羅斯福于1937年在白宮的第二次就職演講

羅斯福于1937年在白宮的第二次就職演講 英文版

Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wednesday, January 20, 1937

When four years ago we met to inaugurate a President, the Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here. We dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision—to speed the time when there would be for all the people that security and peace essential to the pursuit of happiness. We of the Republic pledged ourselves to drive from the temple of our ancient faith those who had profaned it; to end by action, tireless and unafraid, the stagnation and despair of that day. We did those first things first.

Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there. Instinctively we recognized a deeper need—the need to find through government the instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a complex civilization. Repeated attempts at their solution without the aid of government had left us baffled and bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable to create those moral controls over the services of science which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we must find practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish men.

We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable. We would not admit that we could not find a way to master economic epidemics just as, after centuries of fatalistic suffering, we had found a way to master epidemics of disease. We refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disaster.

In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new truth; we were writing a new chapter in our book of self-government.

This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Constitutional Convention which made us a nation. At that Convention our forefathers found the way out of the chaos which followed the Revolutionary War; they created a strong government with powers of united action sufficient then and now to solve problems utterly beyond individual or local solution. A century and a half ago they established the Federal Government in order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to the American people.

Today we invoke those same powers of government to achieve the same objectives.

Four years of new experience have not belied our historic instinct. They hold out the clear hope that government within communities, government within the separate States, and government of the United States can do the things the times require, without yielding its democracy. Our tasks in the last four years did not force democracy to take a holiday.

Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human relationships increase, so power to govern them also must increase—power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend not upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with those whom the people can change or continue at stated intervals through an honest and free system of elections. The Constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy impotent.

In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public’s government. The legend that they were invincible—above and beyond the processes of a democracy—has been shattered. They have been challenged and beaten.

Our progress out of the depression is obvious. But that is not all that you and I mean by the new order of things. Our pledge was not merely to do a patchwork job with secondhand materials. By using the new materials of social justice we have undertaken to erect on the old foundations a more enduring structure for the better use of future generations.

In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of mind and spirit. Old truths have been relearned; untruths have been unlearned. We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays. We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally better world.

This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly success as such. We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life. In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be so easily condoned. Hard-headedness will not so easily excuse hardheartedness.

We are moving toward an era of good feeling. But we realize that there can be no era of good feeling save among men of good will. For these reasons I am justified in believing that the greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate of America.

Among men of good will, science and democracy together offer an ever-richer life and ever-larger satisfaction to the individual. With this change in our moral climate and our rediscovered ability to improve our economic order, we have set our feet upon the road of enduring progress.

Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall we continue on our way? For “each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth.”

Many voices are heard as we face a great decision. Comfort says, “Tarry a while.” Opportunism says, “This is a good spot.” Timidity asks, “How difficult is the road ahead?”

True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and despair. Vitality has been preserved. Courage and confidence have been restored. Mental and moral horizons have been extended. But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than ordinary circumstances. Advance became imperative under the goad of fear and suffering. The times were on the side of progress.

To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose. Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that fourth day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley?

I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.

But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens—a substantial part of its whole population—who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.

I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.

I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago.

I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.

I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions.

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope—because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law—abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry on. Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will; men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular government use effective instruments to carry out their will. Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does. If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that these conditions of effective government shall be created and maintained. They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example of the will to peace.

Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals in a suddenly changed civilization. In every land there are always at work forces that drive men apart and forces that draw men together. In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all go down, as one people. To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of humility. But out of the confusion of many voices rises an understanding of dominant public need. Then political leadership can voice common ideals, and aid in their realization.

In taking again the oath of office as President of the United States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the American people forward along the road over which they have chosen to advance. While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to speak their purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine guidance to help us each and every one to give light to them that sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

羅斯福于1937年在白宮的第二次就職演講 中文版

富蘭克林·羅斯福第二次就職演講

星期三，1937年1月20日

四年前，當(dāng)我們聚在一起舉行總統(tǒng)就職典禮時，合眾國憂心如焚，群情激奮。我們致力于實現(xiàn)一個理想——讓全體人民為追求幸福所必不可少的安全與和平環(huán)境早日到來。我們合眾國人民立下誓言：要把玷污我們傳統(tǒng)信仰的人趕出廟堂;要堅韌不拔地、無所畏懼地用行動來結(jié)束當(dāng)時的蕭條和失望，我們首先解決了這些當(dāng)務(wù)之急。

我們的誓約沒有就此止步。我們本能地認(rèn)識到更深一層的需要——需要通過政府找到實現(xiàn)共同目標(biāo)的手段，為每個人去解決復(fù)雜文明社會所日益產(chǎn)生的問題。試圖不要政府的幫助來解決這些問題，已使我們屢屢碰壁和一籌莫展。因為沒有這種幫助，我們就無法從道德上來控制科學(xué)的使用;有了這種必要的控制，才能把科學(xué)變成人類的有用的仆人，而不是無情的主人。為了做到這一點，我們知道必須找到切實可行的辦法，控制那些盲目的經(jīng)濟力量和利令智昏的人。

