Evening star., 1941-01-21

groups inside
and outside the
G ov er n m mt
seemed to be David Lawrence.
represented in an occasion which
for solemnitv and dignity can
hardly be matched in recent years.
There was the Chief JusticeSof the
United States-himself nearly a
President in 1916-administering the
oath. There we're the leaders of the
House and Senate of both parties.
And there were the Army and Navy
with their new war weapons on pa
rade-a veritable "blitzkrieg' eHhi-
bition rolling down Pennsylvania
avenue in somber speed, reminding
the onlookers for an instant of the
aWfulneSS of war and the new need
of defense against it.
The words of the inaugural were
not those of political bombast or of
exaggerated oratory. They were the
studied expression of a President
who knew he was speaking to all the
world of Americas faith in democ-
racy and her determination not to
let it perish from the face of the
earth. Other inaugural addresses
have been made in the past that
caught the applause of historians,
and other addresses have been de-
livered on the east front of the
Capitol on occasions as solemn and
AS grave. But none since the tragic
days of 1917 compares with the
powerful sentences that gave Mr..
RooSevelt's third inaugural world
wide meaning and historic i'm
portance in the annals of the Amer
lean Government.
A Document of Clarity.
An inaugural address is not
place to enumerate a program OF
legislation or to discuss the details
of public policy. The flreSide chat
of last month and the annual mes
sage to Congress covered that
ground 1t was necessary for the
President in his inaugural to state
the principles of the American faith
and he did so with clarity that
will make the document live long
among the state papers OF the
American people.
There were no wild huzZahs from
the crowd. They listened to catch
every word. There were no pauses
for rhetorical effect as the President
read his manuscript. He punctuated
= y,INocic ord ur1th tho
air of man who was not thinking
of the crowds Immediately in front
of him. 1t was the kind of speech
one likes to read afterward, and
this will be done by many, for be-
sides the radio transmission, 1t is to
be assumed that the inaugural ad-
dress has been printed far and wide
in this and other lands.
The news that 100000 Britons
listened and that peoples everywhere
felt the throb Of Americas inaugu-
ration serve to remind of the tre-
mendous significance which is at
tached to every phrase or sentence
that gives a hint of Americas future
policy in a troubled world.
Spirit Must Survive.
The United States today, as in
1917, is looked upon as the natural
leader of democracy'S forces. To
those who think Britain's preserva-
tion, while desirable, is not essential,
the President gave a meaningful re-
sponse:
IF the spirit of America were
killed, even though the Nations
body and mind, CONSTRUCTED in an
alien world, lived on, the America
we know would have perished."
Mr.. Roosevelt purposefully made
the theme of his inaugural address
the preservation of democracy in
the world. He did not talk in ex-
plicit but rather in implicit terms
of the relation of the United States
to the rest of the world, yet there
was no mistaking his meaning.
Taken in connection with the pend
ing lease-lend bill and the unfolding
of international policy on the aid
to-Britain basis for more than a
year, the inaugural speech was
in effect as much pledge to carry
high the torch of democracy and
freedom as was President Wilson'S
famous pledge to help make the
world safe for democracy"-a pledge
which the postwar world forgot
amid its own chickering's and its own
excessive nationalism. Mr. RooSe-
velt's pledge in behalf of democracy
occupied the major part of his ad-
dress, but it was in the concluding
paragraph that he spoke the words
that may some day become the basis
for further sacrifices by the Ameri-
can people:
THE preservation of the spirit
and the faith of the Nation does,
and will. furnish the highest justi-
f1cation for every sacrifice that we
may make in the cause of national
defense.
"In the face of great perils never
before encountered, our strong pur-
pose is to protect and to perpetuate
the integrity of democracy"
Encourages Free Peoples.
Whatever the forebodings abroad,
whatever the gloomy thoughts of
those across the sea to whom the
President referred as "enslaved'-
those who could not hear his address
or see it in print-the message of
the President, elected to a third
term because of the world crisis,
must inevitably prove encouraging
to the defenders of freedom in Eu-
rope, in Africa and on the seas.
Just "a hours before the inaugural
ceremony the defeated candidate,
Wendell Willkie sat in friendly and
intimate conversation with the sue
cessful candidate. Mr.. Roosevelt,
with a personal charm that often
speaks louder than words, removed
every suspicion OF campaign bitter
ness and enabled his visitor to carry