尼克松第一次就职演讲中英文[精选五篇]

第一篇：尼克松第一次就职演讲中英文

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969

Senator Dirksen, Mr.Chief Justice, Mr.Vice President, President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow citizens of the world community: 德克森参议员、最高法院首席法官先生、副总统先生、约翰逊总统、汉弗莱副总统、美国同胞们、全世界的公民们

I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment.In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.今天，我请求你们与我共度这一庄严的时刻。当此有条不紊地进行权力交接之际，我们欢庆我们的团结一致，它使我们永享自由。

Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique.But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape decades or centuries.时光飞逝，历史上的每一刻都弥足珍贵，而又独一无二。但有些时刻却十分引人注目，它标志着一个开端，为未来数十年乃至几个世纪确立方针路线。

This can be such a moment.现在可能就是这样一个时刻。

Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, the hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be realized.The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.现在，各种力量正汇聚在一起，使得人类夙愿的最终实现首次成为可能。变动的步伐在不断加快，这使我们得以在有生之年展望那些过去许多世纪才能发生的进步。

In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons on earth.我们不仅在太空开阔了眼界，而且在地球上亦已打开了新的天地。

For the first time, because the people of the world want peace, and the leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on the side of peace.由于各国人民期待和平，各国领导人对战争则满怀忧惧，所以我们第一次跨入了一个和平的时代。Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a nation.Within the lifetime of most people now living, mankind will celebrate that great new year which comes only once in a thousand years--the beginning of the third millennium.从现在再过八年，我们将庆祝美国建国二百周年。在生活于现在的大多数人的有生之年，人类将迎接那个千年一度的伟大新年，这就是第三个千禧年的开端。

What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.我们的国家将走向何方，我们将要生活在怎样的世界里，我们能否按照自己的愿望铸造未来，这都将取决于我们自己的行动和抉择。

The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.This honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world at last out of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.历史所能授予的最为光荣的称号，莫过于“和平缔造者”。这一荣誉在等待着美国。也就是说，历史赋予美国一个机遇，以引导世界最终跃出**的深谷，走向和平的高原，这乃是人类自文明曙光初现以来所一直梦寐以求的事情。

If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for mankind.如果我们获得了成功，后辈子孙在谈到现在在世的这一代人时就会说，我们熟练地把握了时机，为创造一个人类共享安全的世界尽了我们的力量。

This is our summons to greatness.这是召唤我们创立丰功伟绩的号角。

I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.我相信，美国人民准备随时响应这一召唤。

The second third of this century has been a time of proud achievement.We have made enormous strides in science and industry and agriculture.We have shared our wealth more broadly than ever.We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its continued growth.本世纪自1933年以来的三十余年，乃是一个辉煌成就层出不穷的时代，我们在科学、工业和农业各个领域都获得了长足的进步。我们比以往任何时候都更为广泛地分享我们的财富。我们终于学会了如何管理现代经济，以确保其持续增长。

We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its promise real for black as well as for white.我们为自由开拓了新的领域，并且开始实践诺言，使黑人和白人一样同享自由。

We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today.I know America's youth.I believe in them.We can be proud that they are better educated, more committed, more passionately driven by conscience than any generation in our history.在今天青年人的身上，我们看到了明日的希望之光，我了解美国的青年，我也相信他们。同我国历史上任何一代相比，当今的青年受到了更好的教育，更富于献身精神，更强烈地感受到良心的驱使。我们为此而深感自豪。

No people has ever been so close to the achievement of a just and abundant society, or so possessed of the will to achieve it.Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope.我们比任何民族都更接近于建成一个公正而富裕的社会，或者说没有人像我们一样抱有建成这种社会的决心。我们拥有如此强大的力量，因而能够坦率地面对我们的弱点，并满怀希望地设法予以克服。

Standing in this same place a third of a century ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and gripped in fear.He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles: “They concern, thank God, only material things.” 三十余年前，富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福站在这个地方，向饱受经济萧条蹂蹦并深陷惶恐之中的人民发表演说。他在考察国家的困难时说道：“值得庆幸的是，这些困难仅仅只涉及物质方面的事情。”

Our crisis today is the reverse.我们今天的危机却恰好相反。

We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit;reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into raucous discord on earth.我们发现自己在物质上富甲天下，精神上却一贫如洗。我们十分准确地接近了月球，在地球上却陷入吵吵嚷嚷的相互纷争之中。

We are caught in war, wanting peace.We are torn by division, wanting unity.We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment.We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.我们困于战乱，企盼着和平；我们苦于四分五裂，期待着团结统一。我们放眼四周，我们困于战乱，企盼着和平；我们苦于四分五裂，期待着团结统一。

To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.对于这一精神上的危机，我们需要从精神上作出回应。

To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.When we listen to “the better angels of our nature,” we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things--such as goodness, decency, love, kindness.在聆听我们天性中的“主善天使”时，我们发现她们所赞美的是那些质朴和基本的东西，诸如德行、尊严、爱心和善良之类。

Greatness comes in simple trappings.伟大原本来自朴实无华。

The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.我们若要消除导致分裂的因素，加强促进团结的纽带，当务之急乃是一些简单易行的事情。

