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Lincoln Day Speech, February 12, 1955
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Lincoln Day Speech, February 12, 1955
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D14, folder "Lincoln Day Speech, February 12,
1955" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R.
Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D14 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Lincoln Day Speech - 1955
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican; and Abraham
Lincoln was the greatest President this country has produced.
Now that is not the mere opinion of Jerry Ford, nor of the
Republican National Committee, although we all agree with it
wholeheartedly. That is the reasoned judgment of a group of
sixty learned American historians who were asked to rate 29
American Presidents of the United States, They rated them as
great, near great, average, below average and failure. When
they had finished, six men were found among that select group
of the "great." And the man heading the list, the unanimous
choice of all the authorities, was our own Abraham Lincoln,
a Republican, the first Republican President.
As the historians went about the task of selecting
the great chief executives of this Republic, they of necessity
set up standards of value and of judgment. A great President,
they found, was not necessarily a brilliant intellectual, nor
an administrative genius, nor even a personality of immense
magnetic charm. These non-partisan scholars concluded that a
great President is one who exhibits and exercises "moral
leadership" in meeting and solving wisely the most pressi ng
problems of the day. Lincoln saw clearly the problems of his day.
GERALE FORD LIBRARY
Page 2
He used all the power of his office to face up to these problems
and to do something about them. But, and this is most important,
what he did was morally right and just. This is what made him great.
John C. Calhoun was a brilliant political thinker,
but his doctrines of nullification and secession were wrong,
morally wrong. Robert E. Lee was a military genius, but he
fought on the wrong side for that which was not morally defensible.
Lincoln was morally right - both historians and philosophers agree.
And Lincoln was a Republican.
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that today we
Republicans and we Americans have another great President. Great
because he is providing the country with that moral leadership
which it needs to survive the day to day crucial problems which
constantly beset it.
When Abraham Lincoln became President, the Democrat
Party had been in power for a good many years. The American
people then, in 1860, turned to the new Republican Party in
hopes of finding a better government through the expression of
the high ideals of Mr. Lincoln and his new Party.
The major crisis facing President Lincoln was the
preservation of the Nation, the saving of the Union. Mr. Lincoln
and the new Republican Party took immediate steps to meet the
obligations of their sacred oath to preserve and defend this Nation
Page 3
and its Constitution. He was morally right. And today all we
need do is look around us to observe the bulwark he helped
construct so "that government of the people, by the people, for
the people shall not perish from the earth."
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that the major
concern of your government today is the preservation and defense
of this Nation. Just as Lincoln attacked the forces of
destruction, a Republican President today is attacking the
forces of evil threatening our way of life. Lincoln had his
Fort Sumter, and Eisenhower has his Formosa. Whether to reinforce
Sumter was the first major decision by the Lincoln Administration.
To do so was to risk war for a righteous cause. A recent major
decision of the Eisenhower Agministration and your Congress was
whether to protect America by defending Formosa. I can assure
you, ladies and gentlemen, that this decision was not made
lightly nor in ignorance of the implications.
The problems facing Formosa are intense and changing
by the hour.
When President Lincoln decided to fortify Sumter
he did what was right. And when President Eisenhower announced
our intention of securing and protecting Formosa he did what was
right. In Lincoln's day the enemy attacked and a long and bitter
war followed. But it is the opinion of the best informed
authorities that our decisions regarding Formosa are a step away
Page 4
from rather than toward war. By definitely announcing our
intention of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores,
we dispel any false notions by the Chinese Communists that the
United States will not defend these strategic islands.
Our military experts contend that if Formosa falls
into the hands of Red China, the free world will eventually lose
the Philippines, Japan and the other Pacific allies. The loss
of this valuable territory means the ruthless and dangerous
enemy is thousands of miles closer to the shores of America.
Hawaii would be our only outpost; the shores of California,
Oregon and Washington would be our defense line. In these
circumstances and under these conditions we are one united nation
in our determination to halt the march of the Godless Communistic
aggressors in the Kremlin or Peiping.
Some Americans have expressed the fear that we
are giving Chiang Kai-Shek a "blank check" encouraging him to
attack the mainland and thus precipitate a general war. As a
Representative in Washington, I am convinced that our government
has a firm assurance that no such action will be taken.
But I also want to assure you that this government
believes in "preparedness". We do not expect to be weighed in
the balance and found wanting at that crucial moment when some
fanatic in Moscow or Peiping decides to strike. We do not accept
the doctrine of preventive war; but we do accept the responsibility
FORD & LIBRARY CERALD
Page 5
of maintaining an adequate defense of our own soil, and of
helping friendly nations preserve their freedom. We will
cooperate with the free nations and the established international
authority in meeting hostile action throughout the world.
To do all this we must maintain a stability in
our defense program. This calls for adequate reserve units,
stockpiling of strategic and critical materials, mobile forces
with increased firepower, and a well trained career Army, Navy
and Air Force. We must be ready at every moment to halt an
enemy attack and to take retaliatory measures. Let me re-emphasize
that we will remain strong.
On the internal, domestic front Lincoln too, had
his weak and misguided souls whose loyalty lay in the direction
of the enemy. There were the "copperheads" who would travel in
fellowship with the enemy to weaken and destroy a nation. Today
we have our fellow travelers and Communist aggitators who would
destroy us internally by deceitful and treacherous methods.
The Eisenhower Agministration has showed its
adeptness at weeding security risks out of the government service.
The administration has worked on the basic assumption that it is
not a right but a privilege to work for the United States govern-
ment. Individuals are deemed security risks for any of the fol-
lowing reasons - unreliable conduct; deliberate misrepresentation;
criminal, infamous or immoral conduct; uncured insanity or mental
Page 6
disorder; being subject to coercion; attempting, conspiring, or
aiding sabotage; treason, espionage or sedition; associating with
anyone so doing; advocating the overthrow of the government;
associating with anyone so doing; belonging to or associating
with any group which shows a policy of subversion; violating
security regulations, or serving the interests of another government.
In 1953 the Eisenhower Agministration inherited the
wreckage of a "soft" policy towards internal subversion from prior
administrations. The President and the Republican Congress
approached this problem with swiftness and dispatch. For proof,
there is the recent case of the conviction of Caude Lightfoot,
executive secretary of the Communist Party in Illinois. This and
other convictions by the administration are examples of the tight
rein our government is drawing daily over traitorous and disloyal
Reds as they still seek to operate in America.
The conviction of Claude Lightfoot for violating the
Smith Act represents just one more step of the administration's
determined fight against disloyalty and subversion in government.
This drive has resulted in jail sentences for more than 50
Communist leaders, stripped the Communist party of all legal
standing, led to the deportation of more than 100 Communist aliens,
many of whom had enjoyed complete freedom of movement in the
United States for decades.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Page 7
Another step made by the security conscious
Eisenhower Agministration concerns a man by the name of Joseph
Peterson who was a code expert in the National Security Agen cy.
This man was caught and deprived of his subversive activities
by means of a routine check made under the new security program
of the Eisenhower Administration. Mr. Peterson will be residing
behind bars for the next seven years.
Here was a very sedous security risk who had been
working for the government for years and who would still be on
the payroll today, undetected and unapprehended, had this
administration not acted promptly and vigorously.
Before we criticize the administration's security
program let's remember the cases of Claude Lightfoot and
Joseph Peterson.
Vice President Nixon knows a great deal about the
Communist threat in this country. It was he who was mainly
responsible for the conviction of Alger Hiss. Mr. Nixon has said
repeatedly that Communism in government should not be a partisan
issue because there is no difference in loyalty between Democrats
and Republicans. But the facts are beginning to speak and as a
result they reveal that the Truman Administrations were either
blind or completely indifferent to the Communist threat to our Nation.
The second fundamental problem in which Abraham
Lincoln exercised his moral leadership involved slavery, or freedom
Page 8
and equal rights for all American citizens. His Emancipation
Proclamation was morally and eternally right, and I submit to you,
ladies and gentlemen, that today the Republican Party under President
Eisenhower's leadership is the party of Lincoln in extending and
expanding the program of civil rights.
Mr. Eisenhower's record in civil rights is distinguished
and is one of which we may well be proud. The greatest advance-
ments in civil rights have been within the last two years. We
are all familiar with the Justice Department's splendid argument
before the Supreme Court to the effect that it had ample constitutional
power to outlaw racial segregation in the public schools and that
it should do SO.
The administration has, for the first time in history
appointed a Negro secretary to the White House, and also made many
appointments of Negroes to high administrative posts.
President Eisenhower created the Committee on
Governmental Contracts to help prevent discrimination on jobs
covered by federal contracts. Vice President Nixon is chairman of
this group. The Defense Department's program to wipe out segregation
has made great strides SO that segregation no longer exists in
Army units. In the District of Columbia 23 governmental agencies
were ordered to end discrimination. And again in fulfilling his
pledge to end segregation in the District of Columbia, President
Page 9
Eisenhower ordered that in new contracts for District of Columbia
services, the contractors must pledge no discrimination in
employment.
I could go on citing more examples but I will just
mention one more. One that I regard as highly important.
