y, diversity, and
generosity--shared, and written, together.

Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

* * * * *

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

JANUARY 20, 1993

[As presented on the Internet by Project Gutenberg on January 20th, 1993]

My fellow citizens:

Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.

This ceremony is held in the depth of winter, but by the words we speak
and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn
in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and
courage to reinvent America. When our founders boldly declared
America's independence to the world, and our purposes to the Almighty,
they knew that America, to endure, would have to change. Not change for
change sake, but change to preserve America's ideals: life, liberty,
the pursuit of happiness.

Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. Each
generation of American's must define what it means to be an American. On
behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his
half-century of service to America...and I thank the millions of men
and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression,
fascism and communism.

Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new
responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom, but
threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in
unrivalled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's
strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages,
increasing inequality, and deep divisions among *our own* people.

When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold,
news travelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the ocean
by boat. Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast
instantaneously to billions around the world. Communications and
commerce are global. Investment is mobile. Technology is almost
magical, and ambition for a better life is now universal.

We earn our livelihood in America today in peaceful competition with
people all across the Earth. Profound and powerful forces are shaking
and remaking our world, and the *urgent* question of our time is whether
we can make change our friend and not our enemy. This new world has
already enriched the lives of *millions* of Americans who are able to
compete and win in it.