Inaugural addresses

Yesterday we were lucky to attend a lecture held by Dr. Kathleen Godfrey (Associate Professor, California State University--Fresno, Ph.D.) about inaugural addresses.

The most common usage of the term is in the context of a formal investiture whereby an individual assumes an office or position of authority or power. The term is usually used in reference to a politician's assumption of the duties of head of state or head of government (e.g. the President's inauguration). An "inaugural address" is the presidential speech given at this ceremony which informs the people of his intentions as a leader.

We discussed some famous speeches and had a really interesting and inspiring time with our American visitor=) Take a look at some famous passages from Inaugural speeches:

George Washington (1789)
"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the Amercan People."

Abraham Lincoln (1861)
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break or bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and partriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels of nature."

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933)
"First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning,unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

John F. Kennedy (1961)
"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."