White House Reception for Democratic Party State Chairmen Remarks at the Reception.

You could tell that John White was practicing for the Democratic convention. ¹ [Laughter] And I think he did very well, by the way.

¹ The President was introduced by the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

There are a lot of smiles in this room. Quite often when I meet with groups in the Oval Office or in the Cabinet Room or here, I look around, at the beginning of those meetings, and there are very few smiles. But today the Democrats, the leaders in the different States appear to be approaching the convention and the fall campaign with a great deal of anticipation and determination and confidence. And I share those feelings with you.

But I would like to talk about a few things concerning the leadership, not just of a President but of our party itself. It's not easy, in a time of rapid change, to provide leadership without unity in our party. I have a quote from Adlai Stevenson. He said, "Even more important than winning an election is governing the Nation. When the tumult and the shouting die, there is a stark reality of responsibility in an hour history." These are hours of history, and the challenges that we have faced in the last 3 1/2 years and the ones that we will face in the next 4 1/2 years are formidable indeed.

The responsibility for governing this Nation, in the White House and on the Hill, lies with us Democrats. Some of that responsibility is pleasant and enjoyable; some of it is often unpleasant; all of it is difficult. The issues that arrive on my desk in the Oval Office are the ones that cannot be solved or resolved in the county courthouse, the city hall, the State capitols; often can't be resolved on the Hill.

In times like these it is important that we make decisions not based on what's popular and easy, but what is right for cur Nation. The Founders of our country wondered if it was possible in a democracy to have those directly responsible to the American people on a daily basis make judgments concerning what was right in the long run that might be unpopular at that particular time. And they feared very greatly, as you well know, a party system. That came later on.

A lot of Americans today are concerned with the spectacle of political leaders grappling with difficult issues with excessive timidity, with a concern about the adverse consequences from the electorate, when the fact is that the voters of this Nation, the electorate of a democratic nation like ours, expect and demand political courage.

We are a superpower. We're the leader, as John White says, of the free world. Other nations look to us for guidance. We're on the cutting edge of change. And when we are fearful or if we flinch, we are not the only ones who suffer. Demagoguery is not to be abided in this Nation. I anticipate hearing from the other side a great deal of demagoguery in the fall: simplistic answers to complicated questions, temporarily appealing solutions to issues which are extremely difficult. But I have been impressed in my own time in politics with the sound judgment and the maturity of the American people.

If they understand the issues clearly, they make the right decisions. That's the main reason the Democrats have been so successful in keeping our position of leadership. But even with a Democratic administration, the people often see a government which is not capable of moving as rapidly as we should. Powerful special interest groups mount formidable forces on Capitol Hill and delay or sometimes subvert decisions that are important to the American people.

The Congress is pushed in every direction by highly organized and well-financed groups, with attractive spokesmen who put forward a special, narrowly defined request. And there are those in this country, unless they get a hundred percent of what they want, they don't want anything. It is much easier to raise money and to mount a crusade for an extreme position that appeals to a narrow, fervent, hysterical group—and sometimes that decision, under pressure, is made to the disadvantage of the sound, moderate, carefully considered, broadly based solution, again, so important to our people.

Those kinds of solutions often appear almost like orphans, without friends, and the American people who don't have a highly paid lobbyist to represent them in Washington don't like it. And neither do I. Our country was not founded by people who say, "Me first, me last, me always. I'm grasping for some selfish advantage to the detriment of my neighbor."

And the Democrats have been strong, and we've been viable. When we have .remembered that fact, honored those who trust us, been courageous in the face of difficult decisions, and not turned our heads away from sometimes politically unpopular action, we've been the ones who've enhanced individual liberty. We've been the ones who have enhanced the free enterprise system of our country. We have been the ones who enhanced human rights, equality of opportunity, forward progress. We've been the ones who met the uncertainty and the fear of change with confidence and with strength. And every time we've done it, we've prevailed, and our Nation has not become weaker, it's become stronger.

We have an opportunity in the next few weeks to pull our party together, to unite in a common effort, to face a formidable challenge. And, as you know from your studies this morning, we have a new opportunity to bind together in a true system of political federalism the proper interrelationship between the local, State, and the national Democratic Party effort. It'll strengthen us all. It will give you another, additional opportunity to help shape national policy and to make sure that the programs that we espouse or debates that we participate in, the positions that we assume, the commitments that we make during this general election campaign are compatible with what the people in your own communities want and expect from us.

We are free people. We do pride ourselves on our individuality. We are strongly in favor of a democratic convention process which settles disputes on credentials or rules or platform or the identity of the candidates, the nominees of our party, openly, honoring the commitments that have been made over a long, tedious, sometimes divisive, not always pleasant primary campaign season.

