"It was very tough. They really took a lot of shots at Schlesinger.

But he defended himself well. He's a very smart man."

So said President Jimmy Carter to TIME Correspondent Stanley Cloud during Cloud's memorable and exclusive day at the White House, in which he talked to and observed the President from dawn into the late evening (TIME, April 18). Carter was talking about a session with Cabinet members and advisers to hammer out the energy plan that the President will present to the nation this week. Even before its release, the plan generated violent debate. As preparation for that debate and to get the ideas of business, labor, political and environmental leaders, Time Inc. convened a special energy conference in Williamsburg, Va., last fortnight.

For three days, 88 participants--including former Treasury Secretary George Shultz, Senator Henry Jackson, Eastern Air Lines Chairman Frank Borman and Environmentalist Barry Commoner --discussed the problems of shortages, alternative sources, conservation and energy legislation. One of the speakers was Presidential Adviser Schlesinger, the "Mr. Energy" of our April 4 cover story, in which we published a preview of the Administration's energy program. Although there were heated debates, I was struck by a spirit of cooperation even among ideological opposites. Everyone seemed finally convinced that we must all work together to solve this dilemma.

Time Inc. Chairman Andrew Heiskell, Editor in Chief Hedley Donovan and other Time Inc. officers served on the rostrum to help organize the debates. Associate Editor David Tinnin, who regularly follows the Energy beat, talked extensively with participants at the conference, then returned to New York City to write about the meeting. His story accompanies this week's report on the President's energy program in the Nation section's assessment of Carter's first three months in the White House.

This year's energy conference is not the first that Time Inc. has sponsored. Four years ago, we convened a similar meeting to discuss the already apparent shortage. Six months after the Arab oil embargo in 1973, we held a second conference, recognizing that in a few short years, the energy crisis had become one of the greatest challenges facing the free world: How do we continue our present course, and grow in the future, as the fuels that power our lives disappear?

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