Evening star., 1953-01-21
A Call for Faith in Ourselves

ACoII for Faith in Ourselves
AS the great and moving spectacle of the
Inauguration of new President of the United
States unfolded in this Capital City yesterday
it was easy to agree with President Eisenhower
that the future holds something more for us
than mere escape from DEATH" For this
inaugural like those that have gone before,
bore witness to the strength and the vitality
with which a.free society is endowed.
This strength and vitality were implicit in
the simple fact that two men, as American as
Missouri and Kansas, rode side by side from
the White House to the Capitol for the changing
of the guard. Less than three months ago, in
the heat and the bitterness of political cam
paign, one might have thought that pistols for
two would have been the appropriate theme of
the next meeting between Harry Truman and
Dwight Eisenhower But yesterday as they
travelled the historic route SO many other
Presidents, old and new, had travelled before
them, the partisan fires had died out. The
one man was laying down the burden that he
had borne for nearly eight years. The other
was on his way to "soemny swear that he
would assume that burden and discharge its
responsibilities to the best of his ability If this
simple evidence of Americas strength offers
comfort to those who would rule the world with
mailed fist, they are welcome to it.
The strength and vitality of the American
system were also implicit in President Eisen-
howers inaugural address. 1t was not an
address which pointed out any easy roads for
us to travel Instead, it was a call upon our
people, and upon all free people, for faith,
for sacrifice, and for hope. In it's essence,
it was an appeal to get on with the work that
3we have been doing, to press forward with the
fa IN yf1ich uoh hov oil
selves. And if the dictators find comfort in
this-in this simple evidence that change of
administration in America implies no abandon
ment of basic objectives-they again are
welcome to it,
General Eisenhower assumed the presidency
at time when, as he put it, science seems
ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the
power to erase human life from the earth"
Against that somber background, he, pro-
ceeded in his inaugural address to spell out his
message to the people he will serve Chief
Executive for the next four years.
The inaugural he said, is more than the act
of one citizen swearing his oath of service.
All of us "are called, as people, to give testi-
mony, in the sight of the free world, to our
faith that the future shall belong to the Free"
We are confronted in this hour of history
with no "pallid argument between slightly diff
fering philosophers" Rather, the aggressive
march of communism faces us with conflict
which STRIKES directly at the faith of our
fathers and the lives of our sons"
To meet this challenge we must seek
strength in unity-a unity among ourselves and
with other free peoples that is based on both
economic and military factors, and which in
the last analysis seeks its strength in funda-
mental principles. These are among those
principles: The first task of craftsmanship is
to develop the strength that will deter aggres-
sion, while standing ready to engage with all
others in joint effort to remove the causes of
fear and diStruSt-to understand the futility
of appeasement, knowing that in the final
choice "a soldiers pack is not so heavy a
burden as a prisoners chains"-recogniZing
the firm duty of every free man to place the
cause of his country ahead of his own COM
fort-accepting the necessity of helping our
friends to help themselves and acknowledging
that mutual economic strength is an indispen-
sable basis of mutual military strength.
These, to be sure, are general statements
and general principles. But their validity in a
free society cannot be doubted For free
societies do not grow strong under the ruthless
techniques of the totalitaran state. AS Presi-
dent Eisenhower goes forward in his new
assignment he will of necessity set out his
program in greater detail. The purpose of an
inaugural address is to lay down the broad
programs through which free men can work
for the better day which lies ahead if they have
the faith and the will and the courage to strive
toward it. That is what this inaugural address
does, and, once again, If there is any comfort in
it for the men of the Kremlin, they are welcome
to it.