As the incumbent President, as a prior leader of the Democratic Party, I've not avoided a single State. We have been into each State to present our views and to be judged by the people. Sometimes we have won overwhelmingly, sometimes we have lost. But the decisions have been made by individual Democrats, more than 15 million of them, who went to vote in the primaries or who met in the caucuses. And now those decisions will be rendered officially when the Democratic convention meets.

This is a time for plain talk; it's a time for political courage. And I think we will see a Republican Party putting forward a leadership that claims they have quick fixes for our country, a kind of a laundry list of simplistic solutions which the American people will not trust. If we are able to present our case clearly to the American people, I have no doubt about the judgment that they will make.

I look forward to the contest, as do you, with anticipation and with confidence. When and if the convention makes a judgment that I'm the nominee, I intend to have Fritz Mondale as my running mate. 1'11 be covering this Nation, presenting our case as Democrats as best I can, working very closely with other national candidates for the U.S. Senate, for the U.S. Congress, supporting Democratic congressional candidates plus the State legislatures and the Governors, and tying ourselves together in an unprecedented way to provide a common effort and a common front.

I'm not asking you to support verbatim every recommendation I make. I'm eager to hear from you and to make sure that when I do make a judgment or make a statement or make a commitment, that to the optimum degree possible, it's compatible with what you want and what you expect our party to do and to be.

We've made a lot of progress in the last 3 1/2 years. I'm not here to enumerate the challenges which we have met successfully. We have enough challenges still left to meet. But we've turned the corner on inflation. The figures that we got this morning on the Producer Price Index are the lowest ones since September of 1977. It was just a few weeks ago that we had an extremely high inflation rate and extremely high interest rates. The interest rates have been dropping now about 1 percent per week, and we hope that during the summer we'll have good statistics to present to the American people as a demonstration of our good stewardship on inflation and interest rates.

We do have a serious problem with a recession that's on us, but we're taking the proper action to minimize the damage to our people. And I think in a comparison between ourselves and the Republican Party, the working families of this Nation will know that the Democrats are much more likely to meet their needs and to maximize their quality of life much better than Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party, looking backward to the 1950's, rather than forward to the 1980's.

Every public official these days lives in Harry Truman's kitchen, and those who can't stand the heat ought not to be there. Most of them who couldn't stand the heat left our party and went to the other party. But they'll be facing the heat in November, when the people make a judgment about who they prefer to be President the next 4 years; who will be responsible for peace or war; who will be responsible for keeping the Americans at work or unemployed; who will be responsible for the quality of our environment; for the development of our great resources; for forming closer and closer alliances with our allies; for solving the long-range problems of energy, tapping the resources of the Sun; to enhance opportunities of individuals who've too long been deprived. Those kinds of basic decisions that affect the lives of a father and a mother and children and grandparents will be the prevailing factor in November. We have an inherent advantage because the Democratic Party is the party of the people.

Finally, I'd like to say that I am not asking for reelection as President simply because I want to live 4 more years in the White House. It's been an interesting experience living here. I've enjoyed it, and I look forward to it the next 5 years. But the important thing is what we are able to accomplish while the Democrats have the responsibility for governing this Nation. You are the leaders of our Democratic Party. You're the ones with the close connections to those who look to us for the results of that leadership. And you're willing to sacrifice, and I'm asking you to sacrifice, for a common effort. I'll make my part of the sacrifices as well, in time and commitment and study and in the use of whatever ability and talent God has given me.

We have a wonderful, dynamic, strong, confident united nation, and when an analysis is made of what we have done in the recent past, the judgment will be in our favor. There is no easy way, and we are not searching for the easy way. The democratic officials have never been elected because we've promised to avoid problems or to circumvent responsibility. Many of the problems that I inherited when I moved into this house were there because they had been avoided for 4 years or 8 years by the Republican leadership who lived here. We've not avoided those problems. We've worked very closely with the Democratic Congress. And when we inventory what we have done we'll all be very proud.

We are the majority party; that's one of our names. We are the party of the people; that's one of our names. And we have been successful in elections, because we believe in America, should be united 'by a common commitment to unchanging principles and to changing times. We've never been afraid to honor both. And although we do have the greatest nation on Earth, our determination is, through hope and confidence and unity and commitment and sacrifice and determination and strength and courage, to make a greater party and a greater nation in the years to come. And if we keep that commitment-and I'm sure we will—the Democrats will enjoy another tremendous victory in November of 1980.

I'm in it with you. I'm proud to have you as partners. Thank you very much. God bless you.