President Eisenhower believes segregation in our
Nation's schools to be absolutely and morally wrong. At his
direction discrimination shall be eliminated in education for the
first time next fall when schools open up in the District of
Columbia. Regardless of color children will go to the school
nearest to their homes. It is the President's intention to make
the District a model laboratory which will serve as a shining
example to the rest of the nation in pioneering this field.
Further, Mr. Chairman, Lincoln's greatness and his
character was marked by faith in the democratic process, and faith
in, concern for, and love of the common man. This, I think, is
the place to present a challenge to every man and woman of the
Republican Party. We must, every one of us, do everything we can
to dispel the idea that our opponents form the party of the people,
the party of the common man. We must demonstrate that the
Republican Party has more to offer the "little people* of our land
than the opposition.
GERALD LIBRARY
Page 10
This is a challenge, a serious one, but our very
existence as a great political party and as a force for the preser-
vation of the Nation depends on its success.
I know that the Republican Administration stands
firmly in back of the "little people." There are many areas of
action in the Eisenhower Agministration which can be used to
demonstrate this point. There are many examples, but I have chosen
just four because, as a Republican, I am especially proud of the
accomplishments in these areas. And after 20 years of "wrong-way"
rule by Democrats, these four areas were ripe for progressive
Republican legislation.
They are - housing, labor, health, and social security.
The Republican Housing Act of 1954 will raise
housing standars of Americans, especially in the lower income
brackets. But it will not only help more people acquire homes
of their own; but it will assist communities in getting rid of
slums and in improving older neighborhoods. In turn this will
help strengthen and stimulate the Nation's entire economy, particularly
the construction industry.
Probably the cornerstone of this act is the expanded
mortgage credit facilities.
This means that provisions make it possible to buy
new homes under FHA insured loans with much smaller down payments.
Page 11
For example, on a $10,000 new home under FHA, a buyer previously
had to make a down payment of $1,250. Now the required down
payment is only $700, and 30 years instead of 20 years is allowed
for payment.
There are many other interesting and constructive
facets of the Republican Housing program - much too numerous to
go into here. But the main group of persons affected by this
act are those who work mainly with their hands or the man who may
take a lunch pail to work with him.
Some groups want America to believe that the Republiczₙ
Party doesn't stand solidly behind the working man. I think
anyone who takes this view is either very ill-informed or extremely
prejudiced. Let me demonstrate how the Republican record towards
labor is constructive and in the best interests of the laboring man.
An editorial in the New York Daily News of February 2nd
entitled, "Echo From a 'Recession'," makes an interesting point from
statement originating at the annual meeting of the American
Federation of Labor's executive council which just met in
Miami Beach.
This news comes from the AFL's staff of economists,
and concerns what happened to the American working man and woman
in 1954, which a lot of labor leaders and Democrat politicians
insisted on calling a recession year.
Page 12
Let me quote in part from the editorial - "According
to the AFL economists, U.S. workers did better with the money they
made in 1954 than in any other year since World War II. It wasn't
that they got huge raises in pay. They didn't. What happened was
that the money the workers made was real money - meaning its
purchasing power stayed put. The dough they earned in former years
since the war looked bigger and bigger, but bought less and less.
Inflation was steadily eating away the dollar's buying power.
Inflation has now been stopped, the AFL research experts concede,
and we have stable money - about the most valuable single asset
any nation can have."
The AFL doesn't identify who brought this great boon
to the American people. This credit belongs to President Eisenhower
and the Republican Administration, and to no other group or individual.
On March 4, 1913, the Act of Congress creating the
Labor Department was approved by President William Howard Taft.
The purpose of the Department, as it was stated by the 62nd Congress,
is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners
of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to
advance their opportunities for profitable employment." Our
present Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell, describing the importance
of this purpose, said, "When the self-expression, the liberty and
the properity of the working people are assured, it follows that
the broader objective - the well-being, strength and greatness of
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Page 13
of our country and all its people - is also assured."
Our Department of Labor provides three services to
the wage earner. It cooperates in the supervision of a nationwide
system of public employment offices of which there are 1800 local
employment offices throughout the country. Their services are
free to workers and employers alike.
The Department carries on a special employment
security program for veterans in order that they may better adjust
to civilian life after their discharge from the service. This
program includes a special veterans employment service, unemployment
service, unemployment insurance system, and re-employment rights
program.
Statistical studies published by the Department aid
young men and women to plan for careers, provide estimates of
manpower resources and demands, provide employers and workers with
labor market information, and make available information on the
kinds of occupations in which women are employed, their opportunities
for advancement and training and other valuable information which
is useful to wage earners.
In enforcing labor legislation last year alone three
and one-half thousand children between the ages of 16 and 17 were
removed from unlawful employment which were declared hazardous by
the Secretary of Labor.
&
GERALD
Page 14
But not only has the administration provided better
working conditions for children, but it has taken an interest in
protecting the health and safety of working men as well.
The safety and health requirements of the Walsh-Healey
Public Contracts Act specify that goods are to be manufactured
under adequate safety and sanitary standards during the life of
the contract. When poor conditions are corrected because of
these provisions the improvements remain to safeguard workers after
production is resumed for private industry.
Last year, the Department found unsatisfactory
conditions in almost 2000 of the 2563 establishments investigated
for compliance under the law's safety and health provisions.
President Eisenhower showed his interest in the
health of the Nation in his message on that subject to Congress
on Monday, January 31st.
Contrast his sound recommendations with the prepaid
compulsory program sponsored by his predecessor which was govern-
ment regimentation and red-tape personified. President Eisenhower
believes we must move forward to raise the health standards of
all our people by a constructive middle course which steers clear
of the pitfalls of socialism.
The Republican Social Security Amendments of 1954
are further evidence of what our party has done and will do for
the constructive welfare of the people. The coverage was expanded
Page 15
10 million, benefits were increased for the ill and physically
handicapped, the retired can earn more without losing benefits
and other forward looking changes were made. In fact, retired
persons can now earn $1200 a year, instead of $75 a month, or
$900 a year, without a loss of benefits; and there is no restriction
on earning of those over 72 years. It is estimated that this
alone will affect 360,000 elderly workers.
The Eisenhower Agministration tackled another
critical problem when plans were formulated to solve the road
improvements and construction problems from a national viewpoint.
The nation needs new and better roads, not only to curb our high
accident rate, but to promote the best interests of the country
as to interstate commerce. And to create an efficient system of
roads linking the country requires vast financial expenditures.
The President is scheduled to ask Congress to double
highway spending in the next ten years to untangle our national
traffic jam. Although the President's highway proposal has not
been officially submitted to the Congress, the blueprints for
the program are well known. A Presidential fact finding committee
on highway, headed by General Lucius Clay, has reported to the
White House, and undoubtedly we can count on new Republican highway
legislation which will bring roadbuilding results.
We all know, Mr. Chairman, that Abraham Lincoln has
been immortalized as a President who had time for the "little people."
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Page 16
It was a little girl in the East who suggested he grow a beard. He
listened to her. The stories of his considerations to the pleas of
mothers for soldier-sons is known to all of you. The consternation
to which his Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, was brought by the
kindness and humanity of the President is familiar indeed. One of
the last acts he performed in the White House as he left for the
Ford theatre was to assure a distressed mother that she would have
an audience with him the following morning.
Eisenhower and the Republican Party of today also have
time for the "little people." It was an E1 senhower who could
apologize to a high school girl in Michigan for a State of the
Union speech much too long. So, too, Mrs. Nettie Moulden who at
age ten shook the hand of Lincoln, a few days ago shook the hand
of Mr. Eisenhower at the White House on her 100th birthday anniversary.
Her simple expression of a desire to see the President brought an
immediate and favorable response from our leader.
The Republican Party is a humane party; it is concerned
with human beings and their welfare. But the Republican Party does
not sponsor a wasteful, inefficient, socialistic scheme of things.
We accept the President's premise that we are liberal in matters of
human rights and conservative in the sphere of economics. We are
moderate progressives with a dedication to the American philosophy
of government and freedom of its citizens.
CRALD
Page 17
The gist of Fair Deal thinking, which Adlai Stevenson
hopes to perpetuate in action, is that the federal government
should blueprint the future of the American people and the national
economy through a system of centralized planning and controls
masterminded in Washington.
Republicans believe that the American competitive
system of free enterprise can be more productive and profitable for
our citizens without piling up bureaucratic regulations from
Washington. We want to provide the individual citizen with a
climate favorable to economic activity which encourages private
initiative. The federal government can help generate confidence
in its people when it relies on a free economy with its great
capacity to create jobs, incomes and increase production to raise
our standard of living. We want to establish the best possible
climate in which labor and management can work together profitably.
We have no desire to set class against class.
We oppose more and more handouts to TVA which has
never paid interest on the money it receives from the taxpayers
of Michigan and other states. It is legitimate to ask why should
we in Michigan subsidize the Tennessee Valley so it can grow and
develop without paying interest charges on the money borrowed from
the federal treasury.
It is paradoxical that while we thus assist them
financially they are urging Michigan manufacturers to move their
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Page 18
factories to the Tennessee Valley.
