PRESIDENT JAMES E. "JIMMY" CARTER - ANNOTATED SPEECH UNSIGNED CIRCA 1976 - HFSID 286041

JIMMY CARTER: 1976 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Original draft of Jimmy Carter's address accepting the 1976 democratic nomination for president. This draft bears 153 words written in Carter's hand, including this attack on Republicans: "use line about every mistake-- Vietnam, Chile, CIA excesses, etc. - happened because plotted in secrecy without U.S. people".
Annotated Speech Unsigned, 8p. No date, but 1976. Eight pages from a draft of his July 15, 1976 speech accepting the Democratic nomination for President. Pages are numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 14 (concluding page of speech). Not signed, but bearing 153 words in Carter's handwriting. Adviser STUART EIZENSTADT is mentioned frequently by Carter ("Stu") on these pages. In the Carter White House, Eizenstadt served as Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs and Policy. The following are quotes from the eight pages, Carter's handwritten edits and comments, and related excerpts from Carter's acceptance address delivered at the Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden on July 15, 1976. From Typed Manuscript (page 5): "Our people want jobs, too, and a stable economy, and we have outlined a program that combines incentives to increased hiring by the private sector, with public employment programs that will help clean up our urban areas and preserve our environment."  At the left, Carter has handwritten: "we need a stronger/statement on jobs, inflation/& unemployment". From Carter's actual speech, delivered at Madison Square Garden on the evening of July 15, 1976: "I believe that anyone who is able to work ought to work-and ought to have a chance to work. We will never have an end to the inflationary spiral, we will never have a balanced budget-which I am determined to see-as long as we have eight or nine million Americans out of work who cannot find a job." From Typed Manuscript (page 6): "I've always been a Democrat, as were my parents and my grandparents. I've been one at least since I was eight years old. In 1928 and 1932, when our Convention was going on, I used to go out to our car in the middle of the night and hook up the battery radio into the battery of the car to see who would be our nominee. In those days, on a farm three miles outside of Plains, Georgia, in the middle of the night, I felt a long way from the Democratic Party's selection process. I feel a lot closer to it tonight. I can remember, as some of you can, when in the darkest hours of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt told us we had nothing to fear but fear itself.  We are the heirs of Harry Truman, who told the political faint of heart that if they couldn't take the heat they should get out of the kitchen. Ours is the party of John Kennedy, who inspired a generation by telling us not to ask what out country could do for us, but what we could do for our country. Ours is the Party of Lyndon Johnson, a Texan who told us, 'We shall Overcome,' and helped us overcome racial prejudic[e wit]h his historic legislative program." Carter crossed out "Texan", replacing it with "Southerner" and replaced the entire line with: "perhaps more than any President in this century advanced the cause of human equality in the United States". Then everything was crossed out with a diagonal line. Carter then penned: "add car/radio/story?" (which was done) and, at the left, handwrote: "Norman Cousins/phrase". From Carter's actual speech, delivered at Madison Square Garden on the evening of July 15, 1976: "Years ago, as a farm boy sitting outdoors with my family on the ground in the middle of the night, gathered close around a battery radio connected to the automobile battery and listening to the Democratic conventions in far-off cities, I was a long way from the selection process. I feel much closer to it tonight. Ours is the party of the man who was nominated by those distant conventions and who inspired and restored this nation in its darkest hours-Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ours is the party of a fighting Democrat who showed us that a common man could be an uncommon leader-Harry S Truman. Ours is the party of a brave young President who called the young at heart, regardless of age, to seek a 'New Frontier' of national greatness-John F. Kennedy. And ours is also the party of a great-hearted Texan who took office in a tragic hour and who went on to do more than any other President in this century to advanced the cause of human rights-Lyndon Johnson." Carter went back to "Texan", probably realizing that Texas had 26 electoral votes and it would be important to mention the state by name; Carter won Texas in November. On Typed Manuscript (page 7): Carter has written a quote from theologian Reinhold "Niebuhr/Men's capacity for justice makes/Democracy possible; man's inclination/to justice makes/democracy necessary". This wasn't used in his convention address. From Typed Manuscript (page 9): "More recently, with the leadership of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others, we have seen the South, and other regions as well, begin to move out of the darkness of discrimination and into the light of human equality." Next to this paragraph, Carter has handwritten: "Stu/questions/this/reference-/cut?" It was cut and was not in the July 15th speech. From Typed Manuscript (page 10): "In recent years, our foreign policy has drifted, has too often been conceived and executed in secrecy, without the understanding and support of the American people, and has a result lost its political and moral underpinnings." At this point, Carter has penned: "Stu suggests use line about every mistake--/Vietnam, Chile, CIA excesses, etc - happened/because plotted in secrecy without U.S. people". From Carter's actual speech, delivered at Madison Square Garden on the evening of July 15, 1976: "Every time our nation has made a serious mistake the American people have been excluded from the process. The tragedy of Vietnam and Cambodia, the disgrace of Watergate, and the embarrassment of the CIA revelations could have been avoided if our government had simply reflected the sound judgment and good common sense and the high moral character of the American people." RARELY DO DRAFTS OF HISTORIC SPEECHES APPEAR ON THE MARKET. THEY ARE USUALLY FOUND IN UNIVERSITY AND PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES. This speech marked the official beginning of Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, his first as the Democratic nominee against President Ford. On November 2, 1976, in a close election, Carter beat Ford 40.8 million to 39.1 million popular votes and 297-240 electoral votes. Ford won more states, 27, to Carter's 23 and the District of Columbia. Creased. Lower edge on page 6 has been torn in several places but is still readable. This document has been cut and pasted with clear tape. Some of the pasted pieces are a slightly different color. Paper clip impressions at upper left blank areas. Rust stain from paper clip at top of page 4. Staple holes at upper left corners.