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GOP National Leadership Conference, Washington, DC, April 16, 1970
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GOP National Leadership Conference, Washington, DC, April 16, 1970
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The original documents are located in Box D29, folder "GOP National Leadership
Conference, Washington, DC, April 16, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Digitized from Box D27 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
1970 GOP NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM, WASHINGTON
HILTON HOTEL, 10:30 A.M. THURSDAY,
APRIL 16, 1970.
IT IS TIME FOR THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY TO DO SOME BRAGGING.
REPUBLICANS ARE USUALLY MODEST
FELLOWS. WE OFTEN HIDE OUR POLITICAL
LIGHTS BENEATH A BUSHEL. WE HESITATE TO
ENGAGE IN FLOWERY ORATORY OR TO ISSUE
POLITICAL PROMISSORY NOTES. THESE ARE THE
STOCK IN TRADE OF THE OTHER FELLOW. WE ARE
DEALERS IN RATIONALITY AND REALISM.
IT IS BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN
REALISTIC THAT WE NOW CAN POINT WITH PRIDE
TO A FISTFUL OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS OVER THE
15 MONTHS THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN
IN OFFICE. IT IS BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN
REALISTIC THAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED MUCH.
QERALD R.FORD LIBRARY
-2-
LET'S TOOT OUR OWN HORN A LITTLE.
WE HAVE REASON TO BE PROUD, AND WE SHOULD
LET THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW WHY WE FEEL
THAT WAY.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE HAVE
REVERSED THE COURSE OF THE VIETNAM WAR.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE HAVE GIVEN
OUR NATION CAUSE TO HAVE HOPES FOR
DISARMAMENT.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE HAVE
ACHIEVED MAJOR DRAFT REFORM AND ARE MOVING
TOWARD AN END TO THE DRAFT.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE HAVE
REORDERED OUR PRIORITIES SO THAT FOR THE
FIRST TIME IN TWO DECADES WE WILL BE
SPENDING MORE FEDERAL FUNDS ON HUMAN
RESOURCE PROGRAMS THAN ON MILITARY PROGRAMS.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE HAVE CUT
TAXES AND REFORMED THE FEDERAL TAX
STRUCTURE.
-3-
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE ARE HOLDING
BACK THE RISE IN CRIME.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE ARE NEAR
THE POINT OF REFORMING THE SCANDALOUS
WELFARE SYSTEM INHERITED FROM A PREVIOUS
ERA.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE WILL BE
REFORMING THE POSTAL SERVICE DESPITE A
GENERAL BELIEF THAT THIS SIMPLY WAS NOT
POLITICALLY POSSIBLE.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE ARE
SUCCESSFULLY FIGHTING INFLATION, AND THE
LEVELLING OFF IN WHOLESALE PRICES WILL BE
REFLECTED SOON IN A SLOWING OF THE RETAIL
PRICE RISE.
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE ARE
IMPROVING MASS TRANSPORTATION AND HAVE
PROPOSED THE MOST AMBITIOUS MASS TRANSIT
PROGRAM EVER.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
WE FEEL PROUD BECAUSE WE ARE
-4-
PROTECTING THE NATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
AND SPONSORED THE MOST FAR-REACHING COAL
MINE SAFETY BILL IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN
LABOR.
WE COULD DO MUCH MORE. WE WANT
TO DO MUCH MORE. AND WE COULD HAVE DONE
MUCH MORE IN THE 15 MONTHS OF OUR
STEWARDSHIP IF WE HAD HAD MORE HELP FROM
OUR DEMOCRATIC FRIENDS.
BUT THE DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED
CONGRESS HAS BEEN SLOW TO ACT -- SLOW
BECAUSE THE DEMOCRATS IN THE CONGRESS ARE
UNDERSTANDABLY RELUCTANT TO TAKE POSITIVE
ACTIONS WHICH REFLECT CREDIT ON A REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENT.
LET'S BE FRANK. THE NEW
ADMINISTRATION INHERITED A MESS WHEN
RICHARD NIXON TOOK OFFICE IN JANUARY 1969.
WITH THE HELP OF REPUBLICANS IN
CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT IS WORKING HARD
-5-
TO CLEAN UP THE MESS THE DEMOCRATS LEFT
BEHIND.
NATURALLY THE DEMOCRATS AREN'T
ANXIOUS TO COOPERATE WITH THE PRESIDENT.
