In 1979, Jimmy Carter delivered his “Crisis of Confidence” speech, a tirade against American individualism and consumerism. Historian Kevin Mattson says the speech helps make sense of Carter the president, Carter the American, and even the state of the US today. This episode was produced by Jillian Weinberger, edited by Matt Collette and Miranda Kennedy, fact-checked by Serena Solin and Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey and Rob Byers, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members President Jimmy Carter about to address the nation from the White House on his energy proposals. Photo credit: Bettmann/Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What was the significance of Jimmy Carter's 'Crisis of Confidence' speech?
President Jimmy Carter lived long enough to imagine how he'd be remembered, and then some. He was the first president to make it to triple digits, but that's a weird accomplishment. Former peanut farmer comes up pretty quickly in all the obits. Kind of meh in office. Pretty much goat status post-presidency. And just about every obituary mentions one speech he gave. It wasn't...
an inauguration or a farewell or a State of the Union, most people refer to it as the malaise speech, even though he never says the word.
Well, here was a president taking on the central issue of the problems of consumerism and pointing to Americans that something had to be changed in the way that they behaved on a daily basis.
It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.
We're dedicating this whole episode of Today Explained to that one speech.
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Chapter 2: How did consumerism influence America's social fabric?
they are things that leave a huge imprint on American political culture. So I think that there's a kind of growing distrust he's trying to address and trying to push back on.
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.
He's got this mix of touting traditional values in contrast with the consumer culture that dominates at this time. To take that on, to put that front and center, saying essentially, you know, let's stop paying attention to all the scenes in the gas lines. Let's get beyond that sort of stuff and realize that there's something much deeper that's troubling.
And that is a reliance upon consumer goods and trying to seek our own happiness out of all the things that we want to get. Keep in mind that Jimmy Carter was notorious for teaching Sunday school. He has a kind of minister's tone in some of these passages.
But I don't think that he's just simply blaming or scolding the American people because he prefaces everything with pointing out to his own faults. Usually people who are scolding don't say, I'm also a part of the problem.
We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively, and we will. But there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.
We're going to have to sacrifice. I think that's the bottom line, is what Carter's saying. He's calling people back to sacrifice, and he's saying, you know, there are things we can do in our day-to-day lives. We can turn down the thermostat. We can try not to drive our cars everywhere we go. I think that he sees a way to get back to a better place, but it's going to take sacrifice.
It's going to take people doing something in their ordinary lives. And that's, again, a rarity. I think that, you know... Where do we see our government actually interacting with ordinary citizens to actually push through a policy that includes, at least in part, sacrifice and living within one's means?
I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight and I will enforce fairness in our struggle and I will ensure honesty and above all, I will act.
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