"It's the strongest series of messages that an American President has made to the public since World War II," says Assistant Managing Editor Ray Cave of Jimmy Carter's opening "energy week" address. As the President returned again and again to the air waves and as the debate about his energy proposals grew more heated, we decided that the scope of the President's plan and the public's response required a cover story--our third on the energy crisis since April 4. Cave, along with Senior Editor George Church and Associate Editor James Atwater, assembled a team of writers, correspondents and reporter-researchers to explain Carter's call to arms on energy, assess its strengths and weaknesses and report on how it was being received in the business community, in Congress and among Americans elsewhere.

The first of our Nation stories is devoted to the President's three presentations and their impact on people as diverse as Senator Robert Byrd and Philadelphia Personnel Manager June Rosato. It is by Senior Writer Ed Magnuson, who has written 67 TIME covers. Said he after reading the extensive files from our correspondents: "All those off-the-cuff views that most people will not rise to a crisis unless they feel immediately threatened seem to be wrong. Despite arguments over his program, it is clear that Carter has a better feeling for the people than many reporters and politicians I know,"

We argue with some of the specifics ourselves in a separate story, "Carter's Program: Will it Work?" With the help of academic and industrial sources plus the expertise he has acquired in two decades of political and economic reporting, Associate Editor David Tinnin analyzes the plan. His essential criticism: the program relies almost entirely on federal fiat and tax incentives, cutting out the private sector and individual initiative. Following Tinnin's story, the views of TIME'S Board of Economists are summarized by Associate Editor James Grant. TIME will continue to expend its own energy in the weeks and months to come as the nation's energy battle evolves.

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