After Barack Obama takes the oath of office at his inauguration Monday, he will join the ranks of 16 other US presidents who have delivered second inaugural addresses. These second speeches usually include the triumphs and trials of a president's first term, as well as his vision for the next four years. Among them are the shortest such address (by George Washington), Lincoln's premonition of the end of the Civil War, and George W. Bush's "freedom" speech.
Here are highlights from 10 previous second inaugural addresses, culled from the records of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which keeps records of speeches, details of the ceremonies, and historical moments.
George Washington
On March 4, 1703, George Washington set the record for shortest second inaugural address.
Standing in the Senate Chamber of the Philadelphia Congress Hall, dressed in a black velvet suit, silk stockings, and diamond knee buckles, Washington delivered his 135-word speech:
"Fellow Citizens:
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony."
Although he set the precedent for two-term limits, future presidents did not follow his example for pithy second inaugural addresses.
Thomas Jefferson
In his second inaugural address, delivered inside the US Capitol on March 4, 1805, Thomas Jefferson touted some of his first-term accomplishments, including the Louisiana Purchase and lowering taxes while reducing the debt.
?In giving these outlines, I do not mean, fellow citizens, to arrogate to myself the merit of the measures,? he said.
Jefferson then took the time to berate the press for printing scandalous stories about his alleged affair with his slave Sally Hemings.
?During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare,? he said.
Though disturbed by the slanderous nature of the press, the author of the Declaration of Independence knew that a free press was an important tool for a democracy.
?These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety. They might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved to and provided by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defamation, but public duties more urgent press on the time of public servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their punishment in the public indignation.?
The scurrilous press may have been right: 1998 DNA tests showed that Ms. Hemings' descendants did have genetic material from a Jefferson male.
James Madison
The first wartime president to give a second inaugural address, James Madison took his oath of office on March 4, 1813, in the throes of the War of 1812.
The British had seized American cargo ships and imprisoned the sailors, so Madison responded by asking Congress to declare war on June 1, 1812. His warmongering inaugural speech berated the British for their tactics as he tried to galvanize the young nation.
?As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed. The war has been waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed,? he said.
?How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the enemy!?
Madison gave his speech in the hall of the House of Representatives in the US Capitol, which the British would burn down, along with the Executive Mansion, more than a year later.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln set the stage for rebuilding the Union in his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. Congress had just passed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, and the Confederate Army was nearing its decision to surrender.
For a nation fragile from almost four years of fighting, Lincoln spoke of a cautious vision for his second term and bringing an end to the Civil War.
?With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured,? he said.
That year, African-Americans participated in the inaugural parade for the first time.
And just more than a month before his assassination on April 14, he spoke of forgiveness (in these words now inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial):
?With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation?s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.?
Woodrow Wilson
Reelected using the slogan ?he kept us out of war,? Woodrow Wilson used his second inaugural address on March 5, 1917, to prepare the nation for entering World War I.
?The currents of our thoughts as well as the currents of our trade run quick at all seasons back and forth between us and them,? he said. ?The war inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics and our social action. To be indifferent to it, or independent of it, was out of the question.?
Less than a month after his inauguration, on April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany.
Since the real inauguration day fell on a Sunday, Wilson was the first president to be sworn in privately the day before the public ceremony.
The event was also a historical one for women and first ladies. Edith Galt Wilson, the president's second wife, was the first first lady to travel with the president both to and from the ceremony at the Capitol. It also marked the first time women participated in the inaugural parade.
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt?s second inauguration was the first to occur in January. The 20th Amendment changed the inauguration date from March 4 to Jan. 20.
In 1937, Jan. 20 was a cold day with heavy rain. Roosevelt delivered his address from the east portico of the US Capitol.
In his speech, he described the dismal state many Americans faced during the Great Depression.
?It is not in despair that I paint you that picture,? he said. ?I paint it for you in hope ? because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country?s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Roosevelt said that the country's progression out of the depression was obvious ? his New Deal programs ignited ongoing recovery efforts. But he also addressed his "selfish" critics, bankers and businessmen, and warned that ?such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster.? Thus, he laid foundation for many of America's modern-day social welfare programs.