Our tax revision of 1954 was a step in the right
direction. It is not perfect by any means. But dozens of inequities
were rectified that had been legislated in the past 20 years of
Democrat rule where taxes only went up and personal exemptions down.
The Republican tax reduction legislation was a real attempt to
promote justice, thrift, savings and investments in order toexpand
the Nation's economy.
We think, too, that the men and women in state government,
and those serving on the local level also have the best interests of
the people at heart. All wisdom does not reside in Washington. You
who know your local problems should have the opportunity to solve
those problems in your own way. We trust "the people" back home.
But where a real need on a national scale can be
demonstrated, we will not hide behind the fence of "state rights."
In fields of health reinsurance, school construction, highway
improvement, we must go forward. Likewise, the progress in social
security, health, labor and housing already discussed, would indicate
the humanitarian interests of this administration.
Mr. Chairman, there is one final and solemn thought.
This American way of life of ours rests ultimately on a fundamental
belief in God. Lincoln knew this, and, we are told, carried his
Mother's old Bible around with him in Washington. He especially liked
the Psalms. I think most of you know that above all else Dwight D.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Page 19
Eisenhower S leadership has been toward a stronger moral and spiritual
emphasis in our way of life.
His act of becoming a full member of a Washington
church, his attention to worship on the Sabbath, his proclamation of
days of prayer, his sincere interest in things of the spirit are
well known to all of you. His prayer at the opening of the
Inaugural Address was a statement of humble and sincere reliance
on the power of God.
Then there came the first informal meeting of the
Eisenhower Cabinet. The President turned to his Secretary of
Agriculture and asked him to deliver a prayer. This was done
reverently. As he concluded his supplication, Mr. Benson spoke these
words; "Gratefully we dedicate our lives to thee and to thy service;
guide and direct us in our deliberations today, and always help us
to serve with an eye single to thy glory"
Then followed a
The President sat in contemplation,
period of silence. A To break the silence, he spoke with that
Eisenhower genuineness, "I want this house to be an example to all
the homes of our country." That, Mr. Chairman, is our President;
that is our Republican leader; that is our Lincoln of today.
Address Of Hon. Theodore R. McKeldin
Governor Of Maryland
Delivered At The Lincoln Day Dinner Of The Kings
County Republican Organization In Brooklyn,
N. Y., On February 12, 1955
In the heart of the capital city
eternal and unchanging. Scornful
of the two super-powers that be-
of life, because the law of life is
stride the world today stands a
change, it is indeed a tomb in
monumental structure dedicated to
which are buried not only the re-
the memory of a great man. In
mains of two mortals, but also
Moscow's Red Square, and at the
freedom of the mind and spirit. It
foot of the Mall in Washington
is a reminder that although Lenin
they stand, two masses of stone,
and Stalin are dead, yet they claim
silent, yet each clamoring for the
rulership of the future, dominion
attention of a vast nation. These
over the souls of the Russian
structures of stone are dumb, yet
people, and it is blasphemy to dis-
each voices the aspirations of a
pute the claim. It is in reality a
people dominating half the world.
monument to what the law calls
They are symbolical, but it is pre-
mortmain, the grip of the dead
cisely in its symbols that one may
hand upon the living spirit.
see most clearly displayed the
The Lincoln Memorial in Wash-
heart and mind of a civilization.
ington is doorless, too, but be-
The Parthenon in Athens, the
cause it is wide open, - The light
Forum in Rome, Westminster Ab-
may enter, storm and sunshine
bey in London, and Napoleon's arch
may enter, the winds of heaven
in Paris speak to us more elo-
may sweep through it, and the
quently of their epochs than do
people may enter. High or low,
the rhetoric of orators and the
rich or poor, venerable patriarch
tomes of historians. So may the
or babe in arms, none is shut out
two symbols of our own time, if
for race, or color, or creed, and the
we will pause long enough to study
only price of admission is human-
them and to understand.
ity. Save for a marble statue, it is
In certain respects they are simi-
physically empty; but it seems to
lar. Both are massive. Both stand
me that its emptiness might well
foursquare, planted solidly on the
be described in the phrase that the
solid earth, built not for the uses
Arabian storytellers often applied
of the moment but for all time.
to deserts and mountain heights-
Both are focal points of history
"filled with nothing but the pres-
and patriotic shrines. But beyond
ence of God."
these superficialities they are as
For the walls are covered with
widely different as the men they
certain great truths that I believe
memorialize and as the civiliza-
Abraham Lincoln was inspired of
tions that erected them.
God to utter. His dead body lies
The memorial in Red Square is
elsewhere, but the living truth is
secret, shut in and without doors,
in the memorial; and it is our
fortified at every point to resist
faith that "man doth not live by
vandals and containing two mum-
bread only, but by every word that
mied corpses. Like the Egyptian
proceedeth out of the mouth of the
pyramids, it is eloquent of the most
Lord doth man live." He who has
futile, yet most persistent of
put into unforgettable words the
human delusions, the idea that
truth of the living God, lives inf
men can be erected into gods,
that truth and nothing that Rap-
GERALD
LIBRARY
pens to his mortal frame can ex-
may begin to feel what Lincoln's
steadfast man in America was none
policy every day, are more stead-
tinguish that life. It is to this
hearers were feeling when he
of the fire-eaters who had passion-
fast than those who quote, but
principle as exemplified in the man
urged upon them "malice toward
ately demanded war to the death.
misapply the words of Lincoln, or
that the American people have
none and charity for all," and dis-
It was the man who valued a just
Washington, or Jefferson, to jus-
erected a memorial to the living
missed victory in favor of "a just
and lasting peace far more than
tify measures that are neither rea-
Lincoln who, although he suffered
and lasting peace." If his counsel
victory. It was the man whom they
sonable nor right.
the common fate, still lives in the
was wise and good then, it is wiser
accused of worse than shrinking
truth that shall never die.
There are among us, of course,
and better now; his body was con-
weakness. It was the man whom
From the walls of the memorial
signed to the earth long ago, but
they called trimmer, time-server
men So obsessed by the love of
novelty that they will approve
I take some words spoken, shall I
"by every word that proceedeth
and coward; but who, when the
out of the mouth of the Lord doth
any change merely because it is
say on March 4, 1865, or this morn-
war had grown red-hot, and the
a change. These are men who
ing? For when words apply to a
man live," and words of wisdom
braggarts and swash-bucklers had
have never come fully alive, just
situation the precise moment in
and righteousness proceed from
fled in panic, stood undaunted
as those who would subvert truth
time when they were first uttered
the Lord. The living Lincoln is still
"with firmness in the right."
to tradition are already half dead.
is not important; they are living
our counsellor and guide.
Lincoln saved the Union, not
Neither immature minds, nor sen-
words at the moment when their
His profound fear is implicit in
with his muscular, but with his
ile minds can comprehend the mind
wisdom and utility become appar-
every word of that passage. It was
spiritual strength; and he was
of the living Lincoln which is
ent. Consider the situation in
not fear of the Confederacy. "With
spiritually powerful precisely be-
neither for nor against change,
which our country finds itself in
firmness in the right as God gives
cause he lived "with malice to-
neither scornful of nor dedicated
1955, 90 years later, and then
us to see the right" he was ready
ward none, with charity for all."
to tradition, but committed to the
imagine, if you can, that you read
to face any armed foe steadily and
Lincoln will save the Union again,
search for truth and to nothing
in today's newspapers this coun-
calmly. But he knew that more
will save it whenever it is threat-
else.
sel "With malice toward none,
dangerous enemies were advancing
ened if we allow his spirit to gov-
This is the essence of that much-
with charity for all, with firmness
upon the nation as he spoke. He
ern our thoughts and deeds.
abused word "liberalism." The
in the right, as God gives us to see
knew that hatred in our own hearts
the right, let us strive on to finish
is a wilier and more elusive foe
For he understood as only our
liberal believes that the American
the work that we are in *
to
than Stonewall Jackson and that
greatest men have understood
form of government is not like
do all which may achieve and cher-
how the destiny of America is
the Statue of Liberty, finished and
prejudice and vengefulness can
crush a nation that the military
oriented toward the rising, not the
complete, but is like a tree, a liv-
ish a just and lasting peace among
setting sun, toward the future
ing and growing thing. Normally,
ourselves and with all nations."
genius of Robert E. Lee could not
struggling to be born, not toward
the liberal looks toward the fu-
Abraham Lincoln did not face
overcome. If that was true in 1865,
the dead past. His mind was large
ture, but this does not mean that
the problem of co-existence with a
it is not a whit less true in 1955.
enough to comprehend all the im-
he never glances at the past.
world half of which is dominated
Let us, as Saint Paul advised,
plications of Jefferson's dictum
Truth is one and immortal; but it
by Communism, but it is my belief
"think on these things" in a day
that the earth belongs to the liv-
has more shapes than Proteus and
that if he had done SO he would
when it is boldly proclaimed that
ing. One of those implications is
The who would hold it firmly must
have altered not one word of that
"there is no substitute for victory"
that government is a living organ-
turn now this way, now that. Yet
carefully studied utterance. He
not even a just and lasting peace.
ism that must assume new shapes
if his grip upon it is never broken,
was, in fact, facing an enemy
Let us remember them when a
if it is to flourish under new con-
he is the most consistent of men
whose armies had come closer to
President's efforts to restrain the
ditions. Lincoln would have been
for he steers a true course, al-
inflicting final defeat upon this re-
hasty and proceed in accordance
distressed and alarmed at the sug-
though the short-sighted will call
public than any other armed force
with the law of nations are de-
gestion that his words were to be
him today a radical and tomorrow
has come, before or since, British,
nounced as "shrinking weakness."
received as the law of the Medes
a reactionary.
