others.
But history will judge us by our response, and will not excuse
failure because we believed the challenge to be too great.
This Administration recognizes the complexity of its task. It
will not pretend that the issues that have bedeviled us for more than
TWO decados can be solved by empty gestures or glowing generalities.
We offer no promises of quick triumph or guarantees against new trials;
we seek to impose no grand design. For the lessons of these years must
surely be that such profound dividions can not be healed by drama
but--rather-- by steady, patient, persevering effort. Our reward will
be not tomorrow's headlines, but the fulfillment of the hopes we have
for our children and our grandchildren.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
- 2
In this quest to must be prepared to discard old assumptions-to
probo now ideas and to veigh carefully all the choices before us.
We must not be ashared of our great power--our safety and, indood,
the safety of many of our critics depends on it. But neither can we
be entranced by it, for history's greatest victories have been those
of the spirit.
There is no safety in this nuclear age--in selfish policies. Our
national interest is secured only as we help create a world in which
all those of good will feel they have a stake.
We rocognize that lasting settlements must be based on
reconciliation, not imposition. We require equal recognition of this
elementary principle from those with whom we deal.
Let me translate these general propositions into a few pledges:
We shall make peace in Vietnam. This is our aim in the
negotiations in Paris and on the battlefield in Vietnam. We shall be
patient and we shall persevere in both efforts. We seek no permanent
presence in South Vietnam. We ask no more than that the people of that
nation be allowed to determine their own fate free of external force.
We shall settle for nothing less.
-- To our allies in the Americas, in Europe and in Asia, we
say that the time has come to expand the bonds forged by the threat of
common danger into a unity of shared purpose. We face common challenges
produced by economic, technological and urban growth- in short, by the
scale of modern life. These problems know no national boundaries; their
solution must be a common enterprise. We stand ready to share with our
friends our progress in technology, including what we have learned from
our great adventure into space. We seek a spirit of partnership among equals.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
- 3 -
No proviso Cull consultation before taking decisiono affecting the
future of our friends.
- To the developing nations, I offer the assurance that
America understands their hopes for change. We know that the world is
not socure if human aspirations remain unfulfilled. We realize, also,
that progress no longer can depend on our decisions alone--it must
involve the cooperation of other industrial nations and, most of all,
the solf-roliance of the new states themselves.
- To those who, for most of the post-war period, have
croosed end, occasionally, threatened us, I repeat what I have already
said: lot the coming years be a time of negotiation rather than
confrontation. During this Administration the lines of communication
will elways be open. Be we owe it to our peoples not to confuse
form and substance. The test will be the content of what the lines
carry--not the fact that they are used.
-- In seeking these goals, we will draw upon the best talent
in America. Ability and dedication to the public good and the national
interest must be the only tests of public service. And we will invite
thoughtful men from abroad to give us their counsel, for the quest for
peace must be the business of all mankind.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Inaugrial
January 14, 1939
TERMONANDUM FOR THE FESIDENT-BIECT
Prom: Horry A. Kissinger
Subjects Proposed Foreign Policy Section of Your
Insugural Address
I on attaching the outline of the insugural. Some version'
of the underlined senctences on page three should be in for
the reasons tre have discussed. I shall be happy to explain the
grounds for the other passages. In general, the attempt was to
strike a note of sobor, precise, methodical, undramatic progress.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
America has come to the end of an era in foreign affairs. In
1945 we faced a world in disarray; wherever we turned others needed
our help to rebuild their shattered economies, to maintain domestic
order and to defond thomselves from foreign aggression. In many parts
of the world, what we did not do ourselves was not done at all.
Today, nearly twenty-five years later, the world has changed--the
world's needs have altered. Europe has grown in strength and stability;
Japan is a great economic power; the impulse to freedom has produced
scores of new nations in every part of the globe.
Our task in the fifties was to prevent chaos. Today our challenge
is to build a world system founded on freedom and justice. Too often
the task secms overwholming: Young Americans are dying in Vietnam.
The Middle East remains a powderkeg. Europe is still divided. The
new nations are often torn by bitter domestic conflict. Some nations
systematically exploit the suffering of others.
But history will judge us by our response, and will not excuse
failure because we believed the challenge to be too great.
This Administration recognizes the complexity of its task. It
will not pretend that the issues that have bedeviled us for more than
two docades can be solved by empty gestures or glowing generalities.
We offer no promises of quick triumph or guarantees against new trials;
we sook to impose no grand design. For the lessons of these years must
surely be that such profound dividions can not be healed by drama
but--rather-by steady, patient, persevering effort. Our reward will
be not tomorrow's headlines, but the fulfillment of the hopes we have
for our children and our grandchildren.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
- 2 -
In this quest we must be prepared to discard old assumptions-to
probe now ideas and to weigh carefully all the choices before us.
We must not be ashamed of our great power--our safety and, indeed,
the safety of many of our critics depends on it. But neither can we
be ontranced by it, for history's greatest victories have been those
of the spirit.
