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Fifth District Weekly Radio Reports, 1970
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
Weekly Radio Reports
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Cambodia
Veterans' Administration. (7/21/1930 - 3/15/1989)
Supreme Court of the United States. 2/2/1790-
Antimissile missiles
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The original documents are located in Box D36, folder "Fifth District Weekly Radio
Reports, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
RADIO TAPE FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JAN. 24-25, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
The second session of the 91st Congress now is under way, and so I am resuming
the weekly talks in which I discuss with you what is happening in the Nation's
capital and in the Congress.
Traditionally, a new session of the Congress actually begins when the Presddent
reviews the state of the union...in
other words, tells
the Congress and the
American people how he sees the condition
the Nation is in and outlines the
action he believes Congress should take,
We have heard the President's State of the Union Address, marking the real
beginning of the second session of this Congress...and I think all of you would
agree that it was a most significant speech.
As I see the work that is cut out for the Congress it is to take timely
action
on the problems the President has highlighted in his report to the
Nation.
President
We must join with the
Nixon Administration in an all-out war on
pollution... air and water pollution and solid waste pollution. We must save our
environment from
destruction. Positive action must be taken on a
national scale to improve the environment in which we live.
"hat is needed is a total commitment from the public to deal with the problems
involved in protecting all of our natural resources and in cleaning up the
water we drink and the air we breathe. We must have the participation of individuals
throughout the country, the enthusiastic support of all our people, the total
support of labor and industry, and the full cooperation of government at all levels.
We cannot wait any longer to launch this all-out effort to bring man into harmohy
with his environment. The war against pollution must be fought and won in the decade
of the Seventies.
There are other great needs which have carried over from the
Sixities.
For instance, the 91st Congress last year
failted to act upon
EALD FORD LIBRARY
Digitized from Box D36 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
Free
Nixon Adminis tr ation
propos tals which I find most commendable proposals to
deal with crime, spreading drug abuse, reform of the
welfare system,
reorganization of the postal system, mass transportation, new foreign trade
policies, and
the sharing of Federal income tax revenue with the cities
and states.
These are only some of the highly important Nixon Administr ation
recommendations which are awaiting action by the Congress.
So this second
session of the 91st Congress should be a most busy one.
And
I
would
hope that the Congress this year would measure up in one
area where it failed miserably in 1969. That is the question of facing up to
the problem of inflation.
We all want lower taxes, for instance. But certainly we all should recognize
that the tax bill passed by the last Congress may cost all of us more in higher
prices than it returns to us in tax savings. The reason for that, of course, is that
Congress
went on a spending spree in some areas. The Congre SS did not match
expenditures with revenue.
The Congress
this year should put a high priority on the battle against
inflation, so that the dollars we save through tax reductions will mean something
in the marketplace.
What we need is for the 91st Congress
to be non-partisan this year--non-
partisan in the sense of working together to fight inflation, hand in hand with the
President of the United States.
BERALD, FORD LIBRARY
That is the kind of record I hope the 91st Congress will make this year in
-3-
addition to taking sound action on the President S various reform proposals.
If the Congress will join the President in moving against our problems and at
the same time join him in holding the line against unnecessary spending, the
91st Congress will make a record of which it can be proud.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be
talking with you again
next week-same time, same station.
DEBALO R.FORDL VIBRARY
RADIO SCRIPT FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JAN. 31-FEB. 1, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reprorting to you from Washington, D.C.
It
was the Senate which took the first Congress.
major actions of the 91st the
The crucial tests in connection with both of those Senate actions will come in the
House.
The Senate
passed a Labor-Health-Education-Welfare appropriations
bill totalling $19.7 billion--nearly $1.3 billion more than President Nixon
recommended. The Senate also has passed, with only one dissenting vote, a
comprehensive Nixon Administration bill providing new tools to crack down on
organized crime.
As I said earlier, this legislation will pose big tests in the House.
President Nixon
is determined to halt the budget-busting involved
in the Labor-H.E.W. appropriations bill--and a vote on upholding his veto of the bill
will occur in the House first.
As for the legislation beefing up our efforts to fight organized crime, it will
run up against the objections of Rep. Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, who has already branded some of the provisions "unconstitutional." So
there is some tough sledding ahead
for the Administration4$ anti-organized=crime
bill.
I am leading the effort to uphold the President's veto of the Labor-H.E.W.
appropriations bill, and I very much want a strong anti-organized-crime bill to
pass the House.
It is ridiculous
for anyone to believe that Mr. Nixon is not a friend of
education simply because he believes Congress made a big mistake in adding
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
billion to his recommendations for Labor-H.E.W. spending.
The truth is that the increases would
go to marginal or misdirected programs
-2-
which need to be overhauled rather than expanded. So the increases Congress has
voted are an improper burden on you, the texpayer.
One of the principal objections to the Labor-H.NU appropriations bill as it
passed the Congress is a $400 million increase
in funds for so-called "federally
impacted" school districts. These are districts around Washington, D.C., and other
areas serving the children of federal employes, and those school
districts
surrounding
our military installations. These districts provide education
for only about one-half of the
school children in the country. None of the money
under this "federal impact" program goes into Kent or Ionia Counties. Yet Kent and
Ionia taxpayers help to pay for schooling the children in these "federal impact" districts.
I am very much opposed to this increase in federal impact aid as voted by the Congress.
I hope and trust that the House will uphold the President's voto.
Now let me turn to the anti-crime bill passed by the Senate. I am most pleased by
the Senate's action. We need new tools to do what the Senate bill has been formulated
to accomplish-give law officers new weapons to crack down on Mafia operations, syndicate
gambling, criminal cartels, narcotics
traffic, loan-sharking, and the infiltration
of legitimate businesses and labor unions by criminal elements.
The Senate-approved bill carries out a number of Nixon Administration recommendatioas--
and
granting immunity to witnesses to get them to testify in organized crime cases making it
a Federal crime to engage in large-scale gambling or to obstruct enforcement of state
and local gambling laws.
Legislation like the Senate-passed bill is
badly needed because
criminal cartels drain billions from the economy, endanger
America's youth and
FORD
threaten the very fabric of our society. The kingpins of organized crime GERA often escape
punishment because of loopholes in the criminal laws.
-3-
It is in the area of organized crimet that the Federal Government's responsibility
is the
greatest. But the Congress can also assist--and should assist to the
greatest extent possible--in the war against street crime. We can help to beef up
local and state police agencies, and this is why President Nixon has proposed
doubling the Federal funds now being
devoted to this purpose. I hope the
Congress will back up the President.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from
the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD LISEARY FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF FEB. 21-22, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
There are many things the Congre SS must do during this session which now is
under way.
We must work with the President to bring about peace in Vietnam.
We must slow down the steady rise in the cost of living, bring inflation
under control.
We must reform our system of welfare so that it offers an incentive to work.
We must lead the Nation in a commitment to save itself from the ills of its own
waste products.
And this is not a matter of "can we do it?"
We have no choice.
We MUST do its
We must spend within the limits of our revenue, otherwise we will never bring
inflation under control and we will destroy the credit of the next generation.
We must join in an all-out war against crime-and we MUST succeed in bringing
the criminal elements in our society to bay.
If we achieve all of these goals, we will attain the new quality of life that
President Nixon described so eloquently in his State of the Union Message.
