fate of freedom
elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these
societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human
rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which
others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a
threat to the well-being of all people.

The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to
ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries.
We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's
armaments to those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety. And
we will move this year a step toward ultimate goal--the elimination of
all nuclear weapons from this Earth. We urge all other people to join
us, for success can mean life instead of death.

Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious
and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that
when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about
our Nation:

--that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for
humility, mercy, and justice;

--that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different
race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built
unity, with a respect for diversity;

--that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;

--that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of
our society;

--that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the
law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;

--and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government
once again.

I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a
lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies
which reflect our own most precious values.

These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments,
but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our
belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.

*****

Ronald Reagan First Inaugural Address Tuesday, January 20, 1981

Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush,
Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw,
and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and
most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a