Mr.
Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends, you will
understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the
form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief.
We
Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing
through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our
courage of our resolve of our wisdom our essential
democracy.
If
we meet that test successfully and honorably we shall
perform a service of historic importance which men and
women and children will honor throughout all time.
As
I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office
in the presence of my fellow countrymen in the presence
of our God I know that it is America's purpose that we
shall not fail.
In
the days and in the years that are to come we shall work
for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today
we work and fight for total victory in war.
We
can and we will achieve such a peace.
We
shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it
immediately but we still shall strive. We may make
mistakes but they must never be mistakes which result
from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.
I
remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said, in
days that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled:
"Things in life will not always run smoothly.
Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights then all
will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great
fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself
is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of
the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an
upward trend."
Our
Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is
not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which
all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds,
could build our solid structure of democracy.
And
so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned
lessons at a fearful cost and we shall profit by them.
We
have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our
own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other
nations far away. We have learned that we must live as
men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.
We
have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the
human community.
We
have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
We
can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion
and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we
proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the
courage which flow from conviction.
The
Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has
given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which
to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given
to our country a faith which has become the hope of all
peoples in an anguished world.
So
we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way
clearly to see the way that leads to a better life for
ourselves and for all our fellow men to the achievement
of His will to peace on earth.
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