jimmy carter address to the nation on energy

This excessive importing of foreign oil is a tremendous and rapidly increasing drain on our national economy. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. America overseas is only as strong as America at home. During the 1960's, we used twice as much as during the 1950's. I believe that the duties of this office permit me to do no less. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. --to use solar energy in more than 2 1/2 million houses. We can begin to prepare right now. On July 15, 1979, amid stagnant economic growth, high inflation, and an energy crisis, Jimmy Carter delivered a televised address to the American people. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. to reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than 2 percent; Carter, a liberal president, was heading into a presidential campaign just as a tide of conservatism was rising, led by presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan, who went on to win the 1980 campaign. Remember, you can't sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first. These quotas will ensure a reduction in imports even below the ambitious levels we set at the recent Tokyo summit. We can decide to act while there is still time. place in this century, with the growing use of oil and natural gas. But sometime in the 1980's, it can't go up any more. Exactly 3 years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run for President of the United States. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.". We have no choice about that. More of our oil is coming from foreign countries. "Mr. President," he said, "I don't feel much like talking about energy and foreign policy. Those citizens who insist on driving large, unnecessarily powerful cars must expect to pay more for that luxury. The world price is set by a foreign cartelthe governments of the so-called OPEC nations. In it, Carter singled out a pervasive "crisis of confidence" preventing the American people from moving the country forward. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. But I think most of you realize that a policy which does not ask for changes or sacrifices would not be an effective policy at this late date. But, unfortunately, there are still some who seek personal gain over the national interest. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives. Our cars would continue to be too large and inefficient. Carter didn't directly recommend rationing, but it's clear he . These are all controversial questions, and the congressional debates, as you can well imagine, are intense. There, in the next few weeks, the strength and courage of our political system will be proven. Six years ago, we paid $3.7 billion for imported oil. Thank you very much, and good night. Politics, Carter said, was full of corruption, inefficiency and evasiveness; he claimed these problems grew out of a deeper, fundamental threat to American democracy. He was not referring to challenges to civil liberties or the countrys political structure or military prowess, however, but to what he called a crisis of confidence that led to domestic turmoil and the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation., At a time when Europeans and the Japanese began out-producing the U.S. in energy-efficient automobiles and some other advanced technologies, Carter said that Americans had lost faith in being the worlds leader in progress. He claimed that Americans' obsession with self-indulgence and material goods had trumped spiritualism and community values. Although all countries could, of course, be more efficient, we are the worst offender. But our energy problem is worse tonight than it was in 1973 or a few weeks ago in the dead of winter. We waste more energy than we import. Well, I understand how he felt, but I must tell you the truth. During the 1950's, people used twice as much oil as during the 1940's. Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this Nation. World consumption of oil is still going up. After restoring faith in itself, the nation would be able to march on to the the battlefield of energy [where] we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act. 1924) giving one of his fireside chats on energy. Selected Speeches of Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter, Address to the Nation on Energy, Transcript, Miller Center at University of Virginia, April 18, . More than six months ago, in April, I spoke to you about a need for a national policy to deal with our present and future energy problems, and the next day I sent my proposals to the Congress. We may make mistakes, but we are ready to experiment. President Jimmy Carter - Address to the Nation on Energy [Historical We have more coal than any nation on Earth. A Democrat, he was governor of Georgia from 1971-1975, and a member of the state Legislature (in the Senate) from 1963 to 1967. In a few years, when the North Slope is producing fully, its total output will be just about equal to 2 years' increase in our own Nation's energy demand. In his speech, President Carter called the crisis "the moral equivalent o One choice, of course, is to continue doing what we've been doing before. Copyright 2023. I know that many of you have suspected that some supplies of oil and gas are being withheld from the market. They will say that sacrifice is fine as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable or unfair or harmful to the country. The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Remarks to the students and faculty at Moscow State University / Ronald Reagan -- Remarks to the residents of Leiden / George Bush -- v. 6. Three-quarters of them would carry only one personthe driverwhile our public transportation system continues to decline. We believed that our Nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil. During the next few weeks, attention will be focused on the Congress, but the proving of our courage and commitment will continue, in different forms and places, in the months and the years, even generations ahead. So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. Demand will overtake production. They are going up, whether we pass an energy program or not, as fuel becomes more scarce and more expensive to produce. I hope that, perhaps a hundred years from now, the change to inexhaustible energy sources will have been made, and our Nation's concern about energy will be over. Each new inventory of world oil reserves has been more disturbing than the last. April 18, 1977: Address to the Nation on Energy | Miller Center But you did not choose your elected officials simply to fill an office. With this new policy, the gross income of gas producers would average about $2 billion each year more than at the present price level. But when this Nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it. And I'm asking you for your good and for your Nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Versace is shot twice in the head, and Cunanan flees the scene. We can be sure that all the special interest groups in the country will attack the part of this plan that affects them directly. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, by making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and by developing a strategic petroleum reserve. Industry will have to do its part to conserve just as consumers will. The Congress has recognized the urgency of this problem and has come to grips with some of the most complex and difficult decisions that a legislative body has ever been asked to make. The 1973 gas lines are gone, and with this springtime weather, our homes are warm again. But over those years the subjects of the speeches, the talks, and the press conferences have become increasingly narrow, focused more and more on what the isolated world of Washington thinks is important. President Jimmy Carter - Address to the Nation on Energy We've always been proud, through our history, of being efficient people. And it will get worse every day until we act. Center on Global Energy Policy on LinkedIn: Q&A | The Geopolitics We know the strength of America. He outlined the creation of a solar bank that he said would eventually supply 20 percent of the nations energy. On June 30, 1979, a weary Jimmy Carter was looking forward to a few days' vacation in Hawaii, as Air Force One sped him away from a grueling economic summit in Tokyo. Jimmy Carter, "Crisis of Confidence" Speech, July - Energy History No one will gain an unfair advantage through this plan. We can continue using scarce oil and natural gas to generate electricity and continue wasting two-thirds of their fuel value in the process. Jimmy Carter speaks on 'a crisis of confidence,' July 15, 1979 Unless profound changes are made to lower oil consumption, we now believe that early in the 1980's the world will be demanding more oil than it can produce. Conservation is the only way that we can buy a barrel of oil for about $2. Twice in the last several hundred years, there has been a transition in the way people use energy. Our farmers are the greatest agricultural exporters the world has ever known, but it now takes all the food and fiber that we export in 2 years just to pay for 1 year of imported oilabout $45 billion. In spite of increased effort, domestic production has been dropping steadily at about 6 percent a year.

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