[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 21, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S119-S122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INAUGURATION CEREMONIES
Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that yesterday's proceedings of the
inauguration of the President be printed in today's Congressional
Record.
There being no objection, the proceedings were ordered to be printed
in the Record, as follows:
Inauguration of the President of the United States and the Vice
President, January 20, 1997
Members of the House of Representatives, Members of the
Senate, Justices of the Supreme Court, members of the
Cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps, the Governors of
the States, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other distinguished guests
assembled on the west front.
Mrs. Gore
Mr. Martin Paone, Senate Secretary for the Minority,
escorted Mrs. Gore, accompanied by Mrs. Lott and Mrs.
Gephardt, to the President's platform.
Mrs. Clinton
Ms. Elizabeth B. Greene, Senate Secretary for the Majority,
and Ms. Amelia Fields, Joint Congressional Committee on
Inaugural Ceremonies, escorted Mrs. Clinton, accompanied by
Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Gingrich, to the President's platform.
The Vice President
Mr. John Chambers, Joint Congressional Committee on
Inaugural Ceremonies Deputy Director, Ms. Loretta Symms,
Senate Deputy Sergeant at Arms, and Mr. Jim Varey, House
Deputy Sergeant at Arms, escorted the Vice President,
accompanied by Senator Lott, Representative Gephardt and
Representative Armey, to the President's platform.
The President
Ms. Susan Magill, JCCIC Executive Director, Mr. Greg Casey,
Senate Sergeant at Arms, and Mr. Wilson Livingood, House
Sergeant at Arms, escorted the President, accompanied by
Senator Warner, Senator Ford, Representative Gingrich,
Senator Lott, Representative Gephardt and Representative
Armey, to the President's platform.
The Inaugural Ceremony
Mr. Warner. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker,
Mr. Majority Leader, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the U.S.
Congress, their families and guests--all one-quarter million
who have joined here today on the grounds of their Capitol.
[[Page S120]]
[Applause.]
Welcome to the 53rd Inauguration of the President and the
Vice President of the United States of America.
[Applause.]
Across our Nation, and around the world, Americans join
William Jefferson Clinton as he reconfirms the oath of office
as the 42nd President of the United States, and Albert Gore,
Jr., as he reconfirms the oath of office as the 45th Vice
President of the United States.
Our first President, George Washington, was inaugurated in
1789.
Thereafter, every 4 years, our citizens have witnessed this
transition of authority as required by the Constitution of
the United States.
It is the conferring of this trust and authority--which has
occurred without any interruption for 208 years--that is the
cornerstone of our representative democracy.
It is a tribute to the providential vision of our Founding
Fathers.
It is a tribute to the strength of character of the
American people and the endurance of their institutions.
It is a tribute to successive generations of Americans who
have guarded our most valuable heritage--our freedom.
And, Mr. President, may I say, on behalf of the millions
and millions of Americans, we express to you our gratitude
for this past week, having invited to the White House a true
man who fought for freedom, and you presented him with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, Senator Dole. Thank you, Mr.
President.
[Applause.]
For two centuries, the American Presidential Inauguration
ceremony has represented both national renewal and continuity
of leadership.
So it is altogether fitting that as the world's oldest
continuous constitutional democratic republic, we gather
today to honor this historical triumph, and to recommit
ourselves to keep our Nation strong for future generations.
Mr. President, prayer has been an essential part of all
inaugural ceremonies.
As I was privileged to drive up with you from the White
House, you held the Bible and read the passage that you will
read today.
Therefore, we are honored today to have the Reverend Billy
Graham to lead our Nation in prayer, as he has at seven
previous inaugurals.
Please stand for the invocation and remain standing for the
Pledge of Allegiance. Reverend Graham.
Invocation
Reverend Graham. President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, Vice
President Gore, Mrs. Gore, I am going to ask that we all bow
our heads in prayer.
Our Father and our God, we thank You today for the
privilege of coming into Your presence on this historic and
solemn occasion.
