    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [January 20, 1997]
    [Pages 43-46]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Inaugural Address
    January 20, 1997

        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 on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs, a moment that
    will define our course and our character for decades to comes. 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

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    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 a 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 of 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. 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, 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.
        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. 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 conviction
    are no different. 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. And we shall replace them

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    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.
        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!''
    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. 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 play
    together. And the plans they make at their kitchen table will be those
    of a better home, a better job, the 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 under class
    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 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, 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, 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.
        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.
        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.
        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

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    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. No, they call on us 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.
    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, 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.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. at the West Front of the
    Capitol. Prior to the address, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
    administered the oath of office.