| Publication information |
|
Source: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Source type: government document Document type: public address Document title: “Inaugural Address as Vice-President” Author(s): Roosevelt, Theodore Volume number: 13 Publisher: Bureau of National Literature, Inc. Place of publication: New York, New York Year of publication: [1922] Pagination: 6638-39 |
| Citation |
| Roosevelt, Theodore. “Inaugural Address as Vice-President.” A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Vol. 13. New York: Bureau of National Literature, [1922]: pp. 6638-39. |
| Transcription |
| full text of address; excerpt of book |
| Keywords |
| Theodore Roosevelt (inaugural address: vice presidency: full text). |
| Named persons |
| none. |
| Notes |
| Roosevelt is not credited with authorship, but it is presumed herein
that he is, in fact, the author of the address below.
This book does not provide a publication or copyright year; however, an internal reference to Roosevelt’s death (1919) as well as references to the separately published “encyclopedic indexes” suggest the same year of publication as the indexes themselves (1922). From title page: With Additions and Encyclopedic Index by Private Enterprise. From title page: Prepared under the Direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, of the House and Senate, Pursuant to an Act of the Fifty-Second Congress of the United States. |
| Document |
Inaugural Address as Vice-President
T history
of free government is in large part the history of those representative legislative
bodies in which, from the earliest times, free government has found its loftiest
expression. They must ever hold a peculiar and exalted position in the record
which tells how the great nations of the world have endeavored to achieve and
preserve orderly freedom. No man can render to his fellows greater service than
is rendered by him who, with fearlessness and honesty, with sanity and disinterestedness,
does his life work as a member of such a body. Especially is this the case when
the legislature in which the service is rendered is a vital part in the governmental
machinery of one of those world powers to whose hands, in the course of the
ages, is intrusted a leading part in shaping the destinies of mankind. For weal
or for woe, for good or for evil, this is true of our own mighty nation. Great
privileges and great powers are ours, and heavy are the responsibilities that
go with these privileges and these powers. Accordingly as we do well or ill,
so shall mankind in the future be raised or cast down. We belong to a young
nation, already of giant strength, yet whose political strength is but a forecast
of the power that is to come. We stand supreme in a continent, in a hemisphere.
East and west we look across the two great oceans toward the larger world life
in which, whether we will or not, we must take an ever-increasing share. And
as, keen-eyed, we gaze into the coming years, duties, new and old, rise thick
and fast to confront us from within and from without. There is every reason
why we should face these duties with a sober appreciation alike of their importance
and of their difficulty. But there is also every reason for facing them with
high-hearted resolution and eager and confident faith in our capacity to do
them aright. A great work lies already to the hand of this generation; it should
count itself happy, indeed, that to it is given the [6638][6639]
privilege of doing such a work. A leading part therein must be taken by this
the august and powerful legislative body over which I have been called upon
to preside. Most deeply do I appreciate the privilege of my position; for high,
indeed, is the honor of presiding over the American Senate at the outset of
the twentieth century.
M 4, 1901.