Let me go into some detail about the efforts being made in Washington to
fight crime.
For the first time in history, the Justice Department will get more than $1
billion in new obligational authority. That's if the Congress approves Mr. Nixon's
budget request for fiscal 1971.
Actual spending would run slightly under $1 billion--roughly $984 million.
The budget would give a number of recently-enacted antiecrime programs new
muscle by giving them increased spending authority.
FORD LIBRARY y GERALD
Perhaps most important--from the standpoint of crime on the streets--is the
-2-
President's move to earmark $518 million in anti-crime funds
to
help local governments curb crime.
Mr. Nixon places heavy emphasis on the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration.
This is an agency which channels block grants to the states for
crime-fighting
activities.
Mr. Nixon is asking $480 million in obligational authority for the Law
Enforcement Assistance Administration. Of that amount, $368 million would be
disbursed to the states in fiscal 1971. That represents more than a doubling of
the $177.5 million in federal crime-fighting aid being given the states this fiscal
year.
The President is determined to help beef up
local law enforcement. He
recognizes--as I do-that the heaviest law enforcement burden rests with local
government.
At the same time, the President is asking Congress to step up the fight against
organized crime. He wants to increase the number of Federal "strike forces" against
organized crime from 13 to 20--across the country.
These 20 strike forces, involving Federal
grand
juries, prosecutors, FBI
agents and other law enforcement personnel, will cost about $2 million in fiscal 1971.
In the fight against the illegal traffic in
drugs, the President is
asking for 223 more positions in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
These are all new actions which supplement the move made by the President last
year to win congressional approvel of 17 new
anti-crime bills.
Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress
have not yet cooperated
sufficiently with the President to bring about the passage of even one of
the FORD LIBRARY
President's anti-crime proposals.
-3-
We need more law enforcement tools, and we need more money to fight crime.
I am determined that the President and our local law enforcement officials
will get all the help they needy to bring the criminal elements in our society
under control. I feel sure the American people share my concern.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
Capital. I'll be talking with you against next week-same time, same station.
######
BERRED FORD VIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE EEKEND OF FEB. 28-MARCH 1, 1970
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
the President + the Demorat in the
The fight goe on. President Nixon is continuing to do battle with those
Congrass and still at oldo on the H EW. appropriation will.
a slim manority an The Home wanted Z and about 50 million
Democrats in Congre SS who are incisting upon adding hundrede of millions of of dollars.
to the mount the President is willing to spend to run the Heal the Education Welfare
over The compromise from The Consident mecommended 2
fromal Depertment the an amendment rost of this that thave fiscal yg/r. at 2/2 % overall & several
The House last week approved e $29.3 billion appropriation bill for HEW and the
about $45 0 milhin 2 where any agency could economize by
Department of Labor to replace the $19.7 billion bill the President voteod on Jan.
2-2/80 Unfortunation contains this summy amendment lost 189 % 205.
The substitute bill 324 pillion more than the amount the President was willing
We
to
accept.
I
and
other
Republicans tried to get the spending in the
bill held down but the Democrate to alongs Now our hope is that the
lostly rate 16 refused votes.
Senate will give the President the authority not to spend more than he believes wise.
And our hope also is that the House then would accept that version of the legislation.
I firmly believe the Presidient will veto this substitute HEW bill just as he did
the original if Congress tries to force him into what he considers to be
inflationary, budget-busting spending.
There also were fights in the House of Representatives over busing students to
schools to overcome racial
imbalance, and the right of students to attend
schools in their own neighborhoods.
As passed by the House, the bill would bar the use of Federal funds to bus
students for the purpose of correcting racial imbalance. It also
declares that
the Federal Government carnot withhold funds from school districts which have adopted
freedom-of-choice pupil assignment plans.
I supported the moves to write these provisions into the bill because I believe
we should be concerned primarily with quality education, To me it does not make sense
LIBRAR
-2-
to bus
children out of their
neighborhoods unle SS this would mean a
better education for the students involved. I feel sure that parents would prefer
to have their youngsters go to school close to their homes. So I believe what we
should be concentrating on is making our schools the best wherever they are instead
of carting our children from one part of town to another.
Now I would like to call your
attention to a
letter I have
received from our governor, Bill Milliken.
In the letter, Gov. Milliken briefly sketches for me
how
Michigan
is attacking crime with
the help of Federal funds. Those
funds are being made available to Michigan under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act, which I sponsored.
Gov. Milliken
tells me that the Federal funds Michigan has already
received to fight crime have funded
many worthwhile action
projects, with more than 200 additional projects waiting for money.
The some 200 applications now marking time involve dollar requests totalling
more than $6 million,
I agree with Gov. Milliken that the Congre SS should approve every last dollar
that President Nixon asks in Federal aid for State and local crime-fighting efforts.
And I certainly will bend every effort to see that Congress responds.
There is no question that full Congressional funding of President Nixon's
crime-fighting request is needed if Michigan is to meet the challenge of crime in
the Seventies.
The President is certainly alert to the needs of the states and the local
communities in the fight against crime.
QUEALD FORD LIBRARI
He has asked the Congre SS to appropriate $368 million
to be disbursed
-3-
to the states and local communities in fiscal 1971. That represents more than
a doubling of the $177.5 million in Federal
crime-fighting
assistance being given to the states this fisdal year. I aim to see that all
of that aid is forthcoming. We must help our local communities in their
battle
against crime.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#######
FORD
GERALD R.
LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USED THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 7-8, 1970, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Today I would like to talk with you about a variety of items. Let me start
off by saying that Congress must come to grips with the question of re-ordering
our priorities. But our first priority has to be to bring inflation under control.
That is why I am happy to report that at long last Congress has passed a
Health-Education-and-Welfare Appropriation Bill
which is
$724 million
under the original figure
approved by the House although
still about
$700 million more than the President
originally asked for.
The final figuret was a compromise and will be accepted as such by the
President.
But the President could not in
good conscience accept the
$19.7 billion bill originally passed by the Congress during a time of extreme
inflationary pressure. To have accepted that bill would have been to throw in the
sp onge in the fight against inflation.
The Nixon Administration has committed itself to reversing the dangerous
inflation which has gripped this country for
five years.
As the President has repeatedly pointed out, the
largest single cause of
inflation has been excessive Federal spending-spending which produced
federal
deficits of $57 billion over the decade of the Sixties. During that decade the cost
of living in America went up 25 per cent. We must halt that trend.
Let me
point out to you that the Nixon Administration has been doing more
than just talking about inflation. The Administration has been reducing the size of
the Federal esgablishment. And by that I mean that in the first six months of this
fiscal year, the Administration has reduced the Federal payroll by 137,338
Some people say "My don't you cut defense spending and put more money into
GE
health and education?" Well, that is exactly what the Nixon Administration has done.
-2-
President Nixon cut the proposed fiscal 1970 budget by $7.5 billion-and of
that cut,
$4.1 billion was in defense spending. In the meantime, outlays for
the Department of Health, Education and Welfare have increased by 13 per cent in
fiscal 1970 and will increase even further in fiscal 1971.
As the President has reported, "For the first time in twenty years, next year's
budget will provide more funds for human resources than for defense."