EVERY TIME THEY DO JOIN HANDS WITH HIM TO
SOLVE A PROBLEM THEY ARE ADMITTING IT IS
SOMETHING THEY SHOULD HAVE CLEANED UP LONG
BEFORE.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE
POSITION. THEY ARE BEING ASKED TO HELP
CLEAN UP THE MESS THEY MADE -- TO END THE
WAR A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT PLUNGED US INTO;
TO CURB THE INFLATION BROUGHT ON BY
IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING POLICIES OF THE
PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION; TO REORDER
PRIORITIES KNOCKED ASKEW BY THE WAR WE GOT
INTO UNDER A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT; TO END
AIR AND WATER POLLUTION THAT GREW STEADILY
WORSE DURING THE EIGHT YEARS DEMOCRATS
CONTROLLED BOTH THE CONGRESS AND THE WHITE
-6-
HOUSE; TO REDUCE A CRIME RATE THAT ROSE
10 TIMES FASTER THAN OUR POPULATION DURING
THE EIGHT DEMOCRATIC YEARS OF THE SIXTIES.
IT'S TOUGH TO CLEAN UP THE
DEMOCRATIC MESS, BUT WE ARE MAKING
PROGRESS.
INSTEAD OF HELPING US, THE
DEMOCRATS ARE EMPLOYING THE SAME KIND OF
SPEND-MORE TACTICS THEY USED IN PILING UP
$57 BILLION IN DEFICITS DURING THE LAST
DECADE.
INSTEAD OF JUMPING FEET FIRST
INTO THE WAR AGAINST CRIME, THE DEMOCRATS
HAVE DRAGGED THEIR HEELS ON THE 13
ANTI-CRIME BILLS PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT
NIXON AND HAVE ATTACKED NEARLY EVERY NEW
ANTI-CRIME TOOL AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
INSTEAD OF WHOLE-HEARTEDLY
BACKING THE PRESIDENT'S VIETNAMIZATION PROGRAM
SOME INFLUENTIAL DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN
GERAL
BRARY
-7-
UNDERMINING THE PRESIDENT AND URGING A
SETTLEMENT ON NORTH VIETNAMESE TERMS.
INFLATION HAS BEEN THE NO. 1
DOMESTIC PROBLEM FACING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
PRESIDENT NIXON HAS ATTACKED INFLATION BY
SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR THE NATION --
BALANCING THE FEDERAL BUDGET.
HAVE THE DEMOCRATS COOPERATED?
NOT A BIT OF IT. INSTEAD THEY FATTENED UP
A LABOR-H.E.W. APPROPRIATIONS BILL FOR
FISCAL 1970 BY $1.3 BILLION DESPITE THE
FACT THE PRESIDENT HAD ALREADY ASKED FOR
$1 BILLION MORE IN SCHOOL AID FUNDS FOR THIS
FISCAL YEAR THAN WAS SPENT IN FISCAL 1969.
THEY PURSUED A THOROUGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE
COURSE IN THE HOPE OF POLITICAL GAIN.
THE PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICANS IN
THE CONGRESS REFUSED TO BOW TO POLITICAL
BLACKMAIL AND SUCCEEDED IN GAINING A
COMPROMISE WHICH CUT THE PROPOSED SPENDING
-8-
JUMP IN HALF.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS THE PARTY
OF RESPONSIBILITY. AGAIN I SAY WE CAN FEEL
PROUD OF OUR STEWARDSHIP DURING THE PAST
15 MONTHS. WE CAN BE PROUD THAT WE HELD
OUR GROUND IN THE FACE OF IRRESPONSIBLE
ATTEMPTS TO BUST THE FEDERAL BUDGET WITHOUT
A CARE FOR INFLATIONARY PRESSURES.
WE ARE NOW SUCCEEDING IN SLOWING
INFLATION IN SPITE OF THE IRRESPONSIBLE
TACTICS OF THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS. THIS
MAY NOT BE READILY APPARENT, BECAUSE THERE
IS A LAG BETWEEN THE TIME FISCAL AND
MONETARY RESTRAINTS BECOME EFFECTIVE AND
THE IMPACT OF THOSE RESTRAINTS ON RETAIL
PRICES. BUT I AM THOROUGHLY CONVINCED THAT
THE RISE IN THE COST OF LIVING HAS BEEN
SLOWED.