To lower our voices would be a simple thing.譬如压低嗓门就是一件简单易行的事情。

In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words;from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver;from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds;from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.在这些艰难的岁月里，美国热衷于辞令，随口许诺以致轻诺寡信，言词激愤以致将不满煽动成仇恨；夸夸其谈，故弄玄虚，而不是循循善诱，结果使我们吃尽苦头。

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another--until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.我们彼此之间应停止吵吵闹闹，我们要心平气和地相互对话，这样才能使对方不仅听清我们的声音，而且理解我们的言辞，否则，我们根本就不可能相互学习。

For its part, government will listen.We will strive to listen in new ways--to the voices of quiet anguish, the voices that speak without words, the voices of the heart--to the injured voices, the anxious voices, the voices that have despaired of being heard.就政府一方而言，将倾听一切声音，我们将致力于通过新的途径来倾听各种声音－——倾听默默受苦之声，倾听无言的诉说，倾听发自肺腑的声音，倾听受伤者的悲鸣、焦虑者的呼号以及因无人倾听而陷入绝望的叹息。

Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.Those left behind, we will help to catch up.For all of our people, we will set as our goal the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives secure.对于那些被遗弃的人，我们将尽全力使之加入我们的队伍。对于那些落后的人，我们将帮助他们迎头赶上。对于我国全体人民，我们的目标在于建立良好秩序，以推动社会进步，保障人民安居乐业。

As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build on what has gone before--not turning away from the old, but turning toward the new.尽是空虚无聊的生灵，需要加以充实。我们深知有许多任务需要加以承担，等待着人们去着手完成。

In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws, spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our previous history.在过去的三分之一世纪里，政府所通过的法律，所花费的钱财，以及所发起的项目，均超过以往历史的总和。

In pursuing our goals of full employment, better housing, excellence in education;in rebuilding our cities and improving our rural areas;in protecting our environment and enhancing the quality of life--in all these and more, we will and must press urgently forward.我们要实现充分就业，改善居住条件，达到优质教育的目标；重建城市和改进乡村地区；保护环境，提高生活质量。在所有这一切以及更多的方面，我们将要而且必须励精图治，一往直前。

We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can be transferred from the destruction of war abroad to the urgent needs of our people at home.总有一天，我们用于国外毁灭性战争的财富将会转用于满足国内人民的迫切需要。现在我们就应当为这一天的到来做好准备。

The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.美国梦不会降临于那些沉睡不醒的人们中间。然而，我们正在接近政府单独作为的极限。

Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist the legions of the concerned and the committed.现在的当务之急乃是突破政府的局限，去争取众多利益所关和乐于献身的人们的支持。

What has to be done, has to be done by government and people together or it will not be done at all.The lesson of past agony is that without the people we can do nothing;with the people we can do everything.对于必须完成的事情，当由政府和人民同心协力，方可有成，否则将劳而无功。过去的惨痛经历使我们懂得，离开人民我们就一事无成，与人民在一起，我们就无往而不胜。

To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the energies of our people--enlisted not only in grand enterprises, but more importantly in those small, splendid efforts that make headlines in the neighborhood newspaper instead of the national journal.我们的事业宏伟壮丽，因而我们需要人民的力量。我们调动人民不仅是为了投身于宏图大业，更加重要的是从事琐碎而光彩夺目的工作，这些工作通常不会成为全国性报刊的头条新闻，而只出现于社区性报纸的头版头条。

With these, we can build a great cathedral of the spirit--each of us raising it one stone at a time, as he reaches out to his neighbor, helping, caring, doing.借此我们就能建造一座宏伟的精神殿堂。我们每个人只要向自己的邻人援之以手，帮助和爱护他人，并且努力工作，就在为这座殿堂添砖加瓦。

I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease.I do not call for a life of grim sacrifice.I ask you to join in a high adventure--one as rich as humanity itself, and as exciting as the times we live in.我并不是提倡一种平淡无奇的舒适生活，也无意倡导那种付出严酷牺牲的生活。我不过是呼吁你们投身于一项伟大而奇异的事业。这项事业像我们人类一样丰富多彩，像我们所处的时代一样激动人心。

The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of his own destiny.自由的底蕴在于，我们每个人都要参与铸造自己的命运。

Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is truly whole.一个人如果想拥有完整的自我，就必须投身于一项比他自己更大的事业。

The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents;we achieve nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.获致成功的途径在于运用我们的才智，通过那种激发我们运用才智的精神，我们就能达到崇高的境界。

As we measure what can be done, we shall promise only what we know we can produce, but as we chart our goals we shall be lifted by our dreams.我们在衡量自己能够做些什么时，只能就我们知道可以做到的事情作出承诺；然而，我们在描绘目标时，则应受到自己梦想的激励。

No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not.To go forward at all is to go forward together.一个人只要他的邻人尚未获得自由，也就不能享有完全的自由。向前进，归根结底乃是共同前进。

This means black and white together, as one nation, not two.The laws have caught up with our conscience.What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.这意味着黑人和白人结为一个民族，而不是两个。法律已经与我们的良知步调一致，有待我们去做的乃是使法律条文发挥威力，以最终保证所有人在他人面前享有生而平等的尊严，正如在上帝面前人人享有生而平等的尊严一样。