Our priorities clearly are shifting under the Nixon Administration, but
such a shift must be made in a controlled and rational manner,
especially
in the midst of an inflationary crisis. After all, there is an irreducible minimum
of e ssential military security. And if the worst happens internationally, there will
be no domestic society to look after at all. So while we cut back on defense spending,
we must maintain a viable strength,
Let me now report to you that I have introduced seven separate bills to
implement the broad anti-pollution measures sent to Congress by President Nixon.
I believe it's time we got tough with polluters. That is the right approach,
and
it is one we have delayed for too long.
My legislation covers air and water pollution, plus solid waste disposal. It
also includes provisions to expand the availablity of park and recreation
lands. My bills create the opportunity for communities and industries to end air
and water pollution and provides
stiff penalties for polluters who fail to
accept their responsibilities.
Lastly, I wish to applaud the fact that the House Ways and Means Committee appears
to be moving President Nixon's welfare
reform plan--what I called Workfare
toward passage by the Congress.
ORALD LIGRATY FORD
I strongly favor this legislation because it
provides an incentive for
-3-
individuals to get off the welfare rolls and onto payrolls. Under existing programs,
those on welfare find
themselves with a smaller income when they
take
a job. In other words, it costs them money to work. The Nixon
Workfare Program would change all this and give welfare families and the working poor
an incentive to break out of the poverty cycle. This is Americanism at
its
best--a hand up
instead of a handout.
-
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to
you from the Nation's
capital. I'}] be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#######
GERALD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 14-15, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I have always felt there is no area of concern more important than education.
In that connection, I feel too that much more can be done with the schooling of
children in their earliest years. So today I want to tell you about a bill I
have introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It is an omnibus bill dealing with early childhood education. It is aimed at
fulfilling a national commitment that will give all American children an opportunity
for the greatest possible development during the first five years of their lives.
I calls my bill "The Compr ehensive Headstart Child Development Act of 1970."
Let me tell you what it would do.
It would establish a National Institute for Early Childhood Development and
Education.
It would experiment with a number of approaches to providing services for
young children verything from kindergarten-type compensatory education to the
tutoring of toddlers and working with infants and their mothers at home.
It would consolidate the major Federal programs which provide operating funds
for day-care and child development programs--programs which in fiscal 1971 involve
outlays totalling more than $560 million.
My bill also would provide for commissions to be established in
each
state to plan the use of early childhood funds in that
state and to approve
applications for funds.
Under my bill, urban areas would be assured a fair share of the early childhood
funds, funds would be spent only where facilities and personnel were adequate to use
them wisely, private enterprise would assist with early childhood programs, and ostal
assure
programs would be eva luated to insure proper and improved operation.
GERALD LIBRARY
My bill assigns the highest priority to services for educationally handicapped
-2-
children--children who need special services the most. Funds would be allocated to
the 50 states on the basis of the number of disadvantaged children, the number of
children of working mothers, and the total number of children in each State.
I introduced my bill on the same day that President Nixon sent Congre SS his
education reform message. I might mention that my bill meshes with the President's
proposals for establishment of a National Institute for Education Research and
Butitgoes farther.
a network of
experimental centers to see what works best in education.
While I am on the subject of education, I would like to point
the
tremendous grownth in total spending for education in the United States during the
last two and a half decades.
In 1945, for instance, total e ducation expenditures were $4 billion, or 2 per cent
of our gross national product--the total of goods and services produced in this country.
In 1969, that outlay had leaped to $62 billion, or 7.1 per cent of our gross
national product.
Of course, the pi [opulation of the country
grew at the same time, climbing
from 140 million in 1945 to 203 million in 1969.
And in the last five years inflation has eaten up much of the increase in our
education spending.
Thismeans
Our schools have become the prime victims of inflation.
that the huge increases in educational spending in recent years have had little effect
on the quality of education many children receive. The average school district is
spending only 13 per cent more per pupil, and the bulk of what is left has gone into
higher teacher salaries.
f the $51 additional spent on each elementary pupil
last year, $25 was eaten up by inflation.
GERALO, FORD LIBRARI
As a matter of fact, a cost of education index study shows that since the
-3-
1957-59 base period, 60 per cent of increased school spending has been consumed
by inflationary rises in costs.
This is just
one
of the reasons
we must
assign top priority to the fight against inflation.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, S ame station.
GERALD B. FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 21-22, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital.
Lately thifightagainst pollution has become a very popular subject,
andrigilly. People are talking about
every kind of pollution, from the poisons that
imperil our air and our water
to the solid waste pollution of junked cars and what the
population planners
call "people pollution." Today I'd like to talk about a special kind of "people
pollution"--pornography, mail order
pornography.
Pres.
through and the PM attorney seneral, Hen
I want to report to you that the Administration S campaign to curb the flow
some
of mail order pornography is really beginning to show results.
The way we have obtained
those results is through
close cooperation
between the Justice Department and the Chief Postal Inspector and his
men.
These
people have scored significant successes
against the larger distributors of
sexually-oriented mailings. It is these materials that have prompted about 90
per cent of all public complaints.
I
am any pleased to tell you that convictions have been won against four of these
big dealers and Federal prosecution is under way against all of the others.
Dept.of Justice and the P.O. Dept.
Let's take a look at what the Administration has accomplished in its war against
mail order pornography.
In the last six months of 1969, there were 29 Federal indictments--nearly double
the 15 indictments obtained during the same period in 1968. In addition to that, 16
other cases have been formally presented to United States Attorneys for possible
prosecution.
I feel that Attorney General John N. Mitchell and the Justice Department deserve
ALD
BRAR
special praise for the progress being made against smut. Let me point out the that the
time between the presentation of evidence
to U.S. Attorneys and the start of
-2-
prosecution has been reduced
to less than one-third of the time
formerly required -- from about 12 weeks at the beginning of 1969 to less than
four weeks during the last six months of the year.
There are also signs of a less permissive attitude by the courts. So there
is
some reason good believe the tide at last is turning against the Nation's smut dealers.
reason
There have been a number of recent cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has
refused to disturb lower court
convictions involving smut. These are
encouraging signs that as future cases move through the courts, convictions will
result and will stand up.
the
Some obscenity dealers obviously are beginning to get the message that this
in Wash.
Administration means business. For example, a California dealer recently decided it
would be wise to fold up his mail order operations. Following his conviction, he
agreed to close his post office boxes and surrendered huge volumes of advertising
materials and mailing lists. Other dealers, facing similar charges, are indicating
they
may follow suit. To show them the Administration is really getting tough,
re-indictments are being brought against mail order dealers who fail to curtail
their mailings even after their initial indictment and arrest.
While the Government is
cracking down on domestic smut peddlers, the foreign
obscenity dealer is not escaping the attention of the Post Office Department. During
1969, about 250 Foreign Unlawful Orders were obtained against overseas-based
pornography mailers. That was an increase of nearly 200 over the previous year.
These orders forbid delivery of mail addressed to the foreign dealer or the payment
of any money order addressed to him or his representative.
