Pres. Carter's "Malaise" speech

[Jinx]

How can I find speeches from past Presidents, and I am especially seeking this one about financial or economic malaise in America…
Thanks,
Jinx

[Liberal]

Here’s the entire text.

[ftg]

Note that Carter never used the word “malaise” in the speech. Nor was that it’s title.

That it was a “malaise speech” is a fiction of the conservative press. (As well as practically all negative comments on Carter.)

Carter fun fact: He was the last American President to submit a balanced budget to Congress, until Clinton.

[RickJay]

*Originally posted by ftg *
**That it was a “malaise speech” is a fiction of the conservative press. (As well as practically all negative comments on Carter.)
**

Are you literally saying that every criticism of Jimmy Carter is fiction? He was perfect?

[Fish42]

*Originally posted by Libertarian *
**Here’s the entire text. **

Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s not the entire text, unless
Carter really jumped from “Point One” to “Point Three” to “Point Six” in his discussion of energy policy.

[Liberal]

You’re right Fish42. I hadn’t even noticed the elipses. Full texts are readily obtainable, though by quick Google searches. Thanks for finding my error.

[Spoke]

I dunno how exaggerated the criticisms of Carter have been, but I do know that conservative pundits for years tried to create the (false) impression that Carter was single-handedly responsible for the inflationary cycle (and resulting economic gloom) of the 70’s.

History seems to have forgotten Gerald Ford’s laughable Whip Inflation Now “program,” whereby he proposed to defeat inflation by having Americans wear “WIN” buttons on their lapels.

Point being, the 70’s recession began while Republicans controlled the White House, yet Carter gets tagged with it.

[handsomeharry]

I think that it was the huge interest rate increases of up to 20-25 percent by 1980 that the got ole boy the horse laugh and raspberries, not the conservative press.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

Shall we keep the political debates to Great Debates?

[Sam_Stone]

For the record, Carter was instrumental in stopping inflation, by appointing Paul Volcker as chairman of the fed and starting the era of tight money supply management.

He also was not particularly liberal for the times. Both Ford and Nixon were fans of heavy government intrusion into the marketplace (the aforementioned WIN buttons, wage and price controls, etc).

Carter also did some boneheaded things. The national 55 mph speed limit, his tepid response to both the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage situation, and his insistence on micro-managing both the the government and the military, often over the objections of his advisors.

But his worst fault was simply his demeanor. One of the most powerful functions of the President is to be a figurehead - he’s the the spiritual leader of the country, and the tone he sets will be largely reflected in the attitudes of the people. Carter was horrible. He may not have used the word ‘malaise’ in that speech, but his entire attitude personified it. His constant handwringing and worried tones left Americans feeling apathetic and resigned.

[pkbites]

Carter inherited a bad economy and made it worse. 1978/1979 sucked! I remember 300 adults lining up to apply for one part-time job opening at the Dairy Queen because there were no other jobs and their unemployment benefits ran out. I remember lines at the gas pump, and gas prices getting higher and higher. I remember getting a CD for 1000 at somewhere around 17.5% or something like that. Not so great when inflation ate up any gain you’d make. I remember a 3rd rate Mid-Eastern country pushing us around. And I remember a goofy grinned President who had no fresh ideas to remedy any of these things.

Critisize conservatives all you want, but lets not get sweet on Jimmy Carter! Those were some bad times for a young man named PkBites, and he will rebuff any praise you have for that failure of a President.

[handsomeharry]

Let’s try it this way.

I think that it was the huge interest rate increases of up to 20-25 percent by 1980 that got the ole boy the horse laugh and raspberries, not the conservative press.

Jeanne Kirkpatrick used the malaise term in, I believe, her 1984 keynote address at the Republican convention.

[pkbites]

*Originally posted by Sam Stone *
He also was not particularly liberal for the times. Both Ford and Nixon were fans of heavy government intrusion into the marketplace (the aforementioned WIN buttons, wage and price controls, etc).

True enough. Nixons attempt at wage/price controls were right out of the Soviet text book. Wage/price controls wreck havok on an economy.
**Carter also did some boneheaded things. The national 55 mph **

The double nickel was brought in during Nixons reign, not Carters.
I do remember once Carter insisting it be kept, then 20 minutes later his limo was clocked on the freeway going 72mph!:mad:Jerk!

[Sam_Stone]

Having read the speech, I’d like to comment on his ‘solutions’ to the problem:

I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this Nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 - never.

A nonsensical thing to say. There is nothing wrong with imports per se, and they can make a lot of sense. To set a ‘cap’ on imports was stupid and damaging.

Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my Presidential authority to set import quotas.

