was violently divided over the Vietnam War and civil rights, and Nixon himself had long been seen as an unprincipled politician exploiting fears and resentments - appealing to what he would call “the silent majority.” His speech at times was openly and awkwardly modeled on the 1961 inaugural of John F. Historian David Greenberg, whose books include “Nixon’s Shadow” and “Republic of Spin,” cites Richard Nixon’s inaugural in 1969 as another speech given at a time of social turmoil. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism,” he said. “A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. “We are not enemies, but friends,” Lincoln had insisted, reminding fellow Americans of their “mystic chords of memory” while also warning that resistance to the will of voters would destroy democracy. before he spoke, in March 1861, over fears he would end slavery. Lincoln’s pleas were more dire, and tragically unmet, despite what historian Ted Widmer calls his “genius to combine urgency with literary grace.” Seven out of 11 future Confederate states had seceded from the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist who administered the oath of office to Jefferson, wrote later that the speech was “in the general well judged and conciliatory.” If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.” “We are all republicans: we are all federalists. “Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind,” Jefferson urged in his address. Adams did not attend the inauguration, a breach rarely repeated although Trump has vowed to do the same. “JEFFERSON - AND NO GOD!!!” was how one Federalist paper described Jefferson’s candidacy. The 1800 election won by Jefferson marked the beginning of competing political parties - Jefferson was a leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, losing incumbent John Adams a Federalist - and critics regarded the new president as a dangerous atheist. president, and the first whose rise was regarded by opponents as a kind of emergency. When Washington assumed office in 1789 he cited the blessings of providence in noting that “the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established.” The United States was forged through compromise among factions that disagreed profoundly on slavery, regional influence and the relative powers of state and federal government. But when we have domestic turmoil we use the word unity.” “It seems like whenever we have foreign policy flare-ups, we use the word freedom. “Unity has always been an aspiration,” says presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. Few presidents have faced such questions about their own legitimacy. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, will preside over a nation in which millions believe Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen. Historians mention the first inaugural speeches of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln as possible parallels for Biden, who has said his goal is to “restore the soul” of the country.īiden, who assumes office just two weeks after an armed seige of the U.S. Unity has since been a theme, and an anxiety, for many incoming presidents, who have faced economic and social crises and moments when the very future of the U.S. NEW YORK (AP) - When Joe Biden addresses the country for the first time as president, his inaugural speech is likely to echo calls for unity that predecessors have invoked since the first time George Washington was sworn in. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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