[cheering applause] as you can see, he is working his way through the crowd. A pathway of sorts has been cleared for him. [cheering applause] this is a well staged manage entrance, for nominee as i have seen in a number of conventions. [cheering applause] [applause] [applause] thats his mother, miss lilly 77 years old. [cheering applause] how sweet it is, how sweet it is. I wonder how his mother feels, standing and watching her son. [cheering applause] my name is jimmy quote my name is jimmy carter, and im running for president. [applause] its been a long time since i said those words of the first time, and now ive come here after seeing our great country to accept your nomination. [applause] i accept it, in the words of john f. Kennedy, with a full and grateful heart, and with only one obligation to devote every effort of body, mind, and spirit, to lead our party back to victory, and our nation back to greatness. [applause] its a pleasure to be here with all you democrats. And to see that our bicentennial celebration, and our bicentennial convention has been one of the of the decorums of order without any fights or freeforalls. Among democrats that can only happen once every 200 years. [laughs] [applause] with this kind of a United Democratic party, we are ready and eager to take on the republicans. Whichever Republican Party they decide to send against us in november. [laughs] [applause] 1976 will not be a year of politics as usual. It can be a year of inspiration and hope, and it will be a year of concern, 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 when we give the government of this country, back to the people of this country. [applause] theres a new mood in america. We have been shaking by a tragic war abroad and buy scandals and broken promises at home. Our people are searching for new voices, and new ideas, and new leaders. Although governments has its limits and cannot solve all of our problems, we americans reject the view that we must be reconciled to failures and meg mediocrity, or to an inferior quality of life. For i believe that we can come through this time of trouble stronger than ever. Like troops who have been in combat, we have been tempered in the fire, we have been disciplined, and we have been educated. Guided by lasting and simple moral values, we have emerged idealists without illusions, realists who still know the old dreams of justice and liberty of country, and of community. This year we have had 30 state primaries, more than ever before, making it possible to take our campaign directly to the people of america. Two homes and shopping centers, to factory shift alliance and colleges, the beauty polluters and barber shops, to farmers markets and union halls. This has been a long and personal campaign, a humbling experience, reminding us that ultimate political influence rests not with the powerbrokers but with the people. [applause] this has been a time of learning, and for the exchange of ideas, a time of tough debate on the important issues facing our country. This kind of debate is part of our tradition, and as democrats we are as heirs to great tradition. I have never met a democratic president , but ive always been a democrat. Years ago, as a farm boy sitting outdoors with my family on the ground, into 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 this election process then. I feel much closer to it now. [applause] ours is a 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. Im [applause] ours is a party of a fighting democrat, who showed us that a common man could be an uncommon leader, harry as truman. [applause] ours is a 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. [applause] and hours 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 advance the cause of human rights, lyndon johnston. [applause] our party was built out of the sweatshops of the old lower east side, the dark mills of new hampshire, the blazing hearts of illinois, the coal mines of pennsylvania. [applause] the hard scramble forms of the southern coastal plains, and the unlimited frontiers of america. Ours is a party that welcomed generations of immigrants, the jews, the irish, the italians, the polls, and all the others, enlisted them in its ranks and fought the political bottles that helped them bring them into the american mainstream. And they have shaped the character of our party, that is our heritage. Our party has not been perfect, we have made mistakes, and we have paid for them. But ours is a tradition of leadership and compassion, and progress. Our leaders have fought for every piece of progressive legislation, from to Social Security and civil rights. In times of need, the democrats were there. [applause] but in recent years, our nation has seen a failure of leadership. We have been hurt, and we have been disillusioned, we have seen a wall go up that separates us from our own government. We have lost some precious things that historically have bound our people, and our government together. We feel that moral decay has weekend our country, that it is crippled by a lack of goals and values, and that our Public Officials have lost faith in us. We have been a nation adrift too long, we have been without leadership too long, we have had divided and deadlocked government too long. We have been governed by veto too long. [applause] we have suffered enough at the hands of a tired and worn out administration, without new ideas, without use or vitality, without vision, and without the confidence of the American People. There is a fear that our best years are behind us. But i say to you that our nations