Jimmy Carter
Inaugural Address
Thursday, January 20, 1977

FOR myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all 
he has done to heal our land.

In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner 
and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss 
Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to changing times and still 
hold to unchanging principles."

Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first 
President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the 
Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless 
admonition from the ancient prophet Micah:

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord 
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk 
humbly with thy God." (Micah 6:8)

This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication 
within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may 
sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.

Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest 
for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the 
founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation. I have no new 
dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old 
dream.

Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both 
spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-definition 
which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a 
special obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed, 
seem invariably to be in our own best interests.

You have given me a great responsibility - to stay close to you, to be 
worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create together a 
new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate 
for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.

Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray 
together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the 
right.

The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in our 
country - and in one another. I believe America can be better. We can 
be even stronger than before.

Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic 
principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own 
government we have no future. We recall in special times when we have 
stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was 
beyond our grasp.

But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to drift. 
We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality 
of life for any person. Our Government must at the same time be both 
competent and compassionate.

We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we are now 
struggling to enhance equality of opportunity. Our commitment to human 
rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved; 
the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be 
enhanced.

We have learned that "more" is not necessarily "better," that even our 
great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer 
all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot afford to do 
everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. 
So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, 
we must simply do our best.

Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And we 
know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to 
demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave 
in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at 
home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to 
our strength.

The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more 
numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding their 
place in the sun - not just for the benefit of their own physical 
condition, but for basic human rights.

The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit, there 
can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on 
this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful 
world that is truly humane.

We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so sufficient 
that it need not be proven in combat - a quiet strength based not 
merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.

We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight our 
wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice - for those are the 
enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.

We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our idealism 
with weakness.

Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom 
elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these 
societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human 
rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world 
which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to 
decency and a threat to the well-being of all people.

The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to 
ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries. We 
pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's 
armaments to those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety. And 
we will move this year a step toward ultimate goal - the elimination of 
all nuclear weapons from this Earth. We urge all other people to join 
us, for success can mean life instead of death.

Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious 
and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that 
when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about 
our Nation:

 - that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for 
humility, mercy, and justice;

 - that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different 
race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built 
unity, with a respect for diversity;

 - that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;

 - that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of 
our society;

 - that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under 
the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;

 - and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own 
Government once again.

I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built 
a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international 
policies which reflect our own most precious values.

These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, 
but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our 
belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.

