[cheers] he his that he is working his way through the crowd. A pathway of sorts. [applause] this is a well stagemanaged convention. Covering through the delegates. [applause] [applause] now walking up the steps. [applause] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] [applause] [indiscernible] that is his mother, 77 years old. His daughter. [indiscernible] [applause] how sweet it is. His mother, standing, watching her son. [applause] even when a candidate becomes president [indiscernible] [applause] my name is jimmy carter and i am running for president. [applause] it has been a long time. Since i have said those words the first time. Here after seeing our great country to accept your nomination. [applause] i accept it in the words of john of kennedy, with full and grateful heart, and with only one obligation to devote every upper of body, mind devote every effort of body mind and spirit to lead our party to victory in our nation back to greatness. [applause] it is a pleasure to be here with all of you democrats. [applause] vice thehe bicentennial celebration at our bicentennial convention has been one of the core amand order without any fights or free for all. That can onlys, happen once every 200 years. [laughter] [applause] but this kind of United Democratic party, we are ready and eager to take on the republicans, whichever they decide to send against us in november. [applause] 1976 will not be a year of politics as usual. Of inspirationr and hope. Concernill be a year of , quiet and sober reassessment of our nations character and purpose. A year when voters have already confounded the experts. I guarantee you that it will be the year that we give the government of this country back to the people of this country. [applause] there is a new mood in america. We have been shaken by a tragic , and by scandals and broken promises at home. Our people are searching for new leaders. Ew ideas, new although government has its limits and cannot solve all of reject the view that we must be reconciled to quality of an life. I believe we can come through this time of trouble stronger than ever. Have been inho combat, we have been we have been disciplined and educated. Moral by a lasting and value, we emerge idealist, without illusion. Realists who still know the old dreams of justice and liberty and country and community. 30 state, we have had primaries. More than ever before, maybe it is possible to take our campaign directly to the people of america. Two homes and shopping centers, beauty parlors and barbershops. Farmers markets and union halls. This has been a long campaign. Humbling experience. Reminding us that ultimate political influence rests not with , but with the people. [applause] this has been a time of learning and exchange of ideas. On theof tough debate important issues facing our country. This time is the greatest part of our tradition. A democrats, we are asked great tradition. I have never met a democratic president , but i have always been a democrat. Farmboy sitting outdoors with my family on the ground, in the middle of the night, gathering around our battery radio connected to the automobile battery, listening to the democratic conventions in far off cities. I was a long way from this election process of then. I feel closer to it tonight. [applause] hours is the party of a man who was nominated by those distant conventions, and who inspired and restored this nation in its darkest hours, franklin d roosevelt. [applause] ours is a party of a fighting amocrat who showed us that common man could be an uncommon leader, harry s truman. [applause] ours is a party of a brave young president who called the young age tot regardless of seek a new frontier of national greatness, john of kennedy. John f. Kennedy. [applause] who [applause] ours is also the party of a great hearted texan who took office in the tragic hour and went on to do more than any other president did in this century to advance the cause of human rights, lyndon johnson. [applause] our party was built out of the sweatshops of the old lower east side, the dark mills of new hampshire, the blazing hearth of illinois, the coal mines of pennsylvania. [applause] the hardscrabble forms of the southern coastal plains. The unlimited frontiers of america. Welcomed party that generations of immigrants. Polls sh, italian, poles and all the others. Fault the political battles that helped bring them into the american mainstream. They have shaped the character of our party. That is our heritage. Perfect, has not been we have made mistakes and we have paid for them. Ours is a tradition of leadership and compassion and progress. Our leaders have fought for every piece of progressive legislation from our fd and rea to social security. In times of need, the democrats were there. [applause] in recent years, our nation has seen a failure of leadership here of leadership. We have been hurt and disillusioned. We have seen a while ago up that separates us from our own government. We have lost precious things that historically have bound our people and government together. Decay that hasal weakened our country, crippled by a lack of goals and values. Public officials have lost faith in us. Tohave been a nation adrift too long. We have been without leadership too long. We have divided and deadlocked governments too long. We have been governed by veto too long. [applause] we have suffered enough at the hands of a tired and wornout administration. Without new ideas, without vitality, without vision and without the confidence of the American People. Fear that our best years are behind us. Nations bestur is still ahead. [applause] [indiscernible] it is now a time for healing. We want to have faith again. We want to be proud again. We want the truth again. It is time for the people to run the government, not the other way around. [applause] it is time