best is still ahead. [applause] our country has lived through a time of torment, it is now a time for healing, we want to have faith again. We want to be proud again, we just want the truth again. Its time for the people to run the government and not the other way around [applause] it is time to honor and strengthen our families and our neighborhoods, and our diverse cultures and customs. We need a democratic president and the congress to work in harmony for a change, with Mutual Respect for a change. And next year we are going to have 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 depend in World Affairs not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas. And to govern at home, not by confusion and crisis but with grace and imagination, and common sense. Too many have had to suffer at the hands of a political and economic elite who have shaped decisions, and never had to account for mistakes or to suffer from injustice. When unemployment went unemployment prevails, they never stand in line looking for a job. [applause] when deprivation results from a confused and bewildering welfare system, they never do without food, or clothing, or a place to sleep. [applause] when the Public Schools are inferior, were torn by strike, their children go to exclusive private schools. [applause] and when the bureaucracy is confused, the powerful always managed to discover and occupy niches of special influence and privilege. On unfair tax structure serves their needs. [applause] and tight secrecy always seems to prevent reform. All of us must be careful not to cheat each other. Too often unholy, self perpetuating alliances, have been formed between money and politics, and 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 sea a cia revelations could have been avoided, if our government had simply reflected the sound judgment and the good common sense, and the high moral character of the American People. [applause] it is time for us to take a new look at our own government, to strip away the secrecy, to expose the unwarranted pressure of lobbyists, to illuminate waste, to release our Civil Servants from bureaucratic chaos, to provide tough management, and always to remember that in any county or city, the mayor, the governor, and the president , represent exactly the same constituents. [applause] as a governor, i had to deal each day with the complicated, and confused, and overlapping, and wasteful, federal government bureaucracy. As president , i want you to help me evolve an efficient, economical, purposeful, and manageable manageable government for our nation. [applause] now i recognize the difficulty, but if i am elected, its going to be done and you can depend on it [applause] we must strengthen the governments closest to the people. Business, labor, agriculture, education, science, education, and government. Should not struggle in isolation from one another, but should be able to strive towards mutual goals and shared opportunities. We should make Major Investments and people and not in buildings and weapons. [applause] the poor, the aged, the week, the afflicted must be treated with respect, and compassion, and with love. I have spoken a lot of times this year about love. But love must be aggressively translated into simple justice. [applause] the test of any government is not how were popular it is with the powerful, but how honestly and fairly it deals with those who must depend on it. It is time for a complete overhaul of our income tax system. [applause] i still tell you, its a disgrace for the to the human race, all my life ive 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, it is time for universal voter registration. [applause] it is time for a nationwide comprehensive Health Program for all of our people. [applause] it is time to guarantee an end to discrimination because of race, or sex, by full involvement in the decisionmaking processes of government. By those who know what it is to suffer from discrimination, and they will be in the government if i am elected. [applause] [applause] it is time, it is time for the law to be enforced. We cannot educate children, we cannot create harmony among our people, we cannot preserve basic human freedom, unless we have an orderly society. Crime and a lack of justice are especially cruel to those who are least able to protect themselves. Swift arrest and trial, fair and uniform punishment, should be expected by anyone who would break our laws. It is time [applause] it is time for our government leaders to respect the law no less than the humble citizen. So that we can and once and for all, a double standard of justice. I see no reason i see no reason why big shot crooks should go free, and the poor ones go to jail. [cheering applause] a simple, a simple and a proper function of government is just to make it easy for us to do good, and difficult for us to do wrong. As an engineer, a planner, a businessman, i see clearly the value to our nation have a strong system a 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 the minimal intrusion of government, and our free economic system. I believe i believe that anyone whos able to work ought to work. [applause] well never have an end to the inflationary spiral, well 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. Not any system of economics is bankrupt if it sees the value of virtue in unemployment. We simply [applause] we simply cannot check inflation by keeping people out of work. [applause] the full most responsibility of any president above all else is to guarantee the security of our nation, a guarantee of freedom from