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Jimmy Carter Speech -
Inaugural address
For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all
he has done to heal our land.
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner
and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss
Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to changing times and still
hold to unchanging principles."
Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first
President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the Bible
my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition from
the ancient prophet Micah:
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy
God." (Micah 6:8)
This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within
our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may sense and
proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.
Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest for
freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders of
this Nation still awaits its consummation. I have no new dream to set
forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.
Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both
spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-definition which
has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a special
obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed, seem
invariably to be in our own best interests.
You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to be
worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create together a new
national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate for my
weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.
Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray
together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.
The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in our
country--and in one another. I believe America can be better. We can be
even stronger than before.
Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic
principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own
government we have no future. We recall in special times when we have
stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was
beyond our grasp.
But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to drift. We
reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of
life for any person. Our Government must at the same time be both
competent and compassionate.
We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we are now
struggling to enhance equality of opportunity. Our commitment to human
rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved; the
powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.
We have learned that "more" is not necessarily "better," that even our
great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all
questions nor solve all problems. We cannot afford to do everything, nor
can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. So, together, in a
spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our
best.
Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And we know
that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here
that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.
To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave in
foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for
we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our
strength.
The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more numerous
and more politically aware are craving and now demanding their place in
the sun--not just for the benefit of their own physical condition, but for
basic human rights.
The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit, there can
be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day
of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is
truly humane.
We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so sufficient that
it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength based not merely on the
size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.
We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight our wars
against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are the enemies
against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.
We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our idealism
with weakness.
Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom
elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these
societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human
rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which
others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a
threat to the well-being of all people.
The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to ensure
continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries. We pledge
perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's armaments to
those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety. And we will move
this year a step toward ultimate goal--the elimination of all nuclear
weapons from this Earth. We urge all other people to join us, for success
can mean life instead of death.
Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and
purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that when my
time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:
that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for
humility, mercy, and justice;
that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different race
and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built unity,
with a respect for diversity;
that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;
that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of our
society;
that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the
law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;
and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government
once again.
I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a
lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies
which reflect our own most precious values.
These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, but
the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our belief
in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.
Jimmy Carter
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