Girls Nation Remarks to Delegates Attending the Annual Meeting.

THE PRESIDENT. I think this is the prettiest the Rose Garden has looked all year. [Laughter]

First of all, I want to thank you all for coming here. One of the best things that ever happened to our country was that 42 years ago, because of the support of the Auxiliary of the American Legion, girls' State organizations were formed and young women of our country began to learn about government through personal experience. And I understand that by the end of this year, more than 590,000 American girls will have learned about government in that way.

And this is the 34th annual convention, I believe, of Girls Nation. And I want to congratulate, first of all, your new president, who happens to be from Tennessee, Lenora Mosley, Vice President Tamara Madison, and to thank President Agnes Kennedy and Director Margaret Yankovich for bringing you here.

Have you all already seen the White House? Have you already been through the White House?

DELEGATE. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT. Well, I hope you liked the White House. [Laughter] And I'm glad none of you are 35 years old. How many of you are governors or have been governors? Former governors and governors. I've heard a lot lately about former governors, and I— [laughter] .

This is a wonderful country in which we live. It's blessed by God with unbelievable natural benefits for us. The resources that we have in rich land and forests and trees and mineral deposits, access to the oceans, space, beauty are unmatched anywhere on Earth. And, of course, the benefits that we've been given through our forefathers and through the commitment of courageous people, men and women, in the past to be free: free to speak as we please, free to criticize our own government, free to change it through legal processes, free to shape its future, free to be different, free to take whatever talent and ability God has given us and develop it to the utmost, depending on our own ambition and commitment and ability to work hard—these are the kinds of benefits that many people on Earth don't share with us.

It's not any accident that people throughout the world struggle to come to the United States to live. I would guess, unless there are a few native Indians among you, that all your families have been immigrants, sometimes refugees, seeking a better life here in the United States. Maybe some of you have come here as immigrants, maybe some of your parents or grandparents. But it's because our country is so blessed that people want to live among us.

We hear a lot, I'd say particularly in Washington, about the negative side of American life. The criticisms, the differences, the debates, the condemnations, the moaning and complaining are always part of a political process, and in that process-highly publicized, because that's where the news is—we tend to forget about the good things, not only in the past and the present but particularly about the future.

You've had a chance to be in Washington now and learn a little bit in a brief period of time about how the Federal Government works; its problems—we don't know all the answers; the difficulties-we have sometimes apparently insurmountable obstacles to overcome; the divisions, because each person has a right to speak and express differences of opinion. Those things create the semblance of confusion, and sometimes there's an adequate amount of actual confusion here, in State governments, even in private homes.

I've had a chance now to be President for 3 1/2 years. Before that, I was a candidate for a long time, traveling around our country in every State, and prior to that I was a Governor. Prior to that, I was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor, and before that, I served in the State senate for two terms, and before that, I served in local government. So, I've had a chance as a private citizen, a father, a husband, and now grandfather, and also as a President to see our country from the different points of view.

Let me say that I'm glad you're here, because the messages you take back to your homes and to your communities, to others who've chosen you as their leader will be a very important message—to express to them the complexity of life in a rapidly changing world, to express to them confidence in our system of government and the flexibility with which it can deal with change.

Many nations on Earth who are even democracies and who have a modicum at least of freedom have difficulty in accommodating change. The future is uncertain. No one knows what's going to happen next year or the next 10 years in even the field of energy alone, much less transportation, commerce, trade, peace, the search for accommodation of human rights throughout the world. Nobody can predict the future.

But our Nation, with its, first of all, freedom of expression and study and exploration and debate, is able to make its way through changing times and benefit from those changes. And secondly, the diversity of our Nation gives us a tremendous resource. We've got people who live here whose allegiance is to the United States Constitution and our country, who represent every nation on Earth, who've come from those countries or whose families have come from those countries, who have blood ties there and pride in one's own heritage, whether it be Eastern Europe or Western Europe or Asia or Latin America or Africa, and who can bring to our country the consensus and the understanding and even genuine personal love that will help to bridge the political obstacles that sometimes arise at the international boundaries.

The last thing I want to say is that you will yourself have to face controversial issues. One example of that, and I, won't dwell on it, is the growth of our country in the last 200 years toward full freedom and equality for our people. took us 90 years after the Declaration Independence before we eliminated legal slavery in the United States. It took us another hundred years before the American law and the rulings of the Supreme Court eliminated legal discrimination against people because they were black; 190 years to make those changes. We have now embedded in our Constitution and laws guaranteed equality for every person in the Nation except one group, and that's women.

There is an amendment proposed to the Constitution—highly controversial, distorted in its explanation to the American people—which must be decided. The wording is very simple; I've written it down here. And my suggestion to you is that no matter whether you support the equal rights amendment or not that you make up your own mind. These are the simple words: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." What that means is that the United States Government cannot deny you a right or abridge or reduce your rights because you're a woman, and neither can any State pass a law abridging or denying your rights because you're a woman. That's all the amendment says. It prohibits discrimination because you're a woman.

I think the equal rights amendment ought to be ratified, and I hope that it will be ratified. As you know, 35 States have decided that it should be, and an overwhelming majority of the Congress has decided twice that the equal rights amendment should be ratified. This will be the last legal step toward granting equality, not only for those in our country who speak Spanish, not only for all adults above the age of 18, not only among those who are black but, finally and after great difficulty, even for those who are female. Well, that's one of the controversial, divisive issues that must finally be addressed not by government exactly, but by private citizens who bring their influence to bear on government.

In closing, let me say that it's an honor for me to have you all here. It's inspiring to a President to see new leadership coming along with idealism and hope and expectation and confidence and happiness and pleasure and appreciation of freedom, but also with the sober realization that in just a few years you'll have to take on the responsibilities of a family or a community or perhaps an entire State, as a Governor, or perhaps a nation.

And maybe someday, after Amy serves as the first woman President, maybe- [laughter] —or maybe she could follow one of you—you'll see that this office is open to women, as well. I don't have any doubt that before too long we will have our first woman President. It'll be a great step forward for our country, and will prove to the world that we are indeed a nation of equality and hope and freedom.

Thank you for letting me be honored. I love every one of you.