First Inaugural Address of Richard Milhous Nixon
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:
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.
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.
This can be such a moment.
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.
In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons on earth.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is our summons to greatness.
I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.
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.
We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its promise real for black as well as for white.
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.
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.
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."
Our crisis today is the reverse.
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.
We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by pision, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment. We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.
To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.
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.
Greatness comes in simple trappings.
The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what pides us, and cement what unites us.
To lower our voices would be a simple thing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws, spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our previous history.
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.
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.
The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.
But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.
Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist the legions of the concerned and the committed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of his own destiny.
Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is truly whole.
The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents; we achieve nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.
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.
No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward at all is to go forward together.
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.
As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go forward together with all mankind.
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.
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.
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.
We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to make no one our enemy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great forces, the hatreds, the fears that pide the world.
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.
I also know the people of the world.
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.
I know America. I know the heart of America is good.
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.
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.
Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:
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.
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.
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.
In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald MacLeish to write:
"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."
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 pisible; 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.
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.
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动乱的幽谷，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。