I would like to share a story that happened over a hundred years ago.

Young Melvin was just a boy when he received his first great lesson in Americanism. Utah had just become a state, and it was their first presidential election. Melvin’s father was active in polities, and had been working diligently to get his candidate elected. But when the results were in, his candidate went down to defeat.

Now, it was the morning of the new president’s inauguration. As Melvin’s family arose that morning, they assembled for family prayers, as was their custom. It was Father’s turn to pray. Now, Melvin watched this with keen interest. Father always had a habit of praying for the President of the United States just as fervently as he prayed for anyone else. ‘Surely on this morning,’ Melvin thought, ‘he wouldn’t pray for this new president – he wasn’t his candidate. But to Melvin’s astonishment, Father began to pray for the new president more earnestly than he had ever prayed for any president in the past.

At the conclusion of the prayer, Melvin said, "Father, you surely forgot yourself this morning. You did not intend to pray for that fellow. You did not vote for him. You did not want him. You thought your man would be a better president."

Father responded, "I certainly did not forget. It is true I thought my man would have been a better president, and I still think so, but he is now my president, and I am going to support him as though I had voted for him; and pray for him."

My dear friends, the Apostle James said, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)

Please hear what I say: America is the cradle of man, the mother of nations, the ensign of liberty. Her destiny has been and yet lies in the hands of God. By our faith and by our prayers, let us bring down the power of God upon this nation and her leaders, that liberty and truth, and righteousness may yet be our gift to the world.