EFFORTS TO CONTROL INFLATION
PRODUCE ANOTHER PROBLEM -- RISING
-9-
UNEMPLOYMENT. WE HAVE THAT PROBLEM BECAUSE
THE DEMOCRATS ALLOWED INFLATION TO RACE
ALONG ALMOST UNCHECKED FOR NEARLY FOUR
YEARS BEFORE THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION TOOK
OFFICE.
WE INHERITED THE PROBLEM OF
INFLATION. WE ARE NOW FIGHTING IT
COURAGEOUSLY.
WE WILL CURB INFLATION WITHOUT A
RECESSION.
WHENEVER ANY DEMOCRAT TALKS TO
YOU ABOUT HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, JUST REMIND
HIM THAT THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RAN ABOVE
5 PER CENT DURING THE FIRST FOUR DEMOCRATIC
YEARS OF THE SIXTIES AND DROPPED BELOW THAT
FIGURE ONLY AFTER A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT
TOOK US INTO A JUNGLE WAR HALFWAY AROUND
THE WORLD. THE FACTS ARE THAT THE SHARP
FORD
DECLINE IN UNEMPLOYMENT IN 1966 COINCIDED
GERAL
LIBRARY
WITH A SHARP SURGE IN THE ECONOMY
-10-
TRIGGERED BY THE VIETNAM WAR. IS THAT THE
KIND OF PROSPERITY WE WANT IN THIS COUNTRY?
THE SAME WAR PROSPERITY GENERATED
INFLATIONARY PRESSURES WHICH STEADILY
PUSHED UP THE COST OF LIVING FOR EVERY MAN,
WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA. OF COURSE IT
IS PAINFUL TO FIGHT THIS INFLATION WHICH
GATHERED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PREVIOUS
DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION. BUT WE HAVE TO
DO IT OR WE WILL BE BETRAYING THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE.
WHAT THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO
DO IS TO SADDLE US WITH THE CONSEQUENCES
OF THEIR OWN SINS. I DON'T THINK THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL BE MISLED. THEY ARE
TOO SMART FOR THAT.
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN
IRRESPONSIBLE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST
INFLATION. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN GUILTY
OF FOOT-DRAGGING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME.
-11-
THAT IS THE ONLY CONCLUSION YOU
CAN REACH WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT THE
DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED 91st CONGRESS LET THE
ENTIRE FIRST SESSION SLIP BY WITHOUT
ENACTING EVEN ONE OF PRESIDENT NIXON'S
13 ANTI-CRIME BILLS.
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TAKEN A GO-SLOW
APPROACH THAT THUS FAR HAS SMOTHERED
REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT A NATIONAL
ANTI-CRIME CAMPAIGN.
DESPITE THIS STALLING, THE NIXON
ADMINISTRATION HAS PUT THE ARM ON A LARGE
NUMBER OF MAFIA FIGURES, HAS CRACKED DOWN
ON CORRUPTION IN NEW JERSEY, HAS BUSTED
UP SOME MAJOR DOPE SMUGGLING AND PEDDLING
OPERATIONS, AND HAS HELPED STRENGTHEN LOCAL
POLICE FORCES.
YES, THERE WAS AN 11 PER CENT
INCREASE IN THE NATIONAL CRIME RATE LAST
YEAR. BUT IT WAS THE LOWEST INCREASE IN
-12-
THE LAST FOUR YEARS, AND WE WILL CONTINUE
TO DO BETTER AND BETTER. LET US ALSO NOTE
THAT THE RATE OF INCREASE UNDER THE
DEMOCRATS IN 1968 WAS 17 PER CENT.
ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS PRESIDENT
NIXON DID WHEN HE CAME INTO OFFICE LAST
YEAR WAS TO REQUEST $25 MILLION MORE FROM
THE CONGRESS TO FIGHT CRIME THIS FISCAL
YEAR. AND FOR FISCAL 1971 HE HAS ASKED
FOR $1 BILLION 257 MILLION FOR THE JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT -- THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
THAT ANY ADMINISTRATION HAS SOUGHT MORE
THAN $1 BILLION FOR THE LAW ENFORCEMENT
AGENCY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT AS THE
RESULT OF NIXON ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANCE,
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL BE SAFER ON THE
STREETS AND IN THEIR HOMES.
