My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal.  I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service, to act on your idealism, by helping troubled children, keeping company with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities.  There is so much to be done.  Enough, indeed, for millions of others who are still young in spirit, to give of themselves in service, too.  In serving we recognize a simple, but powerful, truth:  we need each other, and we must care for one another.  Today we do more than celebrate America, we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America, an idea born in revolution, and renewed through two centuries of challenge, an idea tempered by the knowledge that but for fate, we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other; an idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity, the deepest measure of unity; an idea infused with the conviction that America’s journey long, heroic journey must go forever upward.

And so, my fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st Century, let us begin anew, with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done.  The Scripture says:  “And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  From this joyful mountaintop of celebration we hear a call to service in the valley.  We have heard the trumpets, we have changed the guard, and now each in our own way, and with God’s help, we must answer the call.

Thank you and God bless you all.

***

Bill Clinton
Second Inaugural Address
January 20, 1997

My fellow citizens: 

At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century.  It is our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not only at the edge of a new century, in a new millennium, but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs—­a moment that will define our course, and our character, for decades to come.  We must keep our old democracy forever young.  Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let us set our sights upon a land of new promise.

The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of the bold conviction that we are all created equal.  It was extended and preserved in the 19th century, when our nation spread across the continent, saved the union, and abolished the awful scourge of slavery.

Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto the world stage to make this the American Century.

And what a century it has been.  America became the world’s mightiest industrial power; saved the world from tyranny in two world wars and a long cold war; and time and again, reached out across the globe to millions who, like us, longed for the blessings of liberty.

Along the way, Americans produced a great middle class and security in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning and opened public schools to all; split the atom and explored the heavens; invented the computer and the microchip; and deepened the wellspring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights for African Americans and all minorities, and extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity and dignity to women.