FORD LIBRA
Let me remind all of you who are listening to me today that you can
take steps
to stop the flow of offensive
sex-oriented advertisements into your home under
-3-
provisions of the Federal Pandering Advertisements Act which
This law provides that a person who receives
a
through may themail the obtain
Dept.
pandering advertisement an order from the Post Office directing the mailer r
puch
to stop sending him further materials. The Post Office Department has issued roughly
350,000 such prohibitory orders at the request of postal patrons since the law went
Leaflets
into effect.
containing the necessary forms for initiating
such orders are available at your local post office.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 28-29, 1970, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
two
Today I want to to talk with you about topics. First, the postal
strike. I am sure all of you are grateful--as I am--to our letter carriers
and
clerks in Grand Rapids for staying on the job. When they voted recently not to
join in the illegal strike initiated by postal employes in New York City I personally
felt that their action
should be a model for postal employes throughout the
Nation.
There are a couple of facts about the postal situation that should be made
clear.
First of all, just giving the postal workers
a raise is not going to
solve all of our postal service problems-although we all recognize that workers the need
and deserve a raise. We
also need to reorganize the postal
system-reform
it to provide better working conditions for the employes and better service to the
public.
This is what President Nixon had in mind when he sent Congress a postal reform
bill in May 1969-a bill I introduced. But that bill was bottled up by Rep. Thaddeus
Dulski, Democrat of New York, chairman of the Hou se Post Office and Civil Service
Committee.
To make
a long story short, as the saying goes, the House Post Office and
Civil Service Committee finally reported out the President's postal reform bill last
March 12, combining it with a pay increase for postal workers. The strike began March 18.
I firmly believe that if the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee had
acted promptly on the President's postal reform bill and moved it to the House along with
a pay raise bill for postal workers we very likely would not have had a walkout PUR.NOW
York City postal employes and others.
GERALD R.
The aim of the President's postal reform plan is to dramatically improve working
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conditions, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. One of the features of the
President's plan is collective bargaining for postal employes, instead of having
Congress set their wages. The problem is that certain members of Congress don't
want to give up their political power over the Post Office Department--and some
postal union leaders think they can do better by making deals with the Post Office
the
Committees of the Congre SS instead of bargaining with postal authority proposed
by the President.
Actually, we would all be better off if the President's plan is put into
effect--postal workers and the public, alike would be benefited. That is why I hope the
Congre
SS
NOW
will
notonly
but
give the Postal workers a raise
adopt
the President's postal reform plan.
Another of my immediate concerns is crime. As you may know, I have co-sponsored
a large package of anti-crime bills in the Congress. I have given my
concerted
an
attention both to anti-crime legislation having nationwide impact and
omnibus
bill dealing specifically with tthe situation in Washington, D.C.
A few days ago the House passed the D.C. omnibus crime bill, which I
wholeheargedly supported. That bill is different from a version
approved
by the Senate-and I hope the House version prevails.
The House bill is tougher. For instance, it permits a judge to deny bail to
a defendant when that defendant's record shows him to be a dangerous criminal who
might well commit another serious crime if released on bond while awaiting trial. The
allows
House bill also
police officers to obtain a "no-knock"
warrant authorizing
them to burst into private premises if there is reason to believe evidence sought would
otherwise be destroyed.
GERALD LIBRARY
ladd
No law-abiding citizen need fear the no-k mck provision. In fact, experience
-3-
in New York, which has had a no-knock law since 1965, shows that such authority is
seldom used. Of 1,800 cases
in New York State since 1965, police officers have
applied for no-knock warrants in only 14 instances and have actually used them in
only 12. The constitutionality of this
New York law has been upheld
by the courts.
The D. C. Omnibus Crime Bill is important as an arsenal of weaporns against
crime in the Nation's capital, but it is also important as a possible model for
national anti-crime legislation.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 11-12, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln spoke to a Nation still shuddering from
the shock of the War Between the States and urged the American people to "care for
him who shall have bourne the battle."
A number of days ago President Nixon called the Nation S attention to the
deep need for giving proper medical attention to our men wounded in Vietnam--many of
them now being discharged directly into Veterans Administration hospitals. We are
presently failing to provide complete medical care for our VA patients, including
wounded veterans of Vietnam, the President said.
To remedy this situation, the President urged Congress to allocate $15 million
more tor be spent in VA hospitals in the fiscal year ending this June 30 and added
$52 million to his VA medical care budget for fiscal 1971.
I am pleased by the President's requests and I feel sure that Congress will
respond to them. There is no question that the Nation has an obligation to provide the
best possible medical care for our veterana particularlyall these who have been wounded in Vietnam.
The President pointed out the areas of greatest need: The need to increase staffs
VN
for specialized medical programs, especially those dealing with wounded Vietnam veterans;
the need to open and adequately staff and equip more VA centers for specialized care;
the need to make dental care more available to Vietnam veterans; and the need to have
more nursing care beds available for older veterans.
The President noted that the current difficulties trace b ack to a 1968 law
which required the Veterans Administration to reduce its staff to the mid-1966 level.
The action taken under that law deprived the VA's medical care program of
several FORD LIBRARY
thousand workers in all categories of the health services proffessions at the very
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time when
VA needs for such personnel were steadily growing.
last September, the President raised VA's personnel ceiling by 1,500.
He also approved VA's request for an additional 2,100 medical care employes for
beginning Jun!
fiscal 1971. OA review of VA hospital needs now shows that even more health services
personned will be required in the immediate future to
take
care of Vietnam
veterans, the President has stated.
While only 7 per cent of our VA hospital patients now are Vietnam veterans,
will rise significantly during the next few years. We/will have
also
the number
large
demands in connection with dental care for Vietnam veterans.
The demand for Coronary/Intensive Care Units in VA hospitals
is
especially acute. So, too, is the need for more Prosthetics Treatment Centers and
Spinal Cord Injury Centers.
The $15 million the President has
requested from Congress
which and June 30.
for the rest of this fiscal yearwill clear up the backlog of Vietnam veterans dental
C ases; improve the staffing of the existing Specialized Medical Programs,
carry out plans for
taking special equipment into thei
homes of veterans
suffering from serious kidney ailments; and help meet increased costs of needed drugs
and medicines.
The VA
budget request already submitted to Congre SS for fiscal 1971 will
begins
Julyl.
provide extra staff to activate 121 additional bed units for Specialized Medical
Programs and to open an additional 1,155 nursing care beds-a 28 per cent increase
in
the nursing care program.
The new request for an additional $50 million for the next fiscal year will
increase the staffs of VA hospitals and clinics; improve further the staffing of
the LIBRARY
Spinal Cord Injury Centers and other important Specialized Medical Programs; purchase
-3-
seriously needed operating equipment; and absorb rising drug and medical costs.
We
owe a special obligation to those of our citizens who have been
injured in the service of the ourcountry United States No servicemen returning from Vietnam
should fail to receive the medical care he needs. I am most pleased to see that
and l truet the Congress too,
President Nixon is determined to carry out the obligation I am sure we all feel
toward our returning servicemen.
This is your congressmen, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again
next week--same time, same
station.
######
GLRACO FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USED BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE EEKEND OF APRIL 18-19, 1970.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I would like to talk with you today about a matter of the gravest importance--
whether Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas is fit to remain on the highest court
in the land.
Nearly eight months ago I began a quiet investigation into the off-the-bench
activities of Justice Douglas. What I found convinced me personally that Justice
Douglas should be removed from the Supr eme Court. For that
reason I am
supporting a move by upwards of a hundred other members of the U.S. House of
Representatives to set up an
investigation of Justice
Douglas by
a special committee of the House.
