We are a great country, a strong country, a vital and dynamic country, and so we will remain.
We are a confident people and a hardworking people, a decent and a compassionate people, and so we will remain.
I want to speak to you tonight about where we are and where we must go, about what we have done and what we must do. And I want to pledge to you my best efforts and ask you to pledge yours.
Each generation of Americans has to face circumstances not of its own choosing, but by which its character is measured and its spirit is tested.
There are times of emergency, when a nation and its leaders must bring their energies to bear on a single urgent task. That was the duty Abraham Lincoln faced when our land was torn apart by conflict in the War Between the States. That was the duty faced by Franklin Roosevelt when he led America out of an economic depression and again when he led America to victory in war.
There are other times when there is no single overwhelming crisis, yet profound national interests are at stake.
At such times the risk of inaction can be equally great. It becomes the task of leaders to call forth the vast and restless energies of our people to build for the future.
That is what Harry Truman did in the years after the Second World War, when we helped Europe and Japan rebuild themselves and secured an international order that has protected freedom from aggression.
We live in such times now, and we face such duties.
We've come through a long period of turmoil and doubt, but we've once again found our moral course, and with a new spirit, we are striving to express our best instincts to the rest of the world.