AT THE SAME TIME I SAY THAT THE FORD
DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED CONGRESS HAS AN
GERALD
LIBRARY
-13-
OBLIGATION TO GIVE THE ADMINISTRATION MORE
TOOLS TO FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE
NARCOTICS TRAFFIC. YOU CAN BE SURE THERE
WOULD BE NO STALLING IF REPUBLICANS WERE
IN CHARGE ON CAPITOL HILL.
THE ISSUES OF THE 1970 CAMPAIGN
ARE CLEAR. FAILURE OF THE DEMOCRATS IN
CONGRESS TO COOPERATE WITH A REPUBLICAN
ADMINISTRATION IN THE WAR AGAINST CRIME;
FAILURE OF THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS TO
COOPERATE WITH A REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION
IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INFLATION.
WHAT MORE PROOF DO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE NEED THAT THE WAY TO ACHIEVE
PROGRESS IN THE SEVENTIES IS TO GIVE
PRESIDENT NIXON A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS SO HE
CAN IMPLEMENT HIS PROGRAM?
THERE IS A WHOLE HOST OF NIXON
ADMINISTRATION REFORMS AWAITING CONGRESSIONAL
ACTION: A STRENGTHENED AND BROADENED
-14-
ANTI-CRIME PROGRAM; A POSTAL SERVICE
AUTHORITY WITH BROAD MODERNIZATION POWERS;
A WORKFARE PROGRAM IN PLACE OF THE WELFARE
SCANDAL; A CONSOLIDATION OF MANPOWER
TRAINING PROGRAMS, TO BE TURNED OVER TO THE
STATES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES AS THEY
BECOME EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THEM; REVENUE
SHARING GIVING THE STATES AND CITIES A
PERCENTAGE SLICE OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX
RECEIPTS ON A NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED BASIS;
CONSOLIDATION OF FEDERAL GRANT PROGRAMS;
A RE-EXAMINATION OF FEDERAL AID TO SCHOOLS
TO ACHIEVE QUALITY EDUCATION; REVAMPING
OF OUR LABOR LAWS FOR IMPROVED HANDLING
OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY LABOR DISPUTES IN
TRANSPORTATION; AND A CRUSADE TO RID
OURSELVES OF AIR AND WATER POLLUTION.
EVERY ONE OF THESE REFORMS WILL
BE AN ISSUE IN THE 1970 CAMPAIGN TO THE
EXTENT THAT DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS FAIL TO
-15-
JOIN THIS CRUSADE.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT THESE
REFORMS. YOU CAN BE SURE REPUBLICANS WOULD
DELIVER ON THEM IF REPUBLICANS CONTROLLED
THE CONGRESS.
TO WRAP ALL THE ISSUES IN THE
1970 CAMPAIGN INTO ONE -- THE PRIMARY ISSUE
IS WHETHER WE WILL HAVE A FOOT-DRAGGING
DEMOCRAT CONGRESS OR A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS
THAT WILL RESPOND AFFIRMATIVELY TO THE
PROBLEMS OF THE 70'S.
THE HOUR OF TRUTH IS UPON US, AND
THE TIME IS NOW. TRUTH IS OUR GREATEST
WEAPON IN THE CAMPAIGN TO COME. OUR
SUCCESS AT THE POLLS WILL BE MEASURED BY
OUR SUCCESS IN IMPRESSING THE TRUTH UPON
THE PEOPLE.
IT IS VITAL THAT WE ELECT
REPUBLICANS TO THE CONGRESS IN NOVEMBER.
AND THAT IS THE TRUTH YOU MUST MAKE CLEAR
-16-
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. YOU MUST MAKE CLEAR
THAT PRESIDENT NIXON WILL BE HELPED
IMMENSELY -- THE NATION WILL BE AIDED -- IF
THERE IS A REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IN THE
CONGRESS AS A RESULT OF THE 1970 ELECTIONS.
SO LET US DO THE JOB. TOGETHER
WE CAN. WE ARE ON THE MARCH. LET US PROVE
THAT OUR PARTY IS A WINNING ONE. WE HAVE
THE CANDIDATES AND THE PROGRAMS THE PEOPLE
WANT. LET US MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER
TOGETHER TO VICTORY IN NOVEMBER.
