From George Washington to Barack Obama: Inaugural speeches have marked a time in history

By: By Ken Otterbourg | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: January 22, 2009

(This article is part of President Obama: A Commemorative Section of the Winston-Salem Journal)

Through the years, inaugural speeches have been used by presidents to set priorities and rouse the nation into action. And the phrases spoken by the presidents have made their way into our national vocabulary. A sample is below.

But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle.

We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

-- President Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801

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.

-- President Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4, 1933

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.

-- President John F. Kennedy, Jan. 20, 1961

Let us be proud that by our bold, new initiatives, and by our steadfastness for peace with honor, we have made a break-through toward creating in the world what the world has not known before -- a structure of peace that can last, not merely for our time, but for generations to come.

We are embarking here today on an era that presents challenges great as those any nation, or any generation, has ever faced.

We shall answer to God, to history, and to our conscience for the way in which we use these years.

-- President Richard M. Nixon, Jan. 20, 1973

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

-- President Ronald Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981