As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go forward together with all mankind.我们在国内懂得共同前进的同时，也让我们寻求全人类的携手并进吧！

Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown, make it welcome;where peace is fragile, make it strong;where peace is temporary, make it permanent.在尚不知和平为何物的地方，就要让和平受到欢迎；在和平仍然脆弱的地方，就要让和平变得坚实；在和平还短暂易逝的地方，就要让和平永世长存。让我们把这些作为我们的目标吧！

After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation.Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of communication will be open.对抗的时代已经过去，我们正在进入一个谈判的时代。让世界所有的国家都知道，在本届政府任内，对话交流的渠道乃是畅通无阻的。

We seek an open world--open to ideas, open to the exchange of goods and people--a world in which no people, great or small, will live in angry isolation.我们寻求一个开放的世界，一个对思想观念开放，对物资和人员交流开放的世界，在这个世界里，一个民族无论大小，都不会生活于令人愤意不乐的孤立状态。

We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to make no one our enemy.我们不奢望人人都成为我们的朋友，但我们可以努力使任何人都不成为我们的敌人。

Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a peaceful competition--not in conquering territory or extending dominion, but in enriching the life of man.对于那些可能成为对手的人，我们将邀请他们参加一场和平竞赛，目的并不在于征服领土和扩张霸权，而是丰富人类的生活。

As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds together--not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared.在探索宇宙空间的时候，让我们一起走向新的世界——不是走向被征服的新世界，而是共同进行一次新的探险。

With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift up the poor and the hungry.让我们同那些愿意加入这一行列的人共同合作，减少军备负担，加固和平大厦，提高贫穷挨饿的人们的生活水平。

But to all those who would be tempted by weakness, let us leave no doubt that we will be as strong as we need to be for as long as we need to be.但是，对所有那些见软就欺的人来说，让我们不容置疑地表明，我们需要多么强大就会多强大：需要强大多久，就会强大多久。

Over the past twenty years, since I first came to this Capital as a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of the nations of the world.自从我初次当选国会议员来到这座国会大厦，已有二十余年过去了。其间，我出访过世界上大多数国家。

I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great forces, the hatreds, the fears that divide the world.我结识了世界各国的领导人，了解到使世界陷于四分五裂的各种强大势力，各种深仇大恨，各种恐惧心理。

I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged diplomacy.我知道，和于不会单凭愿望就能到来——这需要日复一日，甚至年复一年地进行耐心而持久的外交努力，除此别无他法。

I also know the people of the world.我也了解世界各国人民。

I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the pain of a man wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who has lost her son.I know these have no ideology, no race.我看到流离失所的孩子忍饥挨饿，战争中负伤的男子在饱受痛苦，失去孩子的母亲哀痛欲绝。我知道这些苦难并没有意识形态和种族差别之分。

I know America.I know the heart of America is good.我了解美国。我知道美国人民是心地善良的人民。

I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my country, the deep concern we have for those who suffer, and those who sorrow.我从心底里，从我国人民的心底里，向那些蒙受不幸和痛苦的人们表达我们的深切关怀。

I have taken an oath today in the presence of God and my countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.To that oath I now add this sacred commitment: I shall consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon, to the cause of peace among nations.今天，我在上帝和我国同胞面前宣誓，拥护和捍卫合众国宪法。除了这一誓言，我现在还要补充一项神圣的义务：我将把自己的职责、精力以及我所能使唤的一切智慧，一并奉献给各国之间的和平事业。

Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike: 让强者和弱者都能听到这一信息：

The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but the peace that comes “with healing in its wings”;with compassion for those who have suffered;with understanding for those who have opposed us;with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth to choose their own destiny.我们孜孜以求的和平，不是对他国人民的胜利，这种和平的到来，伴随着对创伤的治疗、对受难者的同情和对反对者的理解，并且能赋予地球上的各民族选择自己命运的机会。

Only a few short weeks ago, we shared the glory of man's first sight of the world as God sees it, as a single sphere reflecting light in the darkness.就在短短几个星期以前，人类像上帝凝视这个世界一样，第一次看到，地球像一个单独的天体，在黑暗中幽幽发光。我们有幸分享了这一光荣。

As the Apollo astronauts flew over the moon's gray surface on Christmas Eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of earth--and in that voice so clear across the lunar distance, we heard them invoke God's blessing on its goodness.圣诞节前夕，“阿波罗”号上的宇航员飞越月球灰色的表面时，他们告诉我们地球是多么美丽。这一声音穿越从月球到地球的漫长距离而仍然清晰可闻，我们从中听到，他们祈求上帝赐福于地球上所有善良的人们。

In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald MacLeish to write: 在那个时刻，他们从月球看到的景象使诗人阿奇博尔德·麦克利什深为感动，不由得写道：

