First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan_名人演说
tuesday, january 20, 1981
senator hatfield, mr. chief justice, mr. president, vice president bush, vice president mondale, senator baker,
speaker o'neill, reverend moomaw, and my fellow citizens: to a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most
momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. the orderly transfer of
authority as called for in the constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us
stop to think how unique we really are. in the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as
normal is nothing less than a miracle.
mr. president, i want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. by your gracious
cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to
maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a ater dee than any other, and i thank
you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our republic.
the business of our nation goes forward. these united states are confronted with an economic affliction of at
proportions. we suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. it
distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed- income elderly
alike. it threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.
idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. those who do work
are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from
maintaining full productivity.
but at as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. for decades, we have piled deficit upon
deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. to continue
this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
you and i, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. why,
then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?
we must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. and let there be no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to
act, beginning today.
the economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. they will not go away in days, weeks, or
months, but they will go away. they will go away ause we, as americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in
the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and atest bastion of freedom.
in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.
from time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has ome too complex to be managed by self-rule,
that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. but if no one among us is
capable of governing hilf, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? all of us together, in and
out of government, must bear the burden. the solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to
pay a higher price.
we hear much of special interest groups. our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long
neglected. it knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines.
it is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our
children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks,
cabbies, and truckdrivers. they are, in short, "we the people," this breed called americans.
well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity
for all americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. putting america back to work means putting
all americans back to work. ending inflation means freeing all americans from the terror of runaway living costs.
all must share in the productive work of this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived
economy. with the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong
and prosperous america at peace with itself and the world.
so, as we begin, let us take inventory. we are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. and this
makes us special among the nations of the earth. our government has no power except that granted it by the people.
it is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of
the governed.
it is my intention to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment and to demand recognition of the
distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the states or to the people.
all of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal
government.
now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. it is, rather, to
make it work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. government can and must provide
opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
if we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth,
it was ause here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a ater extent than
has ever been done before. freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than
in any other place on earth. the price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to
pay that price.
it is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in
our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. it is time for us to realize that we are
too at a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. we are not, as some would have us believe, loomed to an
inevitable decline. i do not believe in a fate that will all on us no matter what we do. i do believe in a fate
that will fall on us if we do nothing. so, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of
national renewal. let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. and let us renew; our faith and
our hope.
we have every right to dream heroic dreams. those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't
know where to look. you can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. others, a handful in number,
produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. you meet heroes across a counter--and they are on
both sides of that counter. there are entrepreneurs with faith in thelves and faith in an idea who create new
jobs, new wealth and opportunity. they are individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose
voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. their patriotism is quiet but deep. their
values sustain our national life.
i have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. i could say "you" and "your" ause i am
addressing the heroes of whom i speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. your dreams, your hopes, your goals
are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me god.
we shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. how can we love our country and not love our
countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide
opportunities to make them self- sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?
can we solve the problems confronting us? well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." to paraphrase
winston churchill, i did not take the oath i have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution
of the world's strongest economy.
in the days ahead i will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity.
steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. pross may be slow-
-measured in inches and feet, not miles--but we will pross. is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get
government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. and these will be our first priorities,
and on these principles, there will be no compromise.
on the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the atest among the founding
fathers, dr. joseph warren, president of
the massachusetts conss, said to his fellow americans, "our country is
in danger, but not to be despaired of.... on you depend the fortunes of america. you are to decide the important
questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. act worthy of yourselves."
well, i believe we, the americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to
ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.
and as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having ater strength throughout the world. we
will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.
to those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our
support and firm commitment. we will match loyalty with loyalty. we will strive for mutually beneficial relations.
we will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty is not for sale.
as for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest
aspiration of the american people. we will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now or
ever.
our forbearance should never be misunderstood. our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of
will. when action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. we will maintain sufficient strength
to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.
above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will
and moral courage of free men and women. it is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. it is a
weapon that we as americans do have. let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their
neighbors.
i am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that i am deeply grateful.
we are a nation under god, and i believe god intended for us to be free. it would be fitting and good, i think, if
on each inauguration day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.
this is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this west front of
the capitol. standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. at
the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: george washington, father of our country. a man of
humility who came to atness reluctantly. he led america out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. off
to one side, the stately memorial to thomas jefferson. the declaration of independence flames with his eloquence.
and then beyond the reflecting pool the dignified columns of the lincoln memorial. whoever would understand in his
heart the meaning of america will find it in the life of abraham lincoln.
beyond those monuments to heroism is the potomac river, and on the far shore the sloping hills of arlington
national cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or stars of david. they add up to
only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.
each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero i spoke of earlier. their lives ended in places called
belleau wood, the argonne, omaha beach, salerno and halfway around the world on guadalcanal, tarawa, pork chop
hill, the chosin reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called vietnam.
under one such marker lies a young man--martin treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go
to france with the famed rainbow division. there, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message
between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
we are told that on his body was found a diary. on the flyleaf under the heading, "my pledge," he had written these
words: "america must win this war. therefore, i will work, i will save, i will sacrifice, i will endure, i will
fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."
the crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that martin treptow and so many
thousands of others were called upon to make. it does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to
believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform at deeds; to believe that together, with god's
help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
and, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? we are americans. god bless you, and thank you.