Our material resources, great as they are, are limited.  Our problems are too complex for simple slogans or for quick solutions.  We cannot solve them without effort and sacrifice.  Walter Lippmann once reminded us, “You took the good things for granted.  Now you must earn them again.  For every right that you cherish, you have a duty which you must fulfill.  For every good which you wish to preserve, you will have to sacrifice your comfort and your ease.  There is nothing for nothing any longer.”

Our challenges are formidable.  But there’s a new spirit of unity and resolve in our country.  We move into the 1980’s with confidence and hope and a bright vision of the America we want:  an America strong and free, an America at peace, an America with equal rights for all citizens—­and for women, guaranteed in the United States Constitution—­an America with jobs and good health and good education for every citizen, an America with a clean and bountiful life in our cities and on our farms, an America that helps to feed the world, an America secure in filling its own energy needs, an America of justice, tolerance, and compassion.  For this vision to come true, we must sacrifice, but this national commitment will be an exciting enterprise that will unify our people.

Together as one people, let us work to build our strength at home, and together as one indivisible union, let us seek peace and security throughout the world.

Together let us make of this time of challenge and danger a decade of national resolve and of brave achievement.

Thank you very much.

***

State of the Union Address
Jimmy Carter
January 16, 1981

To the Congress of the United States: 

The State of the Union is sound.  Our economy is recovering from a recession.  A national energy plan is in place and our dependence on foreign oil is decreasing.  We have been at peace for four uninterrupted years.

But, our Nation has serious problems.  Inflation and unemployment are unacceptably high.  The world oil market is increasingly tight.  There are trouble spots throughout the world, and 52 American hostages are being held in Iran against international law and against every precept of human affairs.

However, I firmly believe that, as a result of the progress made in so many domestic and international areas over the past four years, our Nation is stronger, wealthier, more compassionate and freer than it was four years ago.  I am proud of that fact.  And I believe the Congress should be proud as well, for so much of what has been accomplished over the past four years has been due to the hard work, insights and cooperation of Congress.  I applaud the Congress for its efforts and its achievements.

In this State of the Union Message I want to recount the achievements and progress of the last four years and to offer recommendations to the Congress for this year.  While my term as President will end before the 97th Congress begins its work in earnest, I hope that my recommendations will serve as a guide for the direction this country should take so we build on the record of the past four years.