In case you hadn't read it, this was a rather impressive address,
and incredibly well written.  Almost along the lines of FDR or JFK.
No President writes his own speeches unaided, but you can surely
see his belief shine through that liberty is not a right granted
by the state, but a right granted by God and protected by the state.


Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton,
reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

 On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our
Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the
honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to
fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we
have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on
distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of
repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole
regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred
and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the
most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can
break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward
the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land
increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our
world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding,
we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and
matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the
generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be
a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that
created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent
requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic
movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending
tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by
force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by
citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul
of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions
very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the
unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom,
and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty
of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but
fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it
confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people against further attacks and
emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.


We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice
between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will
not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and
servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations
will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will
guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they
are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is
no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though this time in history, four
decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt.
Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually,
the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of
permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will
come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your
oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with
you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who
you are: the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who
deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God,
cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you
must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk
at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your
counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of
freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to
our enemies' defeat.

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have
granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill,
and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating
tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles
hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the
minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and
one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in the quiet work of
intelligence and diplomacy ... the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments ...
the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to
our country in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor their names
and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest
citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the
determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and
courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than
yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its
character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the
unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to
show the meaning and promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic
independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition
of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of
Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs
of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will
bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the
ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our
people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his
or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and
make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on
integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives.
Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is
built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life
by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths
of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and
true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and
forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a
heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation
relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans,
at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the
unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot
carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and
questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that
come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our
character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background,
Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have
known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes - and I will strive in
good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and
fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single
hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for
good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the
captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history
runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we
consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence
because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of
the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon
wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner
"Freedom Now" - they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has
an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the
Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded
in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means
something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world,
and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength - tested, but not weary - we are
ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.




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