Mr. Johnson Reminds U.S. Of Speed Of Change President Johnson taking the oath of office from Chief Justice Warren (right) during the inauguration ceremony in Washington yesterday. Also in the picture are Mrs. Johnson and Vice-President Humphrey. From Our Own Correspondent-WASHINGTON, JAN. 20 Lyndon Baines Johnson, whose mandate was confirmed by the largest popular vote in the history of the republic, was today sworn in for his first four-year term as the thirty-sixth Presi- dent of the United States. It was a solemn occasion, unattended by the combative challenge of his predecessor; instead, there was the confident assertion that all the ancient wrongs and new problems can be resolved if the old promises and the old dream are remembered. In almost scriptural language he spoke of the American covenant of justice, liberty, and union. The speech was as complicated as the age and the man. If. on this centenary of Lincoln's second inaugural address, Americans had expected a sirnilar masterpiece, they were disappointed; but they should now have a better measure of the man they elected with such overwhelming acclaim. There was the calm assumption that the pace of change, as swift as the rocket now moving towards Mars, would shake old values and uproot old ways. There was the recognition of injustices in a land of wealth and promise, of hopeless poverty, hunger, suffering and illiteracy; the enemy he had fought for 30 years and which he knew would not surrender easily. PRICE OF CONVICTION "But change has given us new weapons. Before this generation of Americans is finished, this enemy will not only retreat-it will be conquered." Change had also brought new mean- ing to the old American mission of showing the way for the liberation of man. Americans could never again stand aside prideful in isolation. Dangers and troubles once called " foreign " now lived among them. If American lives must end in barely known countries, then that was the price that change demanded of conviction. Unabashed, he spoke of the secret places of the American heart, of the faith that could not be seen or imagined but which brought victory. " For this is what America is all about. It is the un- crossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star not reached and the harvest sleeping in the unploughed ground. Is our world gone ? We say farewell. Is a new world coming? We welcome it- and will bend it to the hopes of man." He spoke with as much awareness of change as the younger man who pre- ceded him, and with the firm confidence that has already transformed this country in the brief months since November, 1963. If the town was filled with large men wearing five-gallon hats and high-heeled boots, thcre was none of the Texan bravura; only the con- viction of a supreme parliamentarian that everything is possible for those who reason-and with the birthrlght of radicalism. The changes since today four years ago were apparent, and painfully so in the extraordinary security measures. Armour plating and bullet-proof glass separated President and people, and secret servicemen stood guard with rifles. The shadow of President:Ken- nedy's assassip, Lee Harvey Oswald, still lies across the land. Mr. Johnson was, as usual, impatient with the security arrangements, and on his return from the Capitol to the White House stopped his car in Pennsylvania Avenue to greet the brass band from his old codlege. He walked through the screen of secret servicemen to shake hands with the pretty drum majorettes who, like most Texans, seemed a little larger than life. WAVES TO GOVERNORS At the reviewing stand he was back on the job of shaking hands and other- wise pressing the flesh, as he would des- cribe it, of the political powerful of both parties. He ignored no single Governor, signalling and waving to each. As the Military academies, the Red Indians and h-igh school bands marched by, he kissed every wife within kissing dis- tance and collected three deliriously happy children.. It was plain to see that warm-hearted, middle-aged and middle- class America was again in charge at the White House. The more sighificant change, only now being comprehended With some degree of fairness for President Johnson, Was noted today by Mr. Tom Wicker of The New York Times. President Kennedy achieved great personal popularity but failed politically, Mr. Wicker suggested, because he appeared to threaten stability and demean the office of the presidency by becom:ng a partisan. GIFT OF PERSUASION Mr. Johnson, on the other hand, has made the presidency fit not only circutn- stances but also his own experience and inclinations. He has been able to main- tain the position of national leader in the actual conduct of his office. His leader- ship may not seem so bold, demanding, or inspirlng as Mr. Kennedy's, but it has persuaded some men to do what they ought to do without persuasion. To this and similar comment one can add that it is just possible that Mr. Johnson will be able to do what Lin- coln wanted to do 100 years ago and in circumstances perhaps more difficult. Should he succeed, this Inauguration Day, not particularly exciting in spite of his massive electoral support, will be remembered. Text of the Presideut's address, page 11I MR. JOHNSON REMINDS U.S. Of SPEED OF CHANGE WELCOME FOR A NEW WORLD IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS
