INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Woodrow Wilson
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1913
***
The election of 1912 produced a Democratic victory over the split
vote for President Taft's Republican ticket and Theodore
Roosevelt's Progressive Party. The Governor of New Jersey and
former Princeton University president was accompanied by President
Taft to the Capitol. The oath of office was administered on the
East Portico by Chief Justice Edward White.
***
There has been a change of government. It began two years ago,
when the House of Representatives became Democratic by a decisive
majority. It has now been completed. The Senate about to assemble
will also be Democratic. The offices of President and Vice-
President have been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the
change mean? That is the question that is uppermost in our minds
to-day. That is the question I am going to try to answer, in
order, if I may, to interpret the occasion.
It means much more than the mere success of a party. The success
of a party means little except when the Nation is using that party
for a large and definite purpose. No one can mistake the purpose
for which the Nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party. It
seeks to use it to interpret a change in its own plans and point
of view.
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