Inaugural Addresses: Eisenhower's First Inauguration
Probably no President had ever been as well-received into office as General Dwight Eisenhower. Prior to the 1952 election, both parties had head-hunted him as their candidate. Harry Truman had even offered to give up the top spot on the Democratic ticket to Ike. Eisenhower had never held political office before and much like another popular General (Zachary Taylor), at first people weren't even sure what party he supported. Eisenhower had led the US Army and the armies of all of the allied nations in Europe through the difficult battle with the Axis powers. He done so with a new style of generalship; not an autocratic authoritarian "my way or the highway" style, but rather a more collaborative approach as was required to meld a series of conflicting national interests and the great egos they brought with them, into one united and strong fighting unit. He was more like a benevolent CEO than an iron-fisted commander. His style worked and Americans loved him for it. They liked Ike so much that in 1952 they elected him president.
Eisenhower's first inauguration was held on January 20, 1953, at the east portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Eisenhower placed his hand upon on two Bibles when he recited the oath. One was the Bible used by George Washington in 1789, opened to II Chronicles 7:14 ("If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.") The second, his own personal "West Point Bible," was opened to Psalm 33:12 ("Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.") Before delivering his inaugural address, Eisenhower offered the following prayer:
"My friends, before I begin the expression of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. 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."
He then began his inaugural address, which was 2,459 words in length. He began by noting that the midway point of the century had passed and observed that "We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history." He acknowledged that thus far, the 20th century had been a time of great conflict. For Americans, he said, "it has been a time of recurring trial. We have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man's history. Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne, to the shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea." He posed the following question:
"How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light? Are we nearing the light—a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?"
Eisenhower stressed the importance of this question, saying, "Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves all humankind." He said that it was a time when "man's power to achieve good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest fears of all ages. We can turn rivers in their courses, level mountains to the plains. Oceans and land and sky are avenues for our colossal commerce. Disease diminishes and life lengthens Yet the promise of this life is imperiled by the very genius that has made it possible. Nations amass wealth. Labor sweats to create—and turns out devices to level not only mountains but also cities. Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet."
Eisenhower said that it was an important time for Americans to turn to their faith, which "defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight." He explained how faith made the nation stronger and truer to its principles, while the nation's enemies (presumably the communists) "know no god but force, no devotion but its use. They tutor men in treason. They feed upon the hunger of others. Whatever defies them, they torture, especially the truth." He saw this divergence in faith as at the heart of the conflict facing the world. He said "Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark." He also saw faith as a unifying force in world. He said:
"The faith we hold belongs not to us alone but to the free of all the world. This common bond binds the grower of rice in Burma and the planter of wheat in Iowa, the shepherd in southern Italy and the mountaineer in the Andes. It confers a common dignity upon the French soldier who dies in Indo-China, the British soldier killed in Malaya, the American life given in Korea. We know, beyond this, that we are linked to all free peoples not merely by a noble idea but by a simple need. No free people can for long cling to any privilege or enjoy any safety in economic solitude."
Eisenhower pledged that, "In pleading our just cause before the bar of history and in pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain fixed principles." He listed those principles:
"(1) Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression and promote the conditions of peace... (2) Realizing that common sense and common decency alike dictate the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains. (3) Knowing that only a United States that is strong and immensely productive can help defend freedom in our world, we view our Nation's strength and security as a trust upon which rests the hope of free men everywhere. It is the firm duty of each of our free citizens and of every free citizen everywhere to place the cause of his country before the comfort, the convenience of himself. (4) Honoring the identity and the special heritage of each nation in the world, we shall never use our strength to try to impress upon another people our own cherished political and economic institutions. (5) Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them to assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just burdens in the common defense of freedom. (6) Recognizing economic health as an indispensable basis of military strength and the free world's peace, we shall strive to foster everywhere, and to practice ourselves, policies that encourage productivity and profitable trade. For the impoverishment of any single people in the world means danger to the well-being of all other peoples. (7) Appreciating that economic need, military security and political wisdom combine to suggest regional groupings of free peoples, we hope, within the framework of the United Nations, to help strengthen such special bonds the world over. The nature of these ties must vary with the different problems of different areas...(8) Conceiving the defense of freedom, like freedom itself, to be one and indivisible, we hold all continents and peoples in equal regard and honor. We reject any insinuation that one race or another, one people or another, is in any sense inferior or expendable. (9) Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever cease."
Eisenhower said that by adherence to these principles, "an earth of peace may become not a vision but a fact." He said that "history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." He said that both "individually and as a Nation,", Americans would have to "accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." He concluded by saying:
"The peace we seek, then, is nothing less than the practice and fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves and in our dealings with others. This signifies more than the stilling of guns, easing the sorrow of war. More than escape from death, it is a way of life. More than a haven for the weary, it is a hope for the brave. This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial. This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God."
