ness of purpose and humility of
spirit, and implore the favor and guidance of God in His Heaven. With
these I am unafraid, and confidently face the future.

I have taken the solemn oath of office on that passage of Holy Writ
wherein it is asked: "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" This I
plight to God and country.

* * * * *

CALVIN COOLIDGE, INAUGURAL ADDRESS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1925

[Transcriber's note: In 1923 President Coolidge first took the oath of
office, administered by his father, a justice of the peace and a notary,
in his family's sitting room in Plymouth, Vermont. President Harding had
died while traveling in the western States. A year later, the President
was elected on the slogan "Keep Cool with Coolidge." Chief Justice
William Howard Taft administered the oath of office on the East Portico
of the Capitol. The event was broadcast to the nation by radio.]

My Countrymen:

No one can contemplate current conditions without finding much that is
satisfying and still more that is encouraging. Our own country is
leading the world in the general readjustment to the results of the
great conflict. Many of its burdens will bear heavily upon us for years,
and the secondary and indirect effects we must expect to experience for
some time. But we are beginning to comprehend more definitely what
course should be pursued, what remedies ought to be applied, what
actions should be taken for our deliverance, and are clearly manifesting
a determined will faithfully and conscientiously to adopt these methods
of relief. Already we have sufficiently rearranged our domestic affairs
so that confidence has returned, business has revived, and we appear to
be entering an era of prosperity which is gradually reaching into every
part of the Nation. Realizing that we can not live unto ourselves alone,
we have contributed of our resources and our counsel to the relief of
the suffering and the settlement of the disputes among the European
nations. Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer
courage, a higher hope, inspires the heart of all humanity.

These results have not occurred by mere chance. They have been secured
by a constant and enlightened effort marked by many sacrifices and
extending over many generations. We can not continue these brilliant
successes in the future, unless we continue to learn from the past. It