-- END --
GERALD LISSABY FORD
Distribution Full
air mail p.m. 4/14/90
M office Copy
Galleries 11:00a.m. 4/15/70
50 capies notl. Comm. 4/16/70a.m.
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT THE 1970 GOP NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
AT THE INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM
OF THE WASHINGTON HILTON HOTEL
10:30 A.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
It is time for the Republican Party to do some bragging.
Republicans are usually modest fellows. We often hide our political lights
beneath a bushel. We hesitate to engage in flowery oratory or to issue political
promissory notes. These are the stock in trade of the other fellow. We are
dealers in rationality and realism.
It is because we have been realistic that we now can point with pride to a
33
fistful of accomplishments over the months the Nixon Administration has been in
office. It is because we have been realistic that we have achieved much.
Let's toot our own horn a little. We have reason to be proud, and we should
let the American people know why we feel that way.
We feel proud because we have reversed the course of the Vietnam War and weare
ending M.S. involvement industrion in a way whichgives a has Communical a chance Vistnam
We feel proud because we have given our Nation cause to have hopes for
to survive.
disarmament.
We feel proud because we have achieved major draft reform and are moving
toward an end to the draft.
We feel proud because we have reordered our priorities so that for the
first time in two decades we are spending more Federal funds on human needs
than on military programs.
We feel proud because we have cut taxes and reformed the Federal tax
structure.
We feel proud because we are holding back the rise in crime.
We feel proud because we are near the point of reforming the scandalous
welfare system inherited from a previous era.
have
We
feel
proud
because
we
reformed
the postal service despite a
general belief that this simply was not politically possible
with Freshrizor,
We feel proud because we are
fighting inflation and the
Presidenth price wage freeze is working!
of
the
(more)
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
-2-
We feel proud because we are improving mass transportation and have
launched
the most ambitious mass transit program ever.
We feel proud because we are protecting the national health and safety and
sponsored inastmently the most Par-reaching coal mine safety bill in the history of American
labor.
We could do much more. We want to do much more. And we could have done much
33
more in the
months of our stewardship if we had had more help from our
Democratic friends.
But the Democrat-controlled Congress has been slow to act -- slow because
the Democrats in the Congress are understandably reluctant to take positive actions
which reflect credit on a Republican President.
Let's be frank. The new Administration inherited a mess when Richard Nixon
took office in January 1969.
With the help of Republicans in Congress, the President is working hard to
clean up the mess the Democrats left behind.
Naturally the Democrats aren't anxious to cooperate with the President. Every
time they do join hands with him to solve a problem they are admitting it is some-
thing they should have cleaned up long before.
The Democrats are in an uncomfortable position. They are being asked to
help clean up the mess they made
the war a Democratic President plunged
us into;
the inflation brought on by irresponsible
policies of
the disorder in
the previous Administration;
priorities knocked askew by the war we got
into under a Democratic President;
air and water pollution that grew steadily
worse during the eight years Democrats controlled both the Congress and the White
House;
crime
that rose 10 times faster than our population during
the eight Democratic years of the Sixties.
It's tough to clean up the Democratic mess, but we are making progress.
(more)
-3-
Inflation has been the No. 1 domestic problem facing the American people.
President Nixon has attacked inflation by setting an example for the Nation --
balancing the Federal budget.
Have the Democrets cooperated? Not a bit of it. Instead they fattened up a
Labor-H.E.W. appropriations bill for fiscal 1970 by $1.3 billion despite the fact
the President had already asked for $1 billion more in school aid funds for this
fiscal year than was spent in fiscal 1969. They pursued a thoroughly irresponsible
course in the hope of political gain.
The President and Republicans in the Congress refused to bow to political
blackmail and succeeded in gaining a compromise which cut the proposed spending
Jump in half.
The Republican Party is the party of responsibility. Again I say we can
33
feel proud of our stewardship during the past months.
We are now succeeding in slowing inflation
tactics of the Democrats in Congress This not be readily apparent because
there is a lag between the time fiscal and monetary restreints become effective and
the impact of these restraints on retail prices. Dut H am thoroughly convinced that
the rise in the Dost of living has been slowed.
serious
Efforts to control inflation produce another problem
unemployment.
We have that problem because the Democrats allowed inflation to race along almost
unchecked for nearly four years before the Nixon Administration took office. and that
publem is aggravated reductionsin on military forces and
defense plant payrolls as wind down a Damocrat was.