“To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold--brothers who know now they are truly brothers.” “地球这颗小小的蓝色星球，漂游在永寂太空而美不胜收。若要看清它的真实形象，就不窗看到我们亲如兄弟手挽手，我们都是地球的乘客呀！我们真是亲如骨肉！这个闪光于永世寒冷中的可爱地球，就属我们共同所有。” In that moment of surpassing technological triumph, men turned their thoughts toward home and humanity--seeing in that far perspective that man's destiny on earth is not divisible;telling us that however far we reach into the cosmos, our destiny lies not in the stars but on Earth itself, in our own hands, in our own hearts.在那个取得无与伦比的技术胜利的时刻，人们的思绪转向自己的家园和人类自身。从遥远的太空看来，人类在地球上的命运乃是不可分割的；我们明白了无论我们抵达宇宙中多么遥远的地方，我们的命运仍在于地球，而不是别的星球，并且要由我们的行动和意志来决定。

We have endured a long night of the American spirit.But as our eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse the remaining dark.Let us gather the light.我们经历了美国精神晦暗不明的漫漫长夜。然而，当我们的眼睛捕捉到黎明的第一线熹微曙光之际，不必讥咒那尚未散尽的黑暗，让我们集聚光明吧！

Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity.So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness--and, “riders on the earth together,” let us go forward, firm in our faith, steadfast in our purpose, cautious of the dangers;but sustained by our confidence in the will of God and the promise of man.我们的命运所献上的乃是机会的佳酿，而不是绝望的苦酒。让我们满怀喜悦而又无所畏惧地去抓住机会吧！一起乘坐在“地球上的乘客们”，让我们坚定信念，认准目标，谨防危险，凭借对上帝意志和人类希望的信心，大步前进吧！我们都是地球的乘客。

理查德-尼克松 第一次就职演讲

星期一,1969年1月20日

历史的每一个时刻转瞬即逝，它既珍贵又独特。可是，其中某些显然是揭开序幕的时刻，此时，一代先河得以开创，它决定了未来数十年或几个世纪的航向。

现在可能就是这样一个时刻。

现在，各方力量正在汇聚起来，使我们第一次可以期望人类的许多夙愿最终能够实现。

不断加快的变革速度，使我们能在我们这一代期望过去花了几百年才出现的种种进步。

由于开辟了大空的天地，我们在地球上也发现了新的天地。

由于世界人民希望和平，而世界各国领袖害怕战争，因此，目前形势第一次变得有利于和平。

从现在起，再过8年，美国将庆祝建国200周年。在现在大多数人的有生之年，人类将庆祝千载难逢的、辉煌无比的新年——第三个百年盛世的开端。

我们的国家将变成怎样的国家，我们将生活在怎样的世界上，我们要不要按照我们的希望铸造未来，这些都将由我们根据自己的行动和选择来决定。

历史所能赐予我们的最大荣誉，莫过于和平缔造者这一称号。这一荣誉现在正在召唤美国——这是领导世界最终脱离**的幽谷，走向自文明开端以来人类一直梦寐以求的和平高坛的一个机会。

我们若获成功，下几代人在谈及现在在世的我们时会说，正是我们掌握了时机，正是我们协力相助，使普天之下国泰民安。

这是要我们创立宏伟大业的召唤。

我相信，美国人民准备响应这一召唤。

经过一段对抗时期，我们正进入一个谈判时代。

让所有国家都知道，在本届政府任期内，交流通道是敞开的。

我们谋求一个开放的世界——对各种思想开放，对物资和人员的交流开放，在这个世界中，任何民族，不论大小，都不会生活在怏怏不乐的孤立之中。

我们不能指望每个人都成为我们的朋友，可是我们能设法使任何人都不与我们为敌。

我们邀请那些很可能是我们对手的人进行一场和平竞赛——不是要征服领土或扩展版图，而是要丰富人类的生活。

在探索宇宙空间的时候，让我们一起走向新的世界——不是走向被征服的新世界，而是共同进行一次新的探险。

让我们同那些愿意加入这一行列的人共同合作，减少军备负担，加固和平大厦，提高贫穷挨饿的人们的生活水平。

但是，对所有那些见软就欺的人来说，让我们不容置疑地表明，我们需要多么强大就会多强大：需要强大多久，就会强大多久。

自从我作为新当选的国会议员首次来到国会大厦之后的20多年来，我已经出访过世界上大多数国家。

我结识了世界各国的领导人，了解到使世界陷于四分五裂的各种强大势力，各种深仇大恨，各种恐惧心理。

我知道，和于不会单凭愿望就能到来——这需要日复一日，甚至年复一年地进行耐心而持久的外交努力，除此别无他法。

我也了解世界各国人民。

我见到过无家可归的儿童在忍饥挨饿，战争中挂彩负伤的男人在痛苦呻吟，失去孩子的母亲在无限悲伤。我知道，这些并没有意识形态和种族之分。

我了解美国。我了解美国的心是善良的。

我从心底里，从我国人民的心底里，向那些蒙受不幸和痛苦的人们表达我们的深切关怀。

今天，我在上帝和我国同胞面前宣誓，拥护和捍卫合众国宪法。除了这一誓言，我现在还要补充一项神圣的义务：我将把自己的职责、精力以及我所能使唤的一切智慧，一并奉献给各国之间的和平事业。

