富兰克林.罗斯福第四任就职演讲 英文

Fourth Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt .
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1945.

Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends, you will
understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of this
inauguration be simple and its words brief.
We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing
through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage of our
resolve of our wisdom our essential democracy.

If we meet that test successfully and honorably we shall
perform a service of historic importance which men and women
and children will honor throughout all time.

As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the
presence of my fellow countrymen in the presence of our God
I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail.

In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a
just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and
fight for total victory in war.

We can and we will achieve such a peace.

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately
but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes but they must
never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or
abandonment of moral principle.

I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said, in days
that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled: "Things in life
will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward
the heights then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward.
The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is
forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks
and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend. "

Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not
perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of
men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid
structure of democracy.

And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons
at a fearful cost and we shall profit by them.

We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own
well being is dependent on the well being of other nations far away.
We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as
dogs in the manger.

We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the
human community.

We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that "The only
way to have a friend is to be one. " We can gain no lasting peace if
we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear.

We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the
confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.

The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has
given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike
mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a
faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguis

hed
world.

So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly to
see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our
fellow men to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.