Remarks on Arrival at Des Moines International Airport in Des Moines, Iowa

Did any of you see the plane that just took off? During the campaign, I traveled through Iowa seven different times. I visited 110 of your cities and towns. And all those times put together, I never saw this many people. The small plane that took off just before the airline plane, the single engine, was much larger and much more modern than the one that I used to fly around over your beautiful fields.

I was reading the other day about the great American poet Robert Frost who, the first time he came to Iowa and saw your rich black earth, said he saw no reason to process that earth through vegetables, for it was good enough to eat. And I feel almost that good, coming from Washington back here.

As I told your own congressional delegation a few minutes ago, as is the case with all of you, with Iowa Congressmen and Senators, I feel like I'm coming home. And I do feel like I've come home to you.

When I was lonely, you took me in. When I needed support, you gave it to me. The first time I came to Iowa there was a Gallup poll. There were 36 names on the Gallup poll. Mine was not even on the list.

But still, many of these folks that are standing in the front row here let me come in your homes. You introduced me to your friends. I got to know you. You got to know me. And it was the beginning of a successful campaign.

I think one of the things that tied me closer to the Iowa people than anything else, at least in those early days, was the fact that I was a farmer; I understood the soil and the earth. I knew then and I know now that in all the economy of our great Nation, the single most important factor is farming and agriculture. And that made me feel at home when I came to Iowa.

Ours is the nation that's the greatest food producer on Earth. Iowa is number one in corn production, number one in hog production. You produce 10 percent of all our Nation's food. And this gives us a tremendous strategic weapon to be used in a peaceful way to tie the nation to the world together.

During this past 12 months, we have exported $24 billion worth of food and feed products, and Iowa is an integral part of all that. We've got great needs in our country. But I think you represent the solutions to many of those problems, because you are an agricultural State and, at the same time, are moving forward in technology, in industry, and business.

Because the Iowa people believe in hard work, you have the lowest unemployment rate of any of the 50 States in the Nation, and I want to congratulate you on that as well.

You've always represented what makes our country strong. I think of all the States I know, there's a closer sense of family and a closer sense of community and a closer sense of brotherhood and sisterhood in Iowa, because you know that many of the problems of the future cannot be resolved by individuals alone; there must be cooperation.

And there's a deep sense here, too, of what this Nation has meant to our forefathers who came to our country, staked out a small claim of land, and began to carve out for ourselves a great future and a great country.

I'm glad to come back as a Democrat, and I know that you share with me a great pride in your own congressional delegation. We've just signed, a few days ago, a new comprehensive farm bill which will help to bring order out of chaos, to let us have strengthening prices, to let food reserves be kept within the control of farmers, that will expand greatly agricultural export potential, that will give us greater research and development programs for agriculture.

They see and I see, together, that as we face other problems like the energy package, that this decision to be made will affect every life here, whether you live in the city or live on a farm. And of all the delegations that I know in the Congress, I've not had stronger friendship nor stronger support than I have from your own congressional delegation. And I'd like for them to hold up their hands and for you to express your appreciation to them, as I do from the bottom of my heart.

They not only take care of your own personal needs but they are leaders. We had a very crucial vote last night to decide whether to go on building the unnecessary B-1 bomber or not. They voted with me, and I believe that that bomber wilt not be built anymore, and I thank them for it.

We're trying to bring peace to the world by eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear explosives, and this is a great group of allies for me to bring about peace for which we all search. And I believe we're going to find it with the help of the Congress, particularly your delegation from Iowa.

I've had a chance to learn about- a lot about your State. I don't claim to know all the answers. But I believe that my campaigning around Iowa, my knowledge of you, your friendship for me will stand me in good stead in the future.

We've got some problems in our country; no one could deny that. But we're making progress. The unemployment rate in the last 8 or 9 months has dropped 1 full percent. I just came here from Detroit. Two years ago, the unemployment rate in the downtown urban area was 24 percent; now, it's down to about 8 percent.

We got figures this morning that showed that the inflation rate is coming under control, an annual rate of only 3.6 percent. We've still got a long way to go, but we're going in the right direction.

If you'll stand with me, give me your support, give me your confidence, give me your friendship as you did before, I'll try to do you a good job as President, to continue to learn from you, to derive my strength from you, and to work with you to make sure that we keep our Nation as it always has been--the greatest country on Earth.

Thank you very much for coming out to meet me. God bless every one of you.