President George W. Bush's
Inaugural Address

January 20, 2001

President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful transfer
of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we
affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.

And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended
with grace.

I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders
have come before me, and so many will follow.

We have a place, all of us, in a long story--a story we continue, but whose end we
will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the
old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story
of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to
conquer.

It is the American story--a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the
generations by grand and enduring ideals.

The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone
belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever
born.

Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And though
our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other
course.

Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a
rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.

Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of
our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along.
And even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.

While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of
our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools
and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our
differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country.

We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious
work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I
will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.

I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves
who creates us equal in His image.

And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals
that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what
it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen
must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our
country more, not less, American.

Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through
civility, courage, compassion and character.

America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility.
A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and
forgiveness.

Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of
peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.

But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause
of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward
knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we
permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.

We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is
the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this
commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.

America, at its best, is also courageous.

Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when
defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if the
example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We must show
courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to
future generations.

Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim
more young lives.

We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles
we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to recover the
momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working
Americans.

We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge.

We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new
horrors.

The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains
engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that
favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests. We will show purpose
without arrogance. We will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength.
And to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.

America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we
know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.

And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at
fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love.

And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and
order in our souls.

Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they
are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are
hopeless.

Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil
rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a
government.

And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch
or a pastor's prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our
communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in
our laws.

Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those
who do.

And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler on the
road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and
expected.

Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience.
And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment. We find the fullness of
life not only in options, but in commitments. And we find that children and
community are the commitments that set us free.

Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds
and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction
to our freedom.

Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has
said, every day we are called to do small things with great love. The most important
tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.

I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with civility, to
pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and
compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well.

In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.

What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a
common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy
attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens:
citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building
communities of service and a nation of character.

Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in
ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of
citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is
present, no wrong can stand against it.

After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page
wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ``We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to
the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?''

Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The years and
changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know: our nation's grand
story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.

We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his
purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.

Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today, to make
our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.

This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind
and directs this storm.

God bless you all, and God bless America.