Great Inaugural Addresses - V

The Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
by Charlie Leck

The is the final blog of this series about great inaugural addresses. Today we deal with the second inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln. It is probably the briefest and the greatest of all such speeches in our history. It is not only the content of the speech itself that makes it so extraordinary, but its historical context also enhances its meaning and power. We should be aware of this moment in history, or this time and place in our national life (sitz im leben), when Lincoln addessed the country. It was a sensitive time and so many important possibilities were hanging in the balance.

The inaugural ceremony took place on Saturday, 4 March 1865. In only a bit more than a month, Lincoln would fall victim of assasination.

It had rained for weeks leading up to Inauguration Day and Pennsylvania Avenue was horribly muddy and, in some places, there was deep, standing water. Of course, as the crowds gathered, the conditions grew worse. Nothing inhibited the crowds, however, and enormous numbers of people gathered in front of the Capitol Building for the swearing in and for Lincoln's speech. The dome on the capitol had only recently been completed and it served as a very real reminder of the fortitude and resolve of Lincoln's administration.

The crowd was nervously excited to hear what Lincoln would say about the war; however, he explained that the public was so well informed that they knew as much as, and everything that, he did.

In the first moments of the speech, Lincoln reminded his audience about the condition of the nation four years earlier, as things stood during his first inauguration.

"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came."

And then, Lincoln, speaking with great emotion explained the moral condition of the nation and the exact reasons why it was at war.

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could
not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"

And then came Abe's sudden conclusion. He spoke boldly and loudly and all those before him and behind were totally silent. These words rank among the most famous ever expressed in a Presidential speech in America.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

Abraham Lincoln was an exhausted man, but he continued on, committed, as this speech makes clear, to seeing things through to their very end and then through all the aftermath of war and the restoration of the union. An assassin would interrupt history, however, and one of our greatest presidents was taken from us too early.

Lincoln prepares to address a large and excited crowd!

This image from Harper's Weekly shows the enormous size of the crowd that had gathered to hear Lincoln's speech. To see a much larger version of this image, click here!

Great Inaugural Addresses – IV

John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address!
by Charlie Leck

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country!”

Does one sentence a great speech make? Perhaps. In this case, this speech is remembered for the line quoted above. If fact, the entire speech was quite extraordinary.

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans – born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage – and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

The inaugural speech of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) was very carefully crafted. The aides who brought JFK the early drafts had read every single one of the previous inaugural addresses. They were determined that Kennedy’s would be the finest ever. It was worked on and reworked and reworked many times over.

In the end, its delivery seemed to take it beyond prose and closer to poetry.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

"This much we pledge – and more."

Some historians have ranked the JFK speech among the two best presidential inaugural addresses in our nation's history. High praise!

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

JFK assumed the office of the President of the United States when he was 43 years old. He became the youngest U.S. President in history. The public was very much aware of this shift toward youthful leadership and it also became one of the themes of the inaugural address. However, the cold wars with the Soviet Union and China were at their zeniths and many Americans wondered if this young President had the stuff to stand up to the sly leaders of those two communist nations.

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it… The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it – and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

Earlier in the speech, JFK had challenged the two super-power communist states to turn toward a “quest for peace,..."

"...before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction."

“So let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

I was 20 years old at the time. I had never heard anything like it. The new President’s voice was mesmerizing and enchanting. His delivery was faultless. His tone was strong and sincere. Americans – Democrats and Republicans – knew they had a very special President taking over the reins of government that day. The public knew this man had been a naval hero and that he understood the high cost of war. In his speech, he also made it clear that he was a man of peace.

The weather on inauguration day in 1961 was miserable. Over eight inches of snow had fallen. Pennsylvania Avenue had to be cleared and so too all the bleachers. The wind-chill, when Kennedy rose to speak, was zero. He removed his top hat and peeled off his topcoat and looked out over the thousands who braved the cold. He moved resolutely through the speech he had rehearsed dozens and dozens of times and reached a soaring climax in his closing words.

“With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

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You may read the full text of Kennedy’s address by clicking here!

Here is a remarkable story about Ted Sorenson’s work with JFK to craft the speech. You can also hear an audio of Sorenson explaining the crafting of the speech.