[Transcriber's note: An almost-winner of the 1960 election, and a close
winner of the 1968 election, the former Vice President and California
Senator and Congressman had defeated the Democratic Vice President,
Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party candidate, George
Wallace. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office for
the fifth time. The President addressed the large crowd from a pavilion
on the East Front of the Capitol. The address was televised by satellite
around the world.]
Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President
Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow
citizens of the world community:
I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment. In the
orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.
Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique. But some
stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape
decades or centuries.
This can be such a moment.
Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, the
hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be realized. The
spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own
lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.
In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons
on earth.
For the first time, because the people of the world want peace, and the
leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on the side of
peace.
Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a
nation. Within the lifetime of most people now living, mankind will
celebrate that great new year which comes only once in a thousand
years--the beginning of the third millennium.
What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in,
whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to
determine by our actions and our choices.
The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This
honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world at last out
of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of peace that man
has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.
If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that we
mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for mankind.
This is our summons to greatness.