We thank You for Your gracious hand which has preserved us
as a Nation. We praise You for the peaceful continuity of
Government that this inauguration represents.
We recall that the Bible says, ``Except the Lord build a
house, they labor in vain that build it.'' You also said that
to whom much has been given, much will be required.
We look gratefully to the past, and thank You that from the
very foundations of America You granted our forefathers
courage and wisdom, as they trusted in You. So we ask today
that You would inspire us by their example. Where there has
been failure, forgive us; where there has been progress,
confirm; where there has been success, give us humility, and
teach us to follow Your instructions more closely as we enter
the next century.
Give to all those to whom You have entrusted leadership
today a desire to seek Your will and to do it.
So today, we ask Your blessing on President Clinton and his
wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea, and upon Vice
President Gore and his wife, Tipper, and their children.
Give to all our leaders the vision of what You desire
America to become and the wisdom to accomplish it and the
strength to cross the bridges into the 21st century.
We pray also for the Members of the House and the Senate,
for the Supreme Court, and for all who bear responsibility of
leadership in this Nation which is blessed with such ethnic
diversity.
We have not solved all the social problems of our times,
such as drugs and racism. Technology and social engineering
have not solved the basic problems of human greed, pride,
intolerance, and selfishness. We need your insight, we need
your compassion, we need your strength. As both President
Clinton and Senator Dole urged us in the recent Presidential
campaign, may this be a time of coming together to help us
deal with the problems we face.
O Lord, help us to be reconciled first to You and secondly
to each other. May Dr. Martin Luther King's dream finally
come true for all of us. Help us to learn true courtesy to
our fellow countrymen that comes from the One who taught us
that ``whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them.''
Remind us today that You have shown us what is good and
what You require of us--to do justly, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with our God.
We ask that as a people we may humble ourselves before You
and seek Your will for our lives and for this great Nation.
Help us in our Nation to work as never before to strengthen
our families and to give our children hope and a moral
foundation for the future.
So may our desire be to serve You and, in so doing, serve
one another.
This we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Mr. Warner. Thank you, Reverend Graham.
The Pledge of Allegiance
Mr. Warner. The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Eagle
Scout David Morales, Boy Scout Troop 152, Vienna, VA.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Eagle Scout David
Morales.)
Mr. Warner. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my privilege to
present the Children of the Gospel Mass Choir, under the
auspices of the Washington Performing Arts Society.
More than 100 voices from the Washington metropolitan area
make up this unique choir.
Accompanied by the United States Marine Band, the choir
will perform an original composition by its director, Mr.
Rickey Payton, entitled, ``Let's Build a Bridge Across
America.''
(The Children of the Gospel Mass Choir sang ``Let's Build a
Bridge Across America.'')
Mr. Warner. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my distinct
privilege and honor to present the Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, the Honorable Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, who will administer the oath of office to the Vice
President of the United States, Albert Gore, Jr.
ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE TO THE VICE PRESIDENT
Associate Justice Ginsburg. If you are ready to take the
oath, Mr. Vice President, please repeat after me.
Associate Justice of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg
administered to the Vice President-elect the oath of office
prescribed by the Constitution, which he repeated, as
follows:
``I, Albert Gore, Jr., do solemnly swear that I will
support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this
obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose
of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the
duties of the office of which I am about to enter. So help me
God.''
Associate Justice Ginsburg. Every good wish, Mr. Vice
President.
Vice President Gore. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr. Warner. Ladies and gentlemen, participating in today's
program is a person with talent described by music critics as
a catalog of all that is virtuous in singing.
Accompanied by the U.S. Army Chorus and Chorale, please
welcome the world renowned Jessye Norman, who will perform a
medley of American music entitled ``O Freedom.''
Miss Norman.
[Applause.]
(Jessye Norman sang a medley of American music entitled ``O
Freedom.'')
Mr. Warner. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, as
chairman of the Joint Inaugural Committee, it is now my
privilege to introduce my cochairman, Senator Wendell Ford of
Kentucky, who will introduce the Chief Justice of the United
States.
