First Inaugural Address

Summary

Ronald Reagan took the oath on 20 January 1981, the first President sworn in on the Capitol's West Front, facing down the Mall toward the Washington Monument, the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, and, across the Potomac, Arlington National Cemetery. He opened by thanking Jimmy Carter for a gracious transition and by calling the routine handover of authority, seen through foreign eyes, "nothing less than a miracle." The body of the address is a bill of economic complaints. Inflation that "penalizes thrift," idle factories, a tax code that punishes achievement, and decades of piled-up deficits are traced to one cause: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Reagan presses the point with a question about self-rule (if no one can govern himself, who can govern another?) and with the reminder that the States created the Federal Government, not the reverse. He insists he means to make government work "with us, not over us," not to abolish it. Abroad he promises loyalty to allies and firmness toward adversaries: Americans will negotiate and sacrifice for peace but will not surrender for it. Then the speech turns to the view from the platform. The monuments become lessons in greatness, and the white markers at Arlington lead to Martin Treptow, a small-town barber killed in France in 1917, whose diary pledge ends "as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone." Reagan asks for no such sacrifice, only for best effort and belief that, with God's help, Americans can meet their troubles. Along the way he names the farmers, clerks, cabbies, and shopkeepers in the crowd as the heroes of whom he speaks, and proposes that every future Inauguration Day be a day of prayer. His most quoted sentence begins with a limit, "in this present crisis," that later quotation often drops.

Plot or Argument

• Thanks for an ordinary miracle

  Reagan calls the inauguration solemn for a few and commonplace in the nation's history, then thanks President Carter for a cooperative transition that showed "a watching world" a united people.

• Inventory of an economic affliction

  Inflation, unemployment, punishing taxes, and deficits "mortgaging our future" are laid out in turn. A household that borrows beyond its means cannot do so for long; Reagan asks why a nation should think otherwise, and promises action "beginning today."

• Government within its means

  The famous sentence on government as the problem is followed by the question of who can govern others if no one can govern himself, a redefinition of "special interest" as "We the people," and the claim that the States created the Federal Government. Reagan disclaims any wish to do away with government.

• Heroes at the factory gate

  Ordinary workers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and donors to church and charity are named heroes; Reagan then reveals that he is addressing them. He paraphrases Churchill and quotes Joseph Warren: "Act worthy of yourselves."

• Peace without surrender

  Allies are promised loyalty for loyalty; adversaries are told Americans will negotiate and sacrifice for peace but not surrender for it. The will and moral courage of free people is called the most formidable weapon, and Reagan proposes a day of prayer on future Inauguration Days.

• The view from the West Front

  From the platform Reagan reads the monuments to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, then the graves at Arlington, ending with Martin Treptow's 1917 pledge and a call to believe that "together, with God's help," the nation can resolve its problems.

Lessons

• The qualifier in the famous sentence

  Reagan's best-known line begins "In this present crisis," and a few paragraphs later he says he does not intend to do away with government but to make it "work with us, not over us." Quoting the sentence and its clarification together is the first discipline this speech teaches.

  • Why might later speakers, friendly or hostile, drop the words "in this present crisis"?
  • What does Reagan say government "can and must" do, and how does that limit his case against it?
  • Is the comparison between household borrowing and national deficits a fair argument, or does it hide real differences?

• Who can govern someone else?

  Against the claim that society has grown too complex for self-rule, Reagan asks: if no one is capable of governing himself, who has the capacity to govern another? The argument assumes rulers share the nature of the ruled, the same reasoning Madison used in Federalist No. 51.

  • What does Reagan mean by "government by an elite group," and whom might he have had in mind in 1981?
  • Does the question about self-government prove that power should be limited, or only that rulers need checks?
  • How does a Christian account of fallen human nature strengthen or complicate Reagan's question?

• Martin Treptow's pledge

  The closing uses one soldier's diary to make sacrifice concrete, then lowers the demand: the present crisis requires effort and belief, not death. Students should ask whether the move honors the war dead or draws on their authority for an economic program, and whether both can be true.

  • Why does Reagan tell Treptow's story at length and then say the present crisis does not require that kind of sacrifice?
  • What does Treptow's phrase "as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone" ask of an ordinary citizen?
  • How does the list of battlefields from Belleau Wood to Vietnam shape the mood of the ending?

Context

Reagan came to office after a decade of oil shocks, inflation that ran above 13 percent in 1980, high interest rates, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. He had defeated Jimmy Carter decisively in November 1980, and Republicans had won the Senate. The address announces the program pursued in the 1981 tax and budget legislation, framed as a return to the distinction between federal and reserved powers.

Composition

Delivered 20 January 1981 on the West Front of the Capitol, the first inaugural held on that side of the building. The text stored here is the Avalon Project transcription of the official text; it preserves a few transcription slips (for example "loomed" where the spoken text has "doomed"), so quotations should be checked against an official print or recording.