to honor and strengthen our families and neighborhoods and our diverse cultures and customs. We need a democratic president in our congress to rook to work in harmony for a change. Going to haveare that new leadership. You can depend on it. [applause] it is time for america to move and to speak, not with boasting and belligerence, but with a quiet strength. To attend on World Affairs [indiscernible] of ideas and to govern not by confusion and crisis, but with grace and imagination and common sense. Suffer atave had to the hands of a political and shapedc elite who have decisions and never had to account for mistakes. [applause] send prevails, they never in they never stand in line looking for a job. [applause] when results from a confused and bill will during welfare system, they never do without food or clothing or a place to sleep. [applause] when the Public Schools are torn by strikes, there can their children go to exclusive private schools. [applause] when the bureaucracy is bloated and confused, the powerful always manage to discover and occupy niche is of special privilege. An unfair tax structure serves their needs. [applause] tight secrecy always seems to prevent reform. Must be careful not to cheat each other. ,oo often, unholy selfperpetuating alliances have informed have been formed between money and politics. The average citizen has been held at arms length. Each 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 high moral character of the American People. [applause] it is time for us to take a new look at our own government. Strip away the secrecy. Expose the unwarranted pressure of lobbyists. Limited waste. Release our Civil Servants from bureaucratic chaos. Provide management, and always ,emember that any town or city the mayor, governor, and the president represent exactly the same constituents. [applause] as a governor, i had to deal with a complicated, confused and overlapping and wasteful federal government bureaucracy. Want you to help me evolve an efficient economical, purposeful and manageable government for our nation. [applause] now, i recognize the difficulty. Elected, it is going to be done and you can depend on it. [applause] we must strengthen the government for the people. Labor, agriculture, education, science, government, should not struggle in isolation from one another. Striveould be able to toward a mutual goal and shared opportunity. Investmentse major in people. Not in buildings and weapons. [applause] the poor, the aging, the week, the afflicted the weak, the afflicted must be treated with respect and compassion and love. I have spoken a lot of times this year about love. Love must be aggressively translated into simple justice. [applause] the test of any government is not how popular it is for the powerful, but how honestly and fairly it deals with those who must depend on it. Compete for a complete overhaul of our income tax system. [applause] our is a disgrace to the human race. All my life i have heard promises about tax reform, but it never quite happens. With your help, we are finally going to make it happen, and you can depend on it. [applause] here is something that can really help our country. Universal voter registration. [applause] it is time for our nation to provide competent a comprehensive Health Program for all of our people. [applause] it is time to guarantee an end to discrimination because of involvementby full in the decisionmaking processes of government by those who know what it is to suffer from discrimination. They will be in the government if i am elected. [applause] it is time for the law enforced. ,e cannot educate children create harmony among our people, preserve basic human freedom unless we have an orderly society. Justice is cruel to those who are least able to protect themselves. Swift arrests and trials. Fair and uniformed punishment should be expected by anyone who would break our laws. [applause] it is time for our government leaders to respect the law no less than the harmless citizens. [applause] so that we can end once and for all a double standard of justice. Reason why bigshot crooks should go free and the poor ones go to jail. [applause] a part of government is to make it easier for us to do good and difficult for us to do wrong. As an engineer, a planner, a thenessman, i see clearly value to our nation of a strong system of Free Enterprise based on increased productivity and adequate wages. We democrats believe that competition is better than regulation. [applause] we intend to combine strong safeguards for consumers with minimal intrusion of government and our free economic system. [applause] i believe that anyone who is able to work off to work. Ought to work [applause] i had a chance to work we will never have an end to inflationary , we will never have a balanced budget which im determined to see as long as we have eight or 9 million americans out of work who cannot find a job. Any system of economics is bankrupt if it is easy to value or virtue in unemployment. [applause] we simply cannot check inflation by keeping people out of work. [applause] the foremost responsibility of any president , above all else, is to guarantee the security of our nation. A guarantee of freedom from the , and the blackmail ability with our allies to maintain peace. Is not the mere absence of war. Oute is action to stamp international terrorism. [applause] peace is the unceasing efforts to preserve human rights. Peace is a combined demonstration of strength and goodwill. Peace and wefor will work for peace until we from all nations, for all time the threat of nuclear destruction. [applause] americas birth opened a new chapter in mankinds history. Ours is the first nation today at to dedicate itself clearly to basic morals and philosophical principles. That all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The power of government