Whenever any Democrat talks to you about high unemployment, just remind him
that the unemployment rate ran above 5 per cent during the first four Democratic
years of the Sixties and dropped below that figure only after a Democratic
President took us into a jungle war halfway around the world. The facts are that
the sharp decline in unemployment in 1966 coincided with a sharp surge in the economy
triggered by the Vietnam War. Is that the kind of prosperity we want in this
country?
The same war prosperity generated inflationary pressures which steadily
pushed up the cost of living for every man, woman and child in America. Of course
it is painful to fight this inflation which gathered momentum under the previous
(more)
-4-
Democratic Administration. But we have to do it or we will be betraying the
American people.
What the Democrats are trying to do is to saddle us with the consequences
of their own sins. I don't think the American people will be misled. They are
too smart for that.
The Democrats have been irresponsible in the fight against inflation. The
Democrats have been guilty of foot-dragging in the fight against crime.
That is the only conclusion you can reach when you consider that the
Democrat-controlled 91st Congress let the entire first session slip by without
enacting even one of President Nixon's 13 anti-crime bills.
The Democrats have taken a go-slow approach that thus far has smothered
Republican efforts to implement a national anti-crime campaign.
Despite this stalling, the Nixon Administration has put the arm on a large
number of Mafia figures, has cracked down on corruption in New Jersey, has busted
up some major dope smuggling and peddling operations, and has helped strengthen
local police forces.
Yes, there was an 11 per cent increase in the national crime rate last year.
But it was the lowest increase in the last four years, and we will continue to do
better and better. Let us also note that the rate of increase under the Democrats
in 1968 was 17 per cent.
One of the first things President Nixon did when he came into office last
year was to request $25 million more from the Congress to fight crime this fiscal
year. And for fiscal 1971 he has asked for $1 billion 257 million for the Justice
Department - the first time in history that any Administration has sought more than
$1 billion for the law enforcement agency of the federal government.
I can promise you that as the result of Nixon Administration assistance, the
American people will be safer on the streets and in their homes.
At the same time I say that the Democrat-controlled Congress has an
obligation to give the Administration more tools to fight organized crime and the
narcotics traffic You can be sure there would be no stalling if Republicans were
in charge on Capitol Hill.
The issues of the 1970 campaign are clear: Failure of the Democrats in
Congress to cooperate with a Republican Administration in the war against crime;
failure of the Democrats in Congress to cooperate with a Republican Administration
in the fight against inflation.
(more)
GERALD
LIBRARY
-5-
What
the American people need
to
achieve
progress
in the Seventies is to give President Nixon a Republican Congress so he can
implement his program
There is a whole host of Nixon Administration reforms awaiting congressional
action:
and
workfare program in place of the welfare scandal;
a consolidation of manpower training programs, to be turned over to the states and
local communities as they become equipped to handle them; revenue sharing giving
the States and cities a percentage slice of Federal income tax receipts on a
no-strings-attached basis; consolidation of Federal grant programs; a re-examination
of Federal aid to schools to achieve quality education; revamping of our labor laws
for improved handling of national emergency labor disputes in transportation; and
a crusade to rid ourselves of air and water pollution.
Every one of these reforms will be an issue in the 1976 campaign to the
extent that Democrats in Congress fail to join in this crusade.
The American people want these reforms. You can be sure Republicans would
deliver on them if Republicans controlled the Congress.
To wrap all the issues in the 1970 campaign into one -- the primary issue
is whether we will have a foot-dragging Democrat Congress or a Republican Congress
that will respond affirmatively to the problems of the 70's.
The hour of truth is upon us, and the time is now. Truth is our greatest
weapon in the campaign to come. Our success at the polls will be measured by our
success in impressing the truth upon the people.
1972.
It is vital that we elect Republicans to the Congress in November
hat is the truth you must make clear to the American people. You must make clear
that President Nixon will be helped immensely -- the Nation will be aided -- if there
is a Republican majority in the Congress as a result of the 1970 elections.
So let us do the job. Together we can. We are on the march. Let us
prove that our party is a winning one. We have the candidates and the programs
the people want. Let us move forward together together to victory in November.
# # #
Full Distribution
+ 50 capies to natl. Comm.
affice Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT THE 1970 GOP NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
AT THE INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM
OF THE WASHINGTON HILTON HOTEL
10:30 A.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
It is time for the Republican Party to do some bragging.