the threat of successful attacks or blackmails and the ability with our allies to maintain peace. But peace is not the mere absence of war. Peace is action to stamp out international terrorism. [applause] peace is the unceasing effort to preserve human rights and peace is a combined demonstration of strength and goodwill. Well pray for peace and well work for peace until we have removed 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 to dedicate itself clearly to basic moral and philosophical principles. That all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This National Commitment was a singular act of wisdom and courage, and it brought the best and the bravest 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. That of a pioneer in shaping more decent and just relations among people and amongst societies. Today, 200 years later, we must address ourselves to that role both in what we do at home and how we act abroad. Among people everywhere who have become politically more alert, socially more congested and increasingly impatient with global inequity and who are now organized, as you know, into some 150 different nations. This calls for nothing less than a sustained architectural effort to shape an International Framework of peace within which our own ideals gradually can become a global reality. Our nation should always derive its character directly from the people and let this be the strength and the image to be presented to the world the character of the American People. [applause] to our friends and allies, i say, what unites us for democracy is much 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 nation states that wish to compete with us i say that we need a fair competition nor see it as an obstacle to wider cooperation. And to all people, i say that after 200 years america still remains confident and youthful in its commitment to freedom and equality, and we always will be. [applause] during this Election Year we candidates will ask you for your votes and from us will be demanded our vision. My vision of this nation and its future has been deepened and mature during the 19 months that ive campaigned among you for president. Ive never had more faith in america than i do today. We have an america that in bob dylans phrase is busy being born, not busy dying. [applause] we can have an American Government thats turned away from scandal and corruption and official cynicism and is once again as decent and competent as our people. We can have an america that has reconciled its Economic Needs with its desire for an environment that we can pass on with pride to the next generation. We can have an america that provides excellence in education to my child and your child and every child. [applause] we can have an america that encourages and takes pride in our ethnic diversity, our religious diversity, our cultural diversity, knowing that out of this heritage has come the strengths and the vitality that has made us great and will keep us great. [applause] we can have an American Government that does not oppress or spy on its own people. [applause] but respect our dignity and our privacy and our right to be let alone, we can have an america where freedom on the one hand and equality on the other hand are mutually supported and not in conflict and where the dreams of our nations first leaders are fully realized in our own day and age, and we can have an america which harnesses the idealism of the students, the compassions of the nurse or the social worker, the determination of the farmer, the wisdom of a teacher, the pract cat of the business leader, and the hope of a laborer to build a better life for us all, so we can have it, and were going to have it. [applause] as ive said many times before we can have an american president who does not govern with negativism and fear of the future, but with vigor and vision and aggressive leadership, a president whos not isolated from the people, but who feels your pain and shares your dreams and takes his strength and his wisdom and his courage from you. [applause] i see it, america. On the move again, united, a diverse and vital and tolerant nation entering our third century with pride and confidence, an america that lives up to the majesty of a constitution and the simple decency of our people. This is the america we want. This is the america that we will have. [applause] we will go forward from this convention with some differences of opinion, perhaps. But nevertheless, united and a calm determination to make our country large and driving and generous in spirit once again, ready to embark on Great National deeds and once again as brothers and sisters, our hearts will swell with pride to call ourselves americans. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] music music [applause] [applause] [applause] no protocol in this house, we are all one. Where is the unsung hero of the Carter Campaign . Let us hope that the platform does not collapse. [applause] tonight we look at the president ial debates of 1980 in 1984. We will show the only debate from 1980 jimmy carter and former california governor Ronald Reagan. They fielded questions from journalists on military spending, inflation, inner cities and the iran hostage crisis. Then from 1984, the second and final debate from Ronald Reagan and former Vice President robert mondale. Watch tonight starting at 8 pm eastern. Enjoy American History tv this weekend every weekend on cspan 3. In 1976 former california governor challenge gerald ford for the republican nomination, up next on American History tv, president fords acceptance