让强者和弱者都能听到这一信息：

我们企求赢得的和平不是战胜任何一个民族，而是“和平天使”带来的为治愈创伤的和平：是对遭受苦难者予以同情的和平；是对那些反对过我们的人予以谅解的和平；是地球上各族人民都有选择自己命运的机会的和平。

就在几星期以前，人类如同上帝凝望这个世界一样，第一次端视了这个世界，一个在冥冥黑暗中辉映发光的独特的星球。我们分享了这一荣光。

阿波罗号上的字航员在圣诞节前夕飞越月球灰色的表面时，向我们说起地球的美丽——从穿过月距而传来的如此清晰的声音中，我们听到他们在祈祷上帝赐福人间。

在那一时刻，他们从月球上发出的意愿，激励着诗人阿奇博尔德•麦克利什写下了这样的篇章：

“在永恒的宁静中，那渺小、斑斓、美丽的地球在浮动。要真正地观望地球，就得把我们自己都看作是地球的乘客，看作是一群兄弟，他们共处于漫漫的、寒冷的字宙中。仰赖着光明的挚爱——这群兄弟懂得，而今他们是真正的兄弟。”

在那个比技术胜利更有意义的时刻，人们把思绪转向了家乡和人类——他们从那个遥远的视角中发现，地球上人类的命运是不能分开的；他们告诉我们，不管我们在宇宙中走得多远，我们的命运不是在别的星球上，而是在地球上，在我们自己手中，在我们的心头。

我们已经度过了一个反映美国精神的漫漫长夜。可是，当我们瞥见黎明前的第一缕曙光，切莫诅咒那尚未消散的黑暗。让我们迎接光明吧。

我们的命运所赐予的不是绝望的苦酒，而是机会的美餐。因此，让我们不是充满恐惧，而是满怀喜悦地去抓住这个机会吧——“地球的乘客们”，让我们以坚定的信念，朝着稳定的目标，在提防着危险中前进吧！我们对上帝的意志和人类的希望充满了信心，这将使我们持之以恒。

第二篇：尼克松辞职演讲

里查德.尼克松总统辞职演讲

Richard M.Nixon: Resignation Speech Good evening:

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this nation.Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.In all the decisions I have made in my public life I have always tried to do what was best for the nation.Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere，to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort.As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion;that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process, and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served.And there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so.But the interests of the nation must always come before any personal considerations.From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the nation will require.I have never been a quitter.To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.But as President, I must put the interests of America first.America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next two and a half years.But in turning over direction of the Government to Vice President Ford I know, as I told the nation when I nominated him for that office ten months ago, that the leadership of America would be in good hands.In passing this office to the Vice President, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow, and therefore of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all Americans.As he assumes that responsibility he will deserve the help and the support of all of us.As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this nation.To put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people.By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision.I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong--and some were wrong--they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interests of the nation.To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, the many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us in the final analysis have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ.So let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new President succeed for the benefit of all Americans.I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your President for the past five and a half years.These years have been a momentous time in the history of our nation and the world.They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the administration, the Congress and the people.But the challenges ahead are equally great.And they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Congress and the people, working in cooperation with the new Administration.We have ended America's longest war.But in the work of securing a lasting peace in the world, the goals ahead are even more far-reaching and more difficult.We must complete a structure of peace, so that it will be said of this generation--our generation of Americans--by the people of all nations, not only that we ended one war but that we prevented future wars.We have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the People's Republic of China.We must now insure that the one-quarter of the world's people who live in the People's Republic of China will be and remain, not our enemies, but our friends.In the Middle East, 100 million people in the Arab countries, many of whom have considered us their enemy for nearly 20 years, now look on us as their friends.We must continue to build on that friendship so that peace can settle at last over the Middle East and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave.Together with the Soviet Union we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of limiting nuclear arms.But, we must set as our goal, not just limiting, but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons, so that they cannot destroy civilization.And so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world and the people.We have opened a new relation with the Soviet Union.We must continue to develop and expand that new relationship, so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation.Around the world--in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East--there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty, even starvation.We must keep as our goal turning away from production for war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward, in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent life.Here, in America, we are fortunate that most of our people have not only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good, and by the world's standards even abundant lives.We must press on, however, toward a goal not only of more and better jobs but of full opportunity for every American, and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve--prosperity without inflation.For more than a quarter of a century in public life, I have shared in the turbulent history of this evening.I have fought for what I believe in.I have tried, to the best of my ability, to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.Sometimes I have succeeded.And sometimes I have failed.But always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and with the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue in that spirit.I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a Congressman, a Senator, Vice President and President, the cause of peace--not just for America but among all nations--prosperity, justice and opportunity for all of our people.There is one cause above all to which I have been devoted and to which I shall always be devoted for as long as I live.When I first took the oath of office as President five and a half years ago, I made this sacred commitment: to consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations.I've done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge.As a result of these efforts, I am confident that the world is a safer place today, not only for the people of America but for the people of all nations, and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace rather than dying in war.This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the Presidency.This, more than anything, is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the Presidency.To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every American.In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.

