Memphis, Tennessee Remarks at the Opening Session of the 1978 National Democratic Party Conference.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, distinguished officials of our various governments in a great country, and fellow Democrats:

What you and I just watched was one of the best network news programs I've seen since I've been President¹ [Laughter]

¹ The President was referring to a Democratic National Committee sponsored film called "Partners in Progress," which was shown at the conference prior to his remarks.

I have to say that I've not been to very many, and I don't know what I will experience in the future, but so far I like Democratic conventions very much.

It is an honor for me to speak before the most open, honest, progressive, compassionate political organization in the world today, our Democratic Party. And we are also the oldest continuing political party in the world. And after the American people spoke so clearly last month, we are still the majority political party in the United States, and we're going to stay that way.

Ours is a party of practical dreamers. Thomas Jefferson conceived of the United States of America as no other nation had ever tried to be—dedicated to human fulfillment, where individual liberty was guaranteed. But Thomas Jefferson also founded a university; he collected a national library; he planned beautiful cities; he mapped the wilderness; and as a farmer, he invented a better plow-typical of Democrats. Time and again in our history, the Democratic Party has given new life and new meaning to our Nation's oldest dreams.

When a generation of hard-working Americans was robbed by the Depression of a lifetime of savings, the New Deal restored economic security and vision and brought new hope because of the vision of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

When a devastated Europe was threatened by economic chaos, political fragmentation, and alien ideologies, the Marshall plan and NATO sustained and strengthened our crucial alliance because of the courage of Harry Truman.

And when an uncontrolled arms race threatened the devastation of nuclear war, a test ban treaty took the first crucial steps toward peace under the bold leadership of John F. Kennedy.

When black Americans challenged our Nation's conscience to fulfill the historic pledge of equal rights, a nation finally answered, "We Shall Overcome," and Democrats wrote the promise of equal opportunity in law, led by and inspired by a great Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson.

I'm proud to be a member of the Democratic Party. And I'm also proud to be a member of a party of others who should have been President, like Adlai Stevenson and Hubert Humphrey.

We Democrats share with the founders of this Nation a faith in the good sense and the decency of average Americans. We are a pioneer people who learned early that survival and our dreams depended on hard work and courage and caring for one another. America's founding principle remains the most revolutionary idea in the world today—that all people are born free.

The dreams, the courage, the ideals of the American people have never been lost. But for too many years, some of our leaders did not reflect that faith. The challenge of government in America is to tap the greatness of a free people, but, for a long time, government failed that challenge.

We have passed through a painful decade—a tragic war abroad and bitter division at home; millions in unemployment lines and the highest inflation since the War Between the States; break-ins and buggings, and our Nation's highest public trust betrayed. Democrats will never permit such anguish and embarrassment to happen, in the Nation which we love.

For too many years, the most open society in history had a government that operated in secrecy. We pledged an open government in 1976 which the American people could trust.

When government operates in the shadow and is complicated, bloated, and impossible to understand, the best financed, the most powerful, and often the most selfish lobbies have the advantage. Average citizens, the poor and the weak, who seek no special favors, are denied their rightful voice. We are tearing down the barriers between Americans and our Government. We've already passed new ethics legislation. The Government of the United States today belongs to the people of the United States, and not to the powerbrokers. And we're going to keep it that way. And you can depend on it.

Under this administration, we have restricted the use of wiretaps. No law-abiding American should ever have to live in fear that our Government will open mail, break in a home, or eavesdrop on private conversations. Under this administration, we will honor personal privacy.

Instead of leadership by veto and government by stalemate we now have a new Democratic partnership: President and Congress, Governors and mayors, legislators and local officials. The Congress has rarely had a more able and respected leadership, and certainly no President has ever had two better allies than Speaker Tip O'Neill and Majority Leader Robert Byrd.

For the first time in 200 years, the Nation's second highest office is a position of full responsibility. The Vice President is my eyes and my ears. His wisdom and his rapidly increasing experience have benefited our country time and again, at home and abroad. And I know that each one of you shares my deep respect and gratitude for the leadership of Vice President Fritz Mondale.

