yeah. right. and then repeat after me. i, george herbert walker bush, do solemnly swear. i george herbert walker bush do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. and will to the best of my ability. and will to the best of my ability. preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. preserve, protect, and defend

the constitution of the united states. so help me god. so help me. congratulations. thank. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states.

and his eighth justice. mr. president, vice president quayle. senator mitchell. speaker. right. senator dole. congressman michael. and fellow citizens. neighbors and friends. there is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts and in our history. president reagan, on behalf of our nation, i thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for america.

i've just repeated word for word. the oath taken by george washington 200 years ago and the bible on which i placed my hand is the bible on which he placed his. it is right that the memory of washington be with us today not only because this is our bicentennial eal inauguration, but because washington remains the father of our country. and he would, i think, be gladdened by this day for today is the concrete expression of a

stunning fact. our continuity these 200 years since our government began, we made on democracy's front porch a good place to talk as neighbors and his friends. this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences for a moment are suspended. and my first act as president is a prayer. i ask you to vow your head's heavenly father. we bow our heads and thank you for your love. accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely make us strong. to do your work, willing to heed and hear your will. and right on our hearts, these words used power to help people. here we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world,

nor a name there is but one just use of power. and it is to serve people. help us remember lord. amen. i come before you and assume the presidency. at a moment, rich, with promise. we live in a peaceful, prosperous time. but we can make it better. for a new breeze is blowing and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn. here in man's heart. if not, in fact, the day of the dictator is over. the. totalitarian era is passing. it's old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. a new breeze is blowing. and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on. there is new ground to be broken

and new action to be taken. there are times when the future seems thick as a fog. you sit and wait, hoping the mist will lift and reveal the right path. but this is a time when the future seems a door. you can walk right through. into a room called tomorrow. great nations of the world are moving toward democracy. through the door to freedom. men and women of the world move toward freedom markets through the door to prosper. charity. the people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows. we know what works. freedomworks. we know what's right. freedom is right. we know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man

on earth through free markets. free, free speech. free elections. and the exercise of free will. unhampered by the state. but. for the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to live. we don't have to talk late into the night about which form of government is better. we don't have to wrest justice. from the kings. we only have to summon it from within ourselves. we must act on what we know. i take, as my guide, the hope of a saint in crucial things unity in the important things. diversity in all things.

generosity. america today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love. we know in our hearts, not loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. have we changed as a nation, even in our time? are we enthralled with material things less appreciate of of the nobility of work and sacrifice? my friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. they are not the measure of our lives in our hearts. we know what matters. we cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. we must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a

loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it. what do we want? the men and women who work with us to say when we're no longer there, that we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship. no president, no government can teach us to remember what is best and what we are. but if the man you have chosen to lead this government can help make a difference, if he can celebrate the quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but a better hearts and finer souls. if he can do these things, then he must. america is never wholly herself

unless she is engaged in high moral principle. we as a people have such a purpose today. it is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world. my friends, we have work to do. there. there are the homeless lost in roaming. there are the children who have nothing. no love, no normalcy. there are those who cannot free themselves of enslavement to whatever addiction, drugs, welfare, the demoralization that rules the slums. there is crime to be conquered. the rough crime of the streets. the young women to be helped or

about to become mothers of children they can't care for. and might not love. they need our care, our guidance, and our education that we bless them for choosing life. the old solution. the old way was to think that public money alone could end these problems. but we have learned that that is not so. and in any case, our funds are low. we have a deficit to bring down. we have more will than wallet. but will is what we need. we will make the hard choices. looking at what we have, perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest need and prudent safety. and then we will do the wisest thing of all. we will turn to the only resource we have that in times of need, always grows the

goodness and the courage of the american people. and i am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others. a new, active ism, hands on and involved that gets the job done. we must bring in the generations harnessing the unused talent of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young for not only leadership, it is passed from generation to generation, but so is steward ship and the generation born after the second world war has come of age. i have spoken of a thousand points of light. of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good, we will work

hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led. rewarding. we will work on this in the white house, in the cabinet agencies. i will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light. and i'll ask every member of my government to become involved. the old ideas are new again because they're not old. they are timeless duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds expression in taking part and pitching in. we need a new engagement to between the executive and the congress. the challenges before us will be thrashed out with the white, with the house and the senate. we must bring the federal budget into balance, and we must ensure

that america stands before the world. united. strong and at peace and fiscally sound. but of course, things may be difficult. we need compromise. we've had dissension. we need harmony. we've had a chorus of discordant voices. our congress, too, has changed in our time. there's growing a certain divisive ness. we've seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but each other's motives. in our great parties have too often been far apart and untrue of each other. it's been this way since vietnam. that war cleaves us still. but friends. that war began in earnest a quarter of a century ago. and surely the statute of

limitations has been reached. this is a fact. the final lesson of vietnam is that no great nation and long afford to be sundered by a memory. a new breeze is blowing and the old bypass partizanship must be made new again. my friends. and yes, i do mean friends in the loyal opposition. and yes, i mean loyal. i put out my hand. i'm putting out my hand to you, mr. speaker. i'm putting out my hand to you, mr. majority leader. for this is the thing. this is the age of the offered

hand. and we can't turn back clocks. and i don't want to. but when our fathers were young, mr. speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge. and we don't wish to turn back time. when our mothers were young, mr. majority leader, the congress and the executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live. let us negotiate soon and hard, but in the end, let us produce the american people await action. they didn't send us here to bicker. they asked us to rise above the merely partizan. in crucial things. unity. and this, my friends, is crucial

to the world, too. we offer new engagement and a renewed vow. we will stay strong to protect the peace he offered hand in is a reluctant fist, once made strong and can be used with great effect. there are today americans who are held against their will in foreign lands and americans who are unaccounted for. assistance can be shown here and will be long remembered. goodwill begets goodwill. good faith can be a spiral that endless slowly moves on. great nations like great men must keep their word. when america says something, america means it. whether a treaty or an agreement or a vow made on marble steps.

we will always try to speak clearly for candor is a compliment. but subtlety too is good and has its place while keeping our alliances and friendships around the world strong. ever strong. we will continue the new closeness with the soviet union. consistent both with our security and with progress. one might say that our new relation ship, in part reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience. but hope is good, and so is strength and vigilance. here today, our tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the undersea mandible satisfaction of those who have

taken part in democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled. but my thoughts have been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at home to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when the flag goes by and the woman who will tell her sons the words of the battle hymns. i don't mean this to be sentimental. i mean that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum. inescapably connect it by the ties that bind. our children are watching in schools throughout our great land. and to them i say thank you for watching. democracy's big day for democracy belongs to us all. and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go higher and

higher with the breeze and to all i say, no matter what your circumstance is or where you are, you are part of this day. you are part of the life of our great nation. president. neither prince nor pope. and i don't seek a window on men's souls and in fact, i yearn for a greater tolerance and easygoing. this about each other's attitudes and and way of life. there are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up. united and express our intolerance. the most obvious now is drugs. and when that first cocaine was

smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a deadly bacteria so much as it hurt the body, the soul of our country. and there is much to be done and to be said. but take my word for it. this scourge will stop. and so there is much to do. tomorrow, the work begins and i do not mistrust the future. i do not fear what is ahead for our problems. our large. but our heart is larger. our challenges are great. but our will is greater. and if our flaws are endless, god's love is truly boundless.

some say leadership is high drama and the sound of trumpets calling. and sometimes it is that. but i see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. the new breeze blows. page turns. the story unfolds. and so today, a chapter begins. a small and stately story of unity, diversity and generosity shared and written together. thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america.