ice for it; we will not
surrender for it--now or ever.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for
conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action
is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will
maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we
do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals
of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men
and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by
those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on
this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God,
and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and
good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be
declared a day of prayer.

This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as
you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here,
one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty
and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the
giants on whose shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George
Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to
greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory
into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas
Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln
Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America
will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far
shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on
row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They
add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our
freedom.

Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of
earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne,
Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal,
Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, an