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After being sworn in by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Bush pledged to spread liberty and freedom "to the darkest corners of the world," according to reports.
"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."
The president kicked off Inauguration Day with his wife, Laura, at a worship service at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House. He was then sworn in at noon ET from the West Front of the Capitol.
Throngs of onlookers attended the event. Also on hand were Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, and such V.I.P.s as former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and first ladies Rosyln Carter and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the senators' seating area, former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry – wearing an overcoat – chatted amiably with other senators then appeared to applaud politely during the freedom-heavy applause lines throughout the president's speech.
"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom," Bush said.
Thursday's festivities will cost $40 million, much of it covered by gifts from the private sector, say administration officials.
On the eve of his inauguration, Bush party-hopped with the first lady and took in, among others, the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball.
Bush, 58, begins his new term with the lowest approval rating at this juncture of any recent two-term president – 49 percent in an Associated Press poll this month. A New York Times/CBS survey published Thursday morning also found a 49 percent approval rating. As they began their second terms, Bill Clinton's approval rating was 60 percent (in 1997), and Ronald Reagan's was 62 (in 1985).
Iraq is the current dominant concern of Americans, according to both polls (the economy and the plan to overhaul Social Security are the others), and Bush is the first U.S. president to be inaugurated in wartime since Richard M. Nixon, in 1973.
