There's another item I'd like to mention tonight, and that's the subject of energy. I presented to the Congress and to the American people last April… - Jimmy Carter

Thank you very much, President Woodcock, distinguished members of the UAW who have come here Irvin all over the Nation to reconfirm what you stand for, to my good friend Doug Fraser and to many people in the audience and behind me, who throughout the last 2 years stood in factory shift lines in the cold and in the rain so that I could become better informed about what a President ought to be, about what our Nation is, and what our future might hold: It's a very rare occasion that I have a chance to come to a convention. I haven't been to one since I've been President. I may not go to another one this year. But I particularly wanted to come and be with you. Ordinarily Vice President Mondale is the one who chooses to go and make a speech at the conventions. I had to send him to Yugoslavia to have this chance today. He'll be coming back to our country in about a week, having been to Portugal--a brand-new democracy; to Spain--a brand-new democracy; having visited the President of South Africa to try to work out some solution to the difficult problems in that continent; having met with Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia to reconfirm their independence of the Big Bear to the north of them; and then having come back through England to discuss the common basis on which we approach the future. So, I'm glad to have a chance to be with you today.

Well, I think that we or the Soviets ought to play a constructive role. And I think both of us will. We have been the nation then and, I think, now that is uniquely trusted by all the parties involved to act fairly and consistently concerning the Middle East questions. I don't believe that the Soviets occupy that position. And I don't have any doubt that if the nations surrounding Israel can work out an individual peace settlement with Israel leading to peace treaties, that the Soviets will play a constructive role, certainly at that point. It would be contrary to their own interest to be identified as an obstacle to peace. I don't think they are trying to be an obstacle to peace. Their perspective is just different from ours.

As you know, President Eisenhower also had a chief of staff, Sherman Adams, who ran things almost like a secondary President. But I've substituted for that an unprecedented use of the Vice President. He and I are close, personal friends. We have a harmonious partnership. I've grown to respect and like him more every day I've known him. And he has authority and responsibility in foreign and domestic affairs and also in helping to manage the White House staff that no Vice President has ever dreamed of having. And it takes a great deal of the burden off my shoulders. Formerly, Vice Presidents were over in the Executive Office Building across the street. I asked Fritz specifically to move over and occupy an office right down the hall from me. And so, in effect, he is the one who coordinates the staff work in the White House. He's thoroughly familiar with the Congress. He's been there for 12 years himself. He was on the Finance Committee and also the Budget Committee. So he's familiar with that. When I have budget hearings 2 1/2, 3 hours here in the afternoon--3 1/2 hours yesterday on defense--Fritz is there at my side. And I've incorporated him in this strategic military chain of command. No other Vice President has ever occupied those positions. And if something should happen to me, he would be thoroughly familiar with all the controversies, all of the foreign affairs considerations, all of the defense considerations, and be ready to act in a proper way. So, there are some different ways of management that I have brought into the White House that quite often have not been understood, but which I've very carefully evolved and of which I'm quite proud.