Jacksonville, Florida Remarks at a Public Reception.

Governor Bob Graham, Mayor Jake Godbold, distinguished officials of the State of Florida and the city of Jacksonville and surrounding communities, and my friends who have come out to greet me on this beautiful day in the most wonderful, free, strong, dynamic, aggressive, competent, united nation on Earth:

Thank you very much.

In the last few weeks I've been a lot of places on Earth. I've been to Italy and to Yugoslavia. I've been to Portugal, and I've been to Spain. I've been halfway around the world to Japan. I've been to California. I came back from Japan through Alaska. But if I had my choices of all the places I'd want to be in the world right now at this minute, it would be right here with you in Jacksonville, Florida, and there are some special reasons for it.

In traveling overseas, the President of the United States represents his country in searching for peace, in demonstrating our strength and our influence, in working to pull together our allies and friends to stand with us in times of trial and uncertainty, in times of rapid change in the world. There are some things that do not change: the hunger in people's souls for liberty or for freedom, the commitment to democratic principles, the right of a human being to stand on his or her own feet, to make one's own decisions, to face the future with confidence, to join hands together. Those things don't change. And that's what a President does—to demonstrate those commitments and those principles-in travels in countries afar and throughout this Nation.

Jacksonville was named after Andrew Jackson. Historians have said that Andrew Jackson was probably the most American of all Americans, and I would say that among all the cities in our Nation, Jacksonville is one of the most American of all American cities.

I'm not going to speak long, because I think it's a little bit warmer than Mayor Godbold just indicated— [laughter] —not as hot as it has been the last few days, but still hot enough. But I would like to say a few things about Andrew Jackson and about Jacksonville and about our Nation very briefly.

First of all, he and you and I believe in peace through strength, and I'm very grateful for what this community and the surrounding area mean to our Nation's defense. It's important that a nation have a strong defense. In the last 3 1/2 years, our commitment to a strong defense has been increasing every year, following 8 years of a strong downward trend. We have done this already. And for the next 5 years, I guarantee you, if I'm the leader of this Nation, our commitment to defense will continue to increase year by year.

Just a few minutes ago—less than an hour, as a matter of fact—we flew over King's Bay. It happens to be in Georgia, but it's awful close to Jacksonville. It'll be a tremendous boon to this country and also to your community. It's another indication of our commitment to a future for the United States of America, in its military strength, will be second to none. That's the way it is now, and that's the way our Nation will be in the years ahead. But your commitment to a strong defense establishment has been proven down through the years ever since the lifetime of Andrew Jackson.

There's another thing that you believe in, and that is confidence in ourselves. We've had difficult times. There's no doubt about that. We've had challenges; we've had troubles; we've had, sometimes, causes for disunity. But we struggle with one another for some advantage. We've been through a Great Depression; we came out strong. We've been through the First World War, the Second World War; we came out stronger. We've been through the Korean war and even the Vietnam war, which divided our Nation one from another; but in the end, we've come out stronger. We've been through the embarrassment of Watergate that shook the confidence of the American people in the Oval Office itself; but because of your strength in your commitment, we came out stronger.

The problems that we face today are great ones—I don't want to mislead you about it—and there are no easy answers. They are complex problems. They are not simple problems. But we've faced much more difficult ones in the past. And with a strong America, confident in ourselves, united shoulder to shoulder, we can meet those challenges, overcome those problems, answer those difficult questions, and in the end we'll come out stronger even than we are today. That's another characteristic of the namesake for your great city.

The final point I want to make is this: Andrew Jackson and I and you believe in hard work. We don't believe in a free lunch. We believe that one of the freedoms of Americans is to make our own decisions, but to do it in a constructive way, without taking direction from anyone else, knowing that we cannot get a handout if we are able to stand on our own feet, bear our own load, and make our own decisions. Americans have proved this in recent years.

We have faced the energy question with courage, with conviction, with confidence in ourselves, and with growing success. Year after year after year after year, we did nothing about the horrible increase in imported oil. Year by year, we bought more oil from overseas than we did the year before. But beginning 3 1/2 years ago, when I became President, with the commitment of the American people, we reversed that trend. And today we imported 1 1/2 million fewer barrels of oil from overseas than we did the first day of January 1977. This is because Americans, when they are faced with a problem and recognize it and become united, have never failed.

This community, in spite of economic problems, the first day of January 1977 had had 63 percent more unemployment that day than the last day of June 1980. That's a tremendous increase in the number of people at work. That's the kind of progress that quite often goes unrecognized. But you see in the strength of your own community what can be done.

Finally, let me say that this progress has been made not because of Washington, not because of the Federal Government alone, but because of a partnership that has been formed. With the Federal, State, and local governments working with private industry, working with private labor, working with the home leaders, we have made our country proven to be stronger. The future is going to be even better than it has been in the past.

I'm very proud of Jacksonville. I'm very proud of Florida. You've always been friends of mine. The first time I ever left Georgia to go into a foreign State, it was to go to Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach. I did it every year. And it let me see what the outside world was like, and I liked what I saw. And I would guess, when I was 8 or 10 years old, if I hadn't come down here to see how you lived, I might have been satisfied and still been plowing with a mule in Sumter County, Georgia, growing peanuts. So, I thank you for broadening my perspective.

I want to thank you for coming out to give me this tremendous welcome. And I want to pledge to you that if we continue the partnership we've had in the past, we will make, together, the greatest nation on Earth even greater in the future. That's what I want to do. With your help, we'll do it.

Thank you very much. God bless you all.