I’ve outlined some of the changes that have transformed the world and which are continuing as we meet here tonight.  But we in America need not fear change.  The values on which our Nation was founded:  individual liberty, self-determination, the potential for human fulfillment in freedom, all of these endure.  We find these democratic principles praised, even in books smuggled out of totalitarian nations and on wallposters in lands which we thought were closed to our influence.  Our country has regained its special place of leadership in the worldwide struggle for human rights.  And that is a commitment that we must keep at home, as well as abroad.

The civil rights revolution freed all Americans, black and white, but its full promise still remains unrealized.  I will continue to work with all my strength for equal opportunity for all Americans—­and for affirmative action for those who carry the extra burden of past denial of equal opportunity.

We remain committed to improving our labor laws to better protect the rights of American workers.  And our Nation must make it clear that the legal rights of women as citizens are guaranteed under the laws of our land by ratifying the equal rights amendment.

As long as I’m President, at home and around the world America’s examples and America’s influence will be marshaled to advance the cause of human rights.

To establish those values, two centuries ago a bold generation of Americans risked their property, their position, and life itself.  We are their heirs, and they are sending us a message across the centuries.  The words they made so vivid are now growing faintly indistinct, because they are not heard often enough.  They are words like “justice,” “equality,” “unity,” “truth,” “sacrifice,” “liberty,” “faith,” and “love.”

These words remind us that the duty of our generation of Americans is to renew our Nation’s faith, not focused just against foreign threats but against the threats of selfishness, cynicism, and apathy.

The new foundation I’ve discussed tonight can help us build a nation and a world where every child is nurtured and can look to the future with hope, where the resources now wasted on war can be turned towards meeting human needs, where all people have enough to eat, a decent home, and protection against disease.

It can help us build a nation and a world where all people are free to seek the truth and to add to human understanding, so that all of us may live our lives in peace.

Tonight, I ask you, the Members of the Congress, to join me in building that new foundation, a better foundation, for our beloved country and our world.

Thank you very much.

***

State of the Union Address
Jimmy Carter
January 21, 1980

This last few months has not been an easy time for any of us.  As we meet tonight, it has never been more clear that the state of our Union depends on the state of the world.  And tonight, as throughout our own generation, freedom and peace in the world depend on the state of our Union.