Reception

The sentence about government became the best-remembered line of Reagan's presidency and a touchstone of later American conservatism, often quoted without its opening qualifier. Iran released the 52 American hostages within minutes of the speech's end. Press accounts soon noted that Martin Treptow is buried in his Wisconsin hometown rather than at Arlington, as the speech implies.

Comparisons

• Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address)

  Six years after the West Front speech Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate; his 1981 promise to negotiate without surrendering becomes in Berlin a direct public challenge to the Soviet leader.

• Inaugural Address

  Kennedy in 1961 asked what citizens could do for their country; Reagan in 1981 asked citizens to reclaim powers from Washington. Both treat the citizen as the decisive actor, toward opposite views of federal reach.

• Inaugural Address (Calvin Coolidge)

  Coolidge's 1925 defense of economy in public spending as a moral, not merely fiscal, duty is the nearest earlier inaugural to Reagan's attack on deficits and tax burdens.

• First Inaugural Address

  Reagan reads the Washington Monument as a portrait of "a man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly"; Washington's own 1789 address shows that reluctance in his own words.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The opening thanks to President Carter, and why Reagan calls a routine handover a miracle.
• The words "In this present crisis" before the famous sentence, and the later paragraph saying he does not mean to do away with government.
• The switch from "they" to "you" when Reagan reveals that the heroes he describes are his listeners.
• The turn to the view from the West Front: monuments, the Potomac, Arlington, and Martin Treptow's diary.

Key terms and names

Stagflation

Inflation combined with stagnant growth and high unemployment, the condition Reagan calls "an economic affliction of great proportions."

Deficit spending

Government spending beyond revenue, covered by borrowing; Reagan says the nation has "piled deficit upon deficit."

Consent of the governed

The Declaration's principle that just power comes from the people; Reagan says federal growth shows signs of exceeding it.

Reserved powers

Powers kept by the States or the people under the Tenth Amendment, which Reagan distinguishes from those granted to the national government.

West Front

The side of the Capitol facing the Mall, first used for an inauguration in 1981; it gives the closing its vista of monuments and graves.

Rainbow Division

The 42nd Infantry Division of the First World War, in which Martin Treptow served and was killed in France.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What economic harms does Reagan list in the paragraphs before his sentence about government?
2. Comprehension Which three memorials and which cemetery does Reagan describe from the West Front, and what does he say about each?
3. Interpretation Why does Reagan follow his attack on government with "it is not my intention to do away with government"? What would the speech lose without that paragraph?
4. Interpretation How does the question "who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?" turn a fiscal argument into an argument about human nature?
5. Interpretation Why does Reagan redefine "special interest group" as the workers, teachers, and truckdrivers who make up "We the people"?
6. Big Question Reagan proposes that every future Inauguration Day be declared a day of prayer. Is public prayer a fitting part of a republic's transfer of power, and what could make it empty?
7. Big Question Is it right to judge a nation's debts by the rules that govern a family's borrowing?

Faith Connections

• Romans 13:1-7 (Scripture)

  Paul grounds civil authority in God and names taxes as its due; beside Reagan's complaint that the tax system "penalizes successful achievement," it raises the question of what makes a tax just, not whether taxes are owed.

• Proverbs 22:7 (Scripture)

  "The borrower is servant to the lender" gives biblical weight to Reagan's warning that deficits mortgage "our children's future."

• The Federalist No. 51 (Great Conversation)

  Madison's "If men were angels, no government would be necessary" stands behind Reagan's question about who can govern another: both assume rulers share the weaknesses of the ruled.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Because the nation's economic troubles grew in proportion to the expansion of federal power, Reagan argues, recovery requires curbing that power, restoring the line between national and reserved powers, and trusting the ordinary citizens he names as the country's heroes.

Rhetorical device: antithesis. "Work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back" sets each proper task of government against its abuse.

Debate: Resolved: that Reagan's 1981 claim that government had become "the problem" was a sound diagnosis of the crisis he faced.

Memory Work

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem

In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle

Writing Prompts

Essay: Reagan says the nation's troubles "parallel and are proportionate to" the growth of government. Explain what evidence the speech offers for that proportion and what an opponent in 1981 might have answered.

Comparison with Inaugural Address: Kennedy (1961) and Reagan (1981) each tell citizens what the hour requires of them. Compare what each asks citizens to give, and what each expects of the national government in return.

Medical Lens

Presidential inaugurals concern constitutional politics and national crisis; they have no medical content for this library's lens.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Draw the West Front vista Reagan describes, from the Washington Monument to the Arlington hills, and label each site with the sentence he uses for it.

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation in January 1981 between a laid-off steelworker and a retired teacher living on a fixed income, each deciding whether the inaugural's promises speak to their situation.

• Essay

  Reagan calls the ordinary transfer of power "nothing less than a miracle." Explain what habits and institutions make that miracle possible and what would endanger it.

Further Reading

• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, Avalon Project / GPO

  Parallel official texts for classroom comparison.

• The Rhetorical Presidency, Jeffrey K. Tulis

  A study of how inaugural and other presidential speech reshaped the office.