A two and one-half hour inaugural parade was held and witnessed by an estimated 1 million persons, of whom 60,000 were seated in the grandstand. About 22,000 service men and women and 5,000 civilians were in the parade, which included 50 state and organization floats, 65 musical units, 350 horses, 3 elephants, an Alaskan dog team, and the 280-millimeter atomic cannon.
Eisenhower's first inauguration was held on January 20, 1953, at the east portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Eisenhower placed his hand upon on two Bibles when he recited the oath. One was the Bible used by George Washington in 1789, opened to II Chronicles 7:14 ("If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.") The second, his own personal "West Point Bible," was opened to Psalm 33:12 ("Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.") Before delivering his inaugural address, Eisenhower offered the following prayer:
"My friends, before I begin the expression of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. 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."
He then began his inaugural address, which was 2,459 words in length. He began by noting that the midway point of the century had passed and observed that "We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history." He acknowledged that thus far, the 20th century had been a time of great conflict. For Americans, he said, "it has been a time of recurring trial. We have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man's history. Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne, to the shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea." He posed the following question:
"How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light? Are we nearing the light—a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?"
Eisenhower stressed the importance of this question, saying, "Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves all humankind." He said that it was a time when "man's power to achieve good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest fears of all ages. We can turn rivers in their courses, level mountains to the plains. Oceans and land and sky are avenues for our colossal commerce. Disease diminishes and life lengthens Yet the promise of this life is imperiled by the very genius that has made it possible. Nations amass wealth. Labor sweats to create—and turns out devices to level not only mountains but also cities. Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet."
Eisenhower said that it was an important time for Americans to turn to their faith, which "defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight." He explained how faith made the nation stronger and truer to its principles, while the nation's enemies (presumably the communists) "know no god but force, no devotion but its use. They tutor men in treason. They feed upon the hunger of others. Whatever defies them, they torture, especially the truth." He saw this divergence in faith as at the heart of the conflict facing the world. He said "Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark." He also saw faith as a unifying force in world. He said:
"The faith we hold belongs not to us alone but to the free of all the world. This common bond binds the grower of rice in Burma and the planter of wheat in Iowa, the shepherd in southern Italy and the mountaineer in the Andes. It confers a common dignity upon the French soldier who dies in Indo-China, the British soldier killed in Malaya, the American life given in Korea. We know, beyond this, that we are linked to all free peoples not merely by a noble idea but by a simple need. No free people can for long cling to any privilege or enjoy any safety in economic solitude."
Eisenhower pledged that, "In pleading our just cause before the bar of history and in pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain fixed principles." He listed those principles:
"(1) Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression and promote the conditions of peace... (2) Realizing that common sense and common decency alike dictate the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains. (3) Knowing that only a United States that is strong and immensely productive can help defend freedom in our world, we view our Nation's strength and security as a trust upon which rests the hope of free men everywhere. It is the firm duty of each of our free citizens and of every free citizen everywhere to place the cause of his country before the comfort, the convenience of himself. (4) Honoring the identity and the special heritage of each nation in the world, we shall never use our strength to try to impress upon another people our own cherished political and economic institutions. (5) Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them to assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just burdens in the common defense of freedom. (6) Recognizing economic health as an indispensable basis of military strength and the free world's peace, we shall strive to foster everywhere, and to practice ourselves, policies that encourage productivity and profitable trade. For the impoverishment of any single people in the world means danger to the well-being of all other peoples. (7) Appreciating that economic need, military security and political wisdom combine to suggest regional groupings of free peoples, we hope, within the framework of the United Nations, to help strengthen such special bonds the world over. The nature of these ties must vary with the different problems of different areas...(8) Conceiving the defense of freedom, like freedom itself, to be one and indivisible, we hold all continents and peoples in equal regard and honor. We reject any insinuation that one race or another, one people or another, is in any sense inferior or expendable. (9) Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever cease."
Eisenhower said that by adherence to these principles, "an earth of peace may become not a vision but a fact." He said that "history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." He said that both "individually and as a Nation,", Americans would have to "accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." He concluded by saying:
"The peace we seek, then, is nothing less than the practice and fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves and in our dealings with others. This signifies more than the stilling of guns, easing the sorrow of war. More than escape from death, it is a way of life. More than a haven for the weary, it is a hope for the brave. This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial. This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God."
A two and one-half hour inaugural parade was held and witnessed by an estimated 1 million persons, of whom 60,000 were seated in the grandstand. About 22,000 service men and women and 5,000 civilians were in the parade, which included 50 state and organization floats, 65 musical units, 350 horses, 3 elephants, an Alaskan dog team, and the 280-millimeter atomic cannon.