Carter/Mondale Presidential Campaign Remarks at a White House Reception for Delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

AUDIENCE. [Chanting] "We want Jimmy."

THE PRESIDENT. [Laughing] Okay; you got me. Thank you very much.

AUDIENCE. [Chanting] "Four more years."

THE PRESIDENT. Right on. Thank you very much.

Well, as Rosalynn and I stood in the receiving line and shook hands with hundreds of you this afternoon it was obvious to me that the spirit of the Democratic Party and the commitment of the delegates who are committed to me and Fritz Mondale will guarantee that we'll win the nomination in New York and win the election in November.

I know a lot of you can think back 9 or 10 months ago when you were making up your mind whether or not to run as a Carter delegate, and all the predictions were that anybody who ran for a Carter/Mondale delegate would surely lose, and that we didn't have a chance to win. And now all of you have won. Now it's my time, right? [Applause]

I'm not going to list all the reasons we're going to win, but I would like to mention one reason that you had with you this morning, and that is that I've got the best partner and the best Vice President this country has ever seen. And I might add that in 1976 and in 1980, Fritz Mondale is my first choice.

I hope this has been a good day for you. As you all know, who are familiar with political history in this Nation, the few days prior to a Democratic Convention and, quite often, a Republican Convention, are filled with tension, with debate, with anticipation, with some degree of trepidation, with controversy. That's what makes our party great, and I believe that at the convention in New York we will have sharp differences, we will have debates, we will have thorough discussion of issues, but we will come out of that convention with Fritz Mondale and me at the head of a ticket and with a united party determined to whip the Republicans in New York.

And with that determination in New York, as a unified convention, with a fine platform and the issues clearly on our side, I have no doubt that we'll go through every State in this Nation, and we'll put up a major battle in the fall and come out victorious in November. This is important to us and important for our country.

Don't be afraid of controversy. Don't be afraid of change. The Democratic Party has always been the party where differences of opinion were freely expressed. And we'll be at the convention talking about issues, not whether or not we will help the cities, not whether or not we'll be a staunch friend of farmers, not whether or not we'll be the champion of the working families of this country, not whether or not we'll give equality of opportunity to minority groups, not whether or not women will be treated as equals in every possible respect, not whether or not our Nation will be kept at peace and kept strong, but how we'll carry out these commitments is the only argument among us, not whether we'll do it.

The Republicans didn't have to worry about how to deal with the troubles of labor organization members at Detroit, the center of organized labor for major industries of our country—out of 2,000 delegates, I think 4 represented labor unions. And they didn't have to worry about minorities. We'll have about 25 per. cent of all the delegates at the Democratic Convention who represent minority citizens in this country.

The Republicans have 3 or 4 percent.—

AUDIENCE MEMBER. One!

THE PRESIDENT. One? I try to be care. ful not to exaggerate, but I'll take your figure, 1 percent. They had to import one to speak, as you know— [laughter] —for minorities. And I am very grateful to say that at the Democratic Convention, 50 percent of our delegates will be women, working for—

AUDIENCE MEMBER. It is enough for the men.

THE PRESIDENT. Absolutely. Working finally in the Constitution of the United States to give women full equality under the laws of our Nation. That's important to us.

We are willing to meet every challenge. The Democratic Party has always been on the cutting edge of progress. The Nation is troubled. The world is in a state of flux and challenge. But we know that we represent a party that is the oldest political party on Earth. It's a party whose principles and commitments and ideals have never changed. They are the same principles and commitments and ideals which have made our Nation the greatest nation on Earth. And that guiding light for us, that undeviating guiding light has stood us in good stead and helped us to weather differences that have arisen among us, as we struggle for that progress so precious to people who in the past did not have equality of opportunity.

Ours is a nation of immigrants. I often say we are a nation of refugees—people who have come here literally from every nation on Earth, either us or our parents or grandparents, seeking a better life. And almost every influx of people from foreign countries, when they got here, didn't have influence. They didn't have a place to express their desires and their hopes and their yearnings and their aspirations and their commitments and their ambitions. And when they found themselves isolated from the mainstream of political influence, they very quickly found it, to the extent that they committed themselves to the Democratic Party and formed partnerships there.

