    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [January 20, 2005]
    [Pages 66-69]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Inaugural Address
    January 20, 2005

        Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief
    Justice, President Carter, President Bush,
    President Clinton, Members of the United
    States Congress, 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 a 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 movements and institutions in every nation and
    culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. This is
    not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our
    friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be
    chosen and defended by citizens and sustained by the rule of law and the
    protection of minorities. And when

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    the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may
    reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will
    not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal
    instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own
    freedom, and make their own way.
        The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of
    generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.
    America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed,
    America's influence is considerable and we will use it confidently in
    freedom's cause.
        My most solemn duty is to protect this Nation and its people from
    further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test
    America's resolve and have found it firm. We will persistently clarify
    the choice before every ruler and every nation, the moral choice between
    oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally
    right.
        America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains
    or that women welcome humiliation and servitude or that any human being
    aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in
    other governments by making clear that success in our relations will
    require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in
    human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the
    grudging concessions of dictators. They are secured by free dissent and
    the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice
    without freedom and there can be no human rights without human liberty.
        Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty, though
    this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of
    freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people,
    should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the
    call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the
    existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility
    of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.
        Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world. All who live
    in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore
    your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your
    liberty, we will stand with you.
        Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know:
    America sees you for who you are, the future leaders of your free
    country.
        The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as
    Abraham Lincoln did: ``Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not
    for themselves and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain
    it.''
        The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know:
    To serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this
    journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.
        And all the allies of the United States can know: We honor your
    friendship; we rely on your counsel; and we depend on your help.
    Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The
    concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to
    our enemies' defeat.
        Today I also speak anew to my fellow citizens. From all of you I
    have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have
    granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are
    difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because
    we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this Nation, tens of
    millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions
    more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well, a fire in
    the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power. It burns those who
    fight its progress. And one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach
    the darkest corners of our world.

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        A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause, in
    the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of
    helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of
    fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in
    deaths that honored their whole lives, and we will always honor their
    names and their sacrifice.
        All Americans have witnessed this idealism and some for the first
    time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes.
    You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our
    soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile and evil is real and
    courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your
    wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to
    the wealth of our country but to its character.
        America has need of idealism and courage because we have essential
    work at home, the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving
    toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of
    liberty.
        In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and
    security of economic independence instead of laboring on the edge of
    subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated
    the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the GI bill of rights.
    And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to
    serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the
    promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards
    to our schools and build an ownership society. We will widen the
    ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings, and health
    insurance, preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free
    society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we
    will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and
    make our society more prosperous and just and equal.
        In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on
    private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others and the rule
    of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on
    the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in
    families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our
    national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words
    of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move
    forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true
    that came before, ideals of justice and conduct that are the same
    yesterday, today, and forever.
        In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by
    service and mercy and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not
    mean independence from one another. Our Nation relies on men and women
    who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at
    our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember
    that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the
    habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the
    baggage of bigotry at the same time.
        From the perspective of a single day, including this day of
    dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From
    the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed
    and few: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our
    character bring credit to that cause?
        These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of
    every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth are bound
    to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which
    must be healed to move forward in great purposes, and I will strive in
    good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We
    felt the unity and fellowship of our Nation when freedom came under
    attack, and our response came

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    like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity
    and pride whenever America acts for good and the victims of disaster are
    given hope and the unjust encounter justice and the captives are set
    free.
        We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of
    freedom, not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability--it is
    human choices that move events; not because we consider ourselves a
    chosen nation--God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence
    because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark
    places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order
    of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on
    liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner
    ``Freedom Now,'' they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be
    fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has
    a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.
        When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and
    the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, ``It rang
    as if it meant something.'' In our time, it means something still.
    America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the
    world and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength,
    tested but not weary, we are ready for the greatest achievements in the
    history of freedom.
        May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:59 a.m. at the West Front of the
    Capitol. Prior to his remarks, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
    administered the oath of office. The address was broadcast live on radio
    and television. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
    Spanish language transcript of this address.