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California College Republicans Convention, Santa Barbara, CA, March 18, 1967
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California College Republicans Convention, Santa Barbara, CA, March 18, 1967
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D22, folder "California College Republicans
Convention, Santa Barbara, CA, March 18, 1967" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
SPEECH BEFORE THE CALIF. COLLEGE REPUBLICANS CONVENTION
SANTA BARBARA, MARCH 18, 1967
I HAVE COME TO TELL YOU ABOUT A GREAT OPPORTUNITY--AN
OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME POLITICAL MISSIONARIES IN AN AGE OF
YOUNG PEOPLE WHO CARE MUCH ABOUT PROBLEMS AND LITTLE ABOUT
BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO POLITICAL PARTIES, IN SHORT, POLITICAL
MISSIONARIES TO PEOPLE WHO THINK.
LET'S FACE IT, REPUBLICANS ARE DEFINITELY IN THE MINORITY
IN THIS COUNTRY. THIS POSES A TREMENDOUS PROBLEM FOR THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY--AS A PARTY.
BUT, EVEN NOW, THERE ARE MANY SIGNS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
ARE OPEN TO REASON, READY TO BUY WHAT WE HAVE TO SELL. THE
MINORITY HAS SOLID HOPES OF BECOMING THE MAJORITY.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
THE 1966 ELECTIONS PROVED THAT, AND IF I DIDN'T BELIEVE
Digitized from Box D22 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
IT. I WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE.
I AM HERE BECAUSE YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN ARE THE
TRUMPETS OF HOPE. YOU ARE THE MESSENGERS OF THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY. YOU ARE THE CONDUIT THROUGH WHICH PARTY LEADERS
CAN TRANSMIT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE TRUTHS ON WHICH
YOU AND I BASE OUR POLITICAL FAITH.
YOU ARE INTELLIGENT. YOU ARE VOCAL. YOU ARE ARTICULATE.
THE LEADERS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEED YOU.
YOU ARE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BEST HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
I SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE OR WILL SOON BECOME PART OF WHAT
I CALL THE NEW ELECTORATE, THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WILL BECOME
THE MAJORITY IN THIS COUNTRY IN PERHAPS 20 YEARS. YOU ARE
WHERE THE VOTES ARE, AS A STUDY MADE BY THE SENATE REPUBLICAN
GERAL
BRARY
-3-
POLICY COMMITTEE HAS INDICATED.
WHAT DID THAT STUDY REVEAL? IT POINTED UP THE FACT
THAT IN THE LAST TWO YE ARS ALONE NEARLY SIX MILLION YOUNG
PEOPLE CELEBRATED THEIR 21ST BIRTHDAY. IT ALSO SHOWED
THAT PARTY IDENTIFICATION IS WEAKEST AMONG VOTERS IN THEIR
EARLY AND MIDDLE 20'S.
THE WORLD BELONGS TO THE YOUNG. AMERICA BELONGS TO THE
YOUNG. I SAY THAT WITH JOY IN MY HEART DESPITE MY THINNING
HAIR.
THE YOUNG ARE A NEW POWER GROUP IN AMERICAN POLITICS.
AND THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF THIS DEVELOPMENT IS THAT
IT OPENS UP A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
THIS IS THE OPPORTUNITY I CITED FOR YOU EARLIER.
IT
LIBRARY
-4-
IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE AMERICA'S NEW VOTERS REPUBLICANS.
TO SELL THEM ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BEFORE THEY BECOME
"SOT IN THEIR WAYS," AS THE MOUNTAIN FOLK SAY.
NOW HOW DO WE DO THAT? I THINK THE ANSWER IS THAT WE
MUST TALK WITH THEM IN TERMS OF THEIR OWN PROBLEMS, ISSUES
THAT ARE MEANINGFUL TO THEM.
IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO TELL THEM WHY YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN.
YOU MUST INFORM YOURSELF ON WHAT YOUR PARTY IS DOING, WHAT
ITS POLICIES ARE, WHAT ITS ONGOING PROGRAM IS
AND
SELL
REPUBLICANISM AS THE COURSE THAT IS RIGHT FOR THE COUNTRY.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE WE DO HAVE THE ANSWERS, AND I SENSE
THAT A MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO
REALIZE IT. THEY ARE JUST "BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT
" FORD LIBRARY
-5-
AS THE POPULAR SONG GOES, AND SO WHAT YOU AND I MUST DO IS
TO ACHIEVE A BREAKTHROUGH. WE HAVE TO BRING THE MESSAGE
HOME, MAKE IT STICK, MAKE IT PAY OFF AT THE BALLOT BOX.
