Jimmy Carter was the thirty-ninth president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. He used radio and television to address the nation like presidents before him, but he was often more detailed in his addresses. Carter’s Report to the American People of early 1977 was significant in that the nation was in the midst of an energy crisis that had begun earlier in the decade. Carter’s speech detailed how and why the Department of Energy would be formed at the beginning of his presidency and related it to his overall view of governing and the role of the government.