第三篇：辞职演讲(尼克松

Resignation Speech

辞职演讲（尼克松）

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this nation.Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matters that I believe affected the national interest.And all the decisions I have made in my public life I have always tried to do what was best for the nation.Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort.As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process, and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served.And there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so.But the interests of the nation must always come before any personal considerations.From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the nation will require.I have never been a quitter.To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body.But as President I must put the interests of America first.America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.注释：

注释：

Watergate水门事件agonyn.苦恼，极大的痛苦

Unanimously全体一致地,无异议地

Quittern.轻易停止的人, 懦夫

Vindicationn.辩护, 辩明, 拥护

中文对照

(晚上好！)这是我第37次在这里对你们讲话。我曾在这里作过一些对我们这个国家有影响的决定。每次我都与你们讨论一些有关影响国民利益之事。我所做出的这些决定，都

力图为国家最高利益服务。

经过漫长而艰难的水门事件，我感觉到，我不得不辞职，尽力尽快结束我的总统工作。在过去几年里，很明显，我在国会已不再拥有强大的政治基础。只要这种基础还存在，我便会坚决澄清这件事。但现在再做努力已非必要，这样只会使程序更加艰难，也是对继任者的刁难。

由于已经失去政治基础，我没必要拖延这件事。

不管我个人的痛苦有多大，我也宁愿结束它，我家人也这样黯然催促我。但是，国家利益总是要高于个人利益，通过我与国会及其他领导的商议，由于水门事件后，我已经失去了国会的支持，我不得不做出这个艰难的决定，市民也有这个要求，国家利益也要求我这么做。我从来就不是一个半途而废的人。

在我到任之前便离任，我感到浑身的不自在。但作为总统应把国家利益放在首位。美国需要一位全心全意的总统和全心全意国会，特别是现在我们处于国内外的各种困难时期。

继续几个月前的个人辩护将占去总统和国会几乎所有的时间，而这时我们应该做的却是致力于世界和平及无通货膨胀的国家繁荣。

因此，我决定明天中午正式辞去总统职务，副总统福特将同时在这里宣誓就职。

第四篇：美国总统乔治华盛顿第一次就职演讲

美国总统乔治华盛顿第一次就职演讲

乔治·华盛顿，美国开国总统，由于他扮演了美国独立战争和建国中最重要的角色，华盛顿通常被称为美国国父。学者们则将他和亚伯拉罕·林肯并列为美国历史上最伟大的总统。

Nothing filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.在人生沉浮中，没有一件事能比你们于本月14日送达的通知更使我焦虑不安。一方面，国家召唤我出任此职，对于她的召唤，我永远只能肃然敬从；而隐退是我以挚爱心情、满腔希望和坚定的决心选择的暮年归宿，由于爱好和习惯，时感体力不济，愈觉隐退之必要和可贵。且时光流逝，健康渐衰。

On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who(inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration)ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect, my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me,and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.另一方面，国家召唤我担负的责任如此重大和艰巨，足以使国内最有才智和经验的人度德量力；而我天资愚钝，又无民政管理的实践，理应倍觉自己能力之不足，因而必然感到难以肩此重任。怀着这种矛盾心情，我唯一敢断言的是，通过正确估计可能产生影响的各种情况来克尽吾职，乃是我忠贞不渝的努力目标。我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在执行这项任务时因陶醉于往事。或因由衷感激公民们对我的高度信赖，因而受到过多影响，以致在处理从未经历过的大事时，忽视了自己的无能和消极。我的错误将会由于使我误人歧途的各种动机而减轻，而大家在评判错误的后果时，也会适当包涵产生这些动机的偏见。

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.既然这就是我在遵奉公众召唤就任现职时的感想，那么，在此宣誓就职之际，如不热忱地祈求全能的上帝就极其失当。因为上帝统治着宇宙，主宰着各国政府，它的神助能弥补人类的任何不足。愿上帝赐福，保佑一个为美国人民的自由和幸福而组成的政府，保佑它为这些基本目标而做出奉献。保佑政府的各项行政措施在我负责之下都能成功地发挥作用。

In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow citizens at large less than either.No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.在向公众利益和私人利益的伟大缔造者献上这份崇敬时，我保证这不仅表达了我自己的情感，这些话也同样表达了各位和广大公民的心意。没有人能比美国更坚定不移地承认和崇拜掌管人间事务的上帝。他们在迈向独立国家的进程中，似乎每走一步都有某种天佑的迹象；他们在刚刚完成的联邦政府体制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔诚的感恩而得到某种回报，如果不是谦卑地期待着过去有所预示的赐福的到来，那么，通过众多截然不同的集团的冷静思考和自愿赞同来完成改革，这种方式是不能与大多数政府的组建方式同日而语的。

You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President, “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given.It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them.在目前转折关头，我产生这些想法确实是深有所感而不能自已。我相信大家会和我怀有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一个新生的自由政府别无他法能一开始就事事顺利。根据设立行政部门的条款，总统有责任对你们提出建议。如衡量权宜必要的判断之类的思路。但在目前与各位见面的这个场合，恕我不能进一步讨论这个问题，而只是提一下伟大的宪法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它规定了各位的权限，提出了各位应该注意的目标。在这样的场合，更恰当、也更能反映我内心激情的做法。不是提出具体措施，而是称颂将要规划和采纳这些措施的当选者的才能、正直和爱国心。

