Bill Clinton’s First Inaugural Address

Abstract This chapter details Bill Clinton’s First Inaugural Address, which was just fourteen minutes long, but did not lack substance. After thanking his predecessor and others of his generation for their service and sacrifice, Clinton proclaims that a new generation has come to power, a generation raised in the shadow of the Cold War. Clinton invokes George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and pays homage to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by calling for a celebration of the mystery of American renewal. Echoing John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Clinton emphasizes the necessity of sacrifice and service. Clinton positions himself within a specific political genealogy that stood for liberalism’s deepest values by summoning the themes of rebirth, experimentation, and sacrifice.