Mexican, Spanish, German, Aus-
Let us bear them in mind when the
and Persians, that altereth not. In
No man is today striving with
trian, Italian and Japanese foes
merchants of hate are asserting
this famous letter to Greeley he
more might for the peace that jus-
we had, or we have since dealt
that any attitude toward an op-
expressed his readiness to adopt
tice brings, or with more realiza-
with effectively, and without ruin-
ponent save one of blind fury is a
any policy that would assure
tion of the overwhelming necessity
ous strain; but when Americans
betrayal of the nation. For if the
preservation of the Union; and
for the achievement of this goal,
rose against us we almost went un-
day ever comes when Americans
because he was always ready to
than our President, Dwight D.
der. It was to a badly shaken and
reading the Second Inaugural re-
shape his policy according to the
Eisenhower. By his actions and by
almost exhausted nation that Lin-
act with nothing but incredulous
facts he was accused of wavering
his words the is seeking to do in
coln addressed his words; it is un-
scorn, then indeed Lincoln will be
and inconstancy.
our day what Lincoln sought to
thinkable that he would be less in-
dead - and the greatness of our
Of course we know today that
do in his.
sistent upon justice and modera-
country will be dead with him.
Lincoln was the steadfast figure
Only last month, in his State of
tion were he addressing a nation
Our position is difficult and peri-
and it was those men who were
the Union message, President
superbly armed and possessing eco-
lous, but this is not the nation's
willing to subvert the truth rather
Eisenhower named as first among
nomic power that towers over the
darkest hour. That came when
than surrender one of their pet
the purposes of our Federal Gov-
world.
Abraham Lincoln was President of
theories who were inconstant. We
ernment his obligation "to main-
When enemy tanks, the modern
the United States and nothing
know it of Lincoln, but it is hard
tain justice and freedom among
substitute for cavalry, have pene-
approached it. We shall do
for us to realize that those men of
ourselves and, to champion them
trated the suburbs of Baltimore
well now to remember that in the
our own generation who adhere to
for others S0 that we may work
and circled within sight of the
most fearful crisis through which
the standards of reason and jus-
effectively for enduring peace." He
Washington monument, then we
the country has passed the most
tice, even if it means a shift in
further placed particular stress on
2
3
our national obligation, "to labor
kind of peace that should be just
earnestly, patiently, prayerfully,
and lasting. A man who is for
for peace, for freedom, for justice,
peace at any price is a stranger
throughout the world." Many
to Lincoln, for justice is more im-
times has President Eisenhower
portant than peace, and stability
reiterated, since his inaugura-
and order cannot be maintained
tion, that we cannot hope to
without justice. But whenever an
achieve these goals unless our
American strives with all his
Government in all its dealings acts
might for the peace that justice
with "integrity and decency and
brings, in that man Lincoln lives
dignity." Just as Lincoln recog-
again, speaks again, labors again.
nized the importance of spiritual
So we have left the Lincoln
strength, SO has President Eisen-
Memorial wide open, knowing
hower, who recently summarized
that no tomb, however, stately,
his philosophy of government in
could contain his living spirit.
this striking phrase: "To keep
"The whole earth," said Pericles,
America strong, our Government
"is the sepulchre of famous men,
must have a heart as well as a
not only are they commemorated
head."
by columns and inscriptions in
Thus, President Eisenhower fol-
their own country, but in foreign
lows the path which the living
lands there dwells also an unwrit-
Lincoln continues to illuminate.
ten memorial of them, graven not
The man whose only policy is
on stone but in the hearts of men."
to do what seems to be reasonable
It is true of this man. In all the
and right in any situation that
world there is no country SO re-
may arise is a follower and spiri-
mote that it has not heard some
tual heir of Abraham Lincoln, al-
whisper of his fame and been illu-
though he may never parrot Lin-
minated by the radiance of his
coln's words or imitate any of his
character. The work that we, his
deeds. The ways and means that
fellow-country-men are in, and
any great man uses to attain his
that we should strive on to finish,
ends are, like his physical body,
is to make all men in all lands
part of the time, adopted to the
realize that he is not dead, but
time, and passing with the time.
lives in the nation that he saved;
It is the goal at which he aims
for its lordly ambition is today
that endures through generations,
what it was yesterday and will be
and all who aim at the same goal
tomorrow and forever-not em-
are his successors, although their
pire, not dominion, not the power
ways and means may be different.
of arms or of gold but "to do all
"To achieve and cherish a just
which may achieve and cherish a
and lasting peace among ourselves
just and lasting peace among our-
and with all nations" was Abra-
selves and with all nations."
ham Lincoln's goal. Note well the
qualifications-it was not merely
(Reprint from THE DAILY RECORD,
peace that he sought, it was the
Baltimore, Md., February 15, 1955.)
4
Lincoln Day Speech - 1955
Abraham Linsoln was a Republican; and Abraham
Lincoln was the greatest President this country has produced.
NOV that is not the mere opinion of Jerry Ford, nor of the
Republican National Committee, although we all agree with it
wholeheartedly. That is the reasoned judgment of a group of
sixty learned American historiens who were asked to rate 29
American Presidents of the United States. They rates them as
great, near great, average, below average and failure. When
they had finished, six men were found among that select group
of the "great." And the men heading the list, the unanimous
choice of all the authorities, was our own Abraham Lincoin,
a Republican, the first Republisan President.
As the historians went about the task of selecting
the great chief executives of this Republic, they of necessity
set up standards of value and of judgment. A great President,
they found, was not necessarily a brilliant intellectual, nor
an administrative genius, nor even a personality of immense
magnetic charm. These non-partisan scholars concluded that a
great President is one who exhibits and exercises "moral
leadership" in meeting and solving visely the most pressi: ag
problems of the day. Lincoln saw clearly the problems of his day.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Page 2
He used all the power of his office to face up to these problems
and to do something about them. But, and this is most important,
what he did was nevally right and just. This is what made him great.
John c. Calhown was a brillient political thinker,
but his doctrines of mullification and secession were wrong,
merally wrong. Robert E. Lee was a military genius, but be
fought on the wrong side for that which vas not morally defensible.
Linecin was morally right - both histerians and philosophers agree.
And Lincoln was a Republican.
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that today we
Republissns and we Americans have another great President. Gyeat
because he is providing the country with that moral leadership
which it needs to survive the day to day erucial problems which
constantly beset it.
When Abraham Lineeln because President, the Democrat
Party had been in power for a good many years. The American
people then, in 1860, turned to the new Republican Party in
hopes of finding a better govermeent through the expression of
the high ideals of no. Lincoln and his now Party.
The major crisis fasing Pyesident Lineoln was the
preservation of the Mation, the saving of the Union. Mr. Lincoln
and the nev Republican Party took immediate steps to met the
obligations of their secred oath to preserve and defend this Nation
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Page 3
and its Constitution. He was morally right. And today all we
need do is look around us to observe the bulwark he helped
construct so "that government of the people, by the people, for
the people shall not perish from the earth."
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that the major
concern of your government today is the preservation and defense
of this Nation. Just as Linsoln attacked the forces of
destrustion. a Republican President today is attacking the
forces of evil threatening our way of life. Lincoln had his
Fort Sumter, and Eisenhower has his Formosa. Whether to reinforce
Sumter was the first major decision by the Lincoln Administration.
To do 80 was to risk war for a righteous cause. A resent major
decision of the Eisenhower Agministration and your Congress was
whether to protect America by defending Formose. I can assure
you, ladies and gentlemen, that this decision was not made
lightly nor in ignorance of the implications.
The problems facing Formosa are intense and changing
by the hour.
When President Lincoln desided to fortify Sumber
he did what was right. And when President Eisenhower announced
our intention of securing and protecting Formosa be did what vas
right. In Lincoln's day the energy attacked and a long and bitter
var followed. But it is the opinion of the best informed
authorities that our desisions regarding Formosa are a step away
BERALD FORD
Page 4
from rather than toward war. By definitely announcing our
intention of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores,
we dispel any false notions by the Chinese Communists that the
United States will not defend these strategic islands.
Our military experts contend that if Formosa falls
into the hands of Red China, the free world will eventually lose
the Philippines, Japan and the other Pacific allies. The loss
of this valuable territory means the ruthless and dangerous
enemy is thousands of miles closer to the shores of America.
Hawaii would be our only outpost; the shores of California,
Oregon and Washington would be our defense line. In these
circumstances and under these conditions we are one united nation
in our determination to halt the march of the Godless Communistic
aggressors in the Kremlin or Peiping.
