erica's cause. The
American people have summoned the change we celebrate today. You have
raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus, you have cast your votes
in historic numbers, you have changed the face of congress, the
presidency, and the political process itself. Yes, *you*, my fellow
Americans, have forced the spring. Now *we* must do the work the season
demands. To that work I now turn with *all* the authority of my office.
I ask the congress to join with me; but no president, no congress, no
government can undertake *this* mission alone.

My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal. I
challenge a new generation of *young* Americans to a season of service,
to act on your idealism, by helping troubled children, keeping company
with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities. There is so much
to be done. Enough, indeed, for millions of others who are still young
in spirit, to give of themselves in service, too. In serving we
recognize a simple, but powerful, truth: we need each other, and we
must care for one another. Today we do more than celebrate America, we
rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America, an idea born in
revolution, and renewed through two centuries of challenge, an idea
tempered by the knowledge that but for fate, we, the fortunate and the
unfortunate, might have been each other; an idea ennobled by the faith
that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity, the deepest
measure of unity; an idea infused with the conviction that America's
journey long, heroic journey must go forever upward.

And so, my fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st
Century, let us begin anew, with energy and hope, with faith and
discipline, and let us work until our work is done. The Scripture says:
"And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not." From this joyful mountaintop of celebration we hear a
call to service in the valley. We have heard the trumpets, we have
changed the guard, and now each in our own way, and with God's help, we
must answer the call.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

* * * * *

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

JANUARY 20, 1997

My fellow citizens:

At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift
our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century. It is
our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not