Letter to Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Nancy Hanks

To Nancy Hanks

Although I fully understand and respect your desire to leave the chairmanship of the National Endowment for the Arts at the conclusion of your second term, I also know that you will be greatly missed. The eight years of your leadership at the Endowment have been exemplary.

Under your thoughtful and creative stewardship, the Endowment has, among other things, firmly established in the country's consciousness the importance of broad-based public and private support for the arts. You and your colleagues have helped to foster a climate in which private resources and initiative play the leading role in shaping and nourishing the nation's artistic and cultural life. It is a source of pleasure and pride to us all that widely diverse arts activities of the highest quality are flourishing throughout the country on an unprecedented scale.

I am fully aware, as I know you are, of how much we all share in the inestimable benefits that spring from the creative visions of our artists. In carrying on the work you and others have so ably begun, I shall continue to seek the support and counsel of artists from every part of our great country.

Rosalynn joins me in wishing you well and in thanking you for your extraordinary efforts on behalf of us all.

Sincerely,

JIMMY CARTER