Two years ago, the most productive people in the world were governed by a wasteful and an inefficient bureaucracy. Republican Presidential candidates said they wanted to run government in the worst possible way, and that's exactly what they did. We Democrats pledged to have government as good as the American people, and that's exactly what we are doing.

Democrats do not believe that government should solve every problem or substitute for private initiative. But I have seen the power of rural electrification programs transform the life of a young farmboy in the rural South. And I know what it meant to my own people to eliminate typhoid and malaria, polio and cholera. And I've seen, as has my own wife, Rosalynn, retarded youngsters come alive with excitement and pride, learning new skills because a mental health program run by the Government reached out to them with love.

When government fails to deliver promised services, when redtape, paperwork, bureaucratic waste of time and tax dollars, those who suffer most—those who suffer most—are the ones who depend on government the most. We are cutting redtape, throwing out ridiculous regulations, reorganizing government, and eliminating millions of hours of paperwork. We've breathed new energy and initiative into the Federal civil service for the first time in a hundred years. We Democrats are trying to make government competent so that it can be truly compassionate, and we will achieve both those goals together, competence and compassion.

Those who rob from government with waste, theft, fraud, abuse, steal precious resources that could have helped a child get out of poverty with a head start, trained an unemployed youngster for a job, built a decent home for a family, provided legal services for the poor, or nursed an older American back to health. The stolen tax dollars come from every steelworker, every store clerk, every teacher, every farmer. This administration—and the new Inspectors General will help-will continue to root out every instance of fraud and theft and abuse, and we will prosecute the guilty to the full extent of the law.

For too many years, our free enterprise system was hobbled by massive unemployment, inflation, and an energy crisis that grew worse every year. Harry Truman spoke for every Democrat when he said, "We do not propose, like some people, to meet today's problems by saying that they do not exist, and tomorrow's problems by wishing tomorrow would never come."

We have been willing to confront the difficult and the complicated energy problem, and we are now getting it under control. If we join together as a people, I see an America of the future, strong and secure and free of the fear of energy shortages. I see American genius and technology harnessing solar power for millions of homes and buildings and creating thousands of new jobs. And I see America's achievements offering new hope to an energy-starved world.

In the last 2 years, we have created more than 6 1/2 million new jobs, an all-time record. And we're not through yet. We've cut unemployment by more than 25 percent. The Republicans say they favor work, not welfare. But we Democrats have reduced the welfare rolls by 1.3 million Americans, by giving them new jobs. We have already saved more than $20 billion in welfare payments and unemployment compensation. We still have much more to do. Our Democratic partnership will continue to put America back to work.

After a Republican recession and a housing depression, our economy has grown 9 1/2 percent. Last year we built 2 million new homes. Corporate profits have increased, in 2 years, 37 percent. Alben Barkley said, "If you want to live like a Republican, be sure to vote Democratic."

A Republican administration squeezed us farmers—the most productive in the world—by boosting the profits of middlemen, by embargoing shipments of American grain overseas, and by dictating the decisions that farmers should make themselves.

We have ended grain embargoes, once and for all. The Congress has passed a superb new farm bill, and our Democratic Congress and new legislation has untied the farmers' hands. Farm exports, so vital to our balance of trade, broke all records year before last. They're breaking all records this year, and farm income, net farm income, is up 25 percent. We Democrats are committed to what they have long deserved and are now beginning to get—a decent and fair income for American farmers.

And for the first time in 40 years, we have actually deregulated a major industry. Now the airlines are making more money, more Americans are flying, and they are paying less. Now, that's what I call free enterprise under Democrats. And next year—next year—we'll bring similar benefits to Americans by deregulating the surface transportation industry.

Republicans promise tax cuts. We Democrats have cut taxes nearly $25 billion. The Republicans left us the biggest budget deficit in American history. We have added new resources for human needs, strengthened the American dollar overseas, and cut that deficit $30 billion. Large deficits fuel the flames of inflation, so we must cut them even more, and we will, for inflation threatens all our gains and all our hopes for continued growth.