Republicans are usually modest fellows. We often hide our political lights
beneath a bushel. We hesitate to engage in flowery oratory or to issue political
promissory notes. These are the stock in trade of the other fellow. We are
dealers in rationality and realism.
It is because we have been realistic that we now can point with pride to a
fistful of accomplishments over the 15 months the Nixon Administration has been in
office. It is because we have been realistic that we have achieved much.
Let's toot our own horn a little. We have reason to be proud, and we should
let the American people know why we feel that way.
We feel proud because we have reversed the course of the Vietnam War.
We feel proud because we have given our Nation cause to have hopes for
disarmament.
We feel proud because we have achieved major draft reform and are moving
toward an end to the draft.
We feel proud because we have reordered our priorities so that for the
first time in two decades we will be spending more Federal funds on human resource
programs than on military programs.
We feel proud because we have cut taxes and reformed the Federal tax
structure.
We feel proud because we are holding back the rise in crime.
We feel proud because we are near the point of reforming the scandalous
welfare system inherited from a previous era.
We feel proud because we will be reforming the postal service despite a
general belief that this simply was not politically possible.
We feel proud because we are successfully fighting inflation, and the
levelling off in wholesale prices will be reflected soon in a slowing of the retail
price rise.
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We feel proud because we are improving mass transportation and have proposed
the most ambitious mass transit program ever.
We feel proud because we are protecting the national health and safety and
sponsored the most far-reaching coal mine safety bill in the history of American
labor.
We could do much more. We want to do much more. And we could have done much
more in the 15 months of our stewardship if we had had more help from our
Democratic friends.
But the Democrat-controlled Congress has been slow to act -- slow because
the Democrats in the Congress are understandably reluctant to take positive actions
which reflect credit on a Republican President.
Let's be frank. The new Administration inherited a mess when Richard Nixon
took office in January 1969.
With the help of Republicans in Congress, the President is working hard to
clean up the mess the Democrats left behind.
Naturally the Democrats aren't anxious to cooperate with the President. Every
time they do join hands with him to solve a problem they are admitting it is some-
thing they should have cleaned up long before.
The Democrats are in an uncomfortable position. They are being asked to
help clean up the mess they made -- to end the war a Democratic President plunged
us into; to curb the inflation brought on by irresponsible spending policies of
the previous Administration; to reorder priorities knocked askew by the war we got
into under a Democratic President; to end air and water pollution that grew steadily
worse during the eight years Democrats controlled both the Congress and the White
House; to reduce a crime rate that rose 10 times faster than our population during
the eight Democratic years of the Sixties.
It's tough to clean up the Democratic mess, but we are making progress.
Instead of helping us, the Drmocrats are employing the same kind of
spend-more tactics they used in piling up $57 billion in deficits during the last
decade.
Instead of jumping feet first into the war against crime, the Democrats
have dragged their heels on the 13 anti-crime bills proposed by President Nixon
and have attacked nearly every new anti-crime tool as unconstitutional.
Instead of whole-heartedly backing the President's Vietnamization program,
some influential Democrats have been undermining the President and urging a
settlement on North Vietnamese terms.
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Inflation has been the No. 1 domestic problem facing the American people.
President Nixon has attacked inflation by setting an example for the Nation --
balancing the Federal budget.
Have the Democrats cooperated? Not a bit of it. Instead they fattened up a
Labor-H.E.W. appropriations bill for fiscal 1970 by $1.3 billion despite the fact
the President had already asked for $1 billion more in school aid funds for this
fiscal year than was spent in fiscal 1969. They pursued a thoroughly irresponsible
course in the hope of political gain.
The President and Republicans in the Congress refused to bow to political
blackmail and succeeded in gaining a compromise which cut the proposed spending
jump in half.
The Republican Party is the party of responsibility. Again I say we can
feel proud of our stewardship during the past 15 months. We can be proud that we
held our ground in the face of irresponsible attempts to bust the Federal budget
without a care for inflationary pressures.
We are now succeeding in slowing inflation in spite of the irresponsible
tactics of the Democrats in Congress. This may not be readily apparent, because
there is a lag between the time fiscal and monetary restraints become effective and
the impact of those restraints on retail prices. But I am thoroughly convinced that
the rise in the cost of living has been slowed.
Efforts to control inflation produce another problem -- rising unemployment.
