Inaugural address

The Inaugural Address is the speech by an elected American President just after he is sworn into office on January 20th by the Chief Justice. The Twentieth Amendment advanced the date for the new president to take office from March 4th to January 20th, in order to reduce the lame duck period.

Here are some quotes from past Inaugural Addresses:

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933): "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1945): "Almighty God has blessed our land."

President Harry S Truman (1949): "We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God."

President Dwight Eisenhower (1953): "This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God."

President John F. Kennedy (1961): "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

President Lyndon B. Johnson (1965): "The judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored."

President Richard M. Nixon (1969): "As all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man."

President Gerald Ford (1974): "To do what is right as God gives me to see the right."

President Jimmy Carter (1977): "'What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.'"

President Ronald Reagan (1981): "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."

President George H.W. Bush (1989): "I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I place my hand is the Bible on which he placed his."

President Bill Clinton (1993): "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America."

President George W. Bush (2001): "We are guided by a power larger than ourselves, Who creates us equal in His image."