Video: 'Jimmy Carter's Crisis of Confidence Speech, July 15th, 1979'

(Sunday, July 15, 1979, 10:00 p.m. EDT) — U.S. President Jimmy Carter, conceding failings in his own leadership and assailing a “crisis of confidence” among Americans, proposed tonight a six-point package of energy proposals intended to save 4.5 million barrels of oil a day by 1990.

Video: 'Television & the Presidency Part 11' (July 15, 1979, at 2:39)

Delivering his long-awaited address on the energy situation at the end of 10 days of cloistered consultations at Camp David, Carter announced what he called “the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation’s history” to develop alternative energy sources and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

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The President was determined and emphatic in his 33-minute speech from the White House, gesturing frequently with a clenched fist to dramatize his points.

Though most of his other top advisers urged him to continue to focus on inflation and the energy crisis, Carter seized on his pollster’s notion that the major crisis facing the country was a crisis of confidence.

“All the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America,” Carter said. “What is lacking is confidence and a sense of community.”

The speech came to be known as his “malaise” speech, although Carter never used the word in the speech.