YOU DO HAVE TO HAVE SOMETHING TO SELL. IT'S FINE TO
TALK ABOUT FAITH IN THE INDIVIDUAL, THE RIGHT TO LIVE YOUR
LIFE WITHOUT GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE, THE SOUNDNESS OF THE
FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM, THE FACT THAT THE UNITED STATES
HAS AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM SECOND TO NONE, A BELIEF IN ECONOMICS
BASED ON SOUND MONEY AND AVOIDANCE OF INFLATIONARY DEFICITS.
BUT I DON'T KNOW THAT YOU'LL WIN MANY VOTES WITH THESE
APPEALS UNLESS YOU TIE THEM TO A BREAD-AND-BUTTER ISSUE,
PIN THEM TO SOMETHING PEOPLE CAN SEE AND SMELL AND TOUCH.
FORD
LET ME TRY SOMETHING OUT ON YOU TO SHOW YOU WHAT
I MEAN.
-6
IN A FEW YEARS--IN SOME CASES, IN A FEW MONTHS-YOU
WILL LEAVE THE HALLS OF LEARNING AND EMBARK ON A CAREER.
WHATEVER THAT CAREER, YOU WILL BE PAYING SOCIAL SECURITY
TAXES.
IN THAT CONTEXT, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE JOHNSON
ADMINISTRATION'S PROPOSAL TO RAISE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
AN AVERAGE OF 19 PER CENT--AND, OF COURSE, TO RAISE PAYROLL
TAXES. THIS IS LEGISLATION THAT AFFECTS NOT ONLY AMERICA'S
ELDERLY BUT ITS YOUNG PEOPLE.
OUR ELDERLY NEED AN INCREASE IN BENEFITS. THEY NEED
HELP BADLY, BUT WE MUST ALSO REALIZE WE ARE NOW REACHING
A MOMENT OF TRUTH ON THE QUESTION OF THE PAYROLL TAX BURDEN.
FOR MANY YEARS AMERICANS HAVE TAKEN THE ATTITUDE
FORD i LIBRARY 07 070839
-7-
"SO WHAT IF SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES GO UP, I'LL GET IT ALL
BACK SOME DAY WHEN I NEED IT THE MOST."
NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE SHOE IS BEGINNING TO PINCH.
PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO REALIZE THAT THERE MUST BE A LIMIT
TO HOW HIGH SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES ARE PERMITTED TO GO.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL IS A VERY AMBITIOUS PLAN--AND
INEQUITABLE TO YOUNG PEOPLE.
UNDER HIS PROPOSAL, PAYROLL TAXES WOULD RISE STEADILY
OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS UNTIL THEY REACHED A MAXIMUM RATE
OF 5.8 PER CENT TO BE PAID BY EVERY WAGE EARNER OR SALARIED
WORKER ON EVERY DOLLAR OF HIS PAY UP TO $10,800. EVERY
EMPLOYER ALSO WOULD PAY THIS SAME LEVY--FOR A COMBINED
EMPLOYEE-EMPLOYER PAYROLL TAX OF 11.6 PER CENT.
FORD 9.07W839 LIDRARY
-8-
TO PUT THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN INTO DOLLARS AND CENTS
TERMS, THE MAXIMUM THAT COULD BE DEDUCTED FROM A PERSON'S
PAY WOULD JUMP FROM THE PRESENT $290.49 TO $343.20 NEXT YEAR,
$390 IN 1969, $450 IN 1971. BY 1988-20 YEARS HENCE-IT
WOULD BE $626.40--MORE THAN DOUBLE THE PRESENT AMOUNT.
IS THERE A POT OF GOLD FOR THE YOUNG AT THE END OF THE
SOCIAL SECURITY RAINBOW?
THE TAX FOUNDATION HAS MADE AN ANALYSIS WHICH INDICATES
THAT A 21-YEAR-OLD AMERICAN PUTTING IN 44 YEARS OF WORK
AND PAYING IN TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND AT TODAY'S
TAX LEVELS WOULD PAY $33,496 IN TAXES AND INTEREST TO THE
FUND. IF HE LIVED 13 YEARS AFTER REACHING AGE 65, THAT
WORKER WOULD COLLECT JUST $19,704 IN BENEFITS.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-9-
LYNDON JOHNSON WOULD IMPOSE AN INCREASINGLY HEAVY
PAYROLL TAX ON YOUNG AMERICANS DESPITE THE FACT THEY WILL
GET THE SHORT END OF THE STICK WHEN THEY RETIRE.
WHAT'S THE ANSWER? [PAUSE] --- WE MUST ACHIEVE A
BALANCE BETWEEN BENEFITS AND THE TAX BURDEN.
WE NEED IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM.
OUR ELDERLY TODAY ARE THE VICTIMS OF JOHNSON INFLATION
TRIGGERED WHEN THE ADMINISTRATION FAILED LAST YEAR TO HALT
THE SWIFT RISE IN THE COST OF LIVING.
BUT IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO CALL FOR BENEFIT
INCREASES AVERAGING 20 PER CENT AND TO DUMP THE INCREASED
TAX BURDEN ON OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. IT'S SOCIAL SECURITY POLITICS
WITH A VENGEANCE.
FORD is LIBRARY 9ERALD
-10-
IT'S TIME TO LOOK AT THE ENTIRE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM.
CONSIDER THE INTENT OF THE ORIGINAL ACT, AND ASK OURSELVES
WHERE WE GO FROM HERE.
THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CAN TALK ABOUT WITH YOUNG VOTERS
OR PROSPECTIVE VOTERS--THE FACT THAT HIGH FEDERAL PAYROLL
AND INCOME TAXES ARE DESTROYING INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE IN
AMERICA.
YOU CAN TALK, TOO, ABOUT VIETNAM AND THE PROUD RECORD
OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN UNSWERVINGLY SUPPORTING EVERY
SOUND EFFORT TO THWART COMMUNIST AGGRESSION THERE AND TO
GIVE THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE THE FREEDOM TO MAKE A LIFE OF
THEIR OWN CHOOSING.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
YOU CAN LAY THAT RECORD ALONGSIDE THAT OF THE OTHER
PARTY--A PARTY SO DEEPLY DIVIDED ON VIETNAM THAT ITS VOICES
-11-
OF DISSENT ENCOURAGE THE COMMUNISTS TO KEEP FIGHTING AND
THUS PROLONG THE WAR.
THIS IS A TRAGEDY THAT SHAKES THE NATION. IT BRINGS TO
MIND THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF LINCOLN: "A HOUSE DIVIDED
AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND." I SAY A PARTY DIVIDED AGAINST
ITSELF CANNOT LEAD--CANNOT EFFECTIVELY LEAD THE COUNTRY
IN WAR OR OUT OF WAR, CANNOT LEAD THE PEOPLE TO AN HONORABLE
PEACE.
THESE ARE THE ISSUES AS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY SEEKS TO
OFFER RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THESE
ARE THE ISSUES, AND THERE ARE MANY MORE.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
THERE'S THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WE SHOULD CONTINUE
POURING OUT FEDERAL AID THROUGH A GRANT-IN-AID SYSTEM WHICH
-12-
IS PROVING SO PONDEROUS AS TO BE PRACTICALLY UNWORKABLE.
REPUBLICANS OFFER A NEW DIRECTION IN FEDERAL AID TO
LOCAL UNITS OF GOVERNMENT--FEDERAL TAX-SHARING WHICH SKIRTS
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY AND MAKES SOME LAYERS OF IT RIPE
FOR THE PRUNING KNIFE. THIS WOULD REDUCE THE COST OF
OPERATING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. IT WOULD SPEED UP THE
PROCESS OF PROBLEM-SOLVING BY MAKING FEDERAL FUNDS AVAILABLE
TO STATES AND CITIES WITHOUT FILTERING PROJECT APPLICATIONS
THROUGH SEVERAL LAYERS OF BUREAUCRATIC FAT.
THERE IS THE SPECTACLE OF OUR CITIES, ROTTING UNDER THE
WEIGHT OF PROBLEMS LONG UNSOLVED DESPITE AN ESTIMATED $100
BILLION IN FEDERAL AID OVER THE YEARS. REPUBLICANS KNOW
FORD
THE JOB IS JUST TOO BIG FOR GOVERNMENT ALONE. BILLIONS IN NBRARY
GER
PRIVATE CAPITAL ARE NEEDED. BUSINESS HAS A SOCIAL
-13-
RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP REBUILD OUR CITIES--AND THERE'S
MONEY TO BE MADE IN IT, TOO. IN ADDITION TO RENOVATING AND
REBUILDING, BUSINESS COULD BRING ITS TECHNOLOGICAL GENIUS
TO BEAR ON COUNTLESS URBAN PROBLEMS. THE RESULT WOULD BE
A KIND OF "CITIES INDUSTRY,' GENERATING A REBIRTH FOR OUR
ASPHALT JUNGLES.
WE NEED A TRUE GOVERNMENT-BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP IF AMERICA
IS TO CLIMB OUT OF THE STAGNATION AND DECAY INTO WHICH ITS
GREAT CITIES HAVE SUNK. FEDERAL TAX-SHARING IS PART OF THE
ANSWER, FOR IT ULTIMATELY WOULD PROVIDE OUR CITIES WITH
MANY MORE FEDERAL BILLIONS THAN THEY NOW HAVE TO WORK WITH
AND WOULD LET THEM USE THESE FUNDS IN LINE WITH THEIR OWN
PRIORITIES.
FORD is LIBRARY 07V830
AIR POLLUTION AND WATER POLLUTION ARE DANGERS THAT
-14-
DEMAND AN ALL-OUT ASSAULT BY GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY. WE
NEED STANDARDS AND WE NEED STRONG ENFORCEMENT SO THAT
COMPANIES IN ONE STATE ARE NOT PLACED AT A COMPETITIVE
DISADVANTAGE WITH THOSE IN ANOTHER AS THEY INVEST IN
POLLUTION CONTROLS. THE OTHER PARTY WOULD JUST SWING A
BIG STICK. REPUBLICANS BELIEVE THE COUNTRY WOULD MOVE MUCH
MORE QUICKLY TOWARD CLEAN AIR AND WATER IF WE COUPLED
ENFORCEMENT WITH INCENTIVE. GIVE INDUSTRIES A TAX BREAK
ON THE COST OF AIR AND WATER POLLUTION CONTROLS AND LET'S
MOVE SWIFTLY TO CLEAN UP OUR AIR AND WATER. AND LET
GOVERNMENT SET AN EXAMPLE. GOVERNMENT ITSELF IS GUILTY
OF POLLUTING OUR AIR, IN SOME INSTANCES.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
WHAT I AM DOING HERE IS POINTING UP THE DIFFERENCES
IN THE PHILOSOPHIES OF THE TWO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES BY
-15-
TRANSLATING THEM INTO SPECIFICS.
TO PUT IT BROADLY, OURS IS A RESPONSIBLE PARTY--A PARTY
THAT ENCOURAGES INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBLITY, INDIVIDUAL
INITIATIVE, STRONG LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT, A STRONG
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH SO EXERCISES ITS POWER AS TO FORGE
A PARTNERSHIP OF PROGRESS WITH STATE AND LOCAL UNITS OF
GOVERNMENT AND WITH PRIVATE INDUSTRY.
THE OTHER PARTY SEES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS THE
RECEPTACLE OF ALL WISDOM, THE FOUNT FROM WHICH BILLIONS
FLOW IN UNCEASING FLOOD FOR EVERY CONCEIVABLE PROJECT MAN
CAN DEVISE, THE MOUNT OLYMPUS WHERE RESIDE THE GODS WHO
DIRECT THE AFFAIRS OF THE MENIALS IN THE STATE CAPITALS
AND THE CITIES OF THE NATION.
LIBRARY GERALD'S
-16-
WE--YOU--HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE ALL THAT. THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO WIN IN 1968--TO
WIN THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONTROL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-
TIVES.
THIS WILL TAKE DESIRE, MONEY, WORK AND THAT MOST PRECIOUS
AND EASILY LOST INGREDIENT, UNITY.
WE MUST BUILD THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FROM A MINORITY PARTY
TO A GROUP WHICH HOLDS THE REINS OF POWER. WE CAN DO THAT
IF COLLEGE REPUBLICANS HERE AND THROUGHOUT THE NATION WILL
RISE TO THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT IS THEIRS-THE CHALLENGE TO
GO OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS OF YOUNG DEMOCRATS AND COME BACK
WITH SOME SCALPS. THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IS IN YOUR HANDS. THANK YOU
LIBRARY
---END---
-A1-
INTRODUCTION TO CALIF. COLLEGE REPL. CONVENTION SPEECH 3-18-67
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA AFTER BEING
BUFFETED ABOUT THIS WEEK BY THE WINDS OF MARCH IN WASHINGTON.
I ALWAYS ENJOY VISITING YOUR GREAT STATE, THE BIRTHPLACE
OF THE MOVIE INDUSTRY AND THE STATE THAT HAS GIVEN TWO FINE
ACTOR-POLITICIANS TO THE NATION.
THE ACTING PROFESSION IS A GREAT ONE. ACTING IS AN ART.
AND IT IS TYPICAL OF AMERICA THAT A MAN CAN SUCCEED IN
PUBLIC LIFE NO MATTER WHAT HIS BACKGROUND. SERIOUSLY, I'D
LIKE TO POINT OUT HERE AND NOW THAT THE PEOPLE WHO SCOFFED
AT THE IDEA OF AN ACTOR ASSUMING HIGH PUBLIC OFFICE ARE
GERALD LIBRARY
LOOKING WITH GRUDGING ADMIRATION AT YOUR OUTSTANDING GOVERNOR,
RONALD REAGAN, AND YOUR OUTSTANDING UNITED STATES SENATOR,
-A2-
GEORGE MURPHY. THEY ARE PROVING THEMSELVES TO BE EXCELLENT
PUBLIC SERVANTS.
I MENTION THE ACTING PROFESSION TODAY, Too, BECAUSE
I'D LIKE TO TALK A BIT ABOUT A WOULD-BE ACTOR IN WASHINGTON--
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON. IN A WAY, LYNDON JOHNSON IS SOMETHING
LIKE THAT GREAT FIGURE OF THE SILENT SCREEN, LON CHANEY.
HE IS A MAN OF MANY FACES.
YOU'VE SEEN LYNDON ON TELEVISION.
THERE'S THE SINCERE LYNDON, EYES SCREWED TIGHTLY TOGETHER
AS HE PEERS AT YOU ACROSS CREDIBILITY GAP AND BEGS TO BE
BELIEVED.
THERE'S SORRORWFUL JOHNSON, AS HE ASSUMES HIS HANGDOG
LOOK IN IMITATION OF HIS BEAGLE, HIM, AND BEGS FOR YOUR
BERRED FORD LIBRARY
SYMPATHY.
-A3-
THERE'S THE BURDENED JOHNSON, AS HE DRAPES LINCOLN'S
SHAWL ACROSS HIS SHOULDERS AND BEGS YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE
HEAVY WEIGHT OF THE BURDEN HE BEARS.
THERE'S THE PROUD, DETERMINED JOHNSON, FIERCE AS THE
AMERICAN EAGLE AS HE VOWS TO SPEND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS
MORE OF THE TAXPAYERS' DOLLARS TO FURTHER HIS PLANS FOR THE
GREAT SOCIETY--AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
THERE IS THE HUMBLE, CANDID JOHNSON, CASTING HIS EYES
TOWARD THE GROUND IN IMITATION OF DICKENS' URIAH HEEP AND
WHISPERING IN WHEEDLING TONES THAT, LAWDY, LAWDY YES, HE
HAS MADE MISTAKES AND SOME OF HIS PROGRAMS HAVE NOT BEEN
GOING WELL.
THEN THERE IS THE CRUEL AND ARROGANT JOHNSON, TEASING
A NEWS REPORTER AT A WHITE HOUSE PRESS CONFERENCE, ASKING
-A4-
HIM IF HE HAS HIS PERMISSION TO ANNOUNCE A PRESIDENTIAL
APPOINTMENT.
THERE ARE MANY MORE FACES OF JOHNSON, BUT LET US LEAVE
THIS AMATEUR THESPIAN AT HIS DRESSING TABLE WHILE WE MOVE
ON TO MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS
--- (INTO MAIN SPEECH) ---
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY AT 12 NOON SATURDAY, PACIFIC TIME, MARCH 18, 1967.
AN ADDRESS BY MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS CONVENTION
MIRAMAR HOTEL, SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.
I have come to tell you about a great opportunity--an opportunity to become
political missionaries in an age of young people who care much about problems and
little about blind allegiance to political parties, in short, political missionaries
to people who think.
Let's face it, Republicans are definitely in the minority in this country.
This poses a tremendous problem for the Republican Party--as a party.
But, even now, there are many signs the American people are open to reason,
ready to buy what we have to sell. The minority has solid hopes of becoming the
majority.
The 1966 elections proved that, and if I didn't believe it I wouldn't be
standing here.
I am here because you gentlemen are the trumpets of hope. You are the messen-
gers of the Republican Party. You are the conduit through which party leaders can
transmit to the American people the truths on which you and I base our political faith.
You are intelligent. You are vocal. You are articulate. The leaders of the
Republican Party need you.
You are the Republican Party's best hope for the future. I say that because
you are or will soon become part of what I call the New Electorate, the young people
who will become the majority to this country in perhaps 20 years. YOU are WHERE THE
VOTES ARE, as a study made by the Senate Republican Policy Committee has indicated.
What did that study reveal? It pointed up the fact that in the last two years
alone nearly six million young people celebrated their 21st birthday. It also showed
that party identification is weakest among voters in their early and middle 20's.
The world belongs to the young. America belongs to the young. I say that
with joy in my heart despite my thinning hair.
The young are a new power group in American politics. And the most significant
aspect of this development is that it opens up a great opportunity for the Republican
Party.
This is the opportunity I cited for you earlier. It is an opportunity to make
America's new voters Republicans, to sell them on the Republican Party before they
become "sot in their ways," as the mountain folk say.
Now how do we do that? I think the answer is that we must talk with them
terms of their own problems, issues that are meaningful to them.
GERALD LIBRARY THE
(MORE)
-2-
It's not enough to tell them why YOU are a Republican. You must inform yourself
on what your Party is doing, what its policies are, what its ongoing program is
and
sell Republicanism as the course that is right for the country.
I firmly believe we DO have the answers, and I sense that a majority of the
American people are beginning to realize it. They are just "beginning to see the
light," as the popular song goes, and so what you and I must do is to achieve a break-
through. We have to bring the message home, make it stick, make it pay off at the
ballot box.
You DO have to have something to sell. It's fine to talk about faith in the
individual, the right to live your life without government interference, the soundness
of the free enterprise system, the fact that the United States has an economic system
second to none, a belief in economics based on sound money and avoidance of inflation-
ary deficits. But I don't know that you'll win many votes with these appeals unless
you tie them to a bread-and-butter issue, pin them to something people can see and
smell and touch.
Let me try something out on you to show you what I mean.
In a few years--in some cases, in a few months--you will leave the halls of
learning and embark on a career. Whatever that career, you will be paying Social
Security taxes.
In that context, let me tell you about the Johnson Administration's proposal
to raise Social Security benefits an average of 20 per cent--and, of course, to raise
payroll taxes. This is legislation that affects not only America's elderly but its
young people
Our elderly need an increase in benefits. They need help badly. But we must
also realize we are now reaching a moment of truth on the question of the payroll tax
burden.
For many years Americans have taken the attitude "So what if Social Security
taxes go up; I'll get it all back some day when I need it the most."
Now, for the first time, the shoe is beginning to pinch. People are beginning
to realize that there must be a limit to how high Social Security taxes are permitted
to go.
The President's proposal is a very ambitious plan--and inequitable to young
people.
Under his proposal, payroll taxes would rise steadily over the next 20 years
until they reached a maximum rate of 5.8 per cent to be paid by every wage earner or
salaried worker on every dollar of his pay up to $10,800. Every employer also would
pay this same levy--for a combined employee-employer payroll tax of 11.6 per cent.
To put the President's plan into dollars and cents terms, the maximum that
(MORE)
-3-
could be deducted from a person's pay would jump from the present $290.49 to $343.20
next year, $390 in 1969, $450 in 1971. By 1988-20 years hence--it would be $626.40--
more than double the present amount.
Is there a pot of gold for the young at the end of the Social Security rainbow?
The Tax Foundation has made an analysis which indicates that a 21-year-old
American putting in 44 years of work and paying in to the Social Security Trust Fund
at today's tax levels would pay $33,496 in taxes and interest to the fund. If he
lived 13 years after reaching age 65, that worker would collect just $19,704 in
benefits.
Lyndon Johnson would impose an increasingly heavy payroll tax on young Americans
despite the fact they will get the short end of the stick when they retire.
What's the answer? We must achieve a balance between benefits and the tax
burden.
We need improvements in our Social Security system. Our elderly today are the
victims of Johnson inflation triggered when the Administration failed last year to
halt the swift rise in the cost of living.
But it is irresponsible for anyone to call for benefit increases averaging
20 per cent and to dump the increased tax burden on our young people. It's Social
Security politics with a vengeance.
It's time to look at the entire Social Security System, consider the intent of
the original Act, and ask ourselves where we go from here.
This is something you can talk about with young voters or prospective voters--
the fact that high federal payroll and income taxes are destroying individual
initiative in America.
You can talk, too, about Vietnam and the proud record of the Republican Party
in unswervingly supporting every sound effort to thwart Communist aggression there
and to give the South Vietnamese the freedom to make a life of their own choosing.
You can lay that record alongside that of the other party--a party so deeply
divided on Vietnam that its voices of dissent encourage the Communists to keep
fighting and thus prolong the war.
This is a tragedy that shakes the Nation. It brings to mind the immortal words
of Lincoln: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I say a party divided
against itself cannot lead--cannot effectively lead the country in war or out of war,
cannot lead the people to an honorable peace.
These are the issues as the Republican Party seeks to offer responsible
leadership to the American people. These are the issues, and there are many more.
There's the question of whether we should continue pouring out federal aid
through a grant-in-aid system which is proving so ponderous as to be practically
unworkable.
(MORE)
-4-
Republicans offer a New Direction in federal aid to local units of government--
federal tax-sharing which skirts the federal bureaucracy and makes some layers of it
ripe for the pruning knife. This would reduce the cost of operating the federal
government. It would speed up the process of problem-solving by making federal funds
available to states and cities without filtering project applications through several
layers of bureaucratic fat.
There is the spectacle of our cities, rotting under the weight of problems
long unsolved despite an estimated $100 billion in federal aid over the years.
Republicans know the job is just too big for government alone. Billions in private
capital are needed. Business has a social responsibility to help rebuild our cities--
and there's money to be made in it, too. In addition to renovating and rebuilding,
business could bring its technological genius to bear on countless urban problems.
The result would be a kind of "cities industry," generating a rebirth for our asphalt
jungles.
We need a true government-business partnership if America is to climb out of
the stagnation and decay into which its great cities have sunk. Federal tax-sharing
is part of the answer, for it ultimately would provide our cities with many more
federal billions than they now have to work with and would let them use these funds
in line with their own priorities.
Air pollution and water pollution are dangers that demand an all-out assault
by government and industry. We need standards and we need strong enforcement so that
companies in one state are not placed at a competitive disadvantage with those in
another as they invest in pollution controls. The other party would just swing a big
stick. Republicans believe the country would move much more quickly toward clean air
and water if we coupled enforcement with incentive. Give industries a tax break on
the cost of air and water pollution controls and let's move swiftly to clean up our
air and water. And let government set an example. Government itself is guilty of
polluting our air, in some instances.
What I am doing here is pointing up the differences in the philosophies of the
two major political parties by translating them into specifics.
To put it broadly, ours is a responsible party--a party that encourages
individual responsiblity, individual initiative, strong local and state government,
a strong federal government which so exercises its power as to forge a partnership of
progress with state and local units of government and with private industry.
The other party sees the federal government as the receptacle of all wisdom,
the fount from which billions flow in unceasing flood for every conceivable project
man can devise, the Mount Olympus where reside the gods who direct the affairs of the
menials in the state capitals and the cities of the Nation.
(MORE)
-5-
We--you--have an opportunity to change all that. The Republican Party has a
real opportunity to win in 1968--to win the White House and control of the House of
Representatives.
This will take desire, money, work and that most precious and easily lost
ingredient, unity.
We must build the Republican Party from a minority party to a group which holds
the reins of power. We can do that if college Republicans here and throughout the
Nation will rise to the responsibility that is theirs--the challenge to go out into
the wilderness of young Democrats and come back with some scalps. The future of the
Republican Party, ladies and gentlemen, is in your hands. Thank you.
# # #
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY AT 12 NOON SATURDAY. PACIFIC TIME, MARCH 18, 1967.
AN ADDRESS BY MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS CONVENTION
MIRAMAR HOTEL, SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.
I have come to tell you about a great opportunity--an opportunity to become
political missionaries in an age of young people who care much about problems and
little about blind allegiance to political parties, in short, political missionaries
to people who think.
Let's face it, Republicans are definitely in the minority in this country.
This poses a tremendous problem for the Republican Party--as a party.
But, even now, there are many signs the American people are open to reason,
ready to buy what we have to sell. The minority has solid hopes of becoming the
majority.
The 1966 elections proved that, and if I didn't believe it I wouldn't be
standing here.
I am here because you gentlemen are the trumpets of hope. You are the messen-
gers of the Republican Party. You are the conduit through which party leaders can
transmit to the American people the truths on which you and I base our political faith.
You are intelligent. You are vocal. You are articulate. The leaders of the
Republican Party need you.
You are the Republican Party's best hope for the future. I say that because
you are or will soon become part of what I call the New Electorate, the young people
who will become the majority in this country in perhaps 20 years. YOU are WHERE THE
VOTES ARE, as a study made by the Senate Republican Policy Committee has indicated.
What did that study reveal? It pointed up the fact that in the last two years
alone nearly six million young people celebrated their 21st birthday. It also showed
that party identification is weakest among voters in their early and middle 20's.
The world belongs to the young. America belongs to the young. I say that
with joy in my heart despite my thinning hair.
The young are a new power group in American politics. And the most significant
aspect of this development is that it opens up a great opportunity for the Republican
Party.
This is the opportunity I cited for you earlier. It is an opportunity to make
America's new voters Republicans, to sell them on the Republican Party before they
become "sot in their ways," as the mountain folk say.
Now how do we do that? I think the answer is that we must talk with them in
terms of their own problems, issues that are meaningful to them.
(MORE)
-2-
It's not enough to tell them why YOU are a Republican. You must inform yourself
on what your Party is doing, what its policies are, what its ongoing program is and
sell Republicanism as the course that is right for the country.
I firmly believe we DO have the answers, and I sense that a majority of the
American people are beginning to realize it. They are just "beginning to see the
light," as the popular song goes, and so what you and I must do is to achieve a break-
through. We have to bring the message home, make it stick, make it pay off at the
ballot box.
You DO have to have something to sell. It's fine to talk about faith in the
individual, the right to live your life without government interference, the soundness
of the free enterprise system, the fact that the United States has an economic system
second to none, a belief in economics based on sound money and avoidance of inflation-
ary deficits. But I don't know that you'll win many votes with these appeals unless
you tie them to a bread-and-butter issue, pin them to something people can see and
smell and touch.
Let me try something out on you to show you what I mean.
In a few years--in some cases, in a few months--you will leave the halls of
learning and embark on a career. Whatever that career, you will be paying Social
Security taxes.
In that context, let me tell you about the Johnson Administration's proposal
to raise Social Security benefits an average of 20 per cent--and, of course, to raise
payroll taxes. This is legislation that affects not only America's elderly but its
young people
Our elderly need an increase in benefits. They need help badly. But we must
also realize we are now reaching a moment of truth on the question of the payroll tax
burden.
For many years Americans have taken the attitude "So what if Social Security
taxes go up; I'll get it all back some day when I need it the most."
Now, for the first time, the shoe is beginning to pinch. People are beginning
to realize that there must be a limit to how high Social Security taxes are permitted
to go.
The President's proposal is a very ambitious plan--and inequitable to young
people.
Under his proposal, payroll taxes would rise steadily over the next 20 years
until they reached a maximum rate of 5.8 per cent to be paid by every wage earner or
salaried worker on every dollar of his pay up to $10,800. Every employer also would
pay this same levy--for a combined employee-employer payroll tax of 11.6 per cent.
To put the President's plan into dollars and cents terms, the maximum that
(MORE)
-3-
could be deducted from a person's pay would jump from the present $290.49 to $343.20
next year, $390 in 1969, $450 in 1971. By 1988-20 years hence--it would be $626.40--
more than double the present amount.
Is there a pot of gold for the young at the end of the Social Security rainbow?
The Tax Foundation has made an analysis which indicates that a 21-year-old
American putting in 44 years of work and paying in to the Social Security Trust Fund
at today's tax levels would pay $33,496 in taxes and interest to the fund. If he
lived 13 years after reaching age 65, that worker would collect just $19,704 in
benefits.
Lyndon Johnson would impose an increasingly heavy payroll tax on young Americans
despite the fact they will get the short end of the stick when they retire.
What's the answer? We must achieve a balance between benefits and the tax
burden.
We need improvements in our Social Security system. Our elderly today are the
victims of Johnson inflation triggered when the Administration failed last year to
halt the swift rise in the cost of living.
But it is irresponsible for anyone to call for benefit increases averaging
20 per cent and to dump the increased tax burden on our young people. It's Social
Security politics with a vengeance.
It's time to look at the entire Social Security System, consider the intent of
the original Act, and ask ourselves where we go from here.
This is something you can talk about with young voters or prospective voters--
the fact that high federal payroll and income taxes are destroying individual
initiative in America.
You can talk, too, about Vietnam and the proud record of the Republican Party
in unswervingly supporting every sound effort to thwart Communist aggression there
and to give the South Vietnamese the freedom to make a life of their own choosing.
You can lay that record alongside that of the other party--a party so deeply
divided on Vietnam that its voices of dissent encourage the Communists to keep
fighting and thus prolong the war.
This is a tragedy that shakes the Nation. It brings to mind the immortal words
of Lincoln: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I say a party divided
against itself cannot lead--cannot effectively lead the country in war or out of war,
cannot lead the people to an honorable peace.
These are the issues as the Republican Party seeks to offer responsible
leadership to the American people. These are the issues, and there are many more.
There's the question of whether we should continue pouring out federal aid
through a grant-in-aid system which is proving so ponderous as to be practically
unworkable.
(MORE)
-4-
Republicans offer a New Direction in federal aid to local units of government--
federal tax-sharing which skirts the federal bureaucracy and makes some layers of it
ripe for the pruning knife. This would reduce the cost of operating the federal
government. It would speed up the process of problem-solving by making federal funds
available to states and cities without filtering project applications through several
layers of bureaucratic fat.
There is the spectacle of our cities, rotting under the weight of problems
long unsolved despite an estimated $100 billion in federal aid over the years.
Republicans know the job is just too big for government alone. Billions in private
capital are needed. Business has a social responsibility to help rebuild our cities--
and there's money to be made in it, too. In addition to renovating and rebuilding,
business could bring its technological genius to bear on countless urban problems.
The result would be a kind of "cities industry," generating a rebirth for our asphalt
jungles.
We need a true government-business partnership if America is to climb out of
the stagnation and decay into which its great cities have sunk. Federal tax-sharing
is part of the answer, for it ultimately would provide our cities with many more
federal billions than they now have to work with and would let them use these funds
in line with their own priorities.
Air pollution and water pollution are dangers that demand an all-out assault
by government and industry. We need standards and we need strong enforcement so that
companies in one state are not placed at a competitive disadvantage with those in
another as they invest in pollution controls. The other party would just swing a big
stick. Republicans believe the country would move much more quickly toward clean air
and water if we coupled enforcement with incentive. Give industries a tax break on
the cost of air and water pollution controls and let's move swiftly to clean up our
air and water. And let government set an example. Government itself is guilty of
polluting our air, in some instances.
What I am doing here is pointing up the differences in the philosophies of the
two major political parties by translating them into specifics.
To put it broadly, ours is a responsible party--a party that encourages
individual responsiblity, individual initiative, strong local and state government,
a strong federal government which so exercises its power as to forge a partnership of
progress with state and local units of government and with private industry.
The other party sees the federal government as the receptacle of all wisdom,
the fount from which billions flow in unceasing flood for every conceivable project
man can devise, the Mount Olympus where reside the gods who direct the affairs of the
menials in the state capitals and the cities of the Nation.
(MORE)
-5-
We--you--have an opportunity to change all that. The Republican Party has a
real opportunity to win in 1968--to win the White House and control of the House of
Representatives.
This will take desire, money, work and that most precious and easily lost
ingredient, unity.
We must build the Republican Party from a minority party to a group which holds
the reins of power. We can do that if college Republicans here and throughout the
Nation will rise to the responsibility that is theirs--the challenge to go out into
the wilderness of young Democrats and come back with some scalps. The future of the
Republican Party, ladies and gentlemen, is in your hands. Thank you.
# # #