In every instance that I have known of with confrontation with the government and the press, the press was always right. So keep it up. - Jimmy Carter

We can only improve this world if we are realistic about its complexities. The disagreements that we face are deeply rooted, and they often raise difficult philosophical as well as territorial issues. They will not be solved easily. They will not be solved quickly. The arms race is now embedded in the very fabric of international affairs and can only be contained with the greatest difficulty. Poverty and inequality are of such monumental scope that it will take decades of deliberate and determined effort even to improve the situation substantially. I stress these dangers and these difficulties because I want all of us to dedicate ourselves to a prolonged and persistent effort designed first to maintain peace and to reduce the arms race; second, to build a better and a more cooperative international economic system; and third, to work with potential adversaries as well as our close friends to advance the cause of human rights. In seeking these goals, I realize that the United States cannot solve the problems of the world. We can sometimes help others resolve their differences, but we cannot do so by imposing our own particular solutions.

Many of us in Government, when we see a 6- or 7-percent unemployment rate, are quite pleased if a year ago it was $ or 9 percent. And we tend to forget the human suffering and the challenge and the loss of self-respect and a deep fear about the future that comes with someone who is, as you say, 56 years old, who has worked all your life in one industry, and now is unemployed. I also have a 10-year-old daughter, as you know. She was 10 this week. So, I feel a kinship with you. I can point this out to you to begin with: You are one of the fortunate unemployed, in that the steel industry is a special impacted industry and there are special assistance programs for you. But that's not the way you want to live. You want to earn your own living by working and not get even the assistance that comes from the impacted area. I had a meeting this past week with executives, your own labor leaders, the Members of Congress who represent the steel industry, who came to the Oval Office, to the White House, to meet about what we are going to do concerning the steel industry itself. One of the problems, obviously, is a worldwide semirecession. The growth rate in our economy, the construction of buildings, the construction of homes, the construction of machinery is not growing as rapidly as it has been sometimes in the past, and the order for steel from European, Japanese, and American sources is just down. I think that we will see in our own Nation an increasing demand for steel. Our housing construction now is the highest it's been in many years. Over 2 million housing units per year is the present rate. I think, with passage of a new energy bill--although you're not concerned with energy right now; you're concerned with a job--will provide increasing demands for steel.

First of all, I want to thank you for letting me interrupt your meeting. If it's one person I don't like to follow, it's Barbara Mikulski. She always makes me feel inept and tongue-tied and without humor. But I do thank you for having me come over. I'm glad to bring my wife, Rosalynn. I think you've just done two things. One is to stand in silence to honor a woman who was a pioneer in a demonstration of courage in the early days of the civil rights movement, Fanny Lou Hamer. And you've also just recognized a woman who will move into Government, I hope very shortly, to continue that very strong and able fight for civil rights, particularly for women and minority groups, Eleanor Holmes Norton. I've had the pleasure lately of working with Midge Costanza in choosing some of the women who will meet this year in a continuation of the 1975 Women's Year conventions. They include, as you know, Gloria Steinem, and they include Betty Ford, who's agreed to serve--I'm very grateful for that--and Bella Abzug, who will be the chairman, and others, about 40 other women, who will represent our Nation in a continuing international discussion of women's rights. I'm proud of this effort, and I'm proud to be part of it.