Reception for Friends From New Hampshire Remarks at the White House Reception.

My whole family is coming in. We've been very grateful to interrupt the receiving line. Nobody will complain, I'm sure, because we have reached a long-sought agreement on the coal contract, and we hope that within the next 10 days or 2 weeks [applause] . All afternoon I've been writing two speeches: a long one if we failed—and we had television time already arranged for 9 o'clock this evening-and a short one if we succeeded. And I preferred the short speech.

I just spoke to Lucille Kelley and Rosalynn, and I told Lucille that "Second only to you, I've spent more nights with her than I have any other woman in the world." [Laughter]

You can't imagine how close we feel to you. Although it's been exactly 2 years since we heard the tremendous news of the New Hampshire primary election returns, you've remained constantly in our hearts.

I went to New Hampshire as a lonely candidate with practically no friends. I was later followed by all the members of my family and then by hundreds of members of the Peanut Brigade, some of whom are here tonight. And you took us in, and we felt that we were part of you. It was a lot like Georgia, with the small communities, close-knit families, deep religious convictions, a belief in our Nation and what it stands for, a willingness to work hard, sometimes poverty, but always encouragement.

At first we had a hard time knowing what to call you. Some folks said "New Hampshiremen," but we knew the women would get mad. Some folks said "New Hampshirites." Some said "Granite Staters." Somebody in Georgia said, "Just call them Republicans." [Laughter] We proved that was wrong. And so finally I and all my family, the Peanut Brigaders, found a word to call you, and that word was "friends." And we thank you for it.

There's a uniqueness about New Hampshire. It's different from every other place in this country, but in many ways, New Hampshire is kind of like the United States in microcosm. You're a miniature picture of what our country is. And in the intense person-to-person campaigning on the streets, in the stores, in shops, factory shift lines, in your homes, later in larger meetings, we became acquainted with the problems of our Nation, with the hopes and dreams and ideals of American people, with issues which we had not previously debated, and with your own ideas.

And it would be hard for you to realize-who come from New Hampshire-how much those early days of a political campaign shape the future campaign itself and the attitudes that I brought into the White House, representing you.

There's a special place in this White House for you, and we've been looking forward with great anticipation to this anniversary of your gift to me. And I want to tell you that I will always do the best I can to make you proud.

I was glad to come back to Nashua this past weekend to be with my friend, Tom Mcintyre, with John Durkin, with many of you, and to receive the tough questions from the high school students. [Laughter]

Future candidates will find a welltrained new generation to cross-examine when we come into your State. And I want to tell you that we would like to say this is your home. We're glad to have you here and hope you have a good time.

Thank you very much.