Some Americans have expressed the fear that we
are giving Chiang Kai-Shek a "blank check" encouraging him to
attack the mainland end thus precipitate a general war. As a
Representative in Washington, I am convinced that our government
has a firm assurance that no such action will be taken.
But I also want to assure you that this government
believes in "preparedness". We do not expect to be weighed in
the balance and found wanting at that crucial moment when some
fanatic in Moscow or Peiping decides to strike. We do not accept
the doctrine of preventive war; but we do accept the responsibility
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Page 5
of maintaining an adequate defense of our own soil, and of
helping friendly nations preserve their freedom. 160 will
cooperate with the free nations and the established international
authority in meeting hostile action throughout the world.
To do all this we must maintain a stability in
our defense program. This calls for adequate reserve units,
stockpiling of strategis and critical materials, mobile forees
with increased firepower, and a well trained career Army. Havy
and Air Fores. We must be ready at every moment to halt an
enemy attack and to take retaliatory measures. Let me re-emphasize
that we will remain strong.
On the internal, domestic front Linceln too, had
his weak and misguided souls whose loyalty lay in the direction
of the enemy. There were the "copperheads" who would travel in
fellowship with the enemy to weeken and destroy & nation. Today
we have our fellow travelers and Communist aggitators who would
destroy us internally by deseitful and treacherous methods.
The Eisenhower Agministration has showed its
adeptness at weeding security risks out of the government service.
The administration has worked on the basic assumption that it is
not a right but a privilege to work for the United States govern-
ment. Individuals are deemed security risks for any of the fel-
lowing reasons - unreliable conduct; deliberate misrepresentation;
eriminal, infamous or immorel conduct; uncured insanity or mental
of GERALD LIBRARY FORD
Page 6
disorder; being subject to coercien, attempting, conspiring, or
aiding sabotage; treason, espionage or sedition; associating with
anyone so doing; advocating the overthrow of the government;
associating with anyone so doing; belonging to or associating
with any group which shows a policy of subversion; violating
security regulations, or serving the interests of another government.
In 1953 the Eisenhower Agministration inherited the
wreekage of a "soft" policy towards internal subversion from prior
administrations. The President and the Republican Congress
approached this problem with swiftness and dispatch. For proof,
there is the recent case of the ecuviction of Chude Lightfest,
executive secretary of the Communist Party in Tylinois. This and
other convictions by the administration are examples of the tight
rein our government is drawing daily over traiterous and disloyal.
Reds as they still seek to operate in America.
The conviction of Claude Lightfoot for violating the
Smith Act represents just one more step of the administration's
determined fight against disloyalty and subversion in government.
This drive has resulted in jail sentences for more than 50
Communist leaders, stripped the Communist party of all legal
standing, led to the deportation of more than 100 Communist aliens,
many of whom had enjoyed complete freedom of movement in the
United States for decades.
GERALD FORD VIBRARY
Page 7
Another step made by the security conscious
Eisenhower Agministration concerns a man by the name of Joseph
Peterson who was a code expert in the National Security Agen ey.
This man was caught and deprived of his subversive activities
by means of a routine check made under the new security program
of the Eisenhower Administration. Mr. Peterson will be residing
behind bars for the next seven years.
Here was a very setous security risk who had been
working for the government for years and who would still be on
the payroll today, undetected and unapprehended, had this
administration not acted promptly and vigorously.
Before we criticize the administration's security
program let's remember the cases of Claude Lightfoot and
Joseph Peterson.
Vice President Nixon knows a great deal about the
Communist threat in this country. It was he who was mainly
responsible for the conviction of Alger Hiss. Mr. Nixon has said
repeatedly that Communism in government should not be a partisen
issue because there is no difference in loyalty between Democrate
and Republicans. But the facts are beginning to speak and as a
result they reveal that the Truman Administrations were either
blind or completely indifferent to the Communist threat to our Nation.
The second fundamental problem in which Abraham
Lincoln exercised his moral leadership involved slavery, or freedom
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Page 8
and equal rights for all American citizens. His Emancipation
Proclamation was morally and eternally right, and I submit to you,
ladies and gentlemen, that today the Republican Party under President
Eisenhower's leadership is the party of Lincoln in extending and
expending the program of civil rights.
Mr. Eisenhower's record in civil rights is distinguished
and is one of which ve may well be proud. The greatest advance-
ments in civil rights have been within the last two years. We
are all familiar with the Justice Department's splendid argment
before the Supreme Court to the effect that it had ample constitutional
power to outlaw racial segregation in the public schools and that
it should do so.
The administration has, for the first time in history
appointed a Negro secretary to the White House, and also made many
appointments of Negroes to high administrative posts.
President Eisenhower created the Committee on
Governmental Centracts to help prevent discrimination on jobs
covered by federal contracts. Vice President Nixon is chairman of
this group. The Defense Department's program to wipe out segregation
has made great strides 80 that segregation no longer exists in
Away units. In the District of Columbia 23 governmental agencies
were ordered to end discrimination. And again in fulfilling his
pledge to end segregation in the District of Columbia, President
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Page 9
Eisenhower ordered that in new contracts for District of Columbia
services, the contractors must pledge no discrimination in
employment.
I could go on citing more examples but I will just
mention one more. One that I regard as highly important.
President Eisenhower believes segregation in our
Nation's schools to be absolutely and morally wrong. st his
direction discrimination shall be eliminated in education for the
first time next fall when schools open up in the District of
Columbia. Regardless of color shildren will go to the school
nearest to their homes. It is the President's intention to make
the District a model laboratory which will serve as a shining
example to the rest of the nation in pioneering this field.
Further, Mr. Chairman, Lincoln's greatness and his
character was marked by faith in the democratic process, and faith
in, concern form and love of the common man. This, I think, is
the place to present a challenge to every man and woman of the
Republican Party. We must, every one of us, do everything we can
to dispel the idea that our opponents form the party of the people,
the party of the common man. We must demonstrate that the
Republican Party has more to offer the "little people" of our land
than the opposition.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Page 10
This is a challenge, a serious one, but our very
existence as a great political party and as a force for the preser-
vation of the Nation depends on its suscess.
I know that the Republican Administration stands
firmly in back of the "little people." There are many areas of
action in the Eisenhower Agministration which can be used to
demonstrate this point. There are many examples, but I have chosen
just four because, as a Republican, I am especially proud of the
accomplishments in these areas. And after 20 years of "weng-way"
rule by Democrats, these four areas were ripe for progressive
Republican legislation.
They are - housing. labor, health, and social security.
The Republican Housing Act of 1954 will raise
housing standars of Americans, especially in the lower income
brackets. But it will not only help more people acquire homes
of their own; but 10 will assist communities in getting rid of
slums and in improving older neighborhoods. In turn this will
help strengthen and stimulate the Nation's entire economy, perticularly
the construction industry.
Probably the corneratone of this act is the expanded
mortgage credit facilities.
This means that provisions mine It possible to buy
now homes under FHA insured loans with much smaller down payments.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
Page 11
For example, on a $10,000 new home under FHA, a buyer previously
had to make a down payment of $1,250. Now the required down
payment is only $700. and 30 years instead of 20 years is allowed
for payment.
There are many other interesting and constructive
facets of the Republican Housing program - much too numerous to
& into here. But the main group of persons affected by this
act are those who work mainly with their hands or the man who may
take a lunch pail to work with him.
Some groups want America to believe that the Republiczn
Party doesn't stand solidly behind the working man. I think
anyone who takes this view is either very ill-informed or extremely
prejudiced. Let me demonstrate how the Republican record towards
labor is constructive and in the best interests of the laboring man.
An editorial in the New York Daily News of February 2nd
untitled, "Echo From a 'Recession'," makes an interesting point from
statement originating at the annual meeting of the American
Federation of Labor's executive council which just met in
Miami Beach.
This news comes from the AFL's staff of economists,
and concerns what happened to the American working man and woman
in 1954. which a lot of labor leaders and Democrat politicians
insisted on calling a recession year.
FORD is LIBRARY 038470 IBRAR
Page 12
Let me quote in part from the editorial - "Asewrding
to the AFL economists, U.S. workers did better with the money they
made in 1954 than in any other year since World War II. It vam't
that they got huge ruises in pay. They didn't. What happened was
that the money the workers made was real money - meaning its
purchasing power stayed put. The dough they earned in former years
since the var looked bigger and bigger, but bought less and less.
Inflation was steadily eating away the dollar's buying power.
Inflation has now been stopped, the APL research experts consede,
and ve have stable money - about the most valuable single asset
any nation can have."
The APL doesn't identify who brought this great boon
to the American people. This credit belongs to President Eisenhower
and the Republican Aguinistration, and to no other group or individual.
On March 4. 1919, the set of Congress creating the
Labor Department was approved by President William Howard Taft.
The purpose of the Department, as it was stated by the 62nd Congress.
is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the vage earners
of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to
advance their opportunities for profitable employment." Ourp
present Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell, describing the importance
of this purpose, said, "When the self-expression, the liberty and
the properity of the working people are assured, it follows that
the broader objective - the well-being, strength and greatness of
FORD
Page 13
of our country and all its people - is also assured."
Our Department of Labor provides three services to
the wage earner. It cooperates in the supervision of a nationwide
system of public employment offices of which there are 1800 local
employment offices throughout the country. Their services are
free to workers and employers alike.
The Department carries on a special employment
security program for veterans in order that they may better adjust
to civilian life after their discharge from the service. This
program includes a special veterans employment service, unemployment
service, unemployment insurance system, and re-employment rights
program.
Statistical studies published by the Department aid
young men and women to plan for careers, provide estimates of
manpower resources and demands. provide employers and workers with
labor market information, and make available information on the
kinds of occupations in which women are employed. their opportunities
for advancement and training and other valuable information which
is sueful to wage earners.
In enforcing labor legislation last year alone three
and one-half thousand children between the ages of 16 and 17 were
removed from unlawful employment which were declared hazardous by
the Secretary of Labor.
FORD & LIBRARY 03RALD
Page 14
But not only has the administration provided better
working conditions for children, but it has taken an interest in
protecting the health and safety of working men as well.
The safety and health requirements of the Walsh-Healey
Public Contracts Act specify that goods are to be manufactured
under adequate safety and sanitary standards during the life of
the contract. When poor conditions are corrected because of
these provisions the improvements remain to safeguard workers after
production is resumed for private industry.
Last year. the Department found unsatisfactory
conditions in almost 2000 of the 2563 establishments investigated
for compliance under the law's safety and health provisions.
President Eisenhower showed his interest in the
health of the Nation in his message on that subject to Congress
on Monday, January 31st.
Contrast his sound recommendations with the prepaid
compulsory program sponsored by his predecesser which vas govern-
ment regimentation and red-tape personified. President Eisenhower
believes we must move forward to raise the health standards of
all our people by a constructive middle course which steers clears
of the pitfalls of socialism.
The Republican Social Security Amendments of 1954
are further evidence of what our party has done and will do for
the constructive welfare of the people. The coverage vas expended
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
Page 15
10 million, benefits were increased for the ill and physically
handicapped, the retired can earn more without losing benefits
and other forward looking changes were made. In fast, retired
persons can now earn $1200 a year, instead of $75 a month, or
$900 a year, without a loss of benefits, and there is no restriction
on earning of those over 72 years. It is estimated that this
alone will affest 360,000 elderly workers,
The Eisenhower Agministration tackled another
critical problem when plans were formulated to solve the road
improvements and construction problems from a national viewpoint.
The nation needs new and better roads, not only to ourb our high
accident rate, but to promote the best interests of the country
as to interstate commerce. And to create an efficient system of
roads linking the country requires vast financial expenditures.
The President is scheduled to ask Congress to double
highway spending in the next ten years to untangle our national
traffic jum. Although the President's highway proposal has not
been efficially submitted to the Congress, the blueprints for
the program are well known. A Presidential fact finding committee
on highway, headed by General Lucius Clay, has reported to the
White House, and undoubtedly we can count on new Republises highway
legislation which will bring roadbuilding results.
We all know. Mr. Chairman, that Abraham Lincoln has
been immortalized ⑉8 President who had time for the *little people."
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Page 16
It was a little girl in the East who suggested he grow a board. He
listened to her. The stories of his considerations to the pleas of
mothers for soldier-sons is known to all of you. The consternation
to which his Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, was brought by the
kindness and humanity of the President is familiar infeed. One of
the last acts be performed in the White House as he left for the
Ford theatre was to assure a distressed mother that she would have
an audience with him the following merning.
Eisenhower and the Republican Party of today also have
time for the *little people." It was an Eqsenhower who could
apologize to a high school girl in Michigan for a State of the
Union speech much too long. So, too, MyS. Nettie Moulden who at
age ten shook the hand of Linsoln, a few days ago shook the hand
of Mr. Eisenhower at the White House on her 100th birthday anniversary.
Her simple expression of a desire to see the President brought an
immediate and Savorable response from our leader.
The Republican Party is a humane party; it is concerned
with human beings and their welfare. But the Republican Party does
not sponsor a wasteful, inefficient, secialistic scheme of things.
Ve accept the President's premise that ve are liberal in matters of
human rights and conservative in the sphere of economies. We are
moderate progressives with a dedication to the American philosophy
of government and freedom of its citizens.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Page 17
The gist of yair Deal thinking, which Aglai Stevenson
hopes to perpetuate in action, is that the federal government
should blueprint the future of the American people and the mational
economy through a system of centralized planning and eontrols
masterminded in Washington.
Republicans believe that the American competitive
system of free enterprise can be more productive and profitable for
our citizens without piling up bureausratic regulations from
Washington. We want to provide the individual eitimen with a
climate favorable to economic activity which dnscureges private
initiative. The federal government can help generate confidence
in its people when it relies on a free economy with its great
capacity to create jobs's incomes and increase production to raise
our standard of living. We want to establish the best possible
climate in which labor and management can work together prefitably.
We have no desire to set class against class.
We oppose more and more handouts to TVA which has
never paid interest on the money it receives from the taxpayers
of Michigan and other states. It is legitimate to ask why should
we in Michigan subsidise the Tonnessee Valley so 1t can growand
develop without paying interest charges on the money borrowed from
the federal treasury.
It is paradarisel that while we thus assist them
financially they are urging Michigan manufacturers to move their
GERALD, FORD LIBRARY
Page 18
factories to the Tennessee Valley.
Our tax revision of 1954 was a step in the right
direction. It is not perfect by any mans. But dozens of inequities
were rectified that had been legislated in the past 20 years of
Democrat rule where taxes only west up and personal exemptions dom.
The Republican tax reduction legislation was a real attempt to
promote justice, thrift. savings and investments in order toexpand
the Nation's economy.
We think, too, that the men and women in state government,
and those serving on the local level also have the best interests of
the people at heart. All wisdom does not reside in Washington. You
who know your local problems should have the opportunity to solve
those problems in your own way. We trust "the people" back home.
But where a real need on a national scale can be
demonstrated, we will not hide behind the fenge of *state rights."
In fields of health reinsurance, school construction, highway
improvement, we must go forward. Idenvise. the progress in social
security, health, labor and housing already discussed, would indicate
the humanitarian interests of this administration.
Mr. Chairman, there is one final and solemn thought.
This American way of life of ours rests ultimately on a fundamental
belief in God. Lincoln knew this, and, we are told, carried his
Mother's old Bible around with him in Mashington. He especially liked
the Pealms. I think most of you know that above all else Dwight D.
GERALD tapasit FORD
Page 19
Eisenhower' 8 leadership has been toward a stronger moral and spiritual
emphasis in our way of life.
His act of becoming a full member of a Washington
church, his attention to worship on the Sabbath, his proclamation of
days of prayer, his sincere interest in things of the spirit are
well known to all of you. His prayer at the opening of the
Inaugural Address was a statement of humble and sincere reliance
on the power of God.
Then there came the first informal meeting of the
Eisenhower Cabinet. The President turned to his Secretary of
Agriculture and asked him to deliver a prayer. This was done
reverently. Ag he concluded his supplication, Mr. Benson spoke these
words; "Gratefully 1/0 dedicate our lives to thee and to thy service;
guide and direct us in our deliberations today, and always help us
to serve with an eye single to thy glory" ... Then followed a
period of silence. To break the silence, he spoke with that
Eisenhower genuineness, "I want this house to be an example to all
the homes of our country." That, Mr. Chairman, so our President;
that is our Republican leader; that is our Lincoln of today.
FORD i LIBRARY CERALD
Lincoln Day Speech, 1955
By - Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Jr.,
Fifth District - Michigan
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican; and Abraham Lincoln was the greatest President
this country has produced. Now that is not the mere opinion of Jerry Ford nor of
the Republican National Committee, although we all agree with it wholeheartedly. That
is the reasoned judgment of a group of sixty learned American historians who were asked
to rate 29 American Presidents of the United States. They rated them as great, near
great, average, below average and failure. When they had finished, six men were found
among that select group of the "great." And the man heading the list, the unamimous
choice of all the authorities, was our own Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, the first
Republican President.
As the historians went about the task of selecting the great chief executives of
this Republic, they of necessity set up standards of value and of judgment. A great
President, they found, was not necessarily a brilliant intellectual, nor an adminis-
trative genius, nor even a personality of immense magnetic charm. These non-partisan
scholars concluded that a great President is one who exhibits and exercises "moral
leadership" in meeting and solving wisely the most pressing problems of the day.
Lincoln saw clearly the problems of his day. He used all the power of his office to
face up to these problems and to do something about them. But, and this is most
important, what he did was morally right and just. That is what made him great.
John C. Calhoun was a brilliant political thinker, but his doctrines of nulli-
fication and secession were wrong, morally wrong. Robert E. Lee was a military
genius, but he fought on the wrong side for that which was not morally defensible.
Lincoln was morally right - both historians and philosophers agree. And Lincdn was
a Republican.
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that today we Republicans and we Americans have
another great President. Great because he is providing the country with that moral
leadership which it needs to survive the day to day crucial problems which constantly
beset it.
