And I ask that you
bow your heads:
Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates
in the executive branch of government join me in beseeching that
Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of
the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.
Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong,
and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by
the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall
be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling.
May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who,
under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing
political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved
country and Thy glory. Amen.
My fellow citizens:
The world and we have passed the midway point of a century of
continuing challenge. We sense with all our faculties that forces
of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before
in history.
This fact defines the meaning of this day. We are summoned by this
honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the act of one
citizen swearing his oath of service, in the presence of God. We
are called as a people to give testimony in the sight of the world
to our faith that the future shall belong to the free.
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