Oh, THERE’s a good idea. Can you say, “gasoline shortages”? Import quotas are ridiculous. If you want to reduce dependence on foreign oil, you had better do it by producing more domestic energy. 'Cause if you do it this way, you’re in for an economic shock.

Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our Nation’s history to develop America’s own alternative sources of fuel-from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the Sun.

Uh huh. Which is why all of us, 25 years later, are driving around in solar powered cars, right? Not all the problems in the world can be solved by throwing money at them. As Carter proved.

Point four: I’m asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our Nation’s utility companies cut their massive use of oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source.

…because the markets aren’t reeling enough from the first bombshell I dropped on them.

I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing.

…Oh, good. Let’s start people hoarding gasoline. And you know what’s really energy efficient? To have millions of cars idling in lineups waiting to fill their gas tanks because it’s ‘odd license plate’ day.

To further conserve energy, I’m proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems.

…And man, did that pay off! Just look at Amtrak.

Our Nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices.

…And we all know that subsidies lower demand, right?

This speech was almost a textbook example of what NOT to do in a crisis. almost none of his planned programs amounted to anything (anyone remember the Congressional Energy Mobilization Board? How about the nation’s “First Solar Bank”? These were harebrained ideas.

In the end, the problem largely fixed itself, and Carter’s attempt to micro-manage the entire energy economy of the United States failed, big time.

But hey, nice sweater he was wearing.

[pkbites]

Some Great points, Sam.

What I hate about discussions like this is that so many Dopers will come in and say “what about the harm Nixon did?”…or “Reagan wasn’t much better”.

In 1978 I was a young man freash out of high school. In those days (in “those” days. I talk like it was 100 years ago:p) not everyone went straight into college like they do now. Some of us wanted to get a full time job, either before, or instead of, college.
But there were no jobs to be had. None. So, off to college I went…later on. Becasue of inflation my parents otherwise good jobs that they luckily had made it hard to care for a couple of kids. And with no new job openings, it was hard for a kid to get his own money for school. Which is why so many fo us ended up in Uncle Sams Monkey Club. There was no where else to go. Some of the young punks on these boards probably think we were all in the discos and getting laid and shit.:rolleyes:. Don’t hand me any statistics, kiddies! If you weren’t there you don’t know how crummy Carternomics was! Especially in a small city in Wisconsin!
I’ll tell you what I wasn’t doing in 1979. I wasn’t thinking about what Nixon or Ford did to the economy years prior. I was thinking about what Carter was doing about it right then. And all he did was make it worse, and worse!
I remember getting up early in November of 1980, so I could be the first one in line at the polls to vote that clown out!

[tracer]

*Originally posted by ftg *
Carter fun fact: He was the last American President to submit a balanced budget to Congress, until Clinton.

Carter may have submitted a balanced budget to Congress while he was President, but the Federal Budget was never actually balanced at any time during his term.

Prior to the last years of the Clinton administration, the last year the Federal government didn’t run a deficit was Fiscal Year 1969 – which was voted into law during the last months of LBJ’s Presidency and went into effect during Nixon’s first year in office.

[tracer]

*Originally posted by pkbites *
The double nickel was brought in during Nixons reign, not Carters.

You sure you don’t mean Ford’s?

[pkbites]

*Originally posted by tracer *
**
You sure you don’t mean Ford’s? **

http://www.boogieonline.com/revolution/commerce/transportation/nolimit.html

Nixon didn’t resign until August of '74.

That site, by the way, is old. Montana now has a posted limit of 75. I was out there in 1996 when the limit was “Reasonable & Prudent”. A Montana Highway Patrol zapped me while I was going 96 in a brand new Grand Prix and didn’t pull me over. I have 2 wittnesses to that!

[tomndebb]

Uh huh. Which is why all of us, 25 years later, are driving around in solar powered cars, right? Not all the problems in the world can be solved by throwing money at them. As Carter proved.

I think your other points are relevant. However, while it may be true that some problems cannot be solved by throwing money at them, this is no example of that point.

Carter never got the expenditures he asked for and Reagan killed all the R&D projects as soon as he could. I think a lot of the alternative energy projects are jokes, but you can’t claim that they failed when they only lasted a bare underfunded two years.

[KeithT]

Back to the OP…

http://www.americanpresident.org/presidentialresources.htm is a list of presidential history resources.

http://www.americanpresidents.org has similar information

I found a video of Carter’s “Malaise” speech on the second site.

ftg, according to PBS,

President Carter gave a speech about the energy crisis on July 15, 1979 which became known as his “national malaise” speech. In fact, the President never used those words. Prior to the speech, Carter aides told reporters the word “malaise” had been used at a Camp David meeting where the President had discussed how to tell the American people that they must conserve energy. The speech which resulted from that meeting was therefore dubbed the “national malaise” speech by the press.