Jimmy Carter photo

Nashville, Tennessee Remarks at a Carter/Mondale Fundraising Reception.

October 09, 1980

First of all, I want to thank Tom T. and Dixie for being so nice to me as to host this reception, and all of the performers behind me have really thrilled my heart. I've been a fan of theirs ever since they've been performing and I've been old enough to listen to the radio. Don't you think you got your money's worth just for them? [Applause]

As you know, I'm part of the Carter family. [Laughter] I'm the politician in the family; they are the musicians. If I could just politick as well as they can sing, I wouldn't have any problems at all- [laughter] —this year.

Since I've been in the White House, I've had a chance to let the world know about my love for country music and about the value of country music to our Nation and to the world. There is no other form of music, in my opinion, that has such a heartfelt expression of the real, few, intense human yearnings and expressions of love and disappointment, ambition and hope, sense of the family, of history, as is expressed through country music. It's as modern as the daily newspaper, it's as true to the past as a history book, and I think it looks to the future with a great deal of anticipation and confidence and enjoyment.

I'm not going to make a political speech, because I want to spend my time here shaking hands personally with every one of you who've come to express your confidence in me and also come to express your confidence in our Nation. I just had a very exciting townhall meeting with 4,400 people in the Grand Ole Opry. And to me, this relationship with you as partners in the future development of our country and the exchange of ideas and questions with that many people in Nashville is part of what makes our country great.

I'm determined, if I am reelected in November, to continue to make the greatest nation on Earth even greater, and I'm determined also to be elected in November. With your help, we won't fail.

Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:22 p.m. in the Knoxville Room at the Opryland Hotel. In his opening remarks, he referred to Mr. and Mrs. Tom T. Hall.

Jimmy Carter, Nashville, Tennessee Remarks at a Carter/Mondale Fundraising Reception. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/250842

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