It was July 15, 1979. President Jimmy Carter was addressing the nation about what he called a “crisis of confidence” in our future. With the U.S. in the midst of an energy crisis, with lines at the gas pump and high inflation, Carter asked Americans to reflect on how their own consumption and how they live might be contributing to the challenges in the economy.
“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption,” he said. “Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.”
This came to be known informally as the “malaise speech.” On this national Day of Mourning for President Carter, let’s take another look at the address to the nation.
Kevin Mattson is a professor of history at Ohio University, who wrote a book about it, “‘What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?’ Jimmy Carter, America’s ‘Malaise,’ and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country.” He spoke with “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio, and the following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: I was a teen. I remember the summer night at a little lake, black-and-white TV, watching the live speech from Jimmy Carter. I remembered he used the word “malaise” to describe the vibe, but he didn’t?
Kevin Mattson: No, he didn’t. You can do a quick search through the speech, and you’ll find that “malaise” does not turn up anywhere within the speech itself. His opponents are the ones who say, “This guy is down on the American people.”
Brancaccio: How spin becomes, in a sense, reality. Are you on the side of other experts who think this is one of the most unusual speeches of any president in our history?
Mattson: I remember assigning the speech — it was during the U.S.’s growing involvement in Iraq and the presidency of George W. Bush — and the students said to me, “I wish we had a president who talked like this to us. I like what he’s saying. I like how he’s framing things out. I like how he’s talking about our own political responsibility in confronting the crisis.” And I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s not usually how people see it or read it.” Many historians slough it off as just basically a stupid move.
Brancaccio: Well, here’s another clip:
President Jimmy Carter: The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country, a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years.
Brancaccio: With a presidential election coming up [after Carter’s speech], that’s talking turkey, that’s being direct. I will say, though, that it surprised me to read that, in the immediate aftermath — the days that followed the speech — he got a bump upward in presidential approval. For a little while, the speech worked.
Mattson: That’s absolutely right. It was about 10% bump up, and Carter did not see too many of those bump ups during his presidency. So it’s quite significant. I’ve actually gone to the Carter Library and looked through correspondence of people writing to the president soon after the speech is given. It’s a massive amount of mail, full of people saying, “I’m going to ride my moped instead of my car to work,” “I’m going to turn down the thermostat.” There’s a real sense that, I think he kind of reaches this sort of vision of civic participation, that is citizens’ roles in solving problems, that he takes with him from that point onward.
Brancaccio: Right, but, consumerism and thinking about oneself and not working together — it’s part of the fabric of this country. And the idea that a speech would suddenly enlighten swaths of the population so that they turn over a new leaf, that’s asking a lot.
Mattson: Yeah, it is. I think that Jimmy Carter asked a lot from people, and that’s what made him unique. Ronald Reagan was famous for saying, you know, we don’t need any sacrifice. We can live the lives we want to live and not worry about the ramifications. That’s what I think made Jimmy Carter such an exceptional political figure.
