Inaugural Words to Remember
J. Michael Sharman
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GEO. WASHINGTON, 1789 "[T]he propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained…"
JOHN Q. ADAMS, 1825 "[K]nowing that 'except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain,' with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country."
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />LINCOLN, 1861 "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty."
MCKINLEY, 1897 "Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps..."
COOLIDGE, 1925 "America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force.  No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign dominions.  The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with the sword, but with the cross.  The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin.  She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God."
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, 1945 "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."
TRUMAN, 1949 "We believe that all men have a right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in the common good.  We believe that all men have the right to freedom of thought and expression.  We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God. From this faith we will not be moved."
EISENHOWER, 1953 "At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew our faith.  This faith is the abiding creed of our fathers.  It is our faith in the deathless dignity of man, governed by eternal moral and natural laws. This faith defines our full view of life.  It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight."
KENNEDY, 1961 "I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago. … And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
L. B. JOHNSON, 1965 "[W]e have no promise from God that our greatness will endure.  ...If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship; that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored."
REAGAN, 1981 "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."
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