Inflation is robbing those whom we most want and need to help—working families, the pensioner, the widow, and the poor. It breeds a narrow politics of fear. It's an illusion to believe we can preserve a commitment to compassionate and progressive government if we fail to bring inflation under control.

Each of us must do our part, but government must lead. I have set my budget goals. I am determined to meet them. Short-term sacrifices must be made. But we will balance those sacrifices fairly. And if we err in this balance, it will be on the side of those who are most in need. That's the way Democrats govern.

By joining together to control inflation now, we can lay the foundation for an extended era of growth and prosperity which all Americans can share—with more stable prices, with new jobs and opportunity, with new security and hope. And as President, I have no alternative except to bring inflation under control. As Democrats and as partners, we will meet this challenge, and we will meet it successfully.

Now, most of us have dreams, the same dreams for our children and our grandchildren—the opportunity to learn in schools that are challenging and which nurture them, to be protected against disease, to grow up in good neighborhoods, to know the taste of clean water and the smell of fresh air and the pleasure of beauty, natural beauty around them. We want a nation, as our Constitution promises, where the only limits on our children are the talents God gave them and their own determination and hard work.

In the past 2 years, we have added more new resources to educate America's children than ever before in our history. Across this country, 500,000 more handicapped children, 200,000 more children of migrant workers, 125,000 children who do not speak English as their native language—all children who have lived on the outskirts of hope too long—will start life now with a better chance because of our Democratic partnership. And for the first time, every young person in our country, everyone who wants to go to college or vocational school is now eligible for a grant or a loan.

No American family should be reduced to poverty, or bankruptcy, or go without needed health care because they cannot afford the cost. We have begun the fight for hospital cost containment. Next year we're going to win that fight. This is one of the essential steps toward reaching the goal that we all share—to protect every American through a comprehensive system of national health care.

People in every American city are struggling to raise their children in safe neighborhoods and safe homes, where teenagers can go to a good job, instead of to a bad street corner, where there is sunlight and open spaces and green parks. These formerly hopeless and lonely children are no longer struggling alone.

Federal resources are not unlimited, but we are targeting new aid, and we have forged a new urban policy. Our Nation's largest city is putting its finances in order and now facing its future with hope because the Democratic Party kept faith with the people of New York. And I'm thankful we did.

We have also begun the fight to bring billions of dollars of private enterprise, private investment to America's cities and also to our rural centers through a National Development Bank. Next year, we're going to win that fight.

Let me say that our national heritage, our natural heritage, is a gift to each generation. We have finally enacted longawaited strip mining protection. We have strengthened standards for clean water and clean air. And last week, we guaranteed the protection of 114 million acres of our land in Alaska, our most precious wilderness. This doubled our system of national parks. And with your help, this administration will continue to keep faith with the next generation by protecting our environment.

The civil rights revolution liberated both black and white, North and South. My commitment as President will never be in doubt. I will continue to uphold and vigorously to enforce the spirit and the letter of the laws of this land to ensure equal justice and opportunity for the people of America. I know you share that commitment.

We will not close our eyes to 200 years of systematic discrimination. We will promote effective affirmative action programs. We have already extended the time limits for ratifying the equal rights amendment. Now let us join forces to wipe out discrimination based on sex and make the equal rights amendment the law of the land, and give voting rights to the people of the District of Columbia.

The experience and the wisdom of our older citizens is a priceless resource. Our Democratic partnership has struck down discrimination based on age. Retired Americans deserve a life of dignity and not fear. The social security checks of all Americans are now guaranteed, not only for today but for the rest of the century.

For too many years, the most idealistic people in the world saw our highest ideals betrayed.

Woodrow Wilson spoke for every American when he said: "I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."

Our Nation, conceived in liberty, is standing in defense of human rights. We do not claim easy victories; but brave people around the world who are struggling to taste the freedom that we now enjoy, they now know that they are no longer alone. Thousands of prison doors which once held innocent people have swung open. And as long as I'm President, America will continue to lead the worldwide struggle for basic human rights.

