Inauguration speeches

Inauguration speeches
America has had a lot of presidents the number being 44 currently. All these presidents were inaugurated into the presidency, and all had opportunities to give speeches which mostly identified what they intended to do for the country. This paper is going to provide details how Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his 1st inauguration speech, Ronald Reagan, in his 2nd inauguration speech, and Barack Obama, in his 2nd inauguration speech, use American history and American ideals, such as freedom, liberty and rights, to support their vision of what direction they want to take the country and what they want to accomplish during their administration.
Franklin D. Roosevelt served as Americas 32nd president from the year 1933 to 1945 when he passed away. He was elected as a president while serving as a governor of New York and he was the only president in the United States who has ever been elected into presidency four times. In his first inauguration speech, the president Franklin boldly exercised the right to freedom of expression where he emphasized on being frank about the conditions that faced the country to the citizens. During his speech, he urged the Americans to continue giving their efforts to support the country just as they had done during the times of other presidents. Roosevelt addressed the issue of banks exploiting the Americans, and he wanted the banking sector to be under strict regulation. It was the right of the Americans to have a stable currency and not a currency that was speculative in nature compared to what was happening in the past.

This would give the people faith and motivation to work harder improving their earnings and savings as well. For a government to achieve its vision it must have financial support; this capital mostly comes from taxes paid by people and that doesn’t mean the public should be exploited. President Franklin D. Roosevelt talked about the high taxes imposed on the people increasing the faith of the citizens to his government. Additionally, the issue of unemployment was growing at a high rate, but with his government, he promised to take up the issue of unemployment and provide jobs to the jobless hence raising their living standards. In his speech, the president wanted to restore the ethics of the people in power and make the people understand that his government would not rule the people, but the people would rule themselves through the government. This showed that he used the idea of democracy to assure people of good governance. There was a promise of restoring international trade relations and respecting all the rights of citizens and for all the people worldwide (Roosevelt 27).
Ronald Reagan was the United States 40th president who served from 1981 to 1989. His second inauguration took place on 21st January 1985. During his speech, he made it clear that the government was not peoples’ master but servant only having power bestowed on them by people. Here the president was promoting democratic rights of the people such that the people had their opinions and freedom of speech to the government. On top, he based his speech on the past achievement that his government had done and this included, lowering the rate of unemployment, reducing taxes and having inflation rate lowered. Another strategy that the president communicated to the people was that he was going to do everything in his power to promote freedom of Americans, provide opportunities for them and dignity. He encouraged the people to do have the liberty to do all that they can to change American to a great country making history. Ronald urged the people to unite and work together to avoid past mistakes of misusing the public finances. The fair tax system and more employment opportunities were also one of the issues that Ronald Reagan promised to improve so as to increase the living standards of the people. This came with the plan to restrict government spending and to promote accountability to the citizens. What’s more his speech assured the Americans that they would have quality security and peace in their land during his time by holding talks with the Soviet Union to destroy nuclear weapons which are a threat to the destruction of the earth? He wanted the Americans to be on the forefront when it comes to promoting human freedom acting as an example to the world. This would make the world more peaceful than ever. Finally, he urged the people not to forget their past and what other leader had done to their nation, for instance, fighting for their freedom. This history was the stepping stone to them achieving great things in future (Reagan 372).
Barack Obama is the United States 44th president, and he are the current president today expected to retire 2017. In his second inauguration speech, his opening remarks were based on promoting the constitutional rights of democracy which includes the right to elect the president of your choice. He went ahead to address the issue of equality among all Americans despite their race, color or place of origin. He made it clear that all men have the same rights of freedom and liberty. Barack Obama also emphasized on the right of all citizens getting an equal measure of dignity and security in the country. He offered to lower the cost of accessing quality health care and introduced social security which makes the citizens have freedom knowing that their risks are covered. Another achievement that he wanted to make was to provide the right of a safe environment, and he was going to achieve this by putting into place climate change policies which would see the country preserved for future generations. President Obama used the American history of the fore fathers in his speech to touch on the issue of developing new technology which would see the development just like the past leaders featured it. He also wanted the security of the country maintained by the arms just like the heroes of the country fought for independence. He promised to maintain peace in the country by using the rule of law and by keeping peace with other countries without going to war to uphold the values of the people. Furthermore, he advocated for the rights of women and gay rights as a show of promoting equality in the nation. Mostly in his speech he highlighted how he was going to defend the rights of all Americans, their security, and employment opportunities, improve tax system and promote international relations to improve the countries development (Wang 255).
In conclusion, the speeches of these three presidents showed how they all respected the past heroes of the country and provided ways in which they were going to improve the country and make it the best place for the Americans. They mostly promised to do this by respecting the rights of the citizens and providing projects that will improve the economy and development of the nation especially by being transparent and accountable in government spending.
References
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. “Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933.” World Affairs 96.1 (1933): 26-
28.
Reagan, Ronald. “Second inaugural address.” Congressional Record 131 (1985): 372.
Wang, Junling. “A critical discourse analysis of Barack Obama’s speeches.” Journal of
Language Teaching and Research 1.3 (2010): 254-261.