...which turned out to be a pivotal year not only for the US, but also for world history.
Carter's national address occurred on July 15, 1979; the title was "A Crisis of Confidence". In recent years, the speech has undergone a great deal of reevaluation, and it is now seen as a prophetic warning about many of the nation's destructive tendencies and social pathologies.
https://democraticunderground.com/100220086417#post3
The national address was immediately maligned as the "malaise speech" (though that word appears nowhere in its text). The early neocon movement in particular savaged Carter over his honest and mature look into the less admirable traits of Americans, not to mention his call for more careful stewardship of natural resources and the environment. ( I recall Noam Chomsky going after the neocons at the time; to paraphrase: "they would rather risk nuclear war than put on a sweater!" ).
The speech can be viewed and downloaded at the following link.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090721024329/http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3402
Historian Morris Berman on the speech:
https://democraticunderground.com/100217661780#post38
More on "A Crisis of Confidence":
https://democraticunderground.com/100217660503#post1
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