When Abraham Lincoln became President, the Democrat Party had been in power for
a good many years. The American people then, in 1860, turned to the new Republican
Party in hopes of finding a better government through the expression of the high
ideals of Mr. Lincoln and his new Party.
The major crisis facing President Lincoln was the preservation of the nation,
the saving of the union. Mr. Lincoln and the new Republican Party took immediate
steps to meet the obligations of their sacred oath to preserve and defend this nation
and its Constitution. He was morally right. And today all we need do is look around
GERALD FORD
Page 2
us to observe the bulwark he helped construct so "that government of the people, by
the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
I submit to you, Mr. Chairman, that the major concern of your government today
is the preservation and defense of this nation. Just as Lincoln attacked the forces
of destruction, a Republican President today is attacking the forces of evil threatening
our way of life. Lincoln had his Fort Sumter, and Eisenhower has his Formosa.
Whether to reinforce Sumter was the first major decision by the Lincoln Administration.
To do so was to risk war for a righteous cause. A recent major decision of the
Eisenhoer Administration and your Congress was whether to protect America by defending
Formosa. I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that this decision was not made
lightly nor in ignorance of the implications.
The problems facing Formosa are intense and changing by the hour.
When President Lincoln decided to fortify Sumter he did what was right. And
when President Eisenhower announced our intention of securing and protecting Formosa
he did what was right. In Lincoln's day the enemy attacked and a long and bitter
war followed, but it is the opinion of the best informed authorities that our decisions
regarding Formosa are a step away from rather than toward war. By definitely
announcing our intention of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores, we
dispel any alse notions by the Chinese Communists that the United States will not
defend these strategic islands.
Our military experts contend that if Formosa falls into the hands of Red China,
the free world will eventually lose the Philippines, Japan and the other Pacific allies.
The loss of this valuable territory means the ruthless and dangerous enemy is thou-
sands of miles closer to the shores of America. Hawaii would be our only outpost;
the shores of California, Oregon and Washington would be our defense line. In these
circumstances and under these conditions we are one united nation in our determination
to halt the march of the Godless Communistic aggressors in the Kremlin or Peiping.
Some Americans have expressed the fear that we are giving Chiang Kai-Shek a
"blank check" encouraging him to attack the mainland and thus precipitate a general
war. As a Representative in Washington, I am convinced that our government has a firm
assurance that no such action will be taken.
But I also want to assure you that this government believes in "preparedness",
We do not expect to be weighed in the balance and found wanting at that crucial
moment when some fanatic at Moscow or Peiping decides to strike, We do not accept
the doctrine of preventive war; but we do accept the responsibility of maintaining
an adequate defense of our own soil, and of helping friendly nations preserve their
freedom. We will cooperate with the free nations and the established international
authority in meeting hostile action throughout the world.
Page 3
To do all this we must maintain a stability in our defense program. This calls
for adequate reserve units, stockpiling of strategic and critical materials, mobile
forces with increased firepower, and a well trained career Army, Navy and Air Force.
We must be ready at every moment to halt an enemy attack and to take retaliatory
measures. Let me re-emphasize that we will remain strong.
On the internal, domestic front Lincoln too, had his weak and misguided souls
whose loyalty lay in the direction of the enemy. There were the "copperheads" who
would travel in fellowship with the enemy to weaken and destroy a nation. Today we
have our fellow travelers and Communist aggitators who would destroy us internally by
deceitful and treacherous methods.
The Eisenhoer Administration has showed its adeptness at weeding security risks
out of the government service. The administration has worked on the basic assumption
that it is not a right but a privilege to work for the United States government.
Individuals are deemed security risks for any of the following reasons: unreliable
conduct; deliberate misrepresentation; criminal, infamous or immoral conduct; uncured
insanity or mental disorder; being subject to coercion; attempting, conspiring, or
aiding sabotage; treason, espionage, or sedition; associating with anyone so doing;
advocating the overthrow of the government; associating with anyone so doing;
belonging to or associating with any group which shows a policy of subversion; violating
security regulations, or serving the interests of another government.
In 1953 the Eisenhower Agministration inherited the wreckage of a "soft" policy
towards internal subversion from prior administrations. The President and the
Republican Congress approached this problem with swfitness and dispatch. For proof,
there is the recent case of the conviction of Claude Lightfoot, executive secretary of
the Communist Party in Illinois. This and other convictions by the administration
are examples of the tight rein our government is drawing daily over traitorous and
disloyal Reds as they still seek to operate in America.
The conviction of Claude Lightfoot for violating the Smith Act represents just
one more step of the administration's determined fight against disloyalty and subver-
sion in government. This drive has resulted in jail sentences for more than 50 Com-
munist leaders, stripped the Communist party of all legal standing, led to the depor-
tation of more than 100 Communist aliens, many of whom had enjoyed complete freedom
of movement in the United States for decades.
Another step made by the security conscious Eisenhower Agministration 00 concerns
a man by the name of Joseph Peterson who was a code expert in the National Security
Agency. This man was caught and deprived of his subversive activities by means of a
routine check made under the new security program of the Eisenhower Agministration.
Mr. Peterson will be residing behind bars for the next seven years.
GERALD FORD LIBRAR.
Page 4
Here was a very serious security risk who had been working for the government for
years and who would still be on the payroll today, undetected and unapprehended, had
this administration not acted promptly and vigorously.
Before we criticise the administration's security program let's remember the cases
of Claude Lightfoot and Joseph Peterson.
Vice-President Nixon knows a great deal about the Communist threat in this country.
It was he who was mainly responsible for the conviction of Alger Hiss. Mr. Nixon
has said repeatedly that Communism in government should not be a partisan issue
because there is no difference in loyalty between Democrats and Republicans. But the
facts are beginning to speak and as a result they reveal that the Truman Administrations
were either blind or completely indifferent to the Communist threat to our nation.
The second fundamental problem in which Abraham Lincoln exercised his moral leader-
ship involved slavery, or freedom and equal rights for all American citizens. His
Emancipation Proclamation was morally and eternally right, and I submit to you,
ladies and gentlemen, that today the Republican Party under President Eisenhower's
leadership is the party of Lincoln in extending and expanding the program of civil
rights,
Mr. Eisenhower's record in civil rights is distinguished and is one of which we
may well be proud. The greatest advancements in civil rights have been within the
last two years. We are all aware of the tremendous support the President gave to
Attorney General Herbert Brownell at the time the Supreme Court considered the school
segregation issue. We are all familiar with the Justice Department's splendid
argument before the Supreme Court to the effect that it had ample constitutional power
to outlaw racial segregation in the public schools and that it should do SO.
The administration has, for the first time in history appointed a Negro secretary
to the White House, and also made many appointments of Negroes to high administrative
posts.
President Eisenhower created the Committee on Governmental Contracts to help
prevent discrimination on jobs covered by federal contracts. Vice President Nixon
is chairman of this group. The Defense Department's program to wipe out segregation
has made great strides so that segregation no longer exists in Army units. In the
District of Columbia 23 governmental agencies were ordered to end discrimination,
And again in fulfilling his pledge to end segregation in the District of Columbia
President Eismhower ordered that in new contracts for District of Columbia services, the
contractors must pledge no discrimination in employment.
I could go on citing more examples but I will just mention one more. One that I
regard as highly important.
Page 5
President Eisenhower believes segregation in our nation's schools to be absolutely
and morally wrong. At his direction discrimination shall be eliminated in education
for the first time next fall when schools open up in the District of Columbia.
Regardless of color children will go to the school nearest to their homes. It is the
President's intention to make the District a model laboratory which will serve as a
shining example to the rest of the nation in pioneering this field.
Further, Mr. Chairman, Lincoln's greatness and his character was marked by faith
in the democratic process, and faith in, concern for, and love of the common man.
This, I think, is the place to present a challenge to every man and woner of the
Republican Party. We must, every one of us, do everything we can to dispel the idea
that our opponents form the party of the people, the party of the common man. We
must demonstrate that the Republican Party has more to offer the "little people" of
our land than the opposition.
This is a challenge, a serious one, but our very existence as a great political
party and as a force for the preservation of the Nation depends on its success.
I know that the Republican Administration stands firmly in back of the "little
people." There are many areas of action in the Eisenhower Administration which can be
used to demonstrate this point. There are many examples, but I have chosen just four
because, as a Republican, I am especially proud of the accomplishments in these areas.
And after 20 years of "wrong-way" rule by Democrats, these four areas were ripe for
progressive Republican legislation.
They are - housing, labor, health, and social security.
The Republican Housing Act of 1954 will raise housing standards of Americans,
expecially in the lower income brackets. But it will not only help more people acquire
homes of their own; but it will assist communities in getting rid of slums and in
improving older neighborhoods. In turn this will help strengthen and stimulate the
Nation's entire economy, particularly the construction industry.
Probably the cornerstone of this act is the expanded mortgage credit facilities.
This means that provisions make it possible to buy new homes under FHA insured
loans with much smaller down payments. For example, on a $10,000 new home under FHA,
a buyer previously had to make a down payment of $1,250. Now the required down payment
is only $700. and 30 years instead of 20 years is allowed for payment.