Many people mistakenly believe that a Supreme Court justice is appointed for
life. It is true that a Supreme Court justice has an indeterminate term, but the
Constitution plainly states that he shall serve "during good behavior" and that he
may be removed from office by the Congress.
He may be removed
from
the Supreme Court bench for offenses which the House considers grave enough so that
charges
are brought against him by the House. This requires
only a majority vote of the House. The U.S. Senate then acts as a trial jury and
decides whether the
charges brought by the House are sufficiently serious to
warrant a justice's removal from the court. Removal requires
two-thårds
approval
of the Senate.
I am aware, of course, that charges I have brought against Justice Douglas
constitute a very serious matter.
I have brought those charges only because I am terribly dist urbed by Justice
Douglas's conduct and because I believe he not only is guilty of bad behavior
FORD LIBRARY & GERAL but
of a "high misdemeanor." Let me briefly detail those charges for you.
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Justice Douglas for nine years--from 1960 to 1969--received $12,000 a year
from the Parvin Foundation, which drew much of its income from Las Vegas gambling
casinos. This was moonlighter pay--an addition to Mr. Douglas's taxpayer-paid salary
as a
Supreme Court justice.
Justice Douglas helped set up the Parvin Foundation, according to its founder,
Albert Parvin. If the Justice did draft the articles of
incorporation, it was
in clear violation of Tit le 28, Section 454, United States Code, which states that
"any justice or judge appointed under the authority or the United States who engages in
the practice of law is guilty of a high misdemeanor. " And
a high misdeme anor is
grounds under the U.S. Constitution for removal of a Supreme Court justice from office.
Justice Douglas on May 12, 1969, wrote a letter to Albert Parvin in which he
apparently offered him advice on how to avoid difficulties the Parvin Foundation was
having with the Internal Revenue Service. Such action also is a violation of law.
Justice Douglas resigned
last year as President of
the Parvin
Foundation when things got too hot for him but he still is associated with the leftist
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Hₑ is
a member of the board of
directors of the Fund for the Republic, which directs the Center. He is chairman of
the Fund's executive board and has received nearly $7,000 in honoraria from the Fund since
1962.
Justicle Dougl as
refused to
1970
disqualify himself from sitting on a Supreme Court case in January
involving
an appeal
from a $75,000 libel Judgment against
a publisher
from whom Justice Douglas
received
$350 for a magažine article. This
constitutes a
clear conflict of interest.
FORD LIBRA 0741
Justice Douglas has authored a book entitled "Points of Rebellion" in which he
-3-
declares that violence may be justified and perhaps only revolutionary overthrow of
the Establishment can save the country.
I do not think it
good behavior for a Supreme Court justice to take pay
on the side from a tax-exempt foundation and offer advice on how it could continue its
tax-exempt status. I do not think it good behavior for a Supreme Court justice to
take pay on the side from a foundation heavily involved with gambling and known criminals.
I do not think it
good behavior
for a Supreme Court justice to
abete the activities of individuals promoting violence
and unrest in America.
For these reasons I believe the House of Representatives should set up a special
committee to recommend to the House
whether Justice Douglas should be impeached.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I will
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD LIDERA FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 25-26, 1970, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's Capital.
The American people received some great news a few days ago when President
Nixon announced that 150,000 more U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn
from
South Vietnam over the next 12 months.
I think this latest broop withdrawal has great significance for our Nation.
What it says is that President Nixon is making good on his pledge to remove all U.S.
combat troops from Vietnam. It says that the President is extricating us from the
terrible jungle war in which we became heavily entangled under the previous Administration.
It says that the President's policy of Vietnamizing the war is working.
There were many, I am sure, who awaited the President's speech of
last Monday night with some foreboding. After all, there have been some ominous
developments in Southeast Asia in recent weeks along with the favorable events. But
President Nixon kept his word that he would take some risks for peace. I
feel sure
the President would not have done so except for the special knowledge he has as our
commander-in-chief.
We would all prefer to see a negotiated settlement in Vietnam. But, as the
President noted, the North Vietnamese are blocking that door. So we can be thankful
the President's
Vietnamization policy is proving to be so successful
that we can continue to
withdraw our combat forces from Vietnam.
The Administration appears to be leading this Nation toward an end to the war
in Vietnam. I would like to point out at this time that we are also taking a step
toward ending grinding poverty in America--a step toward putting all able-bodied Americans
to work
or into
job training.
I am talking about the sweeping welfare reform program approved
R+ FORD the LIBERT U.S.
GER
House of Representatives last week, 243 to 155. I was among those voting for the bill.
-2-
I voted for the welfare reform bill because it represents a chance to take
people off welfare rolls and put them on payrolls. It is in line with the great
American
ethic of working for a living--of extending a hand up to those who are
down on their luck instead of a handout. I might mention that the House amended the
bill to make sure that those who are able
to work will have to accept available
work if they are to receive any Government assistance. This is
the great merit in
this new Administration program. It's welfare with a work requirement in
it.
So it is really what I call Workfare-not E welfare. I hope the
House-approved
bill passes the Senate in pretty much the same form it was approved by the House. I'd
like to give this new program a chance.
We have also made an advance on another front. It now appears that postal
reform is on the way. I say that because President Nixon has won the backing of the
AFL-CIO and the postal unions for his plan to
convert the Post Office Department
into an independent postal service. That new postal service would be as free from
political pressures as the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Space Agency.
The new postal service would be self-supporting and would permit collective
bargaining by postal employes over wages, hours and working conditions.
A key point in the agreement calls for a proposed 8 per cent pay increase for
postal workers over and above the new 6 per cent wage boost for all Federal employes.
The 8 per cent increase would go into effect when the postal reform plan
is passed
by the Congress.
Besides the pay increase, the time required for postal workers to reach the
top pay level for rank and file mailmen
would be compressed from 21 to not more than
eight years.
LIBRARY
course we have to pay for the postal wage increases, and so President
-3-
Nixon is asking Congress to raise first-class postage to eight cents and to increase
second class postange
by one-half and third class by one-third. Air mail would still
cost 10 cents.
One of the key features of the postal reform plan is that the Postmaster General
would no longer be a cabinet member. Hₑ would be selected by a nine-member commission
appointed by the President.
I think it is terribly important that Congress approve postal reform and give
us truly superior mail service.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
#######
FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MAY 2-3, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I would like to t alk with you today about the United States space program,
since the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a $3.6 billion space
authorization bill for fiscal 1971. I was among those voting for the billo because
I feel that the space program is paying off for all of the people in our country-not
just in terms of expanding our knowledge of the universe but in direct benefits.
It is a little difficult for most people to 00 just what the benefits from
our space program are, so today I am going to take a little time to spell them out.
The most obvious benefit is in jobs. The money being spent on the space
program is spant on earth--in the United States--and that fact accounts for thousands
of jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist.
During fiscal 1969, for instance, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration did business with 14,369 prime contractors located in 1,882 different
communities, scattered throughout all 50 of our states.
Let me cite another set of figures. During the years 1959 through 1967 NASA
pent $2 billion on grants and research programs carried out in 223 of our
universities, also located in all 50 of our states as well as the District of Columbia.
But of course there are those who say, what has the space program done for me,
personally. Well, how about the simple matter of survival?
