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Presidents 1,804 words
For the first time the inauguration of the President
was held on January 20, pursuant to the provisions of the 20th
amendment tothe Constitution. Having won the election of 1936 by a
wide margin, and looking forward to the advantage of Democratic gains
in the House and Senate, the President confidently outlined the
continuation of his programs. The oath of office was administered on
the East Portico of the Capitol by Chief Justice Charles Evans
Hughes.
"When four years ago we met to inaugurate President, the
Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here. We
dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision--to speed
the time when there would be for all the people that
security and peace essential to the pursuit of happiness. We
of the Republic pledged ourselves to drive from the temple
of our ancient faith those who had profaned it; to end by
action, tireless and unafraid, the stagnation and despair of
that day. We did those first things first. Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there.
Instinctively we recognized a deeper need--the need to find
through government the instrument of our united purpose to
solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a
complex civilization. Repeated attempts at their solution
without the aid of government had left us baffled and
bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable to
create those moral controls over the services of science
which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead
of a ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we
must find practical controls over blind economic forces and
blindly selfish men. We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic
government has innate capacity to protect its people against
disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once
considered unsolvable. We would not admit that we could not
find a way to master economic epidemics just as, after
centuries of fatalistic suffering, we had found a way to
master epidemics of disease. We refused to leave the
problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of
chance and the hurricanes of disaster. In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new
truth; we were writing a new chapter in our book of
self-government. This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the Constitutional Convention which made us a nation. At
that Convention our forefathers found the way out of the
chaos which followed the Revolutionary War; they created a
strong government with powers of united action sufficient
then and now to solve problems utterly beyond individual or
local solution. A century and a half ago they established
the Federal Government in order to promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to the American
people. Today we invoke those same powers of government to
achieve the same objectives. Four years of new experience have not belied our historic
instinct. They hold out the clear hope that government
within communities, government within the separate States,
and government of the United States can do the things the
times require, without yielding its democracy. Our tasks in
the last four years did not force democracy to take a
holiday. Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human
relationships increase, so power to govern them also must
increase power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential
democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend
not upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with
those whom the people can change or continue at stated
intervals through an honest and free system of elections.
The Constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy
impotent. In fact, in these last four years, we have made the
exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to
bring private autocratic powers into their proper
subordination to the public's government. The legend that
they were invincible above and beyond the processes of a
democracy--has been shattered. They have been challenged and
beaten. Our progress out of the depression is obvious. But that
is not all that you and I mean by the new order of things.
Our pledge was not merely to do a patchwork job with
second-hand materials. By using the new materials of social
justice we have undertaken to erect on the old foundations a
more enduring structure for the better use of future
generations. In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of
mind and spirit. Old truths have been relearned; untruths
have been unlearned. We have always known that heedless
self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad
economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose
builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction
that in the long run economic morality pays. We are
beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical
from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an
instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a
morally better world. This new understanding undermines the old admiration of
worldly success as such. We are beginning to abandon our
tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for
profit the elementary decencies of life. In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be
so easily condoned. Hard-headedness will not so easily
excuse hardheartedness. We are moving toward an era of good
feeling. But we realize that there can be no era of good
feeling save among men of good will. For these reasons I am justified in believing that the
greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the
moral climate of America. Among men of good will, science and democracy together
offer an ever-richer life and ever-larger satisfaction to
the individual. With this change in our moral climate and
our rediscovered ability to improve our economic order, we
have set our feet upon the road of enduring progress. Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that
lies ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall
we continue on our way? For "each age is a dream that is
dying, or one that is coming to birth." Many voices are heard as we face a great decision.
Comfort says, "Tarry a while." Opportunism says, "This is a
good spot." Timidity asks, "How difficult is the road
ahead?" True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and
despair. Vitality has been preserved. Courage and confidence
have been restored. Mental and moral horizons have been
extended. But our present gains were won under the pressure of more
than ordinary circumstance. Advance became imperative under
the goad of fear and suffering. The times were on the side
of progress. To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult.
Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless
self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity
may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests
the persistence of our progressive purpose. Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision
of that fourth day of March, 1933? Have we found our happy
valley? I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed
with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and
thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they
are making their country a good neighbor among the nations.
I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under
democratic methods of government, national wealth can be
translated into a spreading volume of human comforts
hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be
raised far above the level of mere subsistence. But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this
nation I see tens of millions of its citizens--a substantial
part of its whole population--who at this very moment are
denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of
today call the necessities of life. I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so
meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day
by day. I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm
continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called
polite society half a century ago. I see millions denied education, recreation, and the
opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their
children. I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of
farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and
productiveness to many other millions. I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad,
ill-nourished. It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I
paint it for you in hope--because the Nation, seeing and
understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out.
We are determined to make every American citizen the subject
of his country's interest and concern; and we will never
regard any faithful, law-abiding group within our borders as
superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add
more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether
we provide enough for those who have too little. If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation,
we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We
will carry on. Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of
good will; men and women who have more than warm hearts of
dedication; men and women who have cool heads and willing
hands of practical purpose as well. They will insist that
every agency of popular government use effective instruments
to carry out their will. Government is competent when all who compose it work as
trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress
when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain
justified support and legitimate criticism when the people
receive true information of all that government does. If I know aught of the will of our people, they will
demand that these conditions of effective government shall
be created and maintained. They will demand a nation
uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong
among the nations in its example of the will to peace. Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished
ideals in a suddenly changed civilization. In every land
there are always at work forces that drive men apart and
forces that draw men together. In our personal ambitions we
are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and
political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all
go down, as one people. To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount
of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount
of humility. But out of the confusion of many voices rises
an understanding of dominant public need. Then political
leadership can voice common ideals, and aid in their
realization. In taking again the oath of office as President of the
United States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the
American people forward along the road over which they have
chosen to advance. While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to
speak their purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine
guidance to help us each and every one to give light to them
that sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of
peace."
Jan. 20, 1937