Let me say tonight I listened carefully to what everyone else said. . . . I don’t believe anyone pointed out that while James Hoban as a relatively unknown young Irish architect actually built this White House, he did it by defeating an anonymous plan presented by Thomas Jefferson. (Laughter) But it is just as well, because Mr. Jefferson was the architect of something even more important than the White House – he built the American creed. (Applause)
I might say parenthetically, in America ever since then, all politicians have tried to convince people that they were architects. If you listen to them speak long enough, you will be convinced that we were all born in log houses that we built ourselves. (Laughter)
But on a serious note, think of the American creed – we hold these truths to be self-evident, that we are all created equal, endowed by God with the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We have bonded ourselves together because we cannot fully pursue, protect, or enhance these rights alone as individuals. And we dedicate ourselves to form a more perfect union.
In other words, we dedicate ourselves to an act of creating and building that will never be finished. An architect conceived of that.
. . . And now together we have to build at least the foundations for America’s home and the world’s home in a new century. Yes, it will need steel and stone and wood and glass and light and air and trees and gardens, music and quiet; it also will need a lot of vision and hope. The longer I serve in public life, in many ways the more idealistic I become, but I see day in and day out that the world is composed of builders, wreckers and idlers. And most people in politics are either builders or wreckers. All of you are – by nature, instinct, training and will – builders.
The country and the world needs its builders, those with imagination and hope and heart who understand that with all the differences that exist in the world, our common humanity and our common relationship to the eternal and to our earthly home is far, far more important.
In the end, that is what we have honored tonight, and America is in your debt. Thank you and God bless you. (Applause)