As we continue to pollute the atmosphere, we are changing the amount of oxygen
available to us. We could seriously deplete our oxygen supply--and our survival would
be seriously threathened. The space program has
made it possible to
anticipate that change before it could happen. And it gives us the opportunity to
GERALD
LIBRARY
remedy the situation before it is too late. That, to me, is a big plus.
The space
program also has greatly improved our
ability to forecast
-2-
the weather.
Already the Tiros Satellite has been very successful in tracking--and giving
advance warning of-typhoons and hurricanes. The result has been an enormous saving
in lives, property and crops.
When the equipment is available to implement the know-how of the meteorologists,
we will be able to predict the weather accurately over a 5-day span--at least--and
probably up to 2 weeks. The ability to foredast the weather just 5 days in adfance
would result in an annual saving of $21 billion in agriculture, $100 million in the
transportation industry, $75 million in retail marketing, and untold millions in the
recreation industry.
There are countless other benefits from the space program. Satellite television,
for instance,
is a direct dividend from space spending. Other benefits can be
found in the development of new products and materials.
For example, space-proofed materials are being used to develop practically
indestructible refrigerators. And these materials will have an enormous effect on
air conditioning and heating systems in America's homes in a few years.
Stoves and other appliances will be better because of materials developed in
the space program. Right now, pots and pans are being coated with variations of
the same material developed to protect spacecraft from the extreme heat of launching
and re-entry.
In the tomobile industry, advances have already been made and still others
are upcoming in the area of sealants and caulking materials. Railroad tank cars now
are
being produced from lightweight plastics developed for NASA. And there have
FORD
been tremendous advances in the manufacture of new types of glass which GERAL® soon will become
ARY
commonplace in the American kitchen.
-3-
Other great advances have been made in medical technology as a result of the
space program--pressurized space suits for the victims of strokes, the ultrafast dental
drill, supersensitive
infra-red detectors useful in the early detection of
cancer, an infra-red switch by which a hospital patient can regulate his bed or
manipulate his wheelchair merely by a movement of his eyes.
And now
there is at
least a
faint hope that moon
dusta will be effective in combatting cancer. If that ever proves even partially
true, the
space program will have paid for itself many times over.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, S ame station.
FORD LIBRARY is GERALD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MAY 9-10, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I am very pleased that the House last week passed a measure to keep
sexually-oriented material f rom being mailed to minors and to individuals who
notify the Postmaster General they do not wish to receive it.
The bill passed by the House is identical in concept with one I introduced
this year. It forces those who exploit sexual
sensationalism for commercial gain
to purchase a list of persons who do not wish to receive sexually.
oriented
mail, and prohibits mailing to those individuals. The
bill provides
strong penalties for
the indiscriminate mailing of such material to those who
do not want it.
I
strongly supported this bill. It passed the House 375 to 8.
With my firm support, the House has rejected arms cuts which would have
scuttled deployment and development of MIRV and anti-ballistic-missile deterrents.
In my view, those members of Congress who
would declare a unilateral
U.S. moratorium on
MIRV and ABM
deployment would throw away the
only major bargaining weapon we have at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in Vienna--
the so-called SALT talks. If we gave away this one
trump card, we would be
giving up the only chance we have for
halting the
nuclear arms race.
Consider, if you will, what the Soviet Union has been doing in the area of
nuclear armaments. Last year alone, the Soviets deployed 122 additional Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles. We deployed none. In
ICBMs, the Soviet Union now not
only has more longrange missiles than we do, their nuclear capability is 150 per cent
greater.
FORD LIBRARY
Last year the Soviets added 8 nuclear missile-firing submarines to their Navy.
We added none. At the current rate, the Soviet Union's missile submarine force will
-2-
surpass the United States within five years.
Last year the Soviets deployed 64
new ABMs around Moscow. At the present
rate, the U.S. will not have a single operating ABM on the ground until 1974-75.
Last year the Soviets spent $25 billion on nuc lear weapons. T hey are now
working on another 125 ICBMs, are building 320 more submarine-launched missiles, and
are working on 27 additional ABM launchers and three major radar systems related to them.
I am for halting MIRV
and limiting ABMs, but I'm for doing it both in
Moscow and in Washington at the same time.
So it's because I believe we must negotiate from a
position of strength that
I
supported the $20 billion military authorization bill passed by the House this week.
It is alsobecause I believe
we can achieve peace in Vietnam through
strength that I opposed amendments which would have tied the President's hands in his
efforts to wipe out enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia.
Tons of enemy arms:
and food supplies, and base camps made up
of hundreds of buildings and underground bunkers are located in the Cambodian sanctuaries.
These base camps are striking pads which endanger the lives of thousands of Americans in
Vietnam and threaten
to destroy the Vietnamization process by whichwe
are pulling our men out of Vie tham while the South Vie tnamese take over.
The prime targets of the American-supported of fensive against these Cambodian
sanctuaries used by the Communist enemy are not enemy troops but the vast
stocks of combat supplies, ammunition dumps, supply lines, communications facilities,
tunnel complexes and underground command posts of the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong.
The President's decision was to clean out these base camps and other facilities
and thus to sawe American and South Vietnamese lives.
DERALD FORD LIBRARY
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We are already seeing the payoff of the offensive launched at the President's
orders.
Huge caches of arms and foodstuffs have been captured. A command center
has been seized and destroyed.
I believe the President's action is not only militarily sound but is in the
best interests of the United States and every G.I. in Vietnam. It could turn out to
be a masterstroke.
It could mark a turning point in the Vietnam War.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
GERALD FORD NORARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MAY 16-17, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
replies
Right now I am receiving thousands of to my 1970 questionnaire.
The response is most gratifying. It underscores the fact that the people of Kent
and Ionia Counties are very much interested in their Government and in the major
issues of the day.
There are some people who are remarking that it is impossible to answer the
questions with a simple yes or no. Well, this is the situation I run up against when
I am called upon to vote on legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. There
are lots of times when I would like to vote, "yes, but" or "maybe" but I have to vote
aye or nay.
Of course many people who are answering my questionnaire are also writing me
letters to expand on their replies. I very much appreciate getting their views, and I
would like to assure them that I will answer each of t heir letters in the earliest time
possible.
Many of the letters I am getting reflect increasing concern about student
demonstrations that sometimes escalate into violence.
I am very much pleased that the massive demonstration of last weekend in
Washington, D.C., was peaceful for the most part. I think this is xx a tribute both
to the vast majority of the young people who journeyed to Washington for the demonstration
and also to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, which exhibited a great show
of restraint in handling the mammoth crowd.
The demonstration in the Nation's capital offered a sharp contrast to what
happened recently at Kent State University in Ohio. What transpired at Kent State, where
four students were killey killed, was nothing less than a senseless tragedy.
Much tragic dissension kust has hit our great nation, and I often am asked by
-2-
the American people
friends in Ketn Kent and Ionia Counties whether thex conntry ever can become united
again. I feel certain that we can.
There have always been differences between age groups The split werx are
witnessing today is probably more severe than we have ever seen. But I am convinced
that the kind of dissent we saw at Kent State--dissent that erupts into
bloodshed and killing--is not, and will not become, a part of the American way of life.
Young people must realize that violence is not the answer. They must realize
that pelting soldiers or national guardsmen with bricks and concrete is not the answer.