That's the element which has given us strength. It's not an accident that about two-thirds of the Members of the House of Representatives in the Congress are Democrats. It's not an accident that twothirds of the Senators are Democrats. It just shows the sound political judgment of the people to keep a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Congress. And that principle is not going to change.

I just want to say two other things. We're also the party that's willing to tell the American people the truth. Our Nation was almost brought to its knees in embarrassment and disappointment and the alienation of well-meaning, dedicated, patriotic American citizens—even from the Oval Office of the White House, in recent years—by Watergate and by some of the things that have happened under the leadership of the Republican Party. It's not necessary for us to revive that on a daily basis as we campaign throughout the country, but we should have learned a lesson from it: that the truth that has always permeated the Democratic Party commitments in telling the American people the facts—sometimes unvarnished facts, sometimes unpopular facts—have stood us in good stead.

We cannot afford to deviate from that commitment during the campaign this year by providing easy answers or simplistic solutions to problems that are indeed difficult and which cannot be resolved overnight. That'll be the responsibility of me and Fritz Mondale, yes, of Rosalynn and my family, all the Cabinet, yes. But it's also your responsibility to make sure that every time you meet with a single person or a small group, that you tell the truth and, in the process, meld together a unified America. Because our Nation has never failed in a time of crisis or challenge or trouble or difficulty-when we recognized that crisis or that obstacle or understood the question—to unite and to prevail. We have never failed, and we're not going to fail in the future.

Ours is a country at peace. We've had rare administrations that have gone 4 years with our Nation at peace. And I always pray to God that when I go out of this office, that I can look back and say, "We kept our Nation at peace for 8 solid years."

You've probably discussed today the convention rules. [Laughter] And I know you've heard the statements, perhaps on both sides—maybe there is some division among you, I'm not sure about that—

AUDIENCE. No!

THE PRESIDENT. Right on.

Then I will agree with you that it's almost incomprehensible how a brokered, horse-traded, smoke-filled room convention could be labeled open, and the decision made by 20 million Democrats in the open primaries and the open caucuses could be called closed.

These rules, as you know, that we are defending were initiated back as far as 1964, 1968, 1972, under people like Harold Hughes, George McGovern, and also Barbara Mikulski, [Morley] Winograd. You know the names of the commissions that have said, "Let's don't let the political bosses control our party any longer. Let's give to the people of our Nation who profess to be Democrats the right to decide who the nominee of the party will be."

These rules were established, clearly understood, by all the candidates or potential candidates 18 months or more before the first caucuses were held in Iowa. And we will have an open convention, as every delegate has a right to debate these rules, to vote on the rules, to decide on the platform, to establish credentials-[inaudible]—to set the changes in the charter if we want to, to set the rules for the 1984 convention. What I want to be sure is that when a voter goes to the ballot box in Plains, Georgia, or Chicago, Illinois, or Schenectady, New York, or Newport News, Virginia, and says this is what we want, is the decision to choose the nominee of our party, and then later, the delegates are chosen to carry out the will of millions of Democrats, that that decision-made by the grassroots, by Democrats who have their faith in you, confirmed by an oath by the delegates to carry out that charge, made openly and freely, in conformity with 42 States' laws—is carried out. To violate that commitment and that oath and that promise would be a travesty, in my opinion, of honesty.

I might close by saying I have absolutely no doubt that no matter what rule is chosen that Fritz Mondale and I will be nominated at the convention. That is not the point. The point is what I've been talking about earlier: honesty, truth, principle. That's what's been our guiding light, and that's what's going to bring us to victory and our Nation to victory and permanent peace, through strength, after the election in November. Thank you all. God bless every one of you.

THE FIRST LADY. I am so glad to see you here this afternoon, and I thank you for all of your help and what you mean to Jimmy and to me, personally, and for what you mean as active Democrats to our country. It's wonderful to have you.

We'll be leaving from the South Lawn in the helicopter. We invite you to come down the steps and out to watch us leave—be careful because you might get blown away—and then come back in the House, into the State Dining Room for some refreshments.

Thank you all.