There 1s no safety in this nuclear age--in selfish policies. Our
national interest is secured only as we help create a world in which
all those of good will feel they have a stake.
We recognize that lasting settlements must be based on
reconciliation, not imposition. We require equal recognition of this
elementary principle from those with whom we deal.
Lot me translate these general propositions into a few pledges:
- We shall make peace in Vietnam. This is our aim in the
negotiations in Paris and on the battlefield in Vietnam. We shall be
patient and we shall persevere in both efforts. We seek no permanent
presence in South Vietnam. We ask no more than that the people of that
nation be allowed to determine their own fate free of external force.
We shall settle for nothing less.
- To our allies in the Americas, in Europe and in Asia, we
say that the time has come to expand the bonds forged by the threat of
common danger into a unity of shared purpose. We face common challenges
produced by economic, technological and urban growth--in short, by the
scale of modern life. These problems know no national boundaries; their
solution must be 2. common enterprise. We stand ready to share with our
friends our progress in technology, including what we have learned from
our great adventure into space. We seek a spirit of partnership amons equals.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
- 3 -
No promise Cull concultation bofore taking decisions affecting the
future of our friends.
To the developing nations, I offer the assurance that
America understands their hopes for change. We know that the world is
not socure if human aspirations remain unfulfilled. We realize, also,
that progress no longer can depend on our decisions alone--it must
involve the cooperation of other industrial nations and, most of all,
the solf-relience of the new states themselves.
-- To those who, for most of the post-war period, have
obsesed and, occasionally, threatened us, I repeat what I have already
smidt let the coming years be a time of negotiation rather than
confrontation. During this Administration the lines of communication
will always be open. Be we owe it to our peoples not to confuse
Corn and substance. The test will be the content of what the lines
carry--not the fact that they are used.
-- In seeking these goals, we will draw upon the best talent
in America. Ability and dedication to the public good and the national
interest must be the only tests of public service. And we will invite
thoughtful men from abroad to give us their counsel, for the quest for
peace must be the business of all mankind.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 20, 1969
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON
THE CAPITOL
12:16 P.M. EST
Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice
President, President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, My
Fellow Americans -- and my fellow citizens of the world
community:
I ask you to share with me today the majesty of
this moment. In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate
the unity that keeps us free.
Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious
and unique. But some stand out as moments of beginning, in
which courses are set that shape decades or centuries.
This can be such a moment.
Forces now are converging that make possible, for
the first time, the hope that many of man's deepest aspira-
tions can at last be realized. The spiraling pace of change
allows us to contemplate, without our own lifetime, advances
that once would have taken centuries.
In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have
discovered new horizons on earth.
For the first time, because the people of the world
want peace, and the leaders of the world are afraid of war,
the times are on the side of peace.
Eight years from now America will celebrate its
200th Anniversary as a nation. Within the lifetime of most
people now living, mankind will celebrate that great new
year which comes only once in a thousand years -- the begin-
ning of the Third Millennium.
What kind of a nation we will be, what kind of a
world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the
image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and
our choices.
The greatest honor history can bestow is the title
of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America -- the chance
to help lead the world at last out of the valley of turmoil
and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of
since the dawn of civilization.
If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now
living that we mastered our moment, that we helped make the
world safe for mankind.
This is our summons to greatness.
MORE
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Page 2
I believe the American people are ready to answer
this call.
The second third of this century has been a time
of proud achievement. We have made enormous strides in
science and industry and agriculture. We have shared our
wealth more broadly than ever. We have learned at last to
manage a modern economy to assure its continued growth.
We have given freedom new reach. We have begun to
make its promise real for black as well as for white.
We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today.
I know America's youth. I believe in them. We can be proud
that they are better educated, more committed, more passion-
ately driven by conscience than any generation in our history.
MORE
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Page 3
No people has ever been so close to the achievement
of a just and abundant society, or so possessed of the will
to achieve it. And because our strengths are so great, we can
afford to appraise our weaknesses with candor and to approach
them with hope.
Standing in this same place a third of a century ago,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a nation ravaged by depression
and gripped in fear. He could say in surveying the nation's
troubles: "They concern, thank God, only material things."
Our crisis today is in reverse.
We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in
spirit; reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but
falling into raucous discord on earth.
We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by
division, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting
fulfillment. We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands
to do them.
To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the
spirit.
And to find that answer, we need only look within our-
selves.
When we listen to "the better angels of our nature,"
we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic
things -- such a goodness, decency, love, kindness.
Greatness comes in simple trappings.
The simple things are the ones most needed today if we
are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.
To lower our voices would be a simple thing.
In these difficult years, America has suffered from
a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more
than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents
into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead
of persuading.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop
shouting at one another -- until we speak quietly enough so
that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
For its part, government will listen. We will strive
to listen in new ways -- to the voices of quiet anguish, the
voices that speak without words, the voices of the heart --
to the injured voices, the anxious voices, the voices that
have despaired of being heard.
Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.
Those left behind, we will help to catch up.
For all of our people, we will set as our goal
the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives
secure.
MORE
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Page 4
As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build
on what has gone before -- not turning away from the old, but
turning toward the new.
In this past third of a century, government has passed
more laws, spent more money, initiated more programs, than
in all our previous history.
In pursuing our goals of full employment, better
housing, excellence in education; in rebuilding our cities and
improving our rural areas; in protecting our environment and
enhancing the quality of life; in all these and more, we will
and must press urgently forward.
We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can
be transferred from the destruction of war abroad to the
urgent needs of our people at home.
The American dream does not come to those who fall
asleep.
But we are approaching the limits of what government
alone can do.
Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government,
to enlist the legions of the concerned and the committed.
What has to be done, has to be done by government
and people together or it will not be done at all. The lesson
of past agony is that without the people we can do nothing;
with the people we can do everything.
To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the
energies of our people -- enlisted not only in grand enter-
prises, but more importantly in those small, splendid efforts
that make headlines in the neighborhood newspaper instead of
the national journal.
With these, we can build a great cathedral of the
spirit -- each of us raising it one stone at a time, as he
reaches out to his neighbor, helping, caring, doing.
I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease. I do
not call for a life of grim sacrifice. I ask you to join
in a high adventure -- one as rich as humanity itself, and
exciting as the times we live in.
The essence of freedom is that each of us shares
in the shaping of his own destiny.
Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself,
no man is truly whole.
MORE
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Page 5
The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents.
We achieve nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.
As we measure what can be done, we shall promise
only what we know we can produce, but as we chart our goals,
we shall be lifted by our dreams.
No man can be fully free while his neighbor is
not. To go forward at all is to go forward together.
This means black and white together, as one nation,
not two. The laws have caught up with our conscience. What
remains is to give life to what is in the law: to insure at
last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all
are born equal in dignity before man.
As we learn to go forward together at home, let
us also seek to go forward together with all mankind.
Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown,
make it welcome; where peace is fragile, make it strong;
where peace is temporary, make it permanent.
After a period of confrontation, we are entering an
era of negotiation.
Let all nations know that during this Administration
our lines of communication will be open.
We seek an open world -- open to ideas, open to
the exchange of goods and people, a world in which no people,
great or small, will live in angry isolation.
We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but
we can try to make no one our enemy.
Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a
peaceful competition -- not in conquering territory or ex-
tending dominion, but in enriching the life of man.
As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to
the new worlds together -- not as new worlds to be conquered,
but as a new adventure to be shared.
With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate
to reduce the burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of
peace, to lift up the poor and the hungry.
But to all those who would be tempted by weakness,
let us leave no doubt that we will be as strong as we need
to be for as long as we need to be.
Over the past 20 years, since I first came to this
Capital as a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of
the nations of the world. I have come to know the leaders
of the world, and the great forces, the hatreds, the fears
that divide the world.
I know that peace does not come through wishing
for it -- that there is no substitute for days and even years
of patient and prolonged diplomacy.
MORE
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Page 6
I also know the people of the world.
I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the
pain of a man wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who
has lost her son. I know these have no ideology, no race.
I know America. I know the heart of America is
good.
I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my
country, the deep concern we have for those who suffer, and
those who sorrow.
I have taken an oath today in the presence of
God and my countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution
of the United States. To that oath I now add this sacred
commitment: I shall consecrate my office, my energies, and
all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations.
Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:
The peace we seek -- the peace we seek to win -- is
not victory over any other people, but the peace that comes
"with healing in its wings"; with compassion for those who
have suffered; with understanding for those who have opposed
us; with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth
to choose their own destiny.
Only a few short weeks ago we shared the glory of
man's first sight of the world as God sees it, as a single
sphere reflecting light in the darkness.
As the APOLLO Astronauts flew over the moon's gray
surface on Christmas eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of
earth -- and in that voice so clear across the lunar distance,
we heard them invoke God's blessing on its goodness.
In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet
Archibald MacLeish to write: "To see the earth as it truly
is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence
where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth
together, brothers in that bright loveliness in the eternal
cold -- brothers who know now they are truly brothers."
In that moment of surpassing technological triumph,
men turned their thoughts toward home and humanity -- seeing
in that far perspective that man's destiny on earth is not
divisible; telling us that however far we reach into the
cosmos, our destiny lies not in the stars but on earth it-
self, in our own hands, in our own hearts.
We have endured a long night of the American spirit.
But as our eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn,
let us not curse the remaining dark. Let us gather the light.
Our destiny offers not the cup of despair, but the
chalice of opportunity. So let us seize it not in fear, but
in gladness -- and, "riders on the Earth together," let us
go forward, firm in our faith, steadfast in our purpose,
cautious of the dangers; but sustained by our confidence in the
will of God and the promise of man.
END
(AT 12:35 P.M. EST)
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library