?I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.?
Roosevelt went on to set two other inaugural records: swearing in for third and fourth terms. His fourth inauguration in 1945 was a simple affair with no official celebrations and no parade, because of gasoline rationing and a lumber shortage.
Dwight Eisenhower
On Jan. 21, 1957, Dwight Eisenhower used his second inaugural address not only to extol the nation?s economic prosperity, but also to warn against the rise of communism.
?In our nation work and wealth abound,? he said from a podium at the US Capitol. ?Our population grows. Commerce crowds our rivers and rails, our skies, harbors, and highways. Our soil is fertile, our agriculture productive. The air rings with the song of our industry ? rolling mills and blast furnaces, dynamos, dams, and assembly lines ? the chorus of America the bountiful.?
The World War II five-star general committed his second term to defending the world from communism, cautioning Americans about the impending escalation of the cold war.
?The designs of that power, dark in purpose, are clear in practice,? he said. ?It strives to seal forever the fate of those it has enslaved. It strives to break the ties that unite the free. And it strives to capture ? to exploit for its own greater power ? all forces of change in the world, especially the needs of the hungry and the hopes of the oppressed.?
Because Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday, Chief Justice Earl Warren swore in Eisenhower that day in the White House East Room and the public ceremony was held the next day.
Richard Nixon
A week after Richard Nixon was sworn in for his second term, he signed the final peace agreement to end the Vietnam War.
?As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace in the world,? he said during his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1973. ?The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace??
Nixon told the nation about his vision for a new role in America?s foreign relations: The US would not isolate itself from world affairs, but it would no longer be the only nation defending freedom.
?The time has passed when America will make every other nation?s conflict our own, or make every other nation?s future our responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs,? he said.
There was work to be done at home, Nixon said, to bridge the divisions that came about during the Vietnam War and to reduce the role of the federal government.
?That is why today I offer no promise of a purely governmental solution for every problem,? he said. ?We have lived too long with that false promise. In trusting too much in government, we have asked of it more than it can deliver. This leads only to inflated expectations, to reduced individual effort, and to a disappointment and frustration that erode confidence both in what government can do and in what people can do.?
Almost halfway into his second term, amid the fallout of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan?s second inaugural address was the 50th inaugural ceremony in the US, and the first to take place in the rotunda of the US Capitol. Freezing temperatures (7 degrees F, with a bitter wind chill) led outside activities to be canceled.
He had to adjust his speech to match the occasion:
?History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy ? or we would have been standing at the steps if it hadn?t gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of our democracy.?
During his speech, Reagan spelled out goals for his second term: decreasing the role of the federal government and reducing the threat of nuclear weapons.
He announced the beginning of what became his ?star wars? program, a space missile defense system.
?I have approved a research program to find, if we can, a security shield that would destroy nuclear missiles before they reach their target,? he said. ?It wouldn?t kill people, it would destroy weapons. It wouldn?t militarize space, it would help demilitarize the arsenals of Earth. It would render nuclear weapons obsolete. We will meet with the Soviets, hoping that we can agree on a way to rid the world of the threat of nuclear destruction.?
George W. Bush
George W. Bush told his speechwriter that he wanted his second inaugural address to be his ?freedom? speech. The Jan. 20, 2005, speech included the words "freedom," "free," and "liberty" a total of 49 times.
Mr. Bush entered his second term with the lowest approval rating since Richard Nixon, and, standing on the largest inaugural platform ever constructed, he used his speech to defend the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
?Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty ? although this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt,? he said. ?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.?
In his speech, Bush promised democratic reformers that, during his second term, the US would support the fight against oppression. He asked Americans for patience as he performed the ?hard task of securing America.?
?As hope kindles hope, millions more will find it,? he said. ?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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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/inauguration-2013-10-highlights-previous-second-term-addresses-152018469.html
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