Let me try to describe the size and the effect of the problem. Twice in the last several hundred years, there has been a transition in the way people use energy. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems-wasteful use of resources. President Carter speaks to the American people about the importance of an energy policy that focuses on conservation of the nation's natural resources and a new energy department. What are his proposed solutions? Address to the Nation on Energy | The American Presidency Project Jimmy Carter 39th President of the United States: 1977 1981 Address to the Nation on Energy April 18, 1977 Good evening. Above all, they will be fair. Ours is the most wasteful nation on Earth. When we import oil we are also importing inflation plus unemployment. Amid looming concern regarding the scarcity of oil resources President Carter delivers a message in stark terms, urging Americans to band together in order to eliminate the wasting of energy resources. Now, these 10 principles have guided the development of the policy that I will describe to you and the Congress on Wednesday night. FILE - Lillian Carter is flanked by her sons Jimmy, right, and Billy as she met them down at Billy's gas station, where the Carters and neighbors cleaned fish prior to a town cookout, June 26, 1976. I have no doubt that this is the right decision, because the other nations of the worldallies and adversaries alikeawait our energy decisions with a great interest and concern. 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 statement marked a dramatic turning point in U.S.-China relations, as well as a major shift in American foreign policy. Too few of our utility companies will have switched to coal, which is our most abundant energy source. These are the goals that we set for 1985: --to reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than 2 percent; --to reduce gasoline consumption by 10 percent below its. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 sent energy prices soaring, and four years later, the impacts were still rippling through the economy. Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White House. These changes did not happen overnight. This change became the basis of the Industrial Revolution. place in this century, with the growing use of oil and natural gas. There, in the next few weeks, the strength and courage of our political system will be proven. This has already started. But we do have a choice about how we will spend the next few years. We know the strength of America. Center on Global Energy Policy in Boydton, VA Expand search. This incentive for new oil production would be the highest in the whole world. The tenth and last principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy that we will rely on in the next century. There is some part of this complex legislation to which every region and every interest group can object. One of the most enduring aspects of Jimmy Carter's presidency is his green legacy he embraced environmental stewardship and renewable energy with an . As president, Jimmy Carter advised Americans to set their thermostats to 55 degrees overnight during the winter months to "waste less energy," offering his guidance in a televised address to the nation on February 2, 1977, in the midst of a national natural gas shortage. --to use solar energy in more than 2 1/2 million houses. 1924) giving one of his fireside chats on energy. Our Nation's economic and political independence is becoming increasingly vulnerable. On July 15th, Carter came down from the mountains and gave what came to be known as the "Malaise Speech," even though he never used the word in his televised address to the nation. That price is now almost five times as great as it was in 1973. Inflation will soar; production will go down; people will lose their jobs. Three-quarters of them would carry only one personthe driverwhile our public transportation system continues to decline. There should be only one test for this programwhether it will help our country. Cunanan had no criminal record before the spring of 1997, when he began a killing read more, During a live television and radio broadcast, President Richard Nixon stuns the nation by announcing that he will visit communist China the following year. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. ", And this is one of the most vivid statements: "Our neck is stretched over the fence and OPEC has a knife. In the 1970s, oil and gas shortages experienced in many parts of the U.S. were erroneously blamed on resource exhaustion rather than government price and allocation controls. 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. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967, and as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.. Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia, graduated from the United States Naval . This lack of moral and spiritual confidence, he concluded, was at the core of Americas inability to hoist itself out of its economic troubles. Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis that Never Happened And in each of those decades, more oil was consumed than in all of man's previous history combined. Carter was unable to solve most of the problems plaguing the country during his administration, including an ailing economy and a continuing energy crisis. Our imports have more than tripled in the last 10 years. We've always been proud of our ingenuity, our skill at answering questions. In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Nearly everyone who is alive today grew up during this period, and we have never known anything different. to reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than 2 percent; Following is a transcript of President Carter's address to the nation on energy problems last night in Washington, as recorded by The New York Times through the facilities of ABC News: It's. Carter didn't directly recommend rationing, but it's clear he . An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. We need to shift to plentiful coal, while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy. You may be right, but suspicions about the oil companies cannot change the fact that we are running out of petroleum. But sometime in the 1980's, it can't go up any more. Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals to measure our progress toward a stable energy system. And now we have a chance again to give the world a positive example. April 18, 1977: Address to the Nation on Energy | Miller Center This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war," except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy. President Jimmy Carter - Address to the Nation on Energy I believe that this can be a positive challenge. We can drift along for a few more years. It hurts every American family. We can be sure that all the special interest groups in the country will attack the part of this plan that affects them directly. Jimmy Carter 39th President of the United States: 1977 1981 Address to the Nation on Energy and National Goals: "The Malaise Speech" July 15, 1979 Good evening. Twice in the last several hundred years, there has been a transition in the way people use energy. First, it's fair both to the American consumers and to the energy producers, and it will not disrupt our national economy. A look at Jimmy Carter's legacy in Georgia and around the world These were the promises I made 3 years ago, and I intend to keep them. These are the goals that we set for 1985: Democrat Jimmy Carter served as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Intense competition for oil will build up among nations and also among the different regions within our own country. His remarks were broadcast live on radio and television. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. Jimmy Carter speaks about a national "crisis in confidence" The world has not prepared for the future. This plan is essential to protect our jobs, our environment, our standard of living, and our future. And it will get worse every day until we act. We must face an unpleasant fact about energy prices. "Mr. President," he said, "I don't feel much like talking about energy and foreign policy. The message was usually focused on energy conservation. Our national security depends on more than just our Armed Forces; it also rests on the strength of our economy, on our national will, and on the ability of the United States to carry out our foreign policy as a free and independent nation. Remember, you can't sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first. One choice, of course, is to continue doing what we've been doing before. But if we wait, we will constantly live in fear of embargoes. We will have to have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip mine and bum more coal, and drill more offshore wells than if we begin to conserve right now. Primary Source: Jimmy Carter, "Crisis of Confidence" (1979) He outlined the creation of a solar bank that he said would eventually supply 20 percent of the nations energy. Iran hostage crisis to cut in half the portion of U.S. oil which is importedfrom a potential level of 16 million barrels to 6 million barrels a day; 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. We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and our grandchildren. These quotas will ensure a reduction in imports even below the ambitious levels we set at the recent Tokyo summit. I'm convinced that we can have enough energy to permit the continued growth of our economy, to expand production and jobs, and to protect the security of the United Statesif we act wisely. Twelve hours from now I will speak again in Kansas City, to expand and to explain further our energy program. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. The eighth principle is that Government policies must be predictable and certain. Now the energy proposal that I made to Congress last April has three basic elements to ensure that it is well balanced. Download media. But we can make that transition smoothlyfor our country and for our children and for our grandchildrenonly if we take careful steps now to prepare ourselves for the future. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency . Other generations of Americans have faced and mastered great challenges. Each American uses the energy equivalent of 60 barrels of oil per person each year. Each new inventory of world oil reserves has been more disturbing than the last. We've always wanted to give our children and our grandchildren a world richer in possibilities than we have had ourselves. The Secretary of Defense said recently, "The present deficiency of assured energy sources is the single surest threat to our security and to that of our allies." Confidence in the future has supported everything else--public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. And third, it protects our Federal budget from any unreasonable burden. We simply must have faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this Nation. You don't like it, and neither do I. I hope that each of you will take steps to conserve our precious energy and also join with your elected officials at all levels of government to meet this test of our Nation's judgment and will. 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. It is worldwide. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980's, for I am tonight setting the further goal of cutting our dependence on foreign oil by one-half by the end of the next decade--a saving of over 4 1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day. And I realize more than ever that as President I need your help. The former . He also pledged a massive commitment of funds and resources to develop alternative fuel sources including coal, plant products and solar power. We are strong. I said 6 months ago that no one would be completely satisfied with this National Energy Plan. But the sacrifices can be gradual, realistic, and they are necessary. Nearly everyone who is alive today grew up during this period, and we have never known anything different. ", "If you lead, Mr. President, we will follow. This is a special night for me. It has been an extraordinary 10 days, and I want to share with you what I've heard.