April 27, 1976: Jimmy Carter in Connecticut with WTIC Radio's Dick Bertel

• published: 28 Sep 2015
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On April 27, 1976, Jimmy Carter campaigns in Connecticut for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Interviewing him during the ninety minutes he spent in Meriden, Conn. is Dick Bertel from WTIC Radio in Hartford. It’s the day of the Pennsylvania primary, one of the most crucial contests so far in the race. Assured of victory there, the former Georgia governor is already looking ahead now to the Connecticut primary on May 11. He flew into the state this morning and held a well-attended press conference in Hartford. He will campaign in New Haven today too. His schedule could not accommodate a visit to the WTIC studios so Bertel agreed to meet him at the city hall in Meriden instead. The first interview takes place during a ride in a limousine from there to the Latin American Society at 399 S. Colony Street. Carter reflects on his campaign for the nomination, stating that in 1975 he “traveled in a very lonely way.” He speaks of his victories to date in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, and Kansas and predicts wins in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. He describes his position on national health care, stating that it will be financed by joint employee / employer contributions. He also says he would prefer that his plan be administered through private insurance companies when they can do so "as efficiently and economically as the government." He reminisces about being stationed in Connecticut by the U.S. Navy at Naval Submarine Base New London and pre-commissioning the USS K-1 , the first Barracuda-class submarine, built in Groton, Conn. by Electric Boat, a division of General Dynamics. He expresses support for the Trident (Ohio-class) nuclear submarine program and voices concerns about the comparative strengths of the American and Soviet navies. In a second interview conducted inside the Latin American Society, he lists some of the other Democrats who have also held ambitions for the 1976 nomination: • George Wallace, Governor of Alabama • Ted Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts • Walter Mondale, Senator from Minnesota • Lloyd Bentsen, Senator from Texas • Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Senator from Washington • Birch Bayh, Senator from Indiana • Mo Udall, Congressman from Arizona’s 2nd District • Hubert Humphrey, Senator from Minnesota • Sargent Shriver, the former Director of the Peace Corps (Carter will win in Pennsylvania tonight, nearly knocking out all of his previous competition. In May, however, Sen. Frank Church of Idaho and Gov. Jerry Brown of California will also enter the race while Rep. Udall remains persistent, slowing Carter's push toward the delegate count needed to secure the nomination on the first ballot.) He outlines his position on negotiating a new Panama Canal Treaty. Carter says he is willing to share responsibility for the canal with Panama but will not give up the United States’ control of the canal itself. He goes on to say that the U.S. military presence in the Canal Zone ought to be reduced and that the rate of payment for the transshipment of goods should be increased. As prelude he talks about his intentions “to restore [the] kind of friendship” that President Kennedy had once proffered to Latin America. He responds to a statement that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made this morning in Lusaka, Zambia during a tour of Africa, asserting the United States’ intention to renew a global effort to pressure the Prime Minister of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe since 1980), Ian Smith, and his white-minority government to accept black-majority rule. Carter says he agrees with Kissinger on this point and affirms the position of the United Kingdom that “proportional representation … is the only ultimate solution to it.” To newspaper reporter George Cooper, Carter says it is premature to say whom he would nominate for secretary of state and vice president. And in an interview with Radio Hispana de Connecticut, Carter relates en Español how he learned to speak Spanish, his appreciation for the language and the culture, his travels in Latin America, and the importance of Latino citizens participating in the presidential election. Also heard in these recordings are Abraham G. Grossman, the Mayor of Meriden, and Greg Schneider, the campaign's appointments secretary who will become the director of special projects in the White House. Bertel will interview Carter again on May 10, this time live on the telephone from Georgia. That conversation can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/cSrrolnbBAg. Carter will win the Connecticut primary on May 11 by 2.3%. Also included in this video is a newspaper article Bertel wrote for the April 30, 1976 edition of the "Wethersfield Post" and an essay he submitted with his materials when the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum created the Dick Bertel Audio Visual Collection in 2015.