Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. One such lesson is don't count conventional energy out. Thank you very much, and good night. to establish a strategic petroleum reserve of one billion barrels, more than a 6-months supply; All of us in Government need your help. The . This has already started. Now, I know that some of you may doubt that we face real energy shortages. Two days from now, I will present to the Congress my energy proposals.. Its Members will be my partners, and they have already given me a great deal of valuable advice. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. The 1973 gas lines are gone, and with this springtime weather, our homes are warm again. It causes unemployment. But the sacrifices can be gradual, realistic, and they are necessary. Just as the search for solutions to our energy shortages has now led us to a new awareness of our Nation's deeper problems, so our willingness to work for those solutions in energy can strengthen us to attack those deeper problems. The second change took. Industry will have to do its part to conserve just as consumers will. We will monitor the accuracy of data from the oil and natural gas companies for the first time, so that we will always know their true production, supplies, reserves, and profits. A year later, Ronald Reagan would frame his optimistic . 4 min read. 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. We've always believed in something called progress. 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. Our plan will call for strict conservation measures if we fall behind. This is not a contest of strength between the President and the Congress, nor between the House and the Senate. Former President Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.), was the 39 th president of the United States, serving from 1977-1981. Confidence in the future has supported everything else--public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. One choice, of course, is to continue doing what we've been doing before. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problemswasteful use of resources. You may be right, but suspicions about the oil companies cannot change the fact that we are running out of petroleum. Two days from now, I will present to the Congress my energy proposals.. Its Members will be my partners, and they have already given me a great deal of valuable advice. Some will cause you to put up with inconveniences and to make sacrifices. We will act together. This difficult effort will be the 'moral equivalent of war' except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy. Supplies will be uncertain. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. These 10 days confirmed my belief in the decency and the strength and the wisdom of the American people, but it also bore out some of my longstanding concerns about our Nation's underlying problems. We will protect our environment. 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 is one reason that I'm working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy. Forty years ago tonight, President Jimmy Carter delivered his Address to the Nation on National Energy Policy, better known as the "Moral Equivalent of War" speech. During the subsequent campaign, Goldwater said that he thought the United States should do whatever was necessary to win in Vietnam. Conservation is the only way that we can buy a barrel of oil for about $2. The 1973 gas lines are gone, and with this springtime weather, our homes are warm again. He puts forth several initiatives to push the nation towards greater. His remarks were broadcast live on radio and television. It is a clear and present danger to our Nation. By 1972, we were importing about 30 percent. Beginning this moment, this Nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977--never. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. New oil prices would also rise in 3 years to the present world level and then be increased annually to keep up with inflation. He outlined a plan to tackle the crisis . We have the ability to administer the new energy legislation, and congressional work on the National Energy Plan has now reached the final stage. I have faith that meeting this challenge will make our own lives even richer. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems-wasteful use of resources. This from a young woman in Pennsylvania: "I feel so far from government. November 08, 1977. It's a problem that we will not be able to solve in the next few years, and it's likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century. Three-quarters of them would carry only one personthe driverwhile our public transportation system continues to decline. 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. Obviously, this cannot continue. Our nation's 39 th president, Jimmy Carter, is currently in hospice care. No one will gain an unfair advantage through this plan. During the next few weeks, the Congress will make a judgment on these vital questions. During the past 3 years I've spoken to you on many occasions about national concerns, the energy crisis, reorganizing the Government, our Nation's economy, and issues of war and especially peace. I know, of course, being President, that government actions and legislation can be very important. There should be only one test for this programwhether it will help our country. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. They are the ones that we must provide for now. Last year we spent $36 billion for imported oil--nearly 10 times as much. 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. These are all controversial questions, and the congressional debates, as you can well imagine, are intense. In his speech, President Carter called the crisis "the moral equivalent of war" and called on Americans to conserve . to reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than 2 percent; 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. The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. This is where another major controversy arises. We have the most skilled work force, with innovative genius, and I firmly believe that we have the national will to win this war. No one will be asked to bear an unfair burden. 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. Whether this plan truly makes a difference will not be decided now here in Washington but in every town and every factory, in every home and on every highway and every farm. If it were possible to keep it rising during the 1970's and 1980's by 5 percent a year, as it has in the past, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade. If you will join me so that we can work together with patriotism and courage, we will again prove that our great Nation can lead the world into an age of peace, independence, and freedom. I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. I know that many of you have suspected that some supplies of oil and gas are being withheld from the market. This means that just to stay even we need the production of a new Texas every year, an Alaskan North Slope every 9 months, or a new Saudi Arabia every 3 years. And in each of those decades, more oil was consumed than in all of man's previous history combined. Jimmy Carter, "Address to the Nation on Energy," April 18, 1977. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice. The world now uses about 60 million barrels of oil a day, and demand increases each year about 5 percent. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy. Unless we act, we will spend more than $550 billion for imported oil by 1985--more than $2,500 for every man, woman, and child in America. We've always been proud of our ingenuity, our skill at answering questions. Above all, they will be fair. World oil production can probably keep going up for another 6 or 8 years. Industry will have to do its part to conserve just as consumers will. Thereafter, I was so dismayed by his presidency that I betrayed my natal Democratic Party and voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act. If we do not act, then by 1985 we will be using 33 percent more energy than we use today. This is a special night for me. 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. The story of the human race is one of adapting to changing circumstances. They want lower taxes on their profits. Whether this plan truly makes a difference will not be decided now here in Washington but in every town and every factory, in every home and on every highway and every farm. Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my Presidential authority to set import quotas. ", And this from a young Chicano: "Some of us have suffered from recession all our lives. The first was about 200 years ago, when we changed away from wood--which had provided about 90 percent of all fuelto coal, which was much more efficient. There are three things that we must do to avoid this danger: first, cut back on consumption; second, shift away from oil and gas to other sources of energy; and third, encourage production of energy here in the United States. In his speech, President Carter called the crisis "the moral equivalent o Carter became a one-term president after Reagan defeated him in a blowout victory in 1980, but Carter's political defeat intensified his lifelong quest to know whether he had done his best and . "I am a farmer, an engineer, a businessman, a planner, a scientist, a governor, and a Christian," Jimmy Carter said while introducing himself to national political reporters when he announced his campaign to be the 39th president of the United States in December 1974.. As journalists and historians consider Carter's legacy, this prelude to Carter's campaign offers insight into how he . But I'm confident that we can find the wisdom and the courage to make the right decisionseven when they are unpleasantso that we might, together, preserve the greatness of our Nation.