我們合眾國人民認(rèn)識到一條真理：民主政府生來就有能力保護人民，使他們免遭一度認(rèn)為是不可避免的災(zāi)難，解決一度認(rèn)為是不可解決的問題。我們聽天由命地忍受了幾個世紀(jì)之后，找到了控制瘟疫的辦法，所以，我們不承認(rèn)找不到控制經(jīng)濟瘟疫的辦法。我們拒絕把我們的共同福利問題交給機會的陣風(fēng)和災(zāi)難的狂飆去擺布。

在這方面，我們美國人不是在發(fā)明全新的真理，而是在為我們的自治史冊寫下新的篇章。

今年是制憲會議召開一百五十周年，那次會議使我們成為一個國家。在那次會議上，我們的前輩為擺脫革命戰(zhàn)爭后的混亂局面找到了出路。他們創(chuàng)立了步調(diào)一致、堅強有力的政府，使我們足以在當(dāng)時和現(xiàn)在都能解決個人或地方根本無法解決的問題。他們在一個半世紀(jì)以前建立起聯(lián)邦政府，目的就是要增進(jìn)美國人民的普遍福利，確保美國人民的自由幸福。

今天，我們要同樣運用政府的力量來達(dá)到同樣的目標(biāo)。

四年來的新經(jīng)驗并沒有使我們的歷史直覺落空。這四年清楚地展現(xiàn)了一條希望之路，即地方政府、州政府和合眾國政府都能按時代的要求行事而無需放棄民主。我們過去四年的任務(wù)并沒有迫使民主去休假。

我們幾乎所有的人都認(rèn)識到，由于人類關(guān)系日趨復(fù)雜，支配這種關(guān)系的權(quán)力也必須加強——包括抑惡的權(quán)力和揚善的權(quán)力，我國的基本民主和人民安全的依據(jù)不是不要權(quán)力，而是通過誠實和自由的選舉制度，把權(quán)力交給可以由人民定期更換或連任的人。1787年的憲法并沒有使我們的民主軟弱無力。

事實上，在過去四年中，我們使一切權(quán)力的行使都變得更加民主;因為我們已經(jīng)開始使私人專斷的種種權(quán)力恰當(dāng)?shù)胤挠诖蟊姷恼Ｋ^它們不可戰(zhàn)勝——凌駕于民主程序之上而又超脫于民主程序之外——這個神話已經(jīng)被粉碎，它們遭到了挑戰(zhàn)，并且已經(jīng)被擊敗。

我們擺脫蕭條所取得的進(jìn)步是顯而易見的。但是，那還不是你們和我所說的事物新秩序的全部，我們的誓言并非僅僅用舊材料做些修補工作。我們已經(jīng)在用社會公正這種新材料，開始從原有基礎(chǔ)上建立更持久的結(jié)構(gòu)，以便未來幾代人更好地利用。

在這方面，我們已經(jīng)得益于思想和精神上所取得的成就。古老的真理得到了重溫;假話虛話遭到了拋棄。我們一直知道，無動于衷的自私自利是不道德的，我們現(xiàn)在還知道，它是不利于經(jīng)濟的。經(jīng)濟繁榮的建筑師們曾自詡符合實際，但隨著繁榮的破滅，人們都已經(jīng)深信，從長遠(yuǎn)來看經(jīng)濟道德會帶來效益。我們正在開始消除實際與理想之間的界線，通過這種做法，我們正在為建立道德更高尚的世界，制作一件力大無比的工具。

這種新的認(rèn)識，打破了以追名逐利為榮的傳統(tǒng)觀念。我們開始不再容忍某些人濫用權(quán)力，這些人為了利潤而背棄了起碼的生活準(zhǔn)則。在這個過程中，以前得到認(rèn)可的歪風(fēng)邪氣不會那么輕易地得到寬恕，冷靜的頭腦下會那么輕易地原諒冷酷的心肝。

我們正在走向一個好心腸時代，但是，我們認(rèn)識到，除非在有善良愿望的人之間，是不可能存在好心腸時代的。出于這些原因，我理所當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為，我們所目睹的最重大變化就是美國道德風(fēng)尚的變化。

在有善良愿望的人之間，科學(xué)加之民主，為個人提供了日益豐富的生活和日益增大的滿足。隨著道德風(fēng)尚的這種變化，隨著我們重新發(fā)現(xiàn)了改進(jìn)經(jīng)濟秩序的能力，我們已經(jīng)踏上了持久的進(jìn)步之路。

我們現(xiàn)在就停下來，從前進(jìn)的道路上向后轉(zhuǎn)嗎?我們要把現(xiàn)在的美國稱為希望之鄉(xiāng)嗎?或者，我們要繼續(xù)走自己的路嗎?因為“每一個時代都是一場夢，不是在消逝就是在誕生。”

我們在面臨重大抉擇時聽到了許多聲音。貪圖安逸者說：“歇一會吧。”機會主義者說：“這是個好地方。”膽小怕事者問：“前面的路有多難走?”

