I’ve never felt more strongly that America’s best days and democracy’s best days lie ahead. We’re a powerful force for good. With faith and courage, we can perform great deeds and take freedom’s next step. And we will. We will carry on the tradition of a good and worthy people who have brought light where there was darkness, warmth where there was cold, medicine where there was disease, food where there was hunger, and peace where there was only bloodshed.
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Thank you very much. God bless you, and God bless America.
NOTE: The President spoke at 9:02 p.m. in the House Chamber of the Capitol. He was introduced by Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives. The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television.
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State of the Union Address
Ronald Reagan
February 6, 1985
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, distinguished Members of the Congress, honored guests, and fellow citizens:
I come before you to report on the state of our Union, and I’m pleased to report that after 4 years of united effort, the American people have brought forth a nation renewed, stronger, freer, and more secure than before.
Four years ago we began to change, forever I hope, our assumptions about government and its place in our lives. Out of that change has come great and robust growth--in our confidence, our economy, and our role in the world.
Tonight America is stronger because of the values that we hold dear. We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were. Our progress began not in Washington, DC, but in the hearts of our families, communities, workplaces, and voluntary groups which, together, are unleashing the invincible spirit of one great nation under God.