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56th Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Washington, DC, May 1, 1968
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56th Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Washington, DC, May 1, 1968
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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Civil disobedience
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The original documents are located in Box D24, folder "56th Annual Meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Washington, DC, May 1, 1968" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D24 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
56TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
OF THE U.S.
MAY 1, 1968
"ISSUES OF 1968"
PRESIDENT BLUNT, MR. CHAIRMAN,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS INTRO-
DUCTION.
I'M ALWAYS A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE
ABOUT BEING PRESENTED TO A MIXED AUDIENCE AS
"THE MINORITY LEADER OF THE HOUSE."
ALL YOU, lovely LADIES KNOW WHO THE MINORITY
LEADER OF THE HOUSE IS -- A HUSBAND.
ON THE OTHER HAND, THOUGH, WE
HUSBANDS KNOW VERY WELL WHO'S THE REAL "SPEAKER
OF THE HOUSE."
SINCE I'M SIMPLY A POTENTIAL
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS FROM THE FIFTH DISTRICT
-2-
OF MICHIGAN AND FOR SPEAKER OF THE NEXT
REPUBLICAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, I'M
HONORED TO SHARE THIS HOUR WITH THE "NEXT-TO-
NEWEST" DECLARED CONTENDER FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
I HOPE NOBODY ELSE HAS ENTERED OR
the 1968 Presidential surpotates
QUIT SINCE I LEFT MY OFFICE 15 MINUTES AGO.
YOU KNOW THE LAST TIME VICE
PRESIDENT HUMPHREY AND I WERE PAIRED ON A
PROGRAM I FORMALLY ASSURED HIM THAT I HAD NO
AS VICE PRESIDENT.
DESIGNS ON HIS PRESENT JOB/ SINCE THEN, THEN IT'S
TURNED OUT THAT NOBODY HAS HE DIDN'T EITHER.
I REALLY WELCOME OUR DISTINGUISHED
VICE-PRESIDENT S DECISION / TO OFFER HIMSELF DEMOCRATS' TO
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY/AS THE CONSERVATIVE $ ONLY
CHOICE THE LAST-DITCH DEFENDER OF THE
CONFEDERATE DOLLAR THE LIFE-LONG FOE OF
MᶜCARTHYISM/AND THE WHOLLY INVOLUNTARY CHAMPION
OF THE JOHNSON-HUMPHREY ADMINISTRATION.
YOU CAN'T HELP BUT ADMIRE I A FIRST
MATE WHO STANDS ON THE BURNING DECK 1 AFTER
-3-
EVERYBODY FROM CAPTAIN TO CABIN BOY I HAS FLED.
IF ANYONE CAN EXTRACT A CAMPAIGN THEME OF
"HAPPINESS AND JOY" FROM SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES
-
CANNOT CAST THE FIRST STONE. AT HIM.
BESIDES, BOBBY ALREADY HAS
AFTER ALL THAT'S HAPPENED ON THE
POLITICAL SCENE LATELY ANYONE WHO KEEPS ON
MAKING PREDICTIONS ABOUT THE 1968 CAMPAIGN /
IS
EITHER A FOOL||OR II A WASHINGTON COLUMNIST]|| OR
BOTH ( (NO DISRESPECT INTENDED TO MR. LLOYD
JONES
BUT THERE IS ONE SIGN THAT STANDS
OUT LIKE A SORE THUMBPRINT ON EVERYBODY'S
CRYSTAL BALL It THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE FED UP
AND FEARFUL YES THEY ARE ANXIOUS ) AND ANGRY,
ABOUT THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING WITH THEIR
COUNTRY.
LIKE A GATHERING SUMMER STORM
A
POWERFUL DEMAND AND DETERMINATION FOR CHANGE
1
IS
STIRRING ALL ACROSS OUR LAND. AND IT IS FAR
-4-
FROM CERTAIN WHERE THIS PENT-UP FORCE WILL
STRIKE WHETHER ITS CONSEQUENCES WILL BE FOR
GOOD OR EVIL 11 THESE ARE THE TIMES AS TOM PAINE
SAID I THAT TRY MEN S SOULS H- SOMETIMES THEY
SUMMON PATRIOTS TO ACTION AND SOMETIMES THEY
RAISE DEMAGOGUES TO POWER.
II
I AM GLAD THAT YOU ASKED ME TO TALK
LODAY
ABOUT THE ISSUES OF 1968. THERE IS A
VERY REAL DANGER IN THIS ERA OF INSTANTANEOUS
MASS COMMUNICATIONS THAT THE BASIC AND
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE MAY GET
LOST IN THE EXCITEMENT OF, R1P-SNORTING, BARE-
KNUCKLE, NO-HOLDS-BARRED, PERSONAL FISTFIGHT FOR
POLITICAL POWER. ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT. AND
PART OF THE TROUBLE WE ARE IN TODAY STEMS FROM
THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE BEEN TOO LONG FUZZED UP
AND GLOSSED OVER.
YOUR PROGRAM OVER THE PAST THREE
DAYS HAS BEEN TREMENDOUSLY IMPRESSIVE. IT IS
1817
ISSUE-ORIENTED AND ACTION-ORIENTED. I DARESAY
-5-
THE BRAINS AND EXPERIENCE, THE RESOURCES AND
THE CONSTRUCTIVE ENERGIES REPRESENTED IN THIS
ROOM AND BY THOSE WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN YOUR
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED IN ANY
OTHER CAPITAL CITY IN THE WORLD TODAY.
UNFORTUNATELY, I MUST ALSO SAY THE
RECENT SCENES OF ANARCHY AND SENSELESS DESTRUC-
TION WITNESSED ONLY A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM THIS
HOTEL COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED TO SUCH A DEGREE
IN ANY OTHER WORLD CAPITAL -- EXCEPT PERHAPS BY
RAMPAGES
THE RED GUARD IN PEIPING.
THAT IS THE MAGNITUDE OF THE GAP
BETWEEN THE VISION OF AMERICA WE HAVE ALWAYS
CHERISHED AND THE WAY IT REALLY IS IN 1968.
ISSUES IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN ARE
NOT MADE BY POLITICIANS.
THERE ARE NO "REPUBLICAN ISSUES"
AND "DEMOCRATIC ISSUES." THERE ARE ONLY
AMERICAN ISSUES AND THEY EMERGE FROM EVENTS. AN
ISSUE ARISES WHEN MATTERS OF PUBLIC CONTROVERSY
-6-
ARE RIPE FOR DECISION. THUS THE ISSUES OF
1968 ARE NOT DULL ABSTRACTIONS -- THEY ARE
DEMANDS FOR ACTION.
I BELIEVE THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR
KEY ISSUES OF THE 1968 CAMPAIGN ALREADY EVIDENT.
THEY ARE ISSUES WHICH AFFECT EVERY MAN, WOMAN
AND CHILD AND PERHAPS UNBORN AMERICANS AS WELL.
POSSIBLY WE CAN BE GRATEFUL THESE
UNBORN GENERATIONS CANNOT VOTE, CONSIDERING
some
THE WAY THEIR UNWED MOTHERS AND UNWASHED FATHERS
HAVE BEEN BEHAVING LATELY ON OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES.
AMERICANS ARE GOING TO ASK WHAT THEIR
NEXT NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IS GOING TO DO TO
PROTECT THEIR LIVES, THE SAFETY OF THEIR HOMES
AND THEIR WORLDLY GOODS, THEIR SECURITY ON THE
PUBLIC STREETS AND AT WORK AND WORSHIP AND PLAY.
THEY ARE GOING TO INSIST THERE BE ONE STANDARD
OF JUSTICE FOR ALL. THEY ARE GOI NG TO ASK
WHETHER THE LAW WILL BE ENFORCED FIRMLY AND
FORD
FAIRLY FOR THE PROTECTION OF LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
-7-
OR WITH A SPECIAL TOLERANCE FOR CERTAIN TYPES
OF LAWBREAKERS. THEY ARE GOING TO EXPECT FROM
THEIR FUTURE LEADERS AN EXAMPLE OF RESPECT FOR
LAW AND DECISIVE ACTION TO PREVENT TROUBLE
BEFORE IT STARTS. UNJUST LAWS CAN BE CHANGED BY
DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES. BUT THEY CANNOT BE DEFIED.
THIS IS GOING TO BE A MAJOR ISSUE
OF 1968, PERHAPS EVEN LARGER THAN IT ALREADY
LOOMS. I AM A LAWYER BY PROFESSION AS WELL AS
A LAWMAKER BY INCLINATION of counse AT THE SUFFERANCE OF
MY CONSTITUENTS. THOMAS JEFFERSON, WHO WAS
CERTAINLY NO REACTIONARY AND WHOSE MANUAL STILL
GUIDES OUR LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES IN THE CONGRESS,
ONCE OBSERVED THAT THE EXECUTION OF THE LAWS IS
MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE MAKING OF THEM. WHAT
WE NEED MOST TODAY ARE NOT MORE LAWS,
BE
BUT
PERHAPS BETTER LAWS, CERTAINLY BETTER
EXECUTION OF THE LAWS WE HAVE. I PROFOUNDLY
BELIEVE THAT LAW IS THE BASIS OF CIVILIZED
SOCIETY. I BELIEVE THAT LAW EXISTS TO PROTECT
-8-
THE WEAK, THAT IT PROVIDES A MINORITY WITH ITS
ONLY SURE SHIELD AGAINST THE TYRANNY OF THE
MAJORITY. WHATEVER THE GRIEVANCES OF ANY
INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP, HOWEVER MUCH HE MAY HAVE
BEEN WRONGED, THERE IS NO SAFETY FOR HIM OR FOR
ANY OF US OUTSIDE THE LAW.
THE REPUBLICAN RECORD ON THE ISSUE
OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IS A PROPER SOURCE OF PRIDE
FOR ME AS OUR PARTY LEADER IN THE HOUSE. THE
DEMOCRATIC RECORD IS PUZZLING, TO SAY THE LEAST.
REPUBLICAN INITIATIVES GREATLY STRENGTHENED AND
IMPROVED THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSED LAW ENFORCEMENT
AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT OF 1967, NOTABLY BY
REQUIRING THAT FEDERAL FUNDS BE CHANNELED THROUGH
THE STATES WHICH UNDER THE CONSTITUTION HAVE
OF
THE PRIMARY ROLE # POLICE POWER. ALTHOUGH THIS
REPUBLICAN INITIATIVE AND CHANGE WON THE SUPPORT
OF 49 OF THE 50 GOVERNORS, THE HOUSE BILL HAS
NEWARK, DESPITE
BEEN ALLOWED TO LANGUISH IN THE SENATE., DESPITE
There hasben this traguely
1
DETROIT, DESPITE THE SECOND BURNING OF WASHINGTON
-9-
A
AND
HUNDRED OTHER DISTURBANCES, BECAUSE THE
ATTORNEY-GENERAL WANTS TO DOLE OUT THE MONEY
DIRECTLY TO CITY POLITICIANS. SIMILARLY, THE
REPUBLICAN-SPONSORED FEDERAL ANTI-RIOT BILL,
WHICH PASSED THE HOUSE OVERWHELMINGLY IN 1966,
AND AGAIN IN 1967, WAS ONLY RECENTLY ENACTED
BY THE SENATE AS PART OF THE 1968 CIVIL RIGHTS
PACKAGE.
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENTIS JUST ONE
ASPECT, OF COURSE, OF THE WIDE ARRAY OF PRESSING
PROBLEMS FACING OUR CITIES. IT IS SMALL COMFORT
TO OBSERVE THAT THE BIG CITIES OF AMERICA HAVE
LONG BEEN THE CITADELS OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL
POWER. WHATEVER ELSE, THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NOT
SOLVED THE MUSHROOMING PROBLEMS OF OUR METRO-
POLITAN AREAS AND THEIR EFFORTS HAVE IN FACT
MULTIPLIED OUR URBAN PROBLEMS.
AS JOHN W. GARDNER COMMENTED SHORTLY
BEFORE HE RESIGNED AS SECRETARY OF HEALTH,
EDUCATION AND WELFARE: "THERE IS BITTERNESS AND
-10-
ANGER TOWARD OUR INSTITUTIONS THAT WELLS UP
WHEN HIGH HOPES TURN SOUR. CYNICISM CONCERNING
ALL LEADERS, ALL OFFICIALS, ALL SOCIAL INSTITU-
TIONS IS CONTINUALLY FED AND RENEWED BY THE RAGE
OF PEOPLE WHO EXPECT TOO MUCH AND GOT TOO LITTLE."
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS BEEN IN
POWER IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR 27 OF THE LAST 35
YEARS, FOR 29 OF THOSE YEARS IN CONGRESS, FOR
ALL BUT TWO YEARS OF THE 20 I HAVE SERVED IN THE
HOUSE. DURING THOSE YEARS THE DEMOCRATS HAVE
POURED BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF YOUR
FEDERAL MONEY INTO PROGRAMS SUPPOSEDLY DESIGNED
TO SOLVE THE VERY PROBLEMS THAT ARE ERUPTING
INTO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TODAY. IF IT IS TRUE
NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS, WHAT WE ARE
WITNESSING NOW IS THAT NOTHING FAILS SO
SPECTACULARLY AS FAILURE.
DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN, THE FORMER
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR AND A LIBERAL WHO
NOW HEADS THE HARVARD-MIT JOINT CENTER FOR
-11-
URBAN AFFAIRS, HAS STATED FRANKLY: "LIBERALS
HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO ACQUIRE FROM LIFE WHAT
CONSERVATIVES SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ENDOWED WITH
AT BIRTH, NAMELY, HEALTHY SKEPTICISM OF THE
POWERS OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO DO GOOD. WE
MUST ABANDON THE NOTION THAT THE NATION,
ESPECIALLY THE CITIES OF THE NATION, CAN BE RUN
FROM AGENCIES IN WASHINGTON."
THIS IS PRECISELY THE REPUBLICAN
APPROACH. REPUBLICANS PROPOSE -- AND IN SOME
RECENT LEGISLATIVE VICTORIES HAVE ACTUALLY
SUCCEEDED +H IN DECENTRALIZING OUR ATTACK ON
AMERICA'S COMPLEX PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE DEFIED
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY FOR TWO GENERATIONS.
REPUBLICANS WOULD REDIRECT THESE
COSTLY AND INEFFECTIVE PROGRAMS THROUGH BLOCK
GRANTS AND REVENUE-SHARING THAT WOULD FUNNEL
FEDERAL FUNDS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
TO MEET LOCAL NEEDS.
THE PROBLEMS OF EACH OF OUR 50
BOR.FORD VERANT
-12-
STATES, OF OUR THOUSANDS OF CITIES AND
COUNTIES AND OTHER JURISDICTIONS, ARE NOT
IDENTICAL. AND NO BUREAUCRAT IN WASHINGTON IS
on write 2 construction prescription
COMPETENT TO PRESCRIBE FOR ALL OF THEM. THE
REPUBLICAN BLOCK-GRANT APPROACH HAS BEEN
SUCCESSFULLY INCORPORATED INTO THE FEDERAL
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH ACT, THE ELEMENTARY AND
SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT, THE AIR QUALITY AND
MEAT INSPECTION ACTS OF THE LAST SESSION AND THE
PREVIOUSLY-MENTIONED LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE
ACT NOW HANGING FIRE IN THE SENATE.
A REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION AND A
REPUBLICAN CONGRESS WOULD RESTORE EVEN MORE
AUTHORITY AND LEEWAY IN PROBLEM SOLVING TO
STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS,
ALONG WITH THE NECESSARY
FEDERAL FUNDS. WE WOULD DO THIS NOT BECAUSE
OF A STERILE IDEOLOGICAL DEVOTION TO STATE'S
RIGHTS BUT SIMPLY BECAUSE EXPERIENCE HAS PROVED
THE PRESENT WAY -- MASSIVE FEDERAL MISMANAGEMENT
-13-
FROM WASHINGTON -- WASTES TIME AND MONEY AND
DOESN'T SOLVE THE PROBLEMS.
TO MOVE ON TO A THIRD ISSUE OF
1968, RELATED TO CRIME AND THE CRISIS OF OUR
CITIES, AND TO SOME DEGREE (THOUGH THE EVIDENCE
IS CONFLICTING) CONNECTED WITH RACIAL
DISTURBANCES, THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF FINDING
JOBS FOR THE HARD-CORE UNEMPLOYED. HERE THE
DEMOCRATS LOOK, AS ALWAYS, TO THE APPLICATION OF
MORE FEDERAL MONEY FILTERED THROUGH MORE FEDERAL
PROGRAMS. THOUGH RECENTLY THERE HAS BEEN SOME
`BOBBY-COME-LATELY`LIP SERVICE TO PRIVATE
INDUSTRY PROGRAMS.
I DON' T NEED TO DESCRIBE TO THIS
AUDIENCE THE SUCCESSES OF MANY LOCAL PROGRAMS
ENLISTING THE RESOURCES OF BUSINESS AND LABOR
AND COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP IN TRAINING AND MATCHING
MEN AND JOBS. NOR DO I NEED TO DWELL ON THE
SHABBY PERFORMANCE AND SHOCKING SCANDALS THAT
HAVE PLAGUED THE OVERPUBLICIZED POVERTY WAR
-14-
APPROACH OF THE DEMOCRATS. I NEED ONLY SAY
THAT THE AFFIRMATIVE REPUBLICAN RESPONSE TO
THIS ISSUE WOULD GREATLY EXPAND PRIVATE
PARTICIPATION THROUGH TAX INCENTIVES SUCH AS
OUR
THOSE IN
HUMAN INVESTMENT ACT AND OTHER
PROPOSALS.
NEXT IN OUR SURVEY OF THE ISSUES
OF 1968 COMES THE ONE WHICH PERHAPS SHOULD BE
PLACED FIRST. BECAUSE UNLESS IT CAN BE RESOLVED
SUCCESSFULLY ALL THE REST GO BY THE BOARDS.
I SPEAK NOW OF THE URGENT NECESSITY
OF RESTORING, AFTER SEVEN YEARS, SOME SEMBLANCE
OF FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR FEDERAL BUDGET.
WE ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE, AS YOU KNOW, HAVE
BEEN TRYING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FOR
WE
YEARS. WE'RE STILL TRYING AND WON T GIVE UP
WE HAVE BEEN REWARDED FOR OUR
CONCERN BY PRESIDENTIAL TAUNTS OF OBSTRUCTIONISM
AND "WOODEN SOLDIERS OF THE STATUS QUO." WHAT
THE GREAT SPENDERS NEVER WILL ACKNOWLEDGE, AND
-15-
MOST PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE, IS THAT DEMOCRATIC
INFLATION SINCE PRESIDENT EISENHOWER LEFT OFFICE
HAS CLIPPED THE SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS OF EVERY
SENIOR CITIZEN, THE PENSIONS OF EVERY DISABLED
VETERAN, THE WELFARE BENEFITS OF EVERY NEEDY
FAMILY AND THE SAVINGS AND FIXED INCOMES OF
EVERY AMERICAN BY NEARLY 20 CENTS OUT OF EVERY
DOLLAR.
NO WONDER PRESIDENT JOHNSON HIMSELF
DESCRIBED INFLATION AS "THE CRUELEST TAX OF
ALL." IT IS TAKEN PRIMARILY FROM THE PITTANCES
OF THE POOR. BUT TO THIS HOUR HE PERSISTS IN
USING THIS CRUEL TAX TO PAY FOR THE HEAVY
BURDENS OF A MAJOR WAR IN VIETNAM WITHOUT BEING
WILLING TO FOREGO THE FRILLS OF SPENDING AS
USUAL ON THE DOMESTIC FRONT.
TO BE SURE, THE PRESIDENT NOW SEEKS
A 10% SURTAX ON THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX. THE
PROSPECT OF AT LEAST ANOTHER $20 BILLION DEFICIT
THIS COMING FISCAL YEAR HAS TOUCHED OFF A
GERALD
15-A
CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE THAT THREATENS THE
AMERICAN DOLLAR IN WORLD MARKETS. AND THE
CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, WILLIAM
McCHESNEY MARTIN, RECENTLY CURLED THE HAIR OF
EVERY AMERICAN OVER 50 BY WARNING THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS THAT "THE NATION
IS IN THE MIDST OF THE WORST FINANCIAL
-16-
CRISIS SINCE 1931."
MR. MARTIN SAID"WE "HAVE BEEN LIVING
IN A FOOLS PARADISE" AND THAT CONTINUED
FAILURE TO PUT OUR FISCAL HOUSE IN ORDER MIGHT
WELL LEAD "TO UNCONTROLABLE INFLATION AND
EVENTUAL DEFLATION OR DEPRESSION."
IF WHAT MR. MARTIN AND OTHER
ADMINISTRATION EXPERTS AND LEADING ECONOMISTS
SAY PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY IS EVEN HALF CORRECT,
WE CANNOT MAKE PARTISAN CAPITAL OF OUR FISCAL
CRISIS -- WE MUST DO SOMETHING TO CORRECT IT
NOW. IT IS TRUE THE DEMOCRATS IN 1932
DELIBERATELY WITHHELD THEIR COOPERATION AND LET
THE WORLDWIDE FINANCIAL PANIC WORSEN AND THE
DOMESTIC DEPRESSION DETERIORATE FROM NOVEMBER TO
MARCH UNTIL THEIR ADMINISTRATION COULD BE
INAUGURATED. I CANNOT BELIEVE ANY REPUBLICAN
WOULD ADVOCATE REPAYING THIS IN KIND TODAY.
BUT IF PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAS REALLY
REMOVED HIMSELF FROM PARTISAN POLITICS THIS
-17-
YEAR, IF HE REALLY WANTS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT IN
THE CONGRESS FOR MEANINGFUL FISCAL REFORMS, HE
MUST NOW LAY IT ON THE LINE TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE.
THE PRESIDENT WILL HAVE MY
COOPERATION, AND THAT OF THE REPUBLICAN MINORITY,
WHEN HE TELLS THE NATION PLAINLY THAT THE TIME
HAS COME TO PAY THE PIPER. THAT HE WANTS REAL
AND SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTIONS IN FEDERAL SPENDING
AND IN FUTURE SPENDING AUTHORITY. THAT HE WILL
SET REALISTIC PRIORITIES FOR DOMESTIC PROGRAMS
IN THE FACE OF WARTIME DEMANDS. AND THAT ALL
THIS WILL GO HAND IN HAND WITH THE TAX INCREASE
HE CONSIDERS NECESSARY.
UNLESS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER IN
CONGRESS)
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, TO HEAD OFF THE
DANGER TO OUR DOLLAR AND OUR DOMESTIC ECONOMY -
WITH THE PRESIDENT'S FULL PUBLIC SUPPORT, THIS
TOO WILL BE A MAJOR ISSUE OF 1968. IF LBJ
PUTS POLITICS FIRST IT COULD BE THE ISSUE FOR
-18-
THE NEXT 35 YEARS. (INSERT)
I HAVE COME TO THE END OF MY CATALOG
OF ISSUES WITHOUT TOUCHING ON VIETNAM. THERE IS
VERY
A FINE LINE WHICH SOME OF US WHO STILL BELIEVE
IN OLD-FASHIONED PATRIOTISM TRY TO OBSERVE WHEN
OUR COUNTRY IS AT WAR AND MORE THAN HALF A
MILLION AMERICANS ARE INVOLVED.
I STILL FIND NO FAULT WITH THE
COUNSEL OF THE LATE GENERAL ARTHUR THAT
"ANYBODY WHO COMMITS THE LAND POWER OF THE UNITED
STATES ON THE CONTINENT OF ASIA OUGHT TO HAVE
HIS HEAD EXAMINED." BUT WE ARE THERE. I MUST
ALSO SAY THAT ANYONE WHO JEOPARDIZES OR DELAYS
THE SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THAT CONFLICT FOR
A FEW LONG-HAIRED VOTES OUGHT TO HAVE NOT ONLY
HIS HEAD BUT HIS HEART EXAMINED.
ONLY THE PRESIDENT AS COMMANDER-IN-
CHIEF CAN CONDUCT A WAR INVOLVING AMERICAN
LIVES AND THE RECORD IS CLEAR THAT I HAVE
EARLY AND
DISAGREED OFTEN WITH THE WAY THIS WAR HAS BEEN
-19-
CONDUCTED. BUT OUR NATIONAL OBJECTIVE NOW IS
TO BRING NORTH VIETNAM TO THE PEACE TABLE.
I WILL DO NOTHING TO DISRUPT
THIS EFFORT.
OUR TOTAL DEFENSE POSTURE, THE
FAILURES OF THE JOHNSON-HUMPHREY ADMINISTRATION
TO ATTEND TO LONG-RANGE MILITARY NEEDS OR TO
MEET SUCH CHALLENGES AS THE CAPTURE OF THE
PUEBLO AND THE SOVIET PENETRATION OF THE MIDDLE
EAST, ARE AND SHOULD BE PROPER SUBJECTS FOR
CAMPAIGN DISCUSSION. BUT TIME FORBIDS IT TODAY.
PERSONAL SAFETY, ECONOMIC STABILITY,
NATIONAL SECURITY, NEW DIRECTIONS TO SOLVE THE
PROBLEMS OF THE CITIES, CREATE JOBS AND
STRENGTHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT, THESE ARE SOME OF
THE ISSUES THAT ARE STIRRING THE WINDS OF
CHANGE IN AMERICA. THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT AND
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE TWO PARTIES OVER THEM HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED
IN ACTIONS AS WELL AS WORDS.
I THINK REPUBLICANS REFLECT THE
-20
FEELINGS OF THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE ON THESE ISSUES AT THIS POINT IN HISTORY.
I DO NOT BELIEVE AMERICANS WILL BUY THE SILLY
IDEA THAT THE CHANGES THEY WANT CAN BE ENSURED
THROUGH A SIMPLE SWITCH OF NAMES AT THE TOP OF
THE DEMOCRATIC TICKET. I FEEL IT IN MY BONES
THAT WE ARE GOING TO WIN A RESOUNDING MANDATE
VICTORY
IN NOVEMBER -- NOT A REPUBLICAN/ BUT A VICTORY
FOR AMERICA.
I WAS ASKED TO MAKE A PARTISAN
SPEECH HERE TODAY, AS SPOKESMAN FOR MY PARTY,
AND I HAVE. BUT PARTISANSHIP HAS TO STOP SOME-
WHERE.
THE THINGS THAT UNITE US AS AMERICANS
ARE F.AR MORE ENDURING THAN THE THINGS THAT
DIVIDE US -- EVEN IN AN ELECTION YEAR.
AS THE CAMPAIGN GETS HOTTER, LET'S
ALL REMEMBER TO SINGE BUT NEVER TO BURN
THAT
NOT JUST THE HIPPIES, BUT ALL OF us, WOULD LOTS
RATHER MAKE LOVE THAN WAR
THAT BOTH DEMOCRATS
-20-
AND REPUBLICANS ARE STRIVING TOGETHER TO CREATE
A MORE PERFECT UNION, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE
FOR ALL.
OUR UNWRITTEN COMPACT OF RESPECT
FOR THE CONVICTIONS OF OTHERS, AND FAITH IN THE
DECENCY OF OTHERS, ALLOWS AMERICANS THE LUXURY
OF RUGGED POLITICAL COMPETITION. LET'S ALL
WORK TO BANISH WAR FROM OUR SHRINKING WORLD AND
HATE FROM OUR EXPANDING HEARTS -- TO MAKE THIS
WHOLE PLANET AS FULL OF FRIENDSHIP AND FELICITY
AS THIS ROOM TODAY.
THANK YOU.
-END-
NEWS RELEASE
THE POWER OF
PLE
RESPONSIBILITY
BERSHIP
56th ANNUAL MEETING
m Office Copy
&
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
April 28 - May 1, 1968 / Washington, D.C.
FOR AFTERNOON RELEASE
Contact: News Department
Wednesday, May 1, 1968
659-6233
Remarks of: The Honorable Gerald R. Ford, Minority Leader
United States House of Representatives
Representative from Michigan
#69
Before: Luncheon - Your Decision in '68
Wednesday, May 1, 1968
Sheraton-Park Hotel, Sheraton Hall
Copy
Affrie
#69
"ISSUES OF 1968"
By: Gerald R. Ford
President Blount, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you for
your generous introduction.
I'm always a little uncomfortable about being presented to a mixed
audience as "the Minority Leader of the House."
All you ladies know who the minority leader of the house is -- a
husband!
On the other hand, though, we husbands know very well who's the real
"Speaker of the House.'
Since I'm simply a potential candidate for Congress from the Fifth
District of Michigan and for Speaker of the next Republican House of Repre-
sentatives, I'm honored to share this hour with the "next-to-newest" declared
contender for the Presidency.
I hope nobody else has entered or quit since I left my office 15
minutes ago.
You know, the last time Vice President Humphrey and I were paired on
a program I formally assured him that I had no designs on his present job.
Since then, it's turned out that nobody has.
I really welcome our distinguished Vice President's decision to offer
himself to the Democratic Party as the conservative's only choice, the last-
ditch defender of the Confederate dollar, the life-long foe of McCarthyism
and the wholly involuntary champion of the Johnson-Humphrey Administration.
You can't help but admire a First Mate who stands on the burning deck
after everybody from Captain to Cabin Boy has fled. If anyone can extract
a campaign theme of "happiness and joy" from such circumstances I cannot
cast the first stone at him.
Besides, Bobby already has.
After all that's happened on the political scene lately anyone who
keeps on making predictions about the 1968 campaign is either a fool or a
Washington columnist, or both. (No disrespect intended to Mr. Lloyd Jones!)
But there is one sign that stands out like a sore thumbprint on
everybody's crystal ball -- the American people are fed up and fearful, yes,
they are anxious and angry, about the way things are going with their
country.
Like a gathering summer storm, a powerful demand and determination for
change is stirring all across our land. And it is far from certain where
this pent-up force will strike, whether its consequences will be for good or
evil. These are the times, as Tom Paine said, that try men's souls -- some-
times they summon patriots to action, and sometimes they raise demagogues to
power.
I am glad that you asked me to talk today about the issues of 1968.
There is a very real danger in this era of instantaneous mass communications
that the basic and fundamental issues of our national life may get lost in
the excitement of a rip-snorting, bare-knuckle, no-holds-barred personal
(more)
- 2 -
Ford #69
fistfight for political power. Issues are important, and part of the
trouble we are in today stems from the fact that they have been too long
fuzzed up and glossed over.
Your program over the past three days has been tremendously impressive.
It is issue-oriented and action-oriented. I daresay the brains and experi-
ence, the resources and the constructive energies represented in this room
and by those who have participated in your previous programs could not be
duplicated in any other capital city in the world today.
Unfortunately, I must also say the recent scenes of anarchy and sense-
less destruction witnessed only a few blocks away from this hotel could not
be duplicated to such a degree in any other world capital except perhaps by
the Red Guard outrages in Peiping.
That is the magnitude of the gap between the vision of America we have
always cherished and the way it really is in 1968.
Issues in a political campaign are not made by politicians.
There are no "Republican issues" and "Democratic issues." There are
only American issues and they emerge from events. An issue arises when
matters of public controversy are ripe for decision. Thus the issues of
1968 are not dull abstractions -- they are demands for action.
I believe there are at least four key issues of the 1968 campaign
already evident. They are issues which affect every man, woman and child
and perhaps unborn Americans as well.
Possibly we can be grateful these unborn generations cannot vote, con-
sidering the way their unwed mothers and unwashed fathers have been behaving
lately on our college campuses.
Americans are going to ask what their next national leadership is going
to do to protect their lives, the safety of their homes and their worldly
goods, their security on the public streets and at work and worship and play.
They are going to insist there be one standard of justice for all. They are
going to ask whether the law will be enforced firmly and fairly for the pro-
tection of law-abiding citizens, or with a special tolerance for certain
types of lawbreakers. They are going to expect from their future leaders an
example of respect for law and decisive action to prevent trouble before it
starts. Unjust laws can be changed by democratic processes, but they cannot
be defied.
This is going to be a major issue of 1968, perhaps even larger than it
already looms. I am a lawyer by profession as well as a lawmaker by inclina-
tion at the sufferance of my constituents. Thomas Jefferson, who was cer-
tainly no reactionary and whose manual still guides our legislative
procedures in the Congress, once observed that the execution of the laws is
more important than the making of them. What we need most today are not
more laws, but perhaps better laws, and certainly better execution of the
laws we have. I profoundly believe that law is the basis of civilized
society. I believe that law exists to protect the weak, that it provides
a minority with its only sure shield against the tyranny of the majority.
Whatever the grievances of any individual or group, however much he may have
been wronged, there is no safety for him or for any of us outside the law.
The Republican record on the issue of law enforcement is a proper source
of pride for me as our party leader in the House. The Democratic record is
(more)
- 3 -
Ford #69
puzzling, to say the least. Republican initiatives greatly strengthened and
improved the President's proposed Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Act
of 1967, notably by requiring that Federal funds be channeled through the
States which under the Constitution have the primary role in police power.
Although this Republican initiative and change won the support of 49 of the
50 Governors, the House bill has been allowed to languish in the Senate,
despite Newark, despite Detroit, despite the second burning of Washington
and the hundred other disturbances, because the Attorney General wants to
dole out the money directly to city politicians. Similarly, the Republican-
sponsored Federal anti-riot bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly in
1966 and again in 1967, was only recently enacted by the Senate as part of
the 1968 Civil Rights package.
Crime and law enforcement is just one aspect, of course, of the wide
array of pressing problems facing our cities. It is small comfort to ob-
serve that the big cities of America have long been the citadels of Democratic
political power. Whatever else, the Democrats have not solved the mushrooming
problems of our metropolitan areas and their efforts have in fact multiplied
our urban problems.
As John W. Gardner commented shortly before he resigned as Secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare, "There is bitterness and anger toward our
institutions that wells up when high hopes turn sour. Cynicism concerning
all leaders, all officials, all social institutions is continually fed and
renewed by the rage of people who expect too much and got too little."
The Democratic Party has been in power in the White House for 27 of the
last 35 years, for 29 of those years in Congress, for all but two years of the
20 I have served in the House. During those years the Democrats have poured
billions upon billions of dollars of Federal money into programs supposedly
designed to solve the very problems that are erupting into domestic violence
today. If it is true nothing succeeds like success, what we are witnessing
now is that nothing fails so spectacularly as failure.
Daniel P. Moynihan, the former Assistant Secretary of Labor and a liberal
who now heads the Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Urban Affairs, has stated
frankly: "We must abandon the notion that the nation, especially the cities
of the nation, can be run from agencies in Washington."
This is precisely the Republican approach. Republicans propose -- and
in some recent legislative victories have actually succeeded -- in decentral-
izing our attack on America's complex problems which have defied the Federal
bureaucracy for two generations.
Republicans would redirect these costly and ineffective programs through
block grants and revenue sharing that would funnel Federal funds to State
and local governments to meet local needs.
The problems of each of our 50 States, of our thousands of cities and
counties and other jurisdictions, are not identical, and no bureaucrat in
Washington is competent to prescribe for all of them. The Republican block-
grant approach has been successfully incorporated into the Federal Compre-
hensive Health Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Air
Quality and Meat Inspection Acts of the last session and the previously-
mentioned Law Enforcement Assistance Act now hanging fire in the Senate.
A Republican Administration and a Republican Congress would restore
even more authority and leeway in problem solving to States and local
(more)
- 4 -
Ford #69
governments, under a Republican administration, along with the necessary
Federal funds. We would do this not because of a sterile ideological de-
votion to State's Rights but simply because experience has proved the
present way -- massive Federal mismanagement from Washington -- wastes time
and money and doesn't solve the problems.
To move on to a third issue of 1968, related to crime and the crisis
of our cities, and to some degree (though the evidence is conflicting) con-
nected with racial disturbances, there is the problem of finding jobs for
the hard-core unemployed. Here the Democrats look as always to the applica-
tion of more Federal money filtered through more Federal programs, though
recently there has been some Bobby-come-lately lip service to private
industry programs.
I don't need to describe to this audience the successes of many local
programs enlisting the resources of business and labor and community leader-
ship in training and matching men and jobs. Nor do I need to dwell on the
shabby performance and shocking scandals that have plagued the overpubli-
cized Poverty War approach of the Democrats. I need only say that the
affirmative Republican response to this issue would greatly expand private
participation through tax incentives such as those in the Human Investment
Act and other proposals.
Next in our survey of the issues of 1968 comes the one which perhaps
should be placed first, because unless it can be resolved successfully all
the rest go by the boards.
I speak now of the urgent necessity of restoring, after seven years,
some semblance of fiscal responsibility to our Federal budget. We on the
Republican side, as you know, have been trying to do something about this
for years. We're still trying and won't give up.
We have been rewarded for our concern by Presidential taunts of ob-
structionism and "wooden soldiers of the status quo." What the great
spenders never will acknowledge, and most people don't realize, is that
Democratic inflation since President Eisenhower left office has clipped the
Social Security checks of every senior citizen, the pensions of every dis-
abled veteran, the welfare benefits of every needy family and the savings
and fixed incomes of every American by nearly 20 cents out of every dollar.
No wonder President Johnson himself described inflation as "the
cruelest tax of all." It is taken primarily from the pittances of the poor.
But to this hour he persists in using this cruel tax to pay for the heavy
burdens of a major war in Vietnam without being willing to forego the frills
of spending as usual on the domestic front.
To be sure, the President now seeks a 10% surtax on the Federal in-
come tax. The prospect of at least another $20 billion deficit this coming
fiscal year has touched off a crisis of confidence that threatens the
American dollar in world markets, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Board, William McChesney Martin, recently curled the hair of every American
over 50 by warning the American Society of Newspaper Editors that "the
nation is in the midst of the worst financial crisis since 1931."
Mr. Martin said we "have been living in a fools' paradise" and that
continued failure to put our fiscal house in order might well lead "to un-
controllable inflation and eventual deflation or depression."
(more)
- 5 -
Ford #69
If what Mr. Martin and other administration experts and leading
economists say publicly and privately is even half correct, we cannot make
partisan capital of our fiscal crisis -- we must do something to correct it
now. It is true the Democrats in 1932 deliberately withheld their cooper-
ation and let the worldwide financial panic worsen and the domestic depression
deteriorate from November to March until their Administration could be inaugu-
rated; I cannot believe any Republican would advocate repaying this in kind
today.
But if President Johnson has really removed himself from partisan
politics this year, if he really wants Republican support in the Congress
for meaningful fiscal reforms, he must now lay it on the line to the Ameri-
can people.
The President will have my cooperation, and that of the Republican
minority, when he tells the nation plainly that the time has come to pay the
piper, that he wants real and substantial reductions in Federal spending and
in future spending authority, that he will set realistic priorities for
domestic programs in the face of wartime demands, and that all this will go
hand in hand with the tax increase he considers necessary.
Unless we can work together, Democrats and Republicans, to head off
the danger to our dollar and our domestic economy with the President's full
public support, this too will be a major issue of 1968. If LBJ puts poli-
tics first it could be the issue for the next 35 years.
I have come to the end of my catalog of issues without touching on
Vietnam. There is a fine line which some of us who still believe in old-
fashioned patriotism try to observe when our country is at war and more than
half a million Americans are involved.
I still find no fault with the counsel of the late General MacArthur
that "anybody who commits the land power of the United States on the conti-
nent of Asia ought to have his head examined." But we are there. I must
also say that anyone who jeopardizes or delays the successful conclusion of
that conflict for a few long-haired votes ought to have not only his head
but his heart examined.
Only the President as Commander in Chief can conduct a war involving
American lives and the record is clear that I have disagreed often with the
way this war has been conducted. But our national objective now is to bring
North Vietnam to the peace table. I will do nothing to disrupt it.
Our total defense posture, the failures of the Johnson-Humphrey Ad-
ministration to attend to long-range military needs or to meet such chal-
lenges as the capture of the Pueblo and the Soviet penetration of the
Middle East, are and should be proper subjects for campaign discussion. But
time forbids it today.
Personal safety, economic stability, national security, new directions
to solve the problems of the cities, create jobs and strengthen law enforce-
ment, these are some of the issues that are stirring the winds of change in
America. They are very important and fundamental issues and the difference
between the two parties over them has been demonstrated in actions as well
as words.
I think Republicans reflect the feelings of the majority of the Ameri-
can people on these issues at this point in history. I do not believe
(more)
- 6 -
Ford #69
Americans will buy the silly idea that the changes they want can be ensured
through a simple switch of names at the top of the Democratic ticket. I
feel it in my bones that we are going to win a resounding mandate in
November -- not a Republican victory, but a victory for America.
I was asked to make a partisan speech here today, as spokesman for my
party, and I have. But partisanship has to stop somewhere.
The things that unite us as Americans are far more enduring than the
things that divide us -- even in an election year.
As the campaign gets hotter, let's all remember to singe but never to
burn
that not just the hippies, but all of us, would lots rather make
love than war
that both Democrats and Republicans are striving together
to create a more perfect Union, with liberty and justice for all.
Our unwritten compact of respect for the convictions of others and
faith in the decency of others, allows Americans the luxury of rugged politi-
cal competition. Let's all work to banish war from our shrinking world and
hate from our expanding hearts -- to make this whole planet as full of
friendship and felicity as this room today.
Thank you.
###
NEWS RELEASE
THE POWER OF
PLE
ESPONSIBILITY
56th ANNUAL MEETING
&
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
April 28 - May 1, 1968 / Washington, D.C.
FOR AFTERNOON RELEASE
Contact: News Department
Wednesday, May 1, 1968
659-6233
Remarks of: The Honorable Gerald R. Ford, Minority Leader
United States House of Representatives
Representative from Michigan
#69
Before: Luncheon - Your Decision in '68
Wednesday, May 1, 1968
Sheraton-Park Hotel, Sheraton Hall
#69
"ISSUES OF 1968"
By: Gerald R. Ford
President Blount, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you for
your generous introduction.
I'm always a little uncomfortable about being presented to a mixed
audience as "the Minority Leader of the House."
All you ladies know who the minority leader of the house is -- a
husband!
On the other hand, though, we husbands know very well who's the real
"Speaker of the House."
Since I'm simply a potential candidate for Congress from the Fifth
District of Michigan and for Speaker of the next Republican House of Repre-
sentatives, I'm honored to share this hour with the "next-to-newest" declared
contender for the Presidency.
I hope nobody else has entered or quit since I left my office 15
minutes ago.
You know, the last time Vice President Humphrey and I were paired on
a program I formally assured him that I had no designs on his present job.
Since then, it's turned out that nobody has.
I really welcome our distinguished Vice President's decision to offer
himself to the Democratic Party as the conservative's only choice, the last-
ditch defender of the Confederate dollar, the life-long foe of McCarthyism
and the wholly involuntary champion of the Johnson-Humphrey Administration.
You can't help but admire a First Mate who stands on the burning deck
after everybody from Captain to Cabin Boy has fled. If anyone can extract
a campaign theme of "happiness and joy" from such circumstances I cannot
cast the first stone at him.
Besides, Bobby already has.
After all that's happened on the political scene lately anyone who
keeps on making predictions about the 1968 campaign is either a fool or a
Washington columnist, or both. (No disrespect intended to Mr. Lloyd Jones!)
But there is one sign that stands out like a sore thumbprint on
everybody's crystal ball -- the American people are fed up and fearful, yes,
they are anxious and angry, about the way things are going with their
country.
Like a gathering summer storm, a powerful demand and determination for
change is stirring all across our land. And it is far from certain where
this pent-up force will strike, whether its consequences will be for good or
evil. These are the times, as Tom Paine said, that try men's souls -- some-
times they summon patriots to action, and sometimes they raise demagogues to
power.
I am glad that you asked me to talk today about the issues of 1968.
There is a very real danger in this era of instantaneous mass communications
that the basic and fundamental issues of our national life may get lost in
the excitement of a rip-snorting, bare-knuckle, no-holds-barred personal
(more)
- 2 -
Ford #69
fistfight for political power. Issues are important, and part of the
trouble we are in today stems from the fact that they have been too long
fuzzed up and glossed over.
Your program over the past three days has been tremendously impressive.
It is issue-oriented and action-oriented. I daresay the brains and experi-
ence, the resources and the constructive energies represented in this room
and by those who have participated in your previous programs could not be
duplicated in any other capital city in the world today.
Unfortunately, I must also say the recent scenes of anarchy and sense-
less destruction witnessed only a few blocks away from this hotel could not
be duplicated to such a degree in any other world capital except perhaps by
the Red Guard outrages in Peiping.
That is the magnitude of the gap between the vision of America we have
always cherished and the way it really is in 1968.
Issues in a political campaign are not made by politicians.
There are no "Republican issues" and "Democratic issues." There are
only American issues and they emerge from events. An issue arises when
matters of public controversy are ripe for decision. Thus the issues of
1968 are not dull abstractions -- they are demands for action.
I believe there are at least four key issues of the 1968 campaign
already evident. They are issues which affect every man, woman and child
and perhaps unborn Americans as well.
Possibly we can be grateful these unborn generations cannot vote, con-
sidering the way their unwed mothers and unwashed fathers have been behaving
lately on our college campuses.
Americans are going to ask what their next national leadership is going
to do to protect their lives, the sáfety of their homes and their worldly
goods, their security on the public streets and at work and worship and play.
They are going to insist there be one standard of justice for all. They are
going to ask whether the law will be enforced firmly and fairly for the pro-
tection of law-abiding citizens, or with a special tolerance for certain
types of lawbreakers. They are going to expect from their future leaders an
example of respect for law and decisive action to prevent trouble before it
starts. Unjust laws can be changed by democratic processes, but they cannot
be defied.
This is going to be a major issue of 1968, perhaps even larger than it
already looms. I am a lawyer by profession as well as a lawmaker by inclina-
tion at the sufferance of my constituents. Thomas Jefferson, who was cer-
tainly no reactionary and whose manual still guides our legislative
procedures in the Congress, once observed that the execution of the laws is
more important than the making of them. What we need most today are not
more laws, but perhaps better laws, and certainly better execution of the
laws we have. I profoundly believe that law is the basis of civilized
society. I believe that law exists to protect the weak, that it provides
a minority with its only sure shield against the tyranny of the majority.
Whatever the grievances of any individual or group, however much he may have
been wronged, there is no safety for him or for any of us outside the law.
The Republican record on the issue of law enforcement is a proper source
of pride for me as our party leader in the House. The Democratic record is
(more)
- 3 -
Ford #69
puzzling, to say the least. Republican initiatives greatly strengthened and
improved the President's proposed Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Act
of 1967, notably by requiring that Federal funds be channeled through the
States which under the Constitution have the primary role in police power.
Although this Republican initiative and change won the support of 49 of the
50 Governors, the House bill has been allowed to languish in the Senate,
despite Newark, despite Detroit, despite the second burning of Washington
and the hundred other disturbances, because the Attorney General wants to
dole out the money directly to city politicians. Similarly, the Republican-
sponsored Federal anti-riot bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly in
1966 and again in 1967, was only recently enacted by the Senate as part of
the 1968 Civil Rights package.
Crime and law enforcement is just one aspect, of course, of the wide
array of pressing problems facing our cities. It is small comfort to ob-
serve that the big cities of America have long been the citadels of Democratic
political power. Whatever else, the Democrats have not solved the mushrooming
problems of our metropolitan areas and their efforts have in fact multiplied
our urban problems.
As John W. Gardner commented shortly before he resigned as Secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare, "There is bitterness and anger toward our
institutions that wells up when high hopes turn sour. Cynicism concerning
all leaders, all officials, all social institutions is continually fed and
renewed by the rage of people who expect too much and got too little."
The Democratic Party has been in power in the White House for 27 of the
last 35 years, for 29 of those years in Congress, for all but two years of the
20 I have served in the House. During those years the Democrats have poured
billions upon billions of dollars of Federal money into programs supposedly
designed to solve the very problems that are erupting into domestic violence
today. If it is true nothing succeeds like success, what we are witnessing
now is that nothing fails so spectacularly as failure.
Daniel P. Moynihan, the former Assistant Secretary of Labor and a liberal
who now heads the Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Urban Affairs, has stated
frankly: "We must abandon the notion that the nation, especially the cities
of the nation, can be run from agencies in Washington."
This is precisely the Republican approach. Republicans propose -- and
in some recent legislative victories have actually succeeded -- in decentral-
izing our attack on America's complex problems which have defied the Federal
bureaucracy for two generations.
Republicans would redirect these costly and ineffective programs through
block grants and revenue sharing that would funnel Federal funds to State
and local governments to meet local needs.
The problems of each of our 50 States, of our thousands of cities and
counties and other jurisdictions, are not identical, and no bureaucrat in
Washington is competent to prescribe for all of them. The Republican block-
grant approach has been successfully incorporated into the Federal Compre-
hensive Health Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Air
Quality and Meat Inspection Acts of the last session and the previously-
mentioned Law Enforcement Assistance Act now hanging fire in the Senate.
A Republican Administration and a Republican Congress would restore
even more authority and leeway in problem solving to States and local
(more)
- 4 -
Ford #69
governments, under a Republican administration, along with the necessary
Federal funds. We would do this not because of a sterile ideological de-
votion to State's Rights but simply because experience has proved the
present way massive Federal mismanagement from Washington -- wastes time
and money and doesn't solve the problems.
To move on to a third issue of 1968, related to crime and the crisis
of our cities, and to some degree (though the evidence is conflicting) con-
nected with racial disturbances, there is the problem of finding jobs for
the hard-core unemployed. Here the Democrats look as always to the applica-
tion of more Federal money filtered through more Federal programs, though
recently there has been some Bobby-come-lately lip service to private
industry programs.
I don't need to describe to this audience the successes of many local
programs enlisting the resources of business and labor and community leader-
ship in training and matching men and jobs. Nor do I need to dwell on the
shabby performance and shocking scandals that have plagued the overpubli-
cized Poverty War approach of the Democrats. I need only say that the
affirmative Republican response to this issue would greatly expand private
participation through tax incentives such as those in the Human Investment
Act and other proposals.
Next in our survey of the issues of 1968 comes the one which perhaps
should be placed first, because unless it can be resolved successfully all
the rest go by the boards.
I speak now of the urgent necessity of restoring, after seven years,
some semblance of fiscal responsibility to our Federal budget. We on the
Republican side, as you know, have been trying to do something about this
for years. We're still trying and won't give up.
We have been rewarded for our concern by Presidential taunts of ob-
structionism and "wooden soldiers of the status quo." What the great
spenders never will acknowledge, and most people don't realize, is that
Democratic inflation since President Eisenhower left office has clipped the
Social Security checks of every senior citizen, the pensions of every dis-
abled veteran, the welfare benefits of every needy family and the savings
and fixed incomes of every American by nearly 20 cents out of every dollar.
No wonder President Johnson himself described inflation as "the
cruelest tax of all." It is taken primarily from the pittances of the poor.
But to this hour he persists in using this cruel tax to pay for the heavy
burdens of a major war in Vietnam without being willing to forego the frills
of spending as usual on the domestic front.
To be sure, the President now seeks a 10% surtax on the Federal in-
come tax. The prospect of at least another $20 billion deficit this coming
fiscal year has touched off a crisis of confidence that threatens the
American dollar in world markets, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Board, William McChesney Martin, recently curled the hair of every American
over 50 by warning the American Society of Newspaper Editors that "the
nation is in the midst of the worst financial crisis since 1931."
Mr. Martin said we "have been living in a fools' paradise" and that
continued failure to put our fiscal house in order might well lead "to un-
controllable inflation and eventual deflation or depression."
(more)
- 5 -
Ford #69
If what Mr. Martin and other administration experts and leading
economists say publicly and privately is even half correct, we cannot make
partisan capital of our fiscal crisis -- we must do something to correct it
now. It is true the Democrats in 1932 deliberately withheld their cooper-
ation and let the worldwide financial panic worsen and the domestic depression
deteriorate from November to March until their Administration could be inaugu-
rated; I cannot believe any Republican would advocate repaying this in kind
today.
But if President Johnson has really removed himself from partisan
politics this year, if he really wants Republican support in the Congress
for meaningful fiscal reforms, he must now lay it on the line to the Ameri-
can people.
The President will have my cooperation, and that of the Republican
minority, when he tells the nation plainly that the time has come to pay the
piper, that he wants real and substantial reductions in Federal spending and
in future spending authority, that he will set realistic priorities for
domestic programs in the face of wartime demands, and that all this will go
hand in hand with the tax increase he considers necessary.
Unless we can work together, Democrats and Republicans, to head off
the danger to our dollar and our domestic economy with the President's full
public support, this too will be a major issue of 1968. If LBJ puts poli-
tics first it could be the issue for the next 35 years.
I have come to the end of my catalog of issues without touching on
Vietnam. There is a fine line which some of us who still believe in old-
fashioned patriotism try to observe when our country is at war and more than
half a million Americans are involved.
I still find no fault with the counsel of the late General MacArthur
that "anybody who commits the land power of the United States on the conti-
nent of Asia ought to have his head examined." But we are there. I must
also say that anyone who jeopardizes or delays the successful conclusion of
that conflict for a few long-haired votes ought to have not only his head
but his heart examined.
Only the President as Commander in Chief can conduct a war involving
American lives and the record is clear that I have disagreed often with the
way this war has been conducted. But our national objective now is to bring
North Vietnam to the peace table. I will do nothing to disrupt it.
Our total defense posture, the failures of the Johnson-Humphrey Ad-
ministration to attend to long-range military needs or to meet such chal-
lenges as the capture of the Pueblo and the Soviet penetration of the
Middle East, are and should be proper subjects for campaign discussion. But
time forbids it today.
Personal safety, economic stability, national security, new directions
to solve the problems of the cities, create jobs and strengthen law enforce-
ment, these are some of the issues that are stirring the winds of change in
America. They are very important and fundamental issues and the difference
between the two parties over them has been demonstrated in actions as well
as words.
I think Republicans reflect the feelings of the majority of the Ameri-
can people on these issues at this point in history. I do not believe
(more)
- 6 -
Ford #69
Americans will buy the silly idea that the changes they want can be ensured
through a simple switch of names at the top of the Democratic ticket. I
feel it in my bones that we are going to win a resounding mandate in
November -- not a Republican victory, but a victory for America.
I was asked to make a partisan speech here today, as spokesman for my
party, and I have. But partisanship has to stop somewhere.
The things that unite us as Americans are far more enduring than the
things that divide us -- even in an election year.
As the campaign gets hotter, let's all remember to singe but never to
burn
that not just the hippies, but all of us, would lots rather make
love than war
that both Democrats and Republicans are striving together
to create a more perfect Union, with liberty and justice for all.
Our unwritten compact of respect for the convictions of others and
faith in the decency of others, allows Americans the luxury of rugged politi-
cal competition. Let's all work to banish war from our shrinking world and
hate from our expanding hearts -- to make this whole planet as full of
friendship and felicity as this room today.
Thank you.
###