When it comes to presidential inaugural addresses, there are certain lines that live on through history.
It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said in his 1932 inaugural speech, "The greatest thing we have to fear is fear itself."
In 1961, John F. Kennedy famously said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Twenty years later, Ronald Reagan uttered the famous conservative rallying cry, "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."
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But a majority of modern inaugural addresses have been largely forgotten to history — a brief Washington welcome that goes down as unremarkable, according to historian Matt Dallek.
"Most inaugural speeches are eminently forgettable," Dallek, a professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, told Scripps News.
"To really make [the speech] memorable, really make it good, it's got to signal some kind of fresh turn that endures, and that's hard to do," he added.
New presidents have generally used the speech to lay out their goals and address current challenges.
FDR had the Great Depression, JFK faced a slew of overseas crises and Reagan sought to fundamentally redefine the way Americans viewed the role of the federal government.
But more recent presidents have been better remembered for their more informal remarks, away from the pomp and circumstance of January 20.
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Most Americans probably won't remember President George W. Bush's inauguration speech, but his remarks at ground zero following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, are ingrained in the minds of many.
Even President Barack Obama, widely regarded as one of the greatest orators of his era, is better remembered for his "hope and change" speeches on the campaign trail rather than his remarks from the inauguration stage.
The same is true for President Donald Trump, Dallek says.
"If we think about his presidency, I don't know that [his inauguration speech] is a signature moment. As a candidate, as a political figure, he's extremely important, maybe the most important figure of the past 10 years. But I'm not sure that speech is the speech that encapsulates his importance," he said.
In fact, Trump's first inaugural address is not typically remembered for its content, but rather its tone.
He received criticism for his depiction of "American carnage," describing a nation ravaged by crime, gang violence and drugs, "Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities," and "rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation."
Dallek says the bleakness of Trump's address seeped into his policies.
"There is a through line of darkness in much of Trump's first term that the inaugural address signaled. And maybe that's the most important legacy of that American carnage speech," he said.
But Steve Groves, a former Trump administration official and a director at the Heritage Foundation, disputes that characterization of President Trump's speech.
"There's nothing wrong when you're giving an inauguration speech, with pointing out some of the problems that you see in the country and how you are coming in with new policies to fix those problems," he said.
Eight years later Groves says, it's likely Trump will hit similar themes in his remarks, focusing on the economy, immigration and making the federal government work for the people.
"He is there to serve all of America now. Half of America didn't support him in the election, but his message should still try to resonate with them. They are still Americans who buy groceries. They are still Americans who deal with gas prices, and so the message should resonate across party lines," he said.
Dallek says it's possible the true impact of Trump's second speech won't be fully known for years.
"It's only with the passage of time that the speeches really endure," he said. "It's partly because of what FDR did after his speech that his speech endures. It's partly because of Reagan's two terms in office, and the direction that he tried to move the country in that his speech endured. So, it does take on a larger life. It deepens in importance."
The speech will kick off what the incoming administration says will be one of the busiest starts to a new presidency in recent history, with a flurry of executive orders expected on everything from immigration to the economy to the environment in the days ahead.
