Equal Rights Amendment Remarks at a Fundraising Dinner.

It's always a disappointment to an audience when anyone replaces Liz Carpenter at the microphone. ¹ [Laughter]

I thought a lot about what I would say tonight. You know the statistics. You know the issue. But I thought that it would be good to put this challenge that we face in perspective maybe from a human point of view, a personal point of view.

¹ The President was introduced by ERA supporter and Assistant Secretary of Education for Public Affairs Elizabeth S. Carpenter.

In 1966 I gave up a seat in the Georgia Senate and ran for Governor. No one knew who I was when I began. I spent all the money I had. I borrowed more than I could afford. I lost 22 pounds. I missed making the runoff for Governor by 21,000 votes. It was a disappointment, I admit, but the morning after the 1966 election I met with a very small group of folks, and they asked me what I was going to do for the next 4 years. I said "I'm going to run for Governor." And in 1970 I was elected. I did not intend to lose.

In 1947 we had our first child, a son, who was born in Virginia. We wanted very much for the next child to be a daughter. But in 1950, in Hawaii, Chip was born, and we wanted very much for the next child to be a daughter. [Laughter] In 1952 Jeffery was born. It was a disappointment, I admit. That was in 1952. And 1955 went by and 1960 went by and 1965 went by. And finally came 1967, and the entire family burst into tears when Rosalynn announced—the doctor let her do it—that we finally had a daughter: Amy. We had some disappointments on the way, but we did not intend to lose.

In 1974 I announced that I was going to run for President. I invited some major political reporters down to Plains and to Atlanta to talk to me, and I made what I considered to be a major address to the Nation at the National Press Club. A few days later they had the miniconvention in Kansas City, December 3, 1974. I waited eagerly for the Gallup poll to come out. They had 36 names in the Gallup poll: more than a dozen Senators, several Members of the House, several Governors, Julian Bond, Ralph Nader, Benjamin Spock. [Laughter] They didn't have Jimmy Carter on the list. But less than 2 years later I was elected President. It was a difficult struggle, but I did not intend to lose.

Not too many months after that, we faced the prospect of continued war in the Middle East—in 30 years, four wars, thousands of young people killed on both sides, atmosphere filled with hatred. International borders were an insurmountable obstacle to communication and to peace. We went to Camp David—myself, President Sadat, Prime Minister Begin. After the first 3 days they did not speak to each other. For 10 solid days neither Begin nor Sadat talked to one another at all about the peace agreement.

Sunday morning we thought we had failed. It was a major disappointment. But Sunday afternoon we signed the Camp David accords, and not many months after, the peace treaty between Israel and the major Arab country. It was a disappointment along the way, but we did not intend to lose.

This afternoon in Illinois there was a vote, 102 to 71, a major majority: ERA was not ratified by the Illinois legislature, a major disappointment. But we do not intend to lose.

The history of our Nation is filled with personal reminiscences. Every one of you here could list things in your own life where you had a major goal or a major aspiration or a major hope or a yearning deep in your heart for something you thought was important—with obstacles and disappointments all along the way, plenty of chance to be discouraged, plenty of chance to blame others for a failure, plenty of chance to separate yourself from others who were involved in the same noble endeavor. But you persisted, and you triumphed.

Ours is the greatest nation on Earth, the greatest democratic experiment in the history of humankind. But for decades, generations, our Constitution permitted slavery of human beings. Americans were not given the right to vote directly for their own United States Senator; women were not permitted to vote. Had there been timidity on the part of Americans, had there been discouragement that brought an end to struggle, our Nation would never have improved.

We've almost wiped clean the legal, permissive discrimination against a group of human beings in our Nation. Not quite. There is only one group, as you well know, against whom laws can still be passed patently depriving Americans citizens of their civil or human rights, and that is against women. It's a noble struggle. It's difficult. Massive forces are mounted against us. The most abominable distortions are promulgated as the truth. Political pressures are exerted on often well-meaning members of State legislatures. It's not an easy task, but there is no reason for us to fail.

Six Presidents who lived before me in the White House have endorsed and supported the equal rights amendment. Thirty-five States, as you know, have already ratified the equal rights amendment. The Democratic and Republican platforms have endorsed the equal rights amendment. The overwhelming majority of Americans in almost every poll, or every one, so far as I know, favor the equal rights amendment. But discrimination still exists of a legal kind.

Women have not been deprived of responsibility. More than a fourth of all the households in this Nation are headed by women. Women have not been deprived of the burden of labor. Forty-three percent of our workforce is comprised of women. What women have been cheated of is equal wages, equal opportunities in education, equal opportunities under the law, equal opportunities to hold property, equal opportunities for 'human dignity, equal opportunities to realize the hopes of a human life and to utilize the talent that God has given.

This is a smirch on America, not yet to have succeeded in ratifying the equal rights amendment. I'm concerned about every one of you here, because I know what you go through. I meet every month with the presidents of most women's organizations, to share ideas and to share plans and to assign responsibilities, for telephone calls, for luncheons at the White House with the Governors and the speakers of the house and the majority leader and the minority leader of the State legislatures which still have not yet ratified the equal rights amendment. We make numerous calls. My whole family, my whole administration is committed to this struggle: to say that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex. A simple statement, but one with profound significance.

My message is, don't be discouraged. We have had a setback this afternoon. It means we'll have to struggle harder, we'll have to unify ourselves more closely. We'll have to realize that this is not a time to cast stones at one another or to try to assign blame for a disappointing day. It's a time for the marshaling of forces and to realize that together we will not fail.

We did not get in this fight to lose, and we do not intend to lose. We will ratify the equal rights amendment for the United States of America.

Thank you very much.