不錯，我們已經(jīng)把蕭條和沮喪的日子遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)甩到了后面。我們維持了活力，我們恢復(fù)了勇氣和信心，我們擴大了思想和道德領(lǐng)域的疆界。但是，我們目前的成績是在超常形勢的壓力下取得的。在恐懼和痛苦的刺激下，前進(jìn)是迫不得已的。當(dāng)時的形勢是有利于進(jìn)步的。

然而，今天要堅持進(jìn)步就比較困難了，麻木不仁、不負(fù)責(zé)任、冷酷無情的自私自利已經(jīng)重新抬頭。這類繁榮的癥狀可能成為災(zāi)難的征兆!繁榮已經(jīng)在考驗我們進(jìn)步的決心能否持久。讓我們再問一問：我們已經(jīng)達(dá)到1933年3月4日那天憧憬的目標(biāo)了嗎?我們已經(jīng)找到快樂之谷了嗎?

我看到一個偉大的國家，地處遼闊的大陸，天賜富饒的自然資源。它的一億三千萬人民和睦相處，他們正在使自己的國家成為各國的好鄰居。我看到一個合眾國，它能夠作出示范，即采用民主管理的方法，可以把國家財富轉(zhuǎn)變成日益廣泛的、聞所未聞的人類生活情趣，可以把最低生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)提高到遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過僅僅糊口的水平。

但是，我們的民主正面臨種種挑戰(zhàn)：在這個國家，我看到幾千萬公民——占人口總數(shù)相當(dāng)大一部分——此時此刻得不到按目前最低標(biāo)準(zhǔn)所規(guī)定的大部分生活必需品。

我看到幾百萬個家庭以微薄收入勉強度日，日復(fù)一日處于家庭災(zāi)難的威脅之下。

我看到幾百萬城鄉(xiāng)居民，他們的日常生活仍處于半個世紀(jì)以前被所謂上流社會稱作的不體面狀況。

我看到幾百萬人得不到教育和娛樂，得不到改善自己及其子女命運的機會。

我看到幾百萬人無力購買工農(nóng)業(yè)產(chǎn)品，而他們的貧困又使其他成千上萬人無法投入工作和生產(chǎn)。

我看到全國三分之一的人住不好，穿不好，吃不好。

我不是懷著失望向你們描繪這幅圖景的。我是懷著希望來描繪的——因為，當(dāng)全國都看到并認(rèn)識到這是不公正現(xiàn)象，就會建議把它消除掉。我們決心使每個美國公民都成為國家注意和關(guān)心的對象;我們絕不會把境內(nèi)任何忠誠守法的群體看作是多余的。檢驗我們進(jìn)步的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，不是看我們是否為富裕者錦上添花，而是看我們是否使貧困者豐衣足食。

如果我對我國的精神和目標(biāo)有所了解，那么我們一定不會去理睬貪圖安逸者、機會主義者和膽小怕事者，我們一定會繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。我們合眾國絕大多數(shù)人都是善良的人，不論男人還是女人。他們不僅都有熱誠的奉獻(xiàn)之心，而且還有為達(dá)到實際目的所需要的冷靜的頭腦和勤勞的雙手。他們會堅持認(rèn)為，民眾政府的各個機構(gòu)都要運用有效的手段來執(zhí)行人民的意志。政府的各個成員都作為全體人民的委托人那樣去工作，這個政府就是稱職的政府，政府隨時了解所有情況，它就能不斷前進(jìn)，人民了解到政府所作所為的真實情況，政府就能得到應(yīng)有的支持和合理的批評。如果我對我國人民的意志有所了解，那么他們會要求務(wù)必創(chuàng)造并維持使政府有效的上述條件。他們會要求我國不為不公正的致命弊病所敗壞，從而在決心實現(xiàn)和平方面為各國樹立起堅強的榜樣。

今天，我們在突然發(fā)生變化的文明世界上，再一次把我們的國家奉獻(xiàn)給珍視已久的理想。世界各地歷來存在使人們分離或聚合的力量。從個人抱負(fù)而言，我們是個人主義者。但是，當(dāng)我們作為一個國家去謀求經(jīng)濟和政治進(jìn)步時，我們就是一個整體，要么共同興旺起來，要么一起衰落下去。要維持民主的力量，需要以極大的耐心來處理方法上的分歧，并要有虛懷若谷的氣度。但是，在眾說紛紜之中，可以了解到公眾需要的主流。于是，政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人就能夠指出共同的理想，并幫助實現(xiàn)這些理想。

值此再度宣誓就任合眾國總統(tǒng)之際，我擔(dān)當(dāng)起領(lǐng)導(dǎo)美國人民沿著他們選定的前進(jìn)道路奔向前方的莊嚴(yán)職責(zé)。在擔(dān)任這個職務(wù)期間，我要盡最大努力按照人民的意圖說話，按照人民的意志辦事。我要祈求上帝的指引，來幫助我們大家把光亮送給黑暗中的人，并引導(dǎo)大家走向和平之路。