Atlanta, Georgia Remarks at a Reception for Georgia Campaign Volunteers.

THE PRESIDENT. Rosalynn and I just ate supper in what Omni International calls the Carter Suite. [Laughter] It's the first thing that was ever named after us, you know, except maybe bank mortgages, and so forth. And they've got a plaque up, it's just as you go in, a big brass plaque about this big, and it said that "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and their family, sitting in this suite on November 3, 1976, learned that he was elected President of the United States." And as I read that plaque and looked around the room, I remembered the long evening and the fearful wait. And I thought about a lot of things. But at the top of my list of thoughts were you, 900, maybe 1,000 volunteers who came here to our headquarters in Atlanta months and months and months ahead of the time when the rest of the Nation knew who I was or cared or thought that I might possibly be President, and you worked for me.

You didn't get paid for it. A lot of you worked all day long, 5 or 6 days a week, because you had confidence in me and because you wanted to see a better nation and you wanted to see the South and the country become one.

I thank you for it. I hope so far we haven't disappointed you. And I pledge that I'll try not to ever do it.

I think it showed a lot of things. I won't go into all of them tonight because I don't want to make another long speech, but— [laughter] —but one of the things that I know it indicated was that there's a place in our free America for voluntary service, where you don't get paid in money and quite often you don't get paid in recognition even, but you get paid in the satisfaction of having participated in making decisions for the future of the greatest country on Earth. And it also indicates that one person can make a difference.

It's a very difficult thing to leave Plains, Georgia, 3 years ago—3 years ago today—and to work for a whole year, with your help, to enter the Iowa caucuses 2 years ago yesterday, to be inaugurated President 1 year ago today, to realize that when all of that occurred, when all of it began, you were there.

There were people in our headquarters and here tonight who were 9, 10, 11, 12 years old. There ,were people who had full-time jobs, professionals who, after working hours, came down and contributed their time and their knowledge and their experience and their thoughts for the future.

There were college students who came over from Georgia Tech and Georgia State and from Atlanta University complex, from Oglethorpe, to help us plan for the future. There were housewives who had families to care for, and there were retired people, men and women who were 65 or 75 or even 80 years old. And that kind of a conglomerate group of Georgians made the difference between whether I won or whether I lost. And I'm thankful to you that you were there, and the difference was that I won. Thank you very much.

I see one or two faces in the crowd who were down in Plains in 1966 and 1970 when I began to run for Governor. And I want to thank you in a special way and let you know that we're partners in everything I do every day. And I want you to stay close to me, because I need all the help and all the advice, all the counsel, all the criticism, all the prayers that I can get.

You'd be amazed at how many times we stand in a receiving line at the White House or go down a crowd of people at an airport or when I walked across the front of this room tonight, and people say, "We pray for you" or "Every month, our church has a special prayer service for you." And I say, "Look, make it every

week"— [laughter] —"or every day because I really need it."

I feel at ease with the job that I have. I don't claim to know all the answers. I'm not any better qualified than many of you. But I sense that as President, as I did 2 or 3 years ago, I still have you behind me. And that makes the job easy for me. Thank you very much.

I had another supporter, as you know, way back then who traveled around the country for me. Mother kept Amy. But I want to let Rosalynn say just a word, if you don't mind.

MRS. CARTER. I just want to thank you for all you've done for tonight to get ready for this big banquet, for what you've done for us over the past year and before that in the campaign. It means so much to us. I know when we were campaigning, we always were very confident because we knew we had you at home and we knew that no matter where we were in the whole country, that you supported us. We feel that same way.

Jimmy's doing, I think, a great job for the country. There's so much that needs to be done. And I'm working and Jimmy's working, but we always know that you're here and that you care for us and that you support us. I just want to say that we need your continuing support, we need your continuing prayers and we love you all.

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. How many of you think we have a great country? How many of you are going to join with me and Rosalynn and the rest of us to make it even greater? [Applause]

Well, thank you again. The only thing that I feel kind of strange about is me being way up here and you being way out there. It's not the way I ran my campaign, and that's the thing that I don't like about it. But I love every one of you.

Thank you very much. God bless you all.