see or that they could not even imagine. It brought us victory. And it
will again.

For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and
the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest
sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We say "Farewell."
Is a new world coming? We welcome it--and we will bend it to the hopes
of man.

To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close
friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road, and to
all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat today what I
said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will lead and I will do
the best I can."

But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and to the
old dream. They will lead you best of all.

For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give me now
wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people:
for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?"

* * * * *

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON, FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969

[Transcriber's note: An almost-winner of the 1960 election, and a close
winner of the 1968 election, the former Vice President and California
Senator and Congressman had defeated the Democratic Vice President,
Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party candidate, George
Wallace. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office for
the fifth time. The President addressed the large crowd from a pavilion
on the East Front of the Capitol. The address was televised by satellite
around the world.]

Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President
Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow
citizens of the world community:

I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment. In the
orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.

Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique. But some
stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape
decades or centuries.

This can be such a moment.

Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, the
hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be realized. The
spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own
lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.

In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new hor