President Carter’s remarks at the Swearing In of the Chairman of the Council on Environmental
Quality, the Deputy Director of ACTION, and the Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency. March 11, 1977

. . . . Among my closest friends in the world are two people who mean a lot to me, and I think in
the past and in the future will mean a lot to our country. One of them is Dr. Peter Bourne, who
helped me in Georgia to set up one of the finest drug treatment programs in the Nation. He’s
recognized as the foremost expert on alcoholism, drugs, their impact, and the way to control them
properly. His wife, Mary King, is also one who has been very close to me. When I was
campaigning for President, whenever I came to Washington, not having enough support or
finances to afford a hotel room, I always slept on their folding bed and they always took me in.

And I’m very excited to know that Mary King, who is an expert on health care in all its forms, on
the proper utilization of volunteer Americans, who has a sensitivity and a courage that’s absolutely
superlative, is willing to serve in an agency that will spread this kind of knowledge throughout the
world.

The ACTION program is one that’s involved with the Peace Corps, with VISTA, and with the
recruitment and use of Americans