George Washington trembled when he gave the first-ever inaugural address, a speech he delivered privately before a joint session of Congress on April 30th, 1789. “Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties,” he began, reflecting the enormous sense of responsibility he felt at learning he’d been named the nascent union’s first president. “This great man was agitated and embarrassed,” observed a Pennsylvania Senator, “more than ever he was by the levelled Cannon or pointed Musket.”

Inaugural speeches carry a special weight. They mark the first time a U.S. president officially speaks to the entire populace, no longer as a candidate courting votes or riling their base, but as the leader working for all citizens, regardless of whom they voted for. Those addresses typically show presidents at their most hopeful, articulating the future America they wish to see. The inaugural address is also a narrative foreshadowing of policy priorities, an indicator of how the new president intends to govern.

Let’s look at what six modern presidents had to say when they finally faced the nation, and what it predicted about their presidencies.

President Jimmy Carter, 1977  

When Carter took office he was the first president to travel on foot all the way from the Capitol to the White House with his family during the inauguration, embodying the message that he would "stay close" to the people that had seen him win a close race. Carter’s rhetorical humility was on full display in his remarks, as well.

You have given me a great responsibility—to stay close to you, to be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes. Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.

We have learned that “more” is not necessarily “better,” that even our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.

Ultimately voters came to feel this humility didn’t place the country in a strong enough economic or diplomatic position, leading to Carter’s overwhelming defeat by Ronald Reagan in the next election.

President Ronald Reagan, 1981

Reagan’s inauguration was the first to be held on the west terrace of the U.S. Capitol, a vantage that planners selected both to allow for more spectators and for its grand vistas of the National Mall. The new president first addressed his fellow Americans with words underscoring his deeply held ideals.

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government— not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. 

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

As promised, President Reagan slashed the budgets of many government agencies and departments, loosened regulations, and presided over massive individual and corporate tax cuts.

President George H.W. Bush, 1989

In his January 20th address, President Bush noted that his first act would be to lead the nation in a shared prayer. “[W]e are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world,” Bush said. “There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord.” The speech that followed presaged the year’s tumultuous global events, including the end of the Cold War as witnessed by the fall of the Berlin Wall.

For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. A new breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on. There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be taken.

Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom. Men and women of the world move toward free markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.

Bush’s address signaled the attention he would place on foreign over domestic affairs, a choice of priorities that contributed to his presidential campaign loss in 1992.

President Bill Clinton, 1993

Clinton’s opening words to the country as president reflected the increasing impact of globalization, and foreshadowed his creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. They also reflected a renewed commitment to government programs.

When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world. Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift; a new season of American renewal has begun. To renew America, we must be bold. We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt. And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity. 

President George W. Bush, 2001

President Bush’s inauguration followed the hotly contested 2000 election, which had just reached judicial resolution the month before he took office. The new president only referred to the controversy briefly, however, saying, “I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.” His remarks then turned resolutely to his own administration’s goals. 

We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans. We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge; and we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors. The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake, America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom. 

We will defend our allies and our interests; we will show purpose without arrogance; we will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength; and to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.

Americans didn’t foresee September 11th when Bush took the oath of office, but his inaugural address told them much about how he would respond to the attacks.

President Barack Obama, 2009

President Obama first took the oath of office by laying his hand on the bible that Abraham Lincoln used at the latter’s own first inauguration in 1861. Media coverage noted that the new president traded the soaring rhetoric of his campaign for more sober, measured language.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works—whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.  And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.  Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility—a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

In his first words to the country, Obama articulated the centrism he would exhibit as the nation’s 44th president.

To learn more about what American presidents promised the country—and whether they delivered—check out the American Experience Presidents collection.