is derived from the consent of the governed. This National Commitment was a singular act of wisdom and courage. Bravestht the best and from other nations to our shores. It was a revolutionary development that captured the imagination of mankind. It created a basis for a unique role for america. Pioneer in shaping more decent and just relations among people and among societies. Later, we musts address ourselves to that role. And in what we do at home how we act abroad. Everywhere who have become politically more alert, socially more congested, and increasingly impatient with global inequities. Iced, as youo an know who are now organized, as you know, in 150 different nations. This calls for nothing less than a sustained architectural efforts to shape an International Framework of peace. To enrich our own ideas, gradually gradually become a global reality. Our nation should always derive directly from the people. Let this be the strength and image to be presented to the world, the character of the American People. [applause] to our friends and allies i say that what unites us through our common dedication to democracy is more important than that which occasionally divides us on economics or politics. To the nations that seek to lift themselves from poverty, i say that america shares your aspirations and extends its hand to you. To those nationstates that wish to compete with us, i say that need competition to all people, i say that after 200 years, america remains confident and useful in its commitment to freedom and equality and we always will be. [applause] during this election year, we candidates will ask you for your vote. Our us will be demanded vision. My vision of this nation and its future has been deepened and matured. During the 19 months that i have campaigned among you for president. I have never had more faith in america than i do today. In america we have an america that bob dylan phrased is busy being born, not busy dying. [applause] we can have an american turned away from scandals and corruption and cynicism. And is once again as decent and confident as our people. America that has reconciled its Economic Needs with its desire for an environment that we can pass on to the next generation. Thatn have an america provides excellence in education for my child, your child, every child. [applause] we can have an america that encourages and takes pride in our ethnic diversity. Our religious diversity. Our cultural diversity. That out of this pluralistic heritage has come the strength and vitality and creativity that has made us great and will keep us great. [applause] we can have an american oppressnt that does not or spy on its own people. [applause] we respect our dignity, our privacy and our right to be left alone. We can have an america where equalityn one hand and on the other hand. A mutually supported, not in conflict. In the dreams of our nations first leaders fully realized in our own day and age. Which have an america harnesses the idealism of a student, the compassion of a nurse or social worker, the determination of a farmer, the wisdom of a teacher, the practicality of the business leader, the experience of a senior citizen, and the hope of a laborer to build a better life for us all. We can have it, and we are going to have it. [applause] it has been said many times before, we can have an american president who does not govern with negativism and fear, but the future. Vision, andor and aggressive leadership, a president who is not isolated from the people, but who feels dreamsin and shares your and takes his strength and his wisdom and his courage from you. [applause] i see an america on the move again. United. A diverse, vibrant and tolerant nation. Entering our third century with pride and confidence. An america that lives up to the man to the majesty of its constitution, and a simple decency of our people. This is the america we want. This is the america we will have. [applause] we will go forward from this convention with some differences of opinion, perhaps. United in a calm determination to make our driving ande and generous in spirit once again. Greatto embark on asional deeds and once again brothers and sisters, our hearts will swell with pride to call ourselves americans. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] [cheers and music] [applause] [applause] [cheers and music] [applause] th walker ship [indiscernible] governor gary brown. [applause] governor george [applause] senator [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] speaker paul albert. [applause] senator hubert h humphrey. [applause] senator george mcgovern. [applause] governor carrie of the state of new york. [applause] governor wendell anderson. [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] governor of mexico [applause] castro. Howard [applause] dr. [indiscernible] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] governor of rhode island. [applause] henry , milwaukee. [applause] mayor gibson of newark. [applause] Lieutenant Governor troops active new york [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] forgive the lack of protocol tonight. [applause] mr. Robert lifshitz, unsung hero of the carter family. [applause] mayor hatcher. [applause] [indiscernible]. R. Leonard mr. Woodstock. [applause] [applause] kurt, get up here. [applause] governor [applause] announcer up next, president gerald ford except his partys president ial nomination at the 1976 Republican National convention in kansas city, missouri. He served as president for two years from 1974 to 1976 following the resignation of president richard nixon. Mr. Ford lost the general election to democrat jimmy carter. Delegates to this republican convention, i am honored by your nomination and i accept it. [applause] with pride, gratitude and a total will to win a great victory for the American People. [applause]