Welcome to Douglas Murray’s column, “Things Worth Remembering,” in which he presents great speeches from famous orators we should commit to heart. Scroll down to listen to Douglas reflect on the promise of President Václav Havel.
I was in Washington, D.C., last week to see the 47th president of the United States sworn into office. Listening to his inaugural address, I was struck by one sentence above all: “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal—and all of these many betrayals that have taken place—and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and, indeed, their freedom.”
It’s an extraordinarily powerful promise: that a leader will actively return the government to the governed. It’s been made many times throughout history. A new leader alludes to a dark, recent past, one in which the regime did not respect the wishes of the people, then declares: I will usher in a brighter future.
That may indeed happen in the United States after the events of January 2025, though we will not be able to tell for some years. The arc of history is long and torturous, and often hard to make out.
It definitely happened in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution of November and December 1989. The Czechoslovakian people were still blinking in the sunlight after many dark decades of communism when newly elected President Václav Havel addressed his nation on New Year’s Day 1990.