In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so ,on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness;between duty and advantage;between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity;since we ought to be no a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained;and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted on the hands of the American people.我从这些高贵品格中看到了最可靠的保证：其一，任何地方偏见或地方感情，任何意见分歧或党派敌视，都不能使我们偏离全局观念和公平观点，即必须维护这个由不同地区和不同利益所组成的大联合；因为，其二，我国政策将会以纯洁而坚定的个人道德原则为基础，而自由政府将会以那赢得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特点而显示其优越性。我对国家的一片热爱之心激励着我满怀喜悦地展望这幅远景，因为根据自然界的构成和发展趋势，在美德与幸福之间，有着密不可分的统一；责任与利益之间，恪守诚实宽厚的政策与获得社会繁荣幸福的硕果之间，因为我们应该同样相信，上帝亲自规定了永恒的秩序和权利法则，它决不可能对无视这些法则的国家仁慈地加以赞许；因为人们理所当然地、满怀觉悟地，也许是最后一次把维护神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命运，系于美国人所遵命进行的实验上。

第五篇：克林顿第一次就职演讲(英语)

President Bill Clinton:

Thank you.I am honored to share the podium with my Senator, though I think I should be introducing her.I’m proud of her and so grateful to the people of New York that the best public servant in our family is still on the job and grateful to all of you, especially my friends from Arkansas, for the chance you gave us to serve our country in the White House.I am also honored to share this night with President Carter, who has inspired the world with his work for peace, democracy, and human rights.And with Al Gore, my friend and partner for eight years, who played such a large role in building the prosperity and progress that brought America into the 21st century, who showed incredible grace and patriotism under pressure, and who is the living embodiment that every vote counts—and must be counted in every state in America.Tonight I speak as a citizen, returning to the role I have played for most of my life as a foot soldier in the fight for our future, as we nominate a true New England patriot for president.The state that gave us John Adams and John Kennedy has now given us John Kerry, a good man, a great senator, a visionary leader.We are constantly told America is deeply divided.But all Americans value freedom, faith, and family.We all honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.We all want good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets, a clean environment.We all want our children to grow up in a secure America leading the world toward a peaceful future.Our differences are in how we can best achieve these things, in a time of unprecedented change.Therefore, we Democrats will bring the American people a positive campaign, arguing not who’s good and who’s bad, but what is the best way to build the safe, prosperous world our children deserve.The 21st century is marked by serious security threats, serious economic challenges, and serious problems like global warming and the AIDS epidemic.But it is also full of enormous opportunities—to create millions of high paying jobs in clean energy, and biotechnology;to restore the manufacturing base and reap the benefits of the global economy through our diversity and our commitment to decent labor and environmental standards everywhere;and to create a world where we can celebrate our religious and racial differences, because our common humanity matters more.To build that kind of world we must make the right choices;and we must have a president who will lead the way.Democrats and Republicans have very different and honestly held ideas on that choices we should make, rooted in fundamentally different views of how we should meet our common challenges at home and how we should play our role in the world.Democrats want to build an America of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities and more global cooperation, acting alone only when we must.We think the role of government is to give people the tools and conditions to make the most of their lives.Republicans believe in an America run by the right people, their people, in a world in which we act unilaterally when we can, and cooperate when we have to.They think the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their political, economic, and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on matters like health care and retirement security.Since most Americans are not that far to the right, they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking in strength and values.In other words, they need a divided America.But Americans long to be united.After 9/11, we all wanted to be one nation, strong in the fight against terror.The president had a great opportunity to bring us together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in common cause against terror.Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.Now they are working to develop two new nuclear weapons which they say we might use first.At home, the President and the Republican Congress have made equally fateful choices indeed.For the first time ever when America was on a war footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top one percent.I’m in that group now for the first time in my life.When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty mean to me.When I left and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them.At first I thought I should send them a thank you note—until I realized they were sending you the bill.They protected my tax cuts while: · Withholding promised funding for the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving over 2 million children behind · Cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of job training · 100,000 working families out of child care assistance · 300,000 poor children out of after school programs · Raising out of pocket healthcare costs to veterans

