About: Inaugural Presidential Address by William Jefferson Clinton
INAUGURAL PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Note: This was originally published as an extra by Project Gutenbergon the day that President Clinton gave the speech in 1993. However, itwas never given a PG etext number. It is now being reposted so that itcan be correctly cataloged.
The following 1600 words comprise William Jefferson Clinton'sInaugural Presidential Address given from noon to 12:15P.M.,January 20, 1993.
[Capitals represent emphasis, extra commas represent pauses,long pauses are represented by ellipses (. . .).]
Bill Clinton's Inaugural Address
My fellow citizens, today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.This ceremony is held in the depth of winter, but by the words we speakand the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn inthe world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courageto reinvent America. When our founders boldly declared America's independenceto the world, and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America,to endure, would have to change. Not change for change sake, but changeto preserve America's ideals: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.
Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless.Each generation of American's must define what it means to be an American.On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for hishalf century of service to America. . .and I thank the millions of menand women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression,fascism and communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes newresponsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom, but threatenedstill by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in unrivalled prosperity,we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened bybusiness failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisionsamongOUR OWNpeople.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, newstravelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the ocean by boat.Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously tobillions around the world. Communications and commerce are global.Investment is mobile. Technology is almost magical, and ambition fora better life is now universal.
We earn our livelihood in America today in peaceful competition with peopleall across the Earth. Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remakingour world, and theURGENTquestion of our time is whether we can make changeour friend and not our enemy. This new world has already enriched the livesofMILLIONSof Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But whenmost people are working harder for less, when others cannot work at all,when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankruptour enterprises, great and small; when the fear of crime robs law abidingcitizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannoteven imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not madechange our friend.