There are many other interesting and constructive facets of the Republican
Housing program - much too numerous to go into here. But the main group of persons
affected by this act are those who work mainly with their hands or the man who may
take a lunch pail to work with him.
Some groups want America to believe that the this Republican Party doesn't stand
solidly behind the working man. I think anyone who takes this view is either veryo
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Page 6
ill-informed or extremely prejudiced. Let me demonstrate how the Republican record
towards labor is constructive and in the best interests of the laboring man.
An editorial in the New York Daily News of February 2nd, entitled, "Echo From
a Recession'," makes an interesting point from a statement originating at the annual
meeting of the American Federation of Labor's executive council which just met in
Miami Beach.
This news comes from the AFL's staff of economists, and concerns what happened
to the American working man and woman in 1954. which a lot of labor leaders and
Democrat politicians insisted on calling a recession year.
Let me quote in part from the editorial - "According to the AFL economists,
U.S. workers did better with the money they made in 1954 than in any other year since
World War II. It wasn't that they got huge raises in pay. They didn't. What happened
was that the money the workers made was real money - meaning its purchasing power
stayed put. The dough they earned in former years since the war looked bigger and
bigger, but bought less and less. Inflation was steadily eating away the dollar's
buying power. Inflation has now been stopped, the AFL research experts concede, and we
have stable money - about the most valuable single asset any nation can have."
The AFL doesn't identify who brought this great boon to the American people. This
credit belongs to President Eisenhower and the Republican Administration, and to no
other group or individual.
On March 4. 1913, the Act of Congress creating the Labor Department was approved
by President William Howard Taft. The purpose of the Department, as it was stated by
the 62nd Congress, is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners
of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their oppor-
tunities for profitable employment." Our present Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell,
describing the Importance of this purpose, said, "When the self-expression, the liberty
and the prosperity of the working people are assured, it follows that the broader
objective - the well-being, strength and greatness of our country and all its people -
is also assured."
Our Department of Labor provides three services to the wage earner. It cooperates
in the supervision of a nationwide system of public employment offices of which there
are 1800 local employment offices throughout the country. Their services are free to
workers and employers alike.
The Department carries on a special employment security program for veterans in
order that they may better adjust to civilian life after their discharge from the
service. This program includes a special veterans employment service, unemployment
service, unemployment insurance system, and re-employment rights program.
Page 7
Statistical studies published by the Department aid young men and women to plan
for careers, provide estimates of manpower resources and demands, provide employers and
workers with labor market information, and make available information on the kinds of
occupations in which women are employed, their opportunities for advancement and training
and other valuable information which is useful to wage earners.
In enforcing labor legislation last year alone three and one-half thousand children
between the ages of 16 and 17 were removed from unlawful employment which were declared
hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.
But not only has the administration provided better working conditions for
children, but it has taken an interest in protecting the health and safety of working
men as well.
The safety and health requirements of the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act specify
that goods ae to be manufactured under adequate safety and sanitary standards during
the life of the contract. When poor conditions are corrected because of these provisions
the improvements remain to safeguard workers after production is resumed for private
industry.
Last year, the Department found unsatisfactory conditions in almost 2000 of the
2563 establishments investigated for compliance under the law's safety and health
provisions.
President Eisenhower showed his interest in the health of the nation in his mes-
sage on that subject to Congress on Monday, January 31st.
Contrast his sound recommendations with the prepaid compulsory program sponsored
by his predecessor which was government regimentation and red-tape personified.
President Eisenhower believes we must move forward to mise the health standards of all
our people by a constructive middle course which steers clear of the pitfalls of
socialism.
The Republican Social Security Amendments of 1954 are further evidence of what
our party has done and will do for the constructive welfare of the people. The coverage
was expanded by 10 million, benefits were increased for the ill and physically handi-
capped, the retired can earn more without losing benefits and other forward looking
changes were made. In fact, retired persons can now earn $1200 a year, instead of
$75 a month, or $900 a year, without à loss of benefits; and there is no restriction
on earning of those over 72 years. It is estimated that this alone will affect 360,000
elderly workers.
The Eisenhower Agministration tackled another critical problem when plans were
formulated to solve the road improvements and construction problems from a national
viewpoint. The nation needs new and better roads, not only to curb our high accident
rate, but to promote the best interests of the country as to interstate commerce
GERALOR FORD LIBRARY
Page 8
But to create an efficient system of roads linking the country requires vast financial
expenditures.
The President is scheduled to ask Congress to double highway spending in the next
ten years to untangle our national traffic jam. Although the President's highway
proposal has not been officially submitted to the Congress, the blueprints for the
program are well known. A Presidential fact finding committee on highway, headed by
General Lucius Clay, has reported to the White House, and undoubtedly we can count on
new Republican highway legislation which will bring roadbuilding results.
We all know, Mr. Chairman, that Abraham Lincoln has been immortalized as a President
who had time for the "little people." It was a little girl in the East who suggested
he grow a beard. He listened to her. The stories of his considerations to the pleas
of mothers for soldier-sons is known to all of you. The consternation to which his
Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, was brought by the kindness and humanity of the President
is familiar indeed. One of the last acts he performed in the White House as he left
for the Ford theatre was to assure a distressed mother that she would have an audience
with him the following morning.
Eisenhower and the Republican Party of today also have time for the "little
people." It was an Eisenhawer who could apologize to a high school girl in Michigan
for a State of the Union speech much too long. So, too, Mrs. Nettie Moulden who at
age ten shook the hand of Lincoln, a few days ago shook the hand of Mr. Eisenhower at
the White House on her 100th birthday anniversary. Her simple expression of a desire
to see the President brought an immediate and favorable response from our leader.
The Republican Party is a humane party; it is concerned with human beings and
their welfare, But the Republican Party does not sponsor a wasteful, inefficient,
socialistic scheme of things. We accept the President's premise that we are liberal
in matters of human rights and conservative in the sphere of economics. We are moderate
progressives with a dedication to the American philosophy of government and freedom
of its citizens.
The gist of Fair Deal thinking, which Adlai Stevenson hopes to perpetuate in
action, is that the federal government should blueprint the future of the American
people and the national economy through a system of centralized planning and controls
masterminded in Washington.
Republicans believe that the American competitive system of free enterprise can
be more productive and profitable for our citizens without piling up bureaucratic
regulations from Washington. We want to provide the individual citizen with a climate
favorable to economic activity which encourages private initiative. The federal govern-
ment can help generate confidence in its people when it relies on a free economy with
its great capacity to create jobs, incomes and increase production to raise our
Page 9
standard of living. We want to establish the best possible climate in which labor and
management can work together profitably. We have no desire to set class against class.
We oppose more and more handouts to TVA which has never paid interest on the
money it receives from the taxpayers of Michigan and other states. It is legitimate
to ask why should we in Michigan subsidize the Tennessee ley so it can grow and
develop without paying interest charges on the money borrowed from the federal treasury/
It is paradoxical that while we thus assist them financially they are urging
Michigan manufacturers to move their fadories to the Tennessee Valley.
Our tax revision of 1954 was a step in the right direction. It is not perfect
by any means. But dozens of inequities were rectified that had been legislated in the
past 20 years of Democrat rule where taxes only went up and personal exemptions down.
The Republican tax reduction legislation was a real attempt to promote justice, thrift,
savings and investments in order to expand the Nation's economy.
We think, too, that the men and women in state government, and those serving on
the local level also have the best interests of the people at heart. All wisdom does
not reside in Washington. You who know your local problems should have the opportunity
to solve those problems in your own way. We trust "the people" back home.
But where a real need on a national scale can be demonstrated, we will not hide
behind the fence of "state rights." In fields of health reinsurance, school construction
highway improvement, we must go forward. Likewise, the progress in social security,
health, labor and housing already discussed, would indicate the humanitarian interests
of this administration,
Mr. Chairman, there is one final and solemn thought. This American way of life
of ours rests ultimately on a fundamental belief in God. Lincoln knew this, and, we
are told, carried his Mother's old Bible around with him in Washington. He especially
liked the Psalms. I think most of you know that above all else Dwight D. Eisenhower's
leadership has been toward a stronger moral and spiritual emphasis in our way of life.
His act of becoming a full member of a Washington church, his attention to worship
on the Sabbath, his proclamation of days of prayer, his sincere interest in things of
the spirit are well known to all of you. His prayer at the opening of the Inaugural
Address was a statement of humble and sincere reliance on the power of God.
Then there came the first informal meeting of the Eisenhower Cabinet. The
President turned to his Secretary of Agriculture and asked him to deliver a prayer.
This was done reverently. As he concluded his supplication, Mr. Benson spoke these
words: "Gratefully we dedicate our lives to thee and to thy service; guide and direct
us in our deliberations today, and always help us to serve with an eye single to thy
glory"
Then followed a period of silence. To break the silence, he spoke with
that Eisenhower genuineness, "I want this house to be an example to all the homes of
Page 10
our country." That, Mr. Chairman, is our President; that is our Republican leader;
that is our Lincoln of today.
FORD & LIBRAR GERALD