· Weakening or reversing important environmental advances for clean air and the preservation of our forests.Everyone had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans, who wanted to do their part but were asked only to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts.If you agree with these choices, you should vote to return them to the White House and Congress.If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats.In this year’s budget, the White House wants to cut off federal funding for 88,000 uniformed police, including more than 700 on the New York City police force who put their lives on the line on 9/11.As gang violence is rising and we look for terrorists in our midst, Congress and the President are also about to allow the ten-year-old ban on assault weapons to expire.Our crime policy was to put more police on the streets and take assault weapons off the streets.It brought eight years of declining crime and violence.Their policy is the reverse, they’re taking police off the streets and putting assault weapons back on the streets.If you agree with their choices, vote to continue them.If not, join John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats in making America safer, smarter, and stronger.On Homeland Security, Democrats tried to double the number of containers at ports and airports checked for Weapons of Mass Destruction.The one billion dollar cost would have been paid for by reducing the tax cut of 200,000 millionaires by five thousand dollars each.Almost all 200,000 of us would have been glad to pay 5,000 dollars to make the nearly 300 million Americans safer—but the measure failed because the White House and the Republican leadership in the House decided my tax cut was more important-If you agree with that choice, re-elect them.If not, give John Kerry and John Edwards a chance.These policies have turned the projected 5.8 trillion dollar surplus we left—enough to pay for the baby boomers retirement—into a projected debt of nearly 5 trillion dollars, with a 400 plus billion dollar deficit this year and for years to come.How do they pay for it? First by taking the monthly surplus in Social Security payments and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to cover my tax cut.But it’s not enough.They are borrowing the rest from foreign governments, mostly Japan and China.Sure, they’re competing with us for good jobs but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? If you think it’s good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them.If not, John Kerry’s your man.We Americans must choose for President one of two strong men who both love our country, but who have very different worldviews: Democrats favor shared responsibility, shared opportunity, and more global cooperation.Republicans favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action.I think we’re right for two reasons: First, America works better when all people have a chance to live their dreams.Second, we live in an interdependent world in which we can’t kill, jail, or occupy all our potential adversaries, so we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists.We tried it their way for twelve years, our way for eight, and then their way for four more.By the only test that matters, whether people were better off when we finished than when we started, our way works better—it produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes, and 100 times as many people moving out of poverty into the middle class.It produced more health care, the largest increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership, a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized defense force, strong efforts against terror, and an America respected as a world leader for peace, security and prosperity.More importantly, we have great new champions in John Kerry and John Edwards.Two good men with wonderful wives—Teresa a generous and wise woman who understands the world we are trying to shape.And Elizabeth, a lawyer and mother who understands the lives we are all trying to lift.Here is what I know about John Kerry.During the Vietnam War, many young men—including the current president, the vice president and me—could have gone to Vietnam but didn’t.John Kerry came from a privileged background and could have avoided it too.Instead he said, send me.When they sent those swift-boats up the river in Vietnam, and told them their job was to draw hostile fire—to show the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight—John Kerry said, send me.When it was time to heal the wounds of war and normalize relations with Vietnam—and to demand an accounting of the POWs and MIAs we lost there—John Kerry said, send me.When we needed someone to push the cause of inner-city kids struggling to avoid a life of crime, or to bring the benefits of high technology to ordinary Americans, or to clean the environment in a way that creates jobs, or to give small businesses a better chance to make it, John Kerry said send me.Tonight my friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry’s story and promoting his plans.Let every person in this hall and all across America say to him what he has always said to America: Send Me.The bravery that the men who fought by his side saw in battle I’ve seen in the political arena.When I was President, John Kerry showed courage and conviction on crime, on welfare reform, on balancing the budget at a time when those priorities were not exactly a way to win a popularity contest in our party.He took tough positions on tough problems.John Kerry knows who he is and where he’s going.He has the experience, the character, the ideas and the values to be a great President.In a time of change he has two other important qualities: his insatiable curiosity to understand the forces shaping our lives, and a willingness to hear the views even of those who disagree with him.Therefore his choices will be full of both conviction and common sense.He proved that when he picked a tremendous partner in John Edwards.Everybody talks about John Edwards’ energy, intellect, and charisma.The important thing is how he has used his talents to improve the lives of people who—like John himself—had to work hard for all they’ve got.He has always championed the cause of people too often left out or left behind.And that’s what he’ll do as our Vice President.Their opponents will tell you to be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards, because they won’t stand up to the terrorists—don’t you believe it.Strength and wisdom are not conflicting values—they go hand in hand.John Kerry has both.His first priority will be keeping America safe.Remember the scripture: Be Not Afraid.John Kerry and John Edwards, have good ideas: · To make this economy work again for middle-class Americans;· To restore fiscal responsibility;

· To save Social Security;to make healthcare more affordable and college more available;· To free us from dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs in clean energy;· To rally the world to win the war on terror and to make more friends and fewer terrorists.At every turning point in our history we the people have chosen unity over division, heeding our founders’ call to America’s eternal mission: to form a more perfect union, to widen the circle of opportunity, deepen the reach of freedom, and strengthen the bonds of community.It happened because we made the right choices.In the early days of the republic, America was at a crossroads much like it is today, deeply divided over whether or not to build a real nation with a national economy, and a national legal system.We chose a more perfect union.In the Civil War, America was at a crossroads, divided over whether to save the union and end slavery—we chose a more perfect union.In the 1960s, America was at a crossroads, divided again over civil rights and women’s rights.Again, we chose a more perfect union.As I said in 1992, we’re all in this together;we have an obligation both to work hard and to help our fellow citizens, both to fight terror and to build a world with more cooperation and less terror.Now again, it is time to choose.Since we’re all in the same boat, let us chose as the captain of our ship a brave good man who knows how to steer a vessel though troubled waters to the calm seas and clear skies of our more perfect union.We know our mission.Let us join as one and say in a loud, clear voice: Send John Kerry.