Gospel Music Association Remarks at a White House Performance.

Hello, everybody. How many of you know the significance of a fifth Sunday? Not many. Well, in country churches, as you all may know, the preachers would preach four Sundays, but then once every quarter there was a fifth Sunday. That was the Sunday, particularly in the summer and fall, when people would get together for an all-day singing, and dinner on the grounds, and great local and even distant gospel groups would come, quartets and others, as a time to bridge the gap between churches and between denominations, between communities, and let people reach down, into down-to-earth singing and kind of lift the spirit up to heaven.

Rosalynn and I, when we came home to Plains from the Navy, always looked forward to the summer months, when we could visit different places around near our home and participate in those all-day singing events.

I'm particularly glad this afternoon that the Gospel Music Association, Jim Myers, president, was willing to put together what I believe will be a remarkable program. It's going to last 3 hours, which is going to seem like too short a time for you when it's over. And what we want you to do is just to relax here on the White House grounds, enjoy yourself, get to know one another, and listen to some of the most delightful music that anyone could hear.

Gospel music is really rural music from the country. It has both black and white derivations; it's not a racial kind of music. And this afternoon you'll hear remarkably talented groups who happen to be both black and white.

But I think it's important to recognize that gospel music is derived from deep within the heart of human beings—it's a music of pain, a music of longing, a music of searching, a music of hope, and a music of faith. And you'll hear all those expressions, I am sure, this afternoon in this remarkable performance.

I'm very proud that all of you could come. We have been to Waycross, Georgia, where they have all-day singing; by that I mean 24 hours. We've been down to Bonifay, Florida, where they have 24-hour sings, and we apologize for cutting this one short. [Laughter] But we'll try to make up for it by the quality, and I'm sure that you will enjoy it very much.

I don't know who's going to introduce the first group. Am I going to?

The first group is the Archers. This is my next to the last performance; this is an afternoon of gospel music and not preaching. So, I'm going to end the preaching and turn you over to the Archers, the first group, who will give us a delightful afternoon of gospel music. I'm sure you'll all enjoy it. We're really looking forward to it and to having you here.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.