MPR News Feature; Jimmy Carter talks politics

The 51 year old Carter says his most formidable opponents for the presidential nomination are Senator Edward Kennedy and George Wallace. Carter says Kennedy probably won't run. So he's devoting more attention to Wallace. He says the former Alabama governor is trying to appeal to voters by generally criticizing the bureaucracy and dishonesty of big government. Along with calling for lower taxes but Carter says that Wallace has never spoken to specific issues and that Wallace has an unacceptable record as a public official on issues of race relations and human justice. Carter denied that his campaign is being used by the Democratic Party to offset the votes that Wallace may take from the party. I don't have any relationship you know with any. So-called pawnbrokers of pole manipulate is a democratic but I don't even know who they would be. I think that Chairman Strauss for instance is bent over backwards to assure the people of his country and to assure Governor Wallace if he needs any assurance that he'll be treated just like any other candidate. It's obviously very helpful to Wallace to be able to cast himself in the role of a martyr in a

say every body is trying to hurt me. Here I am a lonely candidate just depending on the people to sustain my strength in the face of all these adversities. But I think almost everyone including very liberal people like Gary Hart even recently you know have gone out of their way to show us that there is no plot against him. I'm not trying to run. As a Wallace candidate or as a sectional candidate you know if I was I wouldn't be in Minnesota and I would have been in Wisconsin yesterday it would have been in Illinois the day before was or the day before that. I've campaigned in all of the nation you know with an all out effort to show the people that I am a worthy candidate and to let them know my strengths and weaknesses my stand on issues. So I'm perfectly willing to meet whoever runs Carter's campaign literature says that his beginnings as a farmer give him an appreciation for hard work and honesty and in-person Carter cultivates the personal approach. He shakes the hand of everyone in a room asking their name where they're from. He says he will campaign for 250 days

this year five days a week and will visit every state in the union. By the end of the year Carter predicts he will have contributions of $5000 from each of 20 states enough to qualify him for federal presidential campaign funds contributions so far total over $350000 towards Carter's goal of 750000 during the press conference. Carter was most specific about his feelings towards this country's foreign policy and the work of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He said that Kissinger has carried the burden of both president and secretary of state because as Carter put it President Ford hasn't taken an interest in foreign affairs to amount to anything. Nevertheless Kissinger does not meet with Carter's approval. I think he is much too inclined to conduct. Our foreign policy in its evolutionary stages and its consummation stages in secret is excluded not only the American people from an awareness of foreign policy issues and decisions but it also attempted to exclude Congress and I think in some instances fees

possibly kept the president even at almost length about some of the things he's done. I think the sector kitchen is too much inclined to want to get militarily involved in internal affairs of other nations he's been a very combative kind of US secretary of state which I personally would not desire. He's put too much emphasis in my opinion on how they publicized efforts to assuage the feelings of our adversaries or potential adversaries to the exclusion of our natural friends and Canada Mexico South and Central America and Europe. Carter said this country's foreign policy reached a low point during the last six years due to the poor diplomatic appointments by former President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger. I've traveled extensively in and the Mid East Far East South and Central America and Europe in the last two years and quite often the qualifications of our ambassadors. Or an insult to the American people. They

said they have that bloated heavy contributors to Nixon's campaign not being able to speak the language of the countries that they are in knowing very little about our own nation's purposes or ideals or aspirations of character and are an obstacle rather than an asset in the effectuated of our foreign policy and I personally hold Kissinger partly responsible for this for this sort of appointment quality. The qualities of our ambassador to Poland has deteriorated substantially they have always been a point which made major political figures. But I think for instance the last time I was in Europe out of 33 diplomats who were in top post only three had any previous diplomatic experience or any acknowledged or detectable interest in foreign affairs the rest that were just political payoffs. I think this was an abysmal low in the record of our nation in this very crucial aspect for us. That was Jimmy Carter a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination talking with reporters during his day long visit to Minnesota. I'm Dan Olson.