ects this storm.

God bless you all, and God bless America.

*****

George W. Bush Second Inaugural Address Thursday, January 20, 2005

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President
Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow
citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the
durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that
unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of
the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the
oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use,
but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America
defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the
shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose,
years of sabbatical--and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability--and we have seen its deepest source.
For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment
and tyranny--prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse
murder--violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and
cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There
is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and
resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes
of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival
of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty
in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of
freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the
day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this
earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear
the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we
have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is
fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these
ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable
achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our
nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth
of democratic m