s and friendships around the world strong, ever
strong, we will continue the new closeness with the Soviet Union,
consistent both with our security and with progress. One might say that
our new relationship in part reflects the triumph of hope and strength
over experience. But hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance.

Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the
understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in democracy
and seen their hopes fulfilled. But my thoughts have been turning the
past few days to those who would be watching at home to an older fellow
who will throw a salute by himself when the flag goes by, and the women
who will tell her sons the words of the battle hymns. I don't mean this
to be sentimental. I mean that on days like this, we remember that we
are all part of a continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that
bind.

Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land. And to
them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day. For democracy
belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go
higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say: No matter what your
circumstances or where you are, you are part of this day, you are part
of the life of our great nation.

A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on
men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an
easy-goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.

There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up united
and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is drugs. And when
that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a
deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, the soul of our country.
And there is much to be done and to be said, but take my word for it:
This scourge will stop.

And so, there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins. I do not
mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our problems are
large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will
is greater. And if our flaws are endless, God's love is truly boundless.

Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling,
and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book with many pages,
and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The
new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And so today a
chapter begins, a small and stately story of unit