Senator Ford.
Mr. Ford. Thank you, my friend, John Warner. President
Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, Vice President Gore, Mrs. Gore, my
fellow Americans, and my colleagues.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of the President-elect, will
hold the Clinton family Bible. They are joined by their
daughter Chelsea.
It is now my great privilege and high honor to present the
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, the
Honorable William Hobbs Rehnquist, who will administer the
oath of office to the President and President-elect of the
United States, William Jefferson Clinton.
[Applause.]
ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE TO THE PRESIDENT
Mr. Chief Justice Rehnquist. Are you ready to take the
oath, Mr. President?
President Clinton. Yes, I am.
Mr. Chief Justice Rehnquist. Please raise your right hand
and repeat after me.
The Chief Justice of the United States, William Hobbs
Rehnquist, administered to the President-elect the oath of
office prescribed by the Constitution, which he repeated, as
follows:
``I, William Jefferson Clinton, do solemnly swear that I
will faithfully execute the office of President of the United
States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So
help me God.''
[Applause.]
(Herald Trumpets play ``Ruffles and Flourishes'' and ``Hail
to the Chief '', and 21-gun salute.)
Mr. Ford. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United
States of America, William Jefferson Clinton.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
President Clinton. 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 only at the edge of a new century in a
new millennium, but
[[Page S121]]
on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs. A
moment that will define our course and our character for
decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever
young. Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let
us set our sights upon a land of new promise.
The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of
the bold conviction that we are all created equal. It was
extended and preserved in the 19th century, when our Nation
spread across the continent, saved the Union, and abolished
the awful scourge of slavery.
Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto
the world stage to make this the American century.
And what a century it has been. America became the world's
mightiest industrial power, saved the world from tyranny in
two world wars and a long cold war, and time and again
reached out across the globe to millions who, like us, longed
for the blessings of liberty.
Along the way, Americans produced the great middle class
and security in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning
and opened public schools to all; split the atom and explored
the heavens; invented the computer and the microchip; and
deepened the wellspring of justice by making a revolution in
civil rights for African Americans and all minorities, and
extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity, and dignity
to women.
Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and
another time to choose. We began the 19th century with a
choice to spread our Nation from coast to coast. We began the
20th century, with a choice to harness the Industrial
Revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation,
and human decency. Those choices made all the difference. At
the dawn of the 21st century, a free people must now choose
to shape the forces of the Information Age and the global
society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our
people, and, yes, to form a more perfect union.
When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed
less certain than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear
course, to renew our Nation.
In these 4 years, we have been touched by tragedy,
exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement.
America stands alone as the world's indispensable nation.
Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Once
again, we are building stronger families, thriving
communities, better educational opportunities, a cleaner
environment. Problems that once seemed destined to deepen,
now bend to our efforts: our streets are safer and record
numbers or our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to
work.
And once again, we have resolved for our time a great
debate over the role of Government. Today we can declare:
Government is not the problem; and Government is not the
solution. We, the American people, we are the solution.
[Applause.]
Our Founders understood that well, and gave us a democracy
strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to
face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in
each new day.
As times change, so Government must change. We need a new
Government for a new century, a government humble enough not
to try to solve all our problems for us, but strong enough to
give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves. A
Government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does
more with less. Yet where it can stand up for our values and
interests around the world, and where it can give Americans
the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives,
Government should do more, not less. The preeminent mission
of our new Government is to give all Americans an
opportunity--not a guarantee--but a real opportunity to build
better lives.
[Applause.]
Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us.
Our Founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty
and our Union depends upon responsible citizenship.
And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new
century. There is work to do, work that Government alone
cannot do. Teaching children to read. Hiring people off
welfare rolls. Coming out from behind locked doors and
shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and
gangs and crime. Taking time out of our own lives to serve
others.
Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume
personal responsibility--not only for ourselves and our
families, but for our neighbors and our Nation.
[Applause.]
Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of
community for a new century. For any one of us to succeed, we
must succeed as one America.
