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DALLAS (SMU) – Two days before the 1976 Texas presidential primary, former president Jimmy Carter spoke at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium to a crowd of 2,400, his third campaign event of the day. Carter entered to the song “This Is My Country” where, according to the Dallas Morning News, “the crowd almost came out of the double balconies.”

Less than two miles away at NorthPark Center, then President Gerald Ford also greeted the largest crowd of his two Texas tours. Both men would go on to win their party’s nomination in the Texas primary, which took place on May 1, 1976.

During the speech, Carter talked about fairness, honesty and compassion in government. He appealed to what he called the “independence and pride of Texas.” Carter was the last Democratic presidential candidate to claim Texas, winning with little more than 51 percent of the vote.

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