t encounter justice,
and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of
freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is
human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a
chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence
because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark
places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order
of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on
liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner
"Freedom Now"--they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be
fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has
a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the
Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if
it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in
this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to
all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength--tested, but not
weary--we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of
freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

* * * * *

NOTES--PRESIDENTS WHO WERE NOT INAUGURATED

JOHN TYLER
Vice President John Tyler became President upon William Henry
Harrison's death one month after his inauguration. U.S. Circuit
Court Judge William Cranch administered the oath to Mr. Tyler
at his residence in the Indian Queen Hotel on April 6, 1841.

MILLARD FILLMORE
Judge William Cranch administered the executive oath of office
to Vice President Millard Fillmore on July 10, 1850 in the Hall
of the House of Representatives. President Zachary Taylor had
died the day before.

ANDREW JOHNSON
On April 15, 1865, after visiting the wounded and dying
President Lincoln in a house across the street from Ford's
Theatre, the Vice President returned to his rooms at Kirkwood
House. A few hours later he received the Cabinet and Chief
Justice Salmon Chase in his rooms to take the executive oath of
office.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR
On September 20, 1881, upon the death of President Garfield,
Vice President Arthur received a group at his home in New York
City to take the oath of office, administered by New York
Supreme Court Judge John R. Brady. The next day he