A Government as Good as Its People
Jimmy Carter, 1977

A member of my staff once calculated that I delivered 1,200 speeches as governor of Georgia and another 2,100 speeches during my presidential campaign – in all, a great many speeches by anyone's standard.

This volume collects all or part of about fifty of those speeches, with emphasis on those delivered during my presidential campaign.

We have tried, in editing this book, not to provide a formal collection of "major" speeches but to try to suggest the variety of ways in which I, as a candidate, presented myself to the American people. Thus we have included not only formal speeches on specific issues but informal remarks to political gatherings, as well as news conferences, interviews, and excerpts from my debates with President Ford.

I hope this collection will reflect what is to me a basic truth about presidential politics – that one does not pursue the presidency by high oratory but by plain talk, not by talking down to people but simply by talking to people, directly and candidly.

As I ran for president, my most basic means of communication was what we called the "stump speeches" – the informal remarks I made to hundreds of political receptions and rallies, setting out the personal beliefs and political themes upon which my candidacy was based. These short speeches were almost invariably followed by a cross-examination type of question period.

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