We have that problem because the Democrats allowed inflation to race along almost
unchecked for nearly four years before the Nixon Administration took office.
We inherited the problem of inflation. We are now fighting it courageously.
We will curb inflation without a recession.
Whenever any Democrat talks to you about high unemployment, just remind him
that the unemployment rate ran above 5 per cent during the first four Democratic
years of the Sixties and dropped below that figure only after a Democratic
President took us into a jungle war halfway around the world. The facts are that
the sharp decline in unemployment in 1966 coincided with a sharp surge in the economy
triggered by the Vietnam War. Is that the kind of prosperity we want in this
country?
The same war prosperity generated inflationary pressures which steadily
pushed up the cost of living for every man, woman and child in America. Of course
it is painful to fight this inflation which gathered momentum under the previous
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Democratic Administration. But we have to do it or we will be betraying the
American people.
What the Democrats are trying to do is to saddle us with the consequences
of their own sins. I don't think the American people will be misled. They are
too smart for that.
The Democrats have been irresponsible in the fight against inflation. The
Democrats have been guilty of foot-dragging in the fight against crime.
That is the only conclusion you can reach when you consider that the
Democrat-controlled 91st Congress let the entire first session slip by without
enacting even one of President Nixon's 13 anti-crime bills.
The Democrats have taken a go-slow approach that thus far has smothered
Republican efforts to implement a national anti-crime campaign.
Despite this stalling, the Nixon Administration has put the arm on a large
number of Mafia figures, has cracked down on corruption in New Jersey, has busted
up some major dope smuggling and peddling operations, and has helped strengthen
local police forces.
Yes, there was an 11 per cent increase in the national crime rate last year.
But it was the lowest increase in the last four years, and we will continue to do
better and better. Let us also note that the rate of increase under the Democrats
in 1968 was 17 per cent.
One of the first things President Nixon did when he came into office last
year was to request $25 million more from the Congress to fight crime this fiscal
year. And for fiscal 1971 he has asked for $1 billion 257 million for the Justice
Department -- the first time in history that any Administration has sought more than
$1 billion for the law enforcement agency of the federal government.
I can promise you that as the result of Nixon Administration assistance, the
American people will be safer on the streets and in their homes.
At the same time I say that the Democrat-controlled Congress has an
obligation to give the Administration more tools to fight organized crime and the
narcotics traffic. You can be sure there would be no stalling if Republicans were
in charge on Capitol Hill.
The issues of the 1970 campaign are clear: Failure of the Democrats in
Congress to cooperate with a Republican Administration in the war against crime;
failure of the Democrats in Congress to cooperate with a Republican Administration
in the fight against inflation.
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What more proof do the American people need that the way to achieve progress
in the Seventies is to give President Nixon a Republican Congress so he can
implement his program?
There is a whole host of Nixon Administration reforms awaiting congressional
action: A strengthened and broadened anti-crime program; a postal service authority
with broad modernization powers; a workfare program in place of the welfare scandal;
a consolidation of manpower training programs, to be turned over to the states and
local communities as they become equipped to handle them; revenue sharing giving
the States and cities a percentage slice of Federal income tax receipts on a
no-strings-attached basis; consolidation of Federal grant programs; a re-examination
of Federal aid to schools to achieve quality education; revamping of our labor laws
for improved handling of national emergency labor disputes in transportation; and
a crusade to rid ourselves of air and water pollution.
Every one of these reforms will be an issue in the 1970 campaign to the
extent that Democrats in Congress fail to join in this crusade.
The American people want these reforms. You can be sure Republicans would
deliver on them if Republicans controlled the Congress.
To wrap all the issues in the 1970 campaign into one -- the primary issue
is whether we will have a foot-dragging Democrat Congress or a Republican Congress
that will respond affirmatively to the problems of the 70's.
The hour of truth is upon us, and the time is now. Truth is our greatest
weapon in the campaign to come. Our success at the polls will be measured by our
success in impressing the truth upon the people.
It is vital that we elect Republicans to the Congress in November. And
that is the truth you must make clear to the American people. You must make clear
that President Nixon will be helped immensely -- the Nation will be aided -- if there
is a Republican majority in the Congress as a result of the 1970 elections.
So let us do the job. Together we can. We are on the march. Let us
prove that our party is a winning one. We have the candidates and the programs
the people want. Let us move forward together together to victory in November.
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