Ronald reagan: First Inaugural Address Putting American Back to Work Thank you. Thank you Senator Hatfield, mr. Chief justice, mr. President vice president bush vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens To a few of us here today this is a so lemn and most momentous occasion. and, yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. the orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost wo centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle Mr. President I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the trans ition process you have shown a atching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees ind ividual liberty to a greater degree than a ny ot her And I thank you and your people for all your help in mainta ining the continu ity which is the bulwark of our republic. The business of our nation goes forward These United states are conf ronted with an econom ic aff liction of great proportions We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inf lations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment human misery and personal indignity Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successf ul achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled def icit upon deficit, mortga ging our future and our childrens future for the temporary convenience of the present. to continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavalsRonald Reagan: First Inaugural Address "Putting American Back to Work" Thank you. Thank you. Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O’Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion. And, yet, in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any ot her. And I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our republic. The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are conf ronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrif t, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us f rom maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals