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Lincoln Day, Hilton Hotel Convention Center, Cape Kennedy, FL, February 14, 1970
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Lincoln Day, Hilton Hotel Convention Center, Cape Kennedy, FL, February 14, 1970
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The original documents are located in Box D28, folder "Lincoln Day, Hilton Hotel
Convention Center, Cape Kennedy, FL, February 14, 1970" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
20 copies to Mr. Ford only
Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. SATURDAY--
February 14, 1970
Excerpts from a Lincoln Day Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican
Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, at the Hilton Hotel Convention Center,
Cape Kennedy, Fla.
It is a thrill for me to meet here with you in this the launching place of
one of the greatest events ever recorded in the history of man.
What has occurred since Neil Armstrong and Ed Aldrin took "a giant leap for
mankind" on the moon's surface seems anti-climactic. But the best is yet to come.
The Age of Cosmos has just begun. The great age of exploration lies before us.
The establishment of Tranquillity Base simply marked the birth of a new era.
There is much talk today of new priorities--of a reordering of priorities.
This is as it should be because as long as even a fraction of our resources are
expended in the waging of war that expenditure is a monument to the folly of man.
But let no American think that the exploration of space has no place in the
priorities of the Seventies.
Priorities? Consider the fact that our annual expenditures on space explo-
ration represent about one-half of what Americans spend on liquor each year. And
consider the fact that it would cost more than twice as much to rehabilitate our
cities as it has to put a man on the moon.
It is not the moon program which has prevented the Nation from solving its
earthly problems and kept us from improving the quality of our life. It is the
mismanagement of our affairs up to this time.
It would be a mistake for anyone to believe that the Nixon Administration is
going to emasculate the space program. The President is too forward-looking for
that, far too perceptive of the longrange benefits in the conquest of space.
That is why President Nixon has pledged himself in his 1971 budget to continue
exploration of the solar system. "We shall," the President said in his budget
message, "seek to extend our capability in space-both manned and unmanned." And
he added that "our actions will make it possible to make plans for a manned
expedition to Mars."
These are the words of a President who has great faith in the men and women
of NASA and a burning determination to expand man's knowledge of the universe.
While it is true that 1971 space spending is programmed at a slightly
lower level than that of 1970, this merely reflects the tightness of the entire
Nixon budget at a time when inflation is our No. 1 domestic problem.
FORD LIBRARY
(more)
Digitized from Box D28 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
This should not obscure the fact that we place undiminished stress on our
space program and we look for vast advances in space exploration through future
manned and unmanned flights.
I think it is a mistake to say that our landings on the moon have proved we
Americans can do anything. But certainly they indicate there is little we cannot
accomplish if the Nation is fully committed to a great goal.
We have learned much from our moon landings. We have perceived the ingredi-
ents of success for a seemingly impossible mission. Of those ingredients there is
one which must be present in all great undertakings--and that ingredient is leader-
ship, the kind of leadership symbolized by the courage of men hurling through space
toward a landing on the moon.
We currently are celebrating Lincoln's Birthday at Republican dinners
throughout the country. We mark the birthday of Lincoln because he was a great
President. And Republicans pay special tribute to Lincoln because he was the first
Republican President--and a great Republican.
Why was Lincoln a great Republican President? Because he exhibited that
quality which marked the first successful landing on the moon-the quality of leader-
ship which has distinguished America among all the nations on the earth.
I submit that we are seeing that quality of leadership again today in another
Republican President, seeing it at a time when great leadership in an American
President is as desperately needed as in the cataclysmic climate of the War
Between the States.
It is the Lincoln style of leadership and it is Lincoln philosophy which
marks the Republican Party today.
Recall, if you will, the terrible tensions of the years before President
Nixon entered the White House--the rioting in the inner cities, the time of the torch.
Abraham Lincoln also assumed the Presidency of a Nation torn asunder. And
what did he tell his countrymen? He said, "My advice is to keep cool. If the great
American people will only keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles
will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled."
This is the kind of leadership President Nixon is giving the country-cool,
Lincolnesque leadership. Under President Nixon, an air of calm has descended on
the Nation. He has restored us to our senses.
I submit that Lincoln philosophy--Nixon philosophy--is the basic philosophy
of all Americans, and this is the reason that the people are turning to the
Republican Party and will turn the Congress over to us next fall as they did the
White House in '68.
# # #
Distribution 20 copies Mr. Ford
m Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
-FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. SATURDAY--
February 14, 1970
Excerpts from a Lincoln Day Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican
Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, at the Hilton Hotel Convention Center,
Cape Kennedy, Fla.
It is a thrill for me to meet here with you in this the launching place of
one of the greatest events ever recorded in the history of man.
What has occurred since Neil Armstrong and Ed Aldrin took "a giant leap for
mankind" on the moon's surface seems anti-climactic. But the best is yet to come.
The Age of Cosmos has just begun. The great age of exploration lies before us.
The establishment of Tranquillity Base simply marked the birth of a new era.
There is much talk today of new priorities--of a reordering of priorities.
This is as it should be because as long as even a fraction of our resources are
expended in the waging of war that expenditure is a monument to the folly of man.
But let no American think that the exploration of space has no place in the
priorities of the Seventies.
Priorities? Consider the fact that our annual expenditures on space explo-
ration represent about one-half of what Americans spend on liquor each year. And
consider the fact that it would cost more than twice as much to rehabilitate our
cities as it has to put a man on the moon.
It is not the moon program which has prevented the Nation from solving its
earthly problems and kept us from improving the quality of our life. It is the
mismanagement of our affairs up to this time.
It would be a mistake for anyone to believe that the Nixon Administration is
going to emasculate the space program. The President is too forward-looking for
that, far too perceptive of the longrange benefits in the conquest of space.
That is why President Nixon has pledged himself in his 1971 budget to continue
exploration of the solar system. "We shall," the President said in his budget
message, "seek to extend our capability in space--both manned and unmanned." And
he added that "our actions will make it possible to make plans for a manned
expedition to Mars."
These are the words of a President who has great faith in the men and women
of NASA and a burning determination to expand man's knowledge of the universe.
While it is true that 1971 space spending is programmed at a slightly
FORD
lower level than that of 1970, this merely reflects the tightness of the entire
LIBRARY
Nixon budget at a time when inflation is our No. 1 domestic problem.
(more)
-2-
This should not obscure the fact that we place undiminished stress on our
space program and we look for vast advances in space exploration through future
manned and unmanned flights.
I think it is a mistake to say that our landings on the moon have proved we
Americans can do anything. But certainly they indicate there is little we cannot
accomplish if the Nation is fully committed to a great goal.
We have learned much from our moon landings. We have perceived the ingredi-
ents of success for a seemingly impossible mission. Of those ingredients there is
one which must be present in all great undertakings--and that ingredient is leader-
ship, the kind of leadership symbolized by the courage of men hurling through space
toward a landing on the moon.
We currently are celebrating Lincoln's Birthday at Republican dinners
throughout the country. We mark the birthday of Lincoln because he was a great
President. And Republicans pay special tribute to Lincoln because he was the first
Republican President--and a great Republican.
Why was Lincoln a great Republican President? Because he exhibited that
quality which marked the first successful landing on the moon--the quality of leader-
ship which has distinguished America among all the nations on the earth.
I submit that we are seeing that quality of leadership again today in another
Republican President, seeing it at a time when great leadership in an American
President is as desperately needed as in the cataclysmic climate of the War
Between the States.
It is the Lincoln style of leadership and it is Lincoln philosophy which
marks the Republican Party today.
Recall, if you will, the terrible tensions of the years before President
Nixon entered the White House--the rioting in the inner cities, the time of the torch.
Abraham Lincoln also assumed the Presidency of a Nation torn asunder. And
what did he tell his countrymen? He said, "My advice is to keep cool. If the great
American people will only keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles
will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled."
This is the kind of leadership President Nixon is giving the country--cool,
Lincolnesque leadership. Under President Nixon, an air of calm has descended on
the Nation. He has restored us to our senses.
I submit that Lincoln philosophy--Nixon philosophy--is the basic philosophy
of all Americans, and this is the reason that the people are turning to the
Republican Party and will turn the Congress over to us next fall as they did the
White House in '68.
# # #