The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our
future: Will we be one nation, one people, with one common
destiny--or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?
The divide of race has been America's constant curse. And
each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old
prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense
of religious or political convictions, are no different.
[Applause.]
These forces have nearly destroyed our Nation in the past.
They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror, and
they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all
around the world.
These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of
course, those who are hated, robbing both of what they might
become. We cannot--we will not--succumb to the dark impulses
that lurk in the far regions of the soul, everywhere. We
shall overcome them.
[Applause.]
We shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people
who feel at home with one another.
Our rich texture of racial, religious and political
diversity will be a godsend in the 21st century. Great
rewards will come to those who can live together, learn
together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.
As this new era approaches, we can already see its broad
outlines. Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical
province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace
encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren. Scientists now
are decoding the blueprint of human life. Cures for our most
feared illnesses seem close at hand.
The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps;
instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once
were our adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and
culture give us a chance to lift the fortunes and spirits of
people the world over. And for the very first time in all of
history, more people on this planet live under democracy than
dictatorship.
[Applause.]
My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable
century, we may ask, can we hope not just to follow, but even
to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America,
and to avoid the awful bloodshed that stained its legacy? To
that question, every American here and every American in our
land today must answer a resounding ``Yes.''
[Applause.]
This is the heart of our task: With a new vision of
Government, a new sense of responsibility, a new spirit of
community, we will sustain America's journey. The promise we
sought in a new land, we will find again in a land of new
promise.
[Applause.]
In this new land, education will be every citizen's most
prized possession. Our schools will have the highest
standards in the world, igniting the spark of possibility in
the eyes of every girl and every boy, and the doors of higher
education will be open to all. The knowledge and power of the
information age will be within reach, not just of the few but
of every classroom, every library, every child. Parents and
children will have time not only to work, but to read and to
play together, and the plans they make at their kitchen table
will be those of a better home, a better job, a certain
chance to go to college.
Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our
children, because no one will try to shoot them or sell them
drugs anymore. Everyone who can work will work, with today's
permanent underclass part of tomorrow's growing middle class.
New miracles of medicine at last will reach not only those
who can claim care now, but the children and hard-working
families too long denied.
We will stand mighty for peace and for freedom and maintain
a strong defense against terror and destruction. Our children
will sleep free from the threat of nuclear, chemical, or
biological weapons. Ports and airports, farms and factories
will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas. And the
world's greatest democracy will lead a whole world of
democracies.
Our land of new promise will be a Nation that meets its
obligations: A Nation that balances its budget, but never
loses the balance of its values.
[Applause.]
A nation where our grandparents have secure retirement and
health care, and their grandchildren know we have made the
reforms necessary to sustain those benefits for their time.
[Applause.]
A Nation that fortifies the world's most productive
economy, even as it protects the great natural bounty of our
water, air, and majestic land.
And in this land of new promise, we will have reformed our
politics so that the voice of the people will always speak
louder than the din of narrow interests, regaining the
participation and deserving the trust of all Americans.
[Applause.]
Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever
moving forward toward realizing the full potential of all its
citizens. Prosperity and power, yes, they are important, and
we must maintain them, but let us never forget: The greatest
progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet
to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's
wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength
and decency of the human spirit.
[Applause.]
Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate
today spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall,
in words that moved the conscience of a Nation. Like a
prophet of old, he told of his dream that one day America
would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the
law and in the heart. Martin Luther King's dream was the
American dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless
striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been
built on such dreams and labors, and by our dreams and
labors, we will redeem the promise of America in the 21st
century.
[[Page S122]]
To that effort, I pledge all my strength and every power of
my office. I ask the Members of Congress here to join in that
pledge. The American people returned to office a President of
one party and a Congress of another. Surely, they did not do
this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme
partisanship they plainly deplore.
[Applause.]
No, they call on us all instead to be repairers of the
breach and to move on with America's mission.
America demands and deserves big things from us--and
nothing big ever came from being small.
[Applause.]
Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin
when facing the end of his own life. He said, ``It is wrong
to waste the precious gift of time . . . on acrimony and
division.''
Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of
this time, for all of us are on that same journey of our
lives, and our journey, too, will come to an end. But the
journey of our America must go on.
And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there
is much to dare. The demands of our time are great, and they
are different. Let us meet them with faith and courage, with
patience and a grateful, happy heart. Let us shape the hope
of this day into the noblest chapter in our history. Yes, let
us build our bridge--
[Applause.]
a bridge wide enough and strong enough for every American to
cross over to a blessed land of new promise. May those
generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may
never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land into
a new century with the American dream alive for all her
children, with the American promise of a more perfect Union a
reality for all her people, with America's bright flame of
freedom spreading throughout all the world.
From the height of this place and the summit of this
century, let us go forth. May God ``strengthen our hands for
the good work ahead''--and always, always bless our America.
[Applause.]
Mr. Warner. Mr. President, we thank you for that strong and
inspiring message at this very important time in our history.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce
the Immanuel Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra of
Little Rock.
The choir and orchestra, under the direction of Reverend
Lynn Madden, will present ``The Battle Hymn of the
Republic.''
(The Immanuel Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra
sing ``The Battle Hymn of the Republic.'')
Mr. Warner. Thank you for the singing of that most
inspiring of American music.
As he did for his first inauguration in 1993, President
Clinton has asked a distinguished American scholar to compose
a poem for this historic day.
Please welcome writer, editor, poet, Mr. Miller Williams.
[Applause.]
Of History and Hope
We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.
But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands--oh, rarely in a row--
and flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer
allow.
Who were many people coming together.
cannot become one people falling apart.
Who dreamed for every child an even chance.
cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.
Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.
We know what we have done and what we have said,
and how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become--
just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.
All this in the hands of children, eyes already set.
on a land we never can visit--it isn't there yet--
but looking through their eyes, we can see.
what our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.
[Applause.]
Mr. Warner. Santita Jackson will lead the singing of our
National Anthem. She will be accompanied by the Resurrection
Choir, a group composed of singers from the choirs of
American churches tragically destroyed by fire in recent
months.
This choir's performance is a befitting commemoration of
this day on which we honor also Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Before we sing our National Anthem, the Reverend Gardner C.
Taylor will deliver the benediction.
Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the benediction and
remain standing to sing our National Anthem.
Reverend Taylor.
Benediction
Reverend Taylor. Let us lift up our spirits before our
Creator, eternal God, brooding over the days of our years. In
sovereign judgment, and yet with tender mercy, now close to
the end of this solemn but joyous occasion, we lift our
hearts and our hopes before Thee.
We pray for our President, William Jefferson Clinton, that
Thou will give to him ever increasing vision and vigor and
voice, that he might speak tellingly to the American promise
in history.
We pray for the gracious and gallant lady at his side,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, and for their daughter.
We ask Thy blessings upon the Vice President of the United
States and upon his wife, Mrs. Tipper Gore. Grant, we pray,
that he may ever be more a partisan of what is best in our
American tradition.
And now, our God, we hold before Thee this Nation so richly
endowed, so grandly blessed, and yet imperiled, apparently
often, by the very richness of its diversity. Deliver us from
pettiness of heart, from harshness of speech and from
violence of action. Make us worthy of our history, of
patriots' sacrifices and martyrs' blood, in the vanguard of
which stand Lincoln and King, Thy servants Abraham and
Martin. Give us ever a greater dedication and commitment to
the grand defining words of our democracy--liberty, justice,
equality, opportunity.
And now let the words of our mouths, all of our mouths, in
the meditations of our hearts, all of our hearts, be
acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our
Redeemer, and now unto the old, wise God, our Deliverer, be
glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and evermore.
Amen.
Mr. Warner. Now, Miss Santita Jackson.
(The National Anthem was sung by Santita Jackson and the
Resurrection Choir, audience standing.)
[Applause.]
The inaugural ceremonies were concluded at 12:48 p.m.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________