To Whom It May Concern

"We are not enemies, but friends.

We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained

it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory,

stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart

and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union,

when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

-President Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address  

1861

"This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive, and will prosper.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear

is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed

efforts to convert retreat into advance." 

-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address

1933

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, 

unity of purpose over conflict and discord. 

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances 

and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that 

for far too long have strangled our politics." 

-President Barack Obama's First Inaugural Address

2009

-AK