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Remarks of the President at the National Republican Heritage Groups Council [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7339238
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Remarks of the President at the National Republican Heritage Groups Council [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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1975-05-16
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1975
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Digitized from Box 11 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 16, 1975
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN HERITAGE
GROUPS COUNCIL
THE EAST ROOM
5:11 P.M. EDT
Congressman Ed Derwinski, Mayor Ralph Perk,
Anna Chennault, Jay Niemczyk, and all of you who are
here as a part of the National Republican Heritage
Group:
It is so nice to see you and I am very, very
grateful for the warm reception, and I add very, very
quickly my deep personal appreciation for your organization,
your personal participation and for the work that I know
that you are going to do between now and the next election
in November of 1976.
Let me add most emphatically, during the course
of my 13 campaigns running for the House of Representatives
in the Fifth Congressional District in Michigan, I was
beneficiary of the loyal support and the dedicated
effort of many, many heritage groups.
The largest numerically and percentagewise,
of course, had a background from the Netherlands, and
believe me, they were tremendous; they were wonderful
in the help that they gave me in these 13 elections.
But we also, in that area of Michigan, had
the benefit of many other ethnic groups that had been
there many years, some that had come most recently,
and I only pick out one because it was more or less
that of the last vintage, and I speak here of the
Latvians.
They organized quickly after coming to this
country. They established a wonderful area facility.
Believe me, they were active and effective, and I am
sure there must be some here from the Latvian group.
Will you raise your hands?
MORE
Page 2
But I only use them as an illustration because
we had Lithuanians, we had Poles, we had many others,
and this is, in my judgment, what is true all over the
country.
We have in America the blessing of the ethnic
groups that have come to this country over a period
of better than 300 years.
There is an old saying, that the beauty of
Joseph's coat is its many colors. The strength of
America's character, the strength of America's effective-
ness comes from the fact that we all are a part, regardless
of our ethnic background, of this great country -- a
country that we can be so proud of and especially proud
of because of what was done by our military in the last
48 hours.
MORE
Page 3
I am certain and positive -- without looking
at the rosters -- that in the Air Force that covered the
operations, by the Marines, and by the Navy, there were
those who had many ethnic backgrounds.
I am sure in the roughly 500 Marines that
either landed on the ship or landed on the island there
were Marines who had many, many ethnic backgrounds.
I am positive that on the ships that participated
there were those of heritages from many nations of the
world.
The fact that they could all work together
for their new country is, I think, a great tribute to
them and to their dedication to America.
We were all welcomed -- and I use that in the
broadest and most figurative way -- when we, or our
parents, or our grandparents, came to this great
country, and I am very proud that the overwhelming
response, even after a few nitpicking criticisms by some,
that America today is opening up its heart, their homes,
to those that fought with us in Indochina.
Our best estimate is out of the 120,000, that
only 35,000 were heads of families, 65 percent of them
children, good people, that stood shoulder to shoulder
with us as a country.
I have had an opportunity in the last week or
so to talk to some GIs, and they have told me that while
they were in Vietnam, they had the help and assistance,
and their lives were saved, by a few South Vietnamese.
So, we are not only a society that welcomes
people from other countries with other backgrounds, but
we are indebted to them for the contributions that they
have made to our country's policies and our country's
efforts.
The group here today, you have made a choice.
You believe in the philosophy of the Republican Party.
You are dedicated to the expansion of that philosophy
in our political system, or by the methods that come from
the policies of freedom under our system.
I know that in the last election, under the
leadership of my very good friend Eddie Derwinski, this
group had a substantial impact on the results. It is
my understanding, statistically, that this group,
operating in every State of the Union, in one community
after another, increased the vote for our cause by
better than 12 to 15 percent.
MORE
Page 4
That is a good increase, but 1976 requires
a bigger effort and more success. And so, I strongly
urge that as a part of this get-together for the rest
of this day and tomorrow, you start laying the plans to
recruit people, to better organize, to raise money, to
go out and be missionaries in selling a philosophy that
is good for our country, for all our people -- young,
old, those yet unborn.
I think we have a great, great opportunity to
keep the policies of strength, the policies of humanity,
the policies of a healthy economy moving so that we
can have a better America and help to build a better
world.
So, I thank you very much for coming. I had
hoped that at the conclusion I could join you in the
State Dining Room for a reception and some refreshments,
but unfortunately my schedule got moved around a little
bit.
You are welcome in the State Dining Room, you
are more than welcome to the refreshments (Laughter), and
let me say, you can have just as much fun, even if I am
not there.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 5:22 P.M. EDT)