They must realize that their grievances must be aired within the existing system. And
they should realize that they are being deluded by the militant radicals when they are
axhorted to kill or to destroy buildings and other property.
What we must do is to improve the existing system of communications to give
both sides--all sides--an opportunity to express themselves. Those of us who are part
of the so-called system must realize that we have been guilty of turning deaf ears to
the pleas of many young people who have many legitimate grievances about the way We are
conducting our Nation's affairs.
However, I alsob believe that for those who cause violence for the sake of
violence on the campus, the only redress is for the authorities to suspend or expel them
from school.
I cannot stress too strongly that we cannot, we must not, total tolerate violence
from any quarter.
Bloodshed stemming from the actions of an irrational few must lx not be permitted
either on college campuses or in city streets.
We must, and I pray we will, find a balance of reason and moderation.
The President's decision to make a sweep of the Communist a sanctuaries in
-3-
Cambodia came as a shock to many of our citizens and was used as a reason by some of
our youth to engage in irrational behavior. I can understand Ingical responsible
dissent from that the President's decision, but I deplore thexexpleitin the kind of
dissent which leads to violence and a trampling upon the rights of others.
I ask those who disagree with the President on the Cambodian offensive to
give the President a chance to prove whether he was right or wrong in this decision.
He has said all of our troops will be out of Cambodia by June 30. That is not too
long * a time twall to allow for a public decision on the rightness of the President's
action.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
SCRIPI TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MAY 23-24, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
My mail has been especially heavy lately on the subject of Vietnam and
Cambodia, and SO this is what I want to talk with you about today.
Every American--every resident of Kent and Ionia Counties-must know that
the principal objective of the present Administration is to end the American
involvement in the Vietnam War in the shortest time possible. President Nixon's
policy is clear--to withdraw U.S. forces as the South Vietnamese acquire the ability
to defend themselves against the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.
In the process, we hope that North Vietnam will come to see that it cannot
take over South Vietnam by force and will begin serious negotiations to end the
fighting.
President Nixon has already reduced U.S. troop levels by 115,500 men in
Vietnam and has announced that an additional 150,000 men will be withdrawn over the
next 12 months.
While we withdraw our men from Vietnam and train the South Vietnamese to
take over the combat burden, North Vietnam seeks to prevent our Vietnamization program
from succeeding. North Vietnam also is playing a waiting game, hoping that antiwer
sentiment in the United States will force a precipitous withdrawal of American troops
and cause collapse of the Southvietnamese government. The prospect then would be an
easy takeover by the Communists.
Apologists for the Communists in Asia have long peddled the story that the
Vietnam War is a civil war. That fiction was demolished in recent months **** by
Communist attacks in Laos and Cambodia, which were threatened by a North Vietnamese
takeover. North Vietnam invaded those countries and partially occupied them in order
to infiltrate X South Vietnam from those points and use them as supply bases for troops
-2-
attacking Americans and South Vietnamese. Camboxdia, in particular, was being used
as a sanctuary from which the North Vietnamese could launch attacks and then retreat
back across the border without fear of being pursued.
Intent on following XP a policy of withdrawal from South Vietnam, the Nixon
Administration was faced with a dilemma. Should North XX Vietnam be allowed to
enlarge and consolidate its Cambodian sanctuaries, gained by invasion? If so, could
there ever ben an end to the war, short of South Vietnamese surrender? If atta North
Vietnamese attacks from Eathe Cambodian sanctuaries were immune, what would be the
effectaxx on the Vietnamization program and the planned withdrewal of
American troops? What would be the costin in American and South Vietnamese lives?
And SO the President decided to clean out the Cambodian sanctuaries. He made
that decision to save American and South Vietnamese lives, to permit the steady
strengthening of South Vietnamese forces, to make possible the continued withdrawal
of American troops, and to shorten the war. This move into Cambodia was not an
invasion. It was an sttack against the invaders of Cambodia-the North Vietnamese.
This attack has a limited objective--to destroy Communist bases SO they cannot
be used against Americans and the South Vietnamese again without great cost in time and
effort-- to seize vast quantities of North ** Vietnamese supplies so that the enemay's
ability to wage war against Americans and South Vietnamese will be greatly reduced.
We are succeeding in those objectives. We have achieved enormeus success
already in * Cambodia. We have captured more than 11₂ million rounds of
small-arms ammunition, and enough rice to feed 145,420 of the enemy for a month, and
large quantities of a variety of enemy arms. We have set the enemy back from six to
eight months.
In my view, this means we not only can go ahead with our planned withdrawal
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of an additional 150,000 men, we may even be able to withdraw more men than that and
in a shorter period of time.
The President has pledged that U.S. troops will be out of Cambodia by the end
of next month. Defense Secretary Laird has said the U.S. will end its combat role in
Vie tnam by July 1, 1971. I think the American people should be most encouraged. We
are succeeding in ending our involvement in Vietnam without turning that tragic little
country over to the Communists.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital. I'll be talking with you again next week same time, same station.
#######
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF MAY 30-31, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's capital.
Today I would like to talk with you about Social Security and also about
Vietnam and Cambodia.
First of all let me call your attention to a development which I consider a
breakthrough in the area of Social Security.
It has been widely reported that the House of Representatives has approved
a 5 per cent increase in Social Security benefits on top of the 15 per cent increase
which went into effect earlier this year. But there has been little emphasis on
another piece of news-the fact that the House has voted to automatically increase
Social Security benefits in the future as the cost
of living rises for our
elderly citizens.
The way the plan would work is that whenever the cost of living rises
by
at least 3 per cent, Social Security benefits would automatically go up to offset
this cost-of-living rise as far as Social Security beneficiarries are concerned.
This would be done to eliminate the lamentable lag which now takes place
while the elderly wait for Congress to act on a Social Security increase. And it
also would take the politics out of Social Security. It is directed at the habit
Congress has of legislating Social Security increases only in an election year?
and
seeing who can take the most credit for it.
The automatic cost-of-living increase in Social
Security benefits
was a Republican amendment to the House bill. The Democratic majority of the House
Ways and Means Committee had killed the provision in committee. But Rep. Jackson
Betts, Republican of Ohio, offered the amendment
on the House floor and it prevailed,
233 to 144. I of course voted for it. I have been pushing for an automatic
GER the FORD VIBRARY
cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits for five years. President Nixon
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also recommended it.
The Social Security bill passed by the House did far more than just increase
Social Security benefits across the board by 5 per cent and attach an automatic
increase provision to the Social Security system.
The bill also provides increased benefits for widows and dependents and certain
disabled beneficia Current law gives a widow, after age 62, a benefit level
equal to 82% per cent of her deceased husband's benefit. The bill just passed will
give this widow 100 per cent of her husband benefit at age 65.
One of the general b enefits in the bill
is that it raises the earmings
limitation. Under present law, a Social Security beneficiary who is under age 72
has
his b enefits reduced by $1 for every $2 he earns over and above $1,680 a year.
The bill approved by the House increases this earnings ceiling to $2,000.
The bill also tightens up on the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It gives the
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare the authority to set reasonable cost limits
on services, basing them on
a comparison of costs in the same area. It
also places limits on doctor's fees, cuts off payments to suppliers found guilty of
and
program abuses, reduces the Federal matching share in such programs as nursing
homes and mental hospitals
Butitake increases the Federal matching share for outpatient
hospital services, clinical services, and home health services. The entire thrust of
these
provisions is to make the Medicare and Medicaid programs work better while
holding down on costs.
