The previous visit to the region by a US President, in 1977, saw Jimmy Carter pull off a public relations masterstroke as he greeted the North-East with the words "Ha'way the lads'. Gavin Engelbrecht discovers that, 26 years on, the visit is still having a big influence on North-East lives.

PRESIDENT Jimmy Carter won the hearts of Geordies from the moment he stepped into the Tyneside sunshine and uttered the greeting "Ha'way the lads".

The most powerful man in the world was met with ecstatic cheers from 20,000 people gathered outside Newcastle Civic Centre in May 1977.

President Carter came to the region during his first trip overseas since taking office.

His visit was met with a sea of smiles and not so much as a whisper of dissent about his presence.

Cynics may have put his first public utterance down to an aide helping him out with local ways, but in fact the greeting was the President's idea.

On the drive from the airport to the city centre he spotted two newspaper bills saying "Ha'way Jimmy" and "The lads". He turned to Ernie Armstrong, the Durham North-West MP - sadly no longer with us - who was accompanying him and asked what the phrases meant.

Ever the astute politician, President Carter followed his instincts and took a leaf from the book of one of his predecessors, John F Kennedy, who had endeared himself to Berliners by declaring "Ich bin ein Berliner".

Mr Carter, accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, used his newly-found mastery of the local language just after the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Councillor Hugh White, announced he had been made Honorary Freeman of the City of Newcastle.

To thunderous applause Councillor White said: "President Carter is already a Georgian. Now he is a Geordie too."

Both then went on to make unexpectedly weighty speeches addressing one of the chief concerns of the day - unemployment, particularly among young people.

Mr Carter then made his way to Sunderland where he visited the Corning Glass Factory before travelling on to the National Trust's Washington Old Hall.

The mansion is the ancestral home of the Washington family, though America's first president, George Washington, probably never saw it.

Mr Carter was presented with an old miners' lamp from Washington pit on behalf of the village by 12-tear-old Ian McCree, the youngest member of the village's welfare band.

In return, the President gave Ian a signed oil painting of Mount Vernon, George Washington's home town in America.

After touring the property, where he was made life-member of National Trust, Mr Carter planted a tulip tree on the village green to symbolise solidarity between the two countries.

He went on a handshaking walkabout greeting thousands of people who had poured into the village to ensure a place in the crowd.

Police too had come by the busload for the biggest security operation the region had seen, while a helicopter circled overhead and Secret Service and detectives mingled with the crowds.

After four hours in the region President Carter left with Prime Minister Jim Callaghan for a summit in London.

Before boarding the plane he said: "There is no way I can express the sense of friendship and common heritage that I feel with the people of Great Britain.

"I have shaken many hands - hands of strength, hands marked from hard work.

"They cemented our determination and spirit of hope and confidence which has been an inspiration to me."

Mr Callaghan's parting gift to the President was "an old second-hand book about one of the most famous men who came from this part of the world, Jack Lawson".

Mr Callaghan explained Jack had been a miner who had educated himself and had become a cabinet minister in a Labour Government.

He said: "The book epitomises for me the hardships, the resilience, the courage and determination of the people of the North-East and of the miners."