For many years I dreaded the autumn sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, because I knew that the country which I loved would be vilified and castigated by scores of nations in the developing world. But the peoples of many of those nations now look to America with fresh eyes and new friendship, because we are struggling with them for justice and economic development, for democracy, and for peace.

In our own hemisphere, we have initiated a new era of mutual respect and cooperation with our neighbors. And I am proud that the United States Senate had the courage and vision to demonstrate to the world the greatness and the strength of our Nation by ratifying the Panama Canal treaties.

And I'm also proud that while I have been President, no American has fought or died in combat anywhere on Earth. My deepest prayer is to be able to say when I leave this office, "My country lived in peace."

With its great strength, America is a continuing and it is a persistent force for peace in Cyprus, in Nicaragua, in Namibia, in Rhodesia, and elsewhere. We've seen the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of Israel, two long-term enemies, stand in the White House and before the Congress and clasp hands in a genuine gesture of peace.

No single individual in our lifetime gave more of her life and her energies and her devotion to the cause of peace than did Golda Meir. The world has lost one of its great, good hearts.

The road to permanent peace in the Middle East, God knows, is difficult and frustrating, with many deadlocks and delays. But after 4 wars, and 3,000 years of hatred, I am confident that our prayers will be answered and Golda Meir's dream will come true, and we will see a treaty of just and durable peace between the nations of Israel and Egypt signed, and signed very soon.

We want peace. And we are reducing our sales of conventional arms and trying to convince other nations to join with us in this commitment. America does not enjoy and does not want the title "Arms Merchant of the World." I would rather the peoples of other nations see the letters "U.S.A." printed on a bag of American wheat than I would on the butt of a rifle.

As President, I know that many depend upon the strength of America for their peace and for their freedom. I am committed to a strong defense. My first career was military, in the submarine force. My greatest responsibility as President is to maintain the security of our Nation. I will continue to keep that commitment. NATO and our other alliances are being strengthened. Under this administration, America's defense forces will remain so strong and well prepared that no nation will ever be tempted to test them and destroy the peace we love.

But we know that even strong defenses cannot give us true security as long as the awesome power of the atom remains a weapon of war. At the end of World War II, the United States was the only nation that possessed an atomic weapon. Today at least five nations share this sobering responsibility. We dare not permit the ability to produce nuclear explosives to become available to dozens of nations, large and small, led either by responsible leaders or perhaps by madmen.

We acted in the Congress last year to halt the spread of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. Fifty nations led by us are now working together on this program and on this problem. We must and we will continue to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world.

And finally, let me say that the nuclear arms race matches super power against super power. It is an unending, unwinnable, ever more costly contest. It escalates the risk of ultimate confrontation. It increases the danger that a fatal miscalculation, a tragic accident, or an act of madness could propel the world into nuclear war and wipe out life as we know it on Earth. I am dedicated to bring the nuclear arms race under control.

We have been negotiating daily and we are now negotiating daily with the Soviet Union on a new treaty to limit strategic arms. We hope soon to sign a SALT agreement which will strengthen the security of the United States, will provide for accurate verification, and will substantially reduce the threat of nuclear war.

Once the SALT II treaty is signed-and I believe it will be soon—I will depend on your help to ensure that it is ratified. We have no more urgent responsibility to the next generation of Americans than to act now to reduce the danger of nuclear holocaust. When the history of our time is written, it will be said that you and I, the American people met that responsibility.

Well, we face these and other serious challenges as Democrats and as Americans. But as a party and as a people we have met and we have overcome great challenges before. We will stay true to the promise of the Democratic Party. We will meet our urgent responsibilities. We will strive for competence. We will act with compassion. And we will continue to dream great dreams—and to make those dreams come true.

With the courage and the common sense of the American people as our guide, we will make this Nation what our founders envisioned—a land of liberty and opportunity, proud of its heritage of hope and human dignity, with the potential for greatness that only a free people can fulfill, a symbol of peace and a symbol of liberty to all the world.

Thank you very much.