I would like to talk with you now about Cambodia. I would like to mention that
at first
while my mail ran
against the President S decision to attack the Communist
LISA
sanctuaries in Cambodia it now is turning in the other direction. I would emphasize, too,
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that all the evidence I have seen indicates that our men in Vietnam overwhelmingly
support the President on this matter and urge that the home folks
b ack him as
well. I received
a most interesting letter in which a Grand Rapids couple
informed me that their son, stationed in Vietnam, wrote home saying that U.S. and
South Vie tnamese forces should have attacked the Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia
five years when they ago- first
were established
I think the Cambodia Operation is a big success. And I personally believe it
will mean we will be able to withdraw more men from
Vietnam over the next 12 months
than the 150,000 now planned.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford,
reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again. next week-same time, same station.
DERALD R.FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 13-14, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
capital.
While many thousands of Kent and Ionia County residents have filled out and
sent my 1970 congressional questionnaire back to me, hundreds of them have also
written to let me know more fully just what is on their minds these days.
And
so I have learned that what is troubling scores of
good people
in my congressional district is the fact that
the country now is experiencing
one of the worst waves of violence and civil disorder since the Civil War.
Much of this trouble
coincides with widespread student disagreement with
the Administration's
policies in Southeast Asia. What is happening is that
radical
and radicalized students have seen fit--in the name of protest--to
burn campus buildings, throw rocks at law enforcement officers and military personnel,
block off major traffic arteries, and to literally shut down hundreds of institutions
of education.
I have often stated my belief that every citizen has
the right to protest
unless his way of protesting infringes on the rights and freedom of others. There is
no question in my mind that destroying property, assaulting police officers and
National Guardsmen and
intimidating the administrators of universities are
acts that infringe on the rights of others.
What is most alarming about the situation is
that
thousands of
such violations of the law have gone unpunished. While in some cases it has been
impossible to identify and arrest all violatórs, in other cases large numbers of
people have been allowed tobreak the law with impunity.
I say that
to GERA condone FORD LIBRARY
one offense is to invite another.
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If violent and illegal protesters continue to
go unpunished for
their violations of law, then We are opening the door to a total b reakdown of law
and order inthis country.
I have spoken in the pasta about the importance of
separating in the
public mind the campus radicals from the majority of responsible young people. We
all know that the radicals have been able to win significant support from
other students dissatisfied with national and campus policies. And the radicals have
often been able to intimidate some college administrators into capitulation.
Developments in Southeast Asia are, of course, of deep concern to our young
people and many older citizens. But this democracy of ours offers more free and open
channels of peaceful and responsible dissent than any other
form of government
in the history of man.
Those who burn, destroy and obstruct are not doing so because other channels
are closed to them. They are doing so:
because
their leaders seek destruction
for destruction's sake. Claiming to obey some higher law, they burn, assault and
obstruct in the name of protest. Even if the
policies they protest against
are wrong, the political views of these
people give them no license to deprive
other Americans of an education or of free speech or of any other cherished right.
We must assure that no such license is created through default or neglect.
We must punish these wrongdoers under OUR laws, not permit them to destroy our
society under their OWN rules.
Many thousands of deeply concerned students in America have found effective
ways to express their dissent peacefully. They have turned their energies to the
circulating of petitions to change governmental policy. They have held Earth
GERA Day FORD LIBRARY
teach-ins to demonstrate the need to wipe out pollution.
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They have visited members of Congress and Administration officials. They
have sent le tters and telegrams to public officials. They have participated in
peaceful demonstrations. These are the ways of a true democracy, while those of
the violent protester are the ways of a mobocracy.
Peaceful
responsible students deserfe our respect and attention.
Irresponsible protesters should be punished to the full extent of the law.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'llbe talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
########
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 13-14, 1970.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
This will be my last radio report to you this year because I will shortly
be filing my nominating petitions for Congress. Once I become an official candidate,
I come under the equal time provision of the Federal Communications Act.
Since this is my last report of the year, I want to talk with you about the
major problems facing the country and give you a rundown on where we stand--as I see it.
Vietnam, of course, is the biggest problem. Let's start out by noting that
when President Nixon took office last year he inherited a full-scale war in Southeast
Asia in which approximately 542,000 U.S. military personnel were involved. Whether this
was a moral or a legal war was irrelevant. We were at war, and President Nixon had to
deal with the situation.
-
What has President Nixon done? He has brought one out of four
Americans
in Vietnam home a total of 112,000. He said he would do it and he did. To date the
President has done exactly what he said he would do and he has done it within the time
tables announced. To reasonable people this should be assurance that the President will
continue to live up to this word.
President Nixon states that by Oct. 15 another 50,000 men will be out, and by
next spring the additional withdr awals will total 150,000. That will bring our force
levels in Vietnam to less than 280,000--almost a 50 per cent cut from the high mark
recorded when Lyndon Johnson left office. By that time we will have withdrawn our
combat forces from Vietnam, and the forces remaining will be primarily supply and
logistics units.
FORD
That means we will have disengaged from combat in Vietnam and will have turned
the fighting over to a well-trained, million-man South Vietnamiese Army. Our
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non-combatants can also come home as the South Vietnamese Army develops
its capability to handle the supply and logistics
work.
Unfortunately, there is no magic button here in Washington that we can push
to accomplish these things instantly.
There is no question that all of us want to get out of the Vietnam War as
fast as possible. Whatever dispute there is, it is not about whether to get out of the
war. It is about how to do SO. And it is about the time required to do it without
inviting costly consequences
To get out this instant to
would doom the South Vietnamese
to a bloodbath at the hands of the North tnamese. It would also make the fate of
more than 1,500 American prisoners of war a most uncertain one. In addition,
running out would encourage the Communists to move in on any or all of the countries
with which the United States has mutual security treaties. The President has
chosen
the alternative, which is to withdraw in stages while building South Vietnam's ability
to defend itself.
of opinion
I respect all those whose views on Vietnam
differ from mine.
Pride
is
not important here-but ending the Vietnam War and keeping out of others is. Let's
maintain a decent respect for our country and its President and
recognize our
responsibiliti
for ending the Vietnam War in a way that will help keep the peace.
Let me turn now to another big problem--crime. I would just point out that
we are making progress in fighting crime. The rate of the crime rise dropped to 11 per
cent in 1969 as against a 17 percent rise in 1968. That me ans we are gaining--and we
will make more gains. There is no question that it will be helpful if the Congre SS will
FORD
enact the 13 major anti-crime bills which President Nixon has developed.
I
will just LIBRARY
GERAL
report on one of these--a bill directed at organized crime. That bill has been passed
-3-
by the Senate and now is underg loing extensive hearings in the House Judiciary
Committee. I am hopeful it will be
taken up and passed by the House within
the near future. The people of this country are demanding it.
One final word. Sunday-June 14--is Flag Day. I hope as many Kent and
Ionia
County people as possible will
display the Stars and Stripes.
But whether or not everyone does, I hope they will reflect on how wonderful it is
to be an American and be thankful they are living under the greatest form of government
on this earth.
This is your congressman, Jerry
Ford, reporting from Washington.
I hope to
be resuming these talks with you next January. So long for now.
#######
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