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7343914
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Remarks of the President at the PFC Volunteer Reception, the Hilton Hotel [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343914
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Remarks of the President at the PFC Volunteer Reception, the Hilton Hotel [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976-05-08
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1976
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Digitized from Box 25 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 8, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Lincoln, Missouri)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
PFC VOLUNTEER RECEPTION
THE HILTON HOTEL
12:05 P.M. CDT
First I want to thank from the bottom of my heart
Carl Curtis and Roman Hruska, both of whom have been
with me since I arrived in the State of Nebraska yesterday.
They have not only been great Senators for you here in
Nebraska, but they have been giving great leadership to
my campaign in Nebraska and I thank Carl and Roman for
their service to your State and to our country and their
support for me.
But I also want to thank very deeply all of
you who are volunteers, who have worked hard and are
doing a good job in making sure that we win on Tuesday,
and we are going to win.
But we have about 72 hours and that is not too
much time to double and triple your efforts. I know vou
have worked hard. I know you probably are a little
fatigued, but you win a ball game by that last effort in
the last quarter, and this countdown is vitally important,
so I urge you to maximize your efforts in the hours ahead
and as you meet your friends, talk to your neighbors,
your farmer neighbors or your city neighbors, your
professional friends or those who are in churches with
you. Let me give vou in a capsule form what I think is
the best selling point. They can be put in the label of
prosperity, peace and trust.
Let's take each one very quickly. Prosperity --
refresh your memory -- 21 months ago this country was
suffering inflation at the rate of 12 percent or more and
for the first three months of 1976 the rate of inflation
is 3 percent or less. That is a 75 percent reduction in
the rate of inflation and that is not a bad batting
average by any standard.
Refresh your memory a year ago -- the doomsayers
were saying we were on the brink of a depression. We were
in a recession. We admitted that but instead of panicking,
instead of getting hysterical, we took a firm, steady,
right course, and the net result is we are now having,
according to the latest figures published yesterdav,
86 million 400 thousand people gainfully employed, the most
in the history of the United States.
MORE
Page 2
In those statistics that were released vesterday were
two very impressive figures. We gained 700,000 jobs in
one 30-day period, and in addition, from last April to
this year we made a total gain of 3 million 300 thousand
jobs. The policies that we have, the programs that we
follow, produce this kind of result.
So the Ford Administration can take credit for
it and we ought to be proud of it. It ought to be a
big selling point for us when we go to the polls, or you
all go to the polls together, next Tuesday.
Now one other point. I said indirectly to the
students at Nebraska, the graduating class, they were the
first class in 30 years -- 30 years -- that 'could graduate and
have a choice whether they wanted to go intothe military or
whether they didn't.
This is the first time in 30 years that young
people graduating from a university or a college would
not be faced immediately with a mandatory obligation under
Selective Service, and why have we been able to give them
a choice, either they could volunteer or they could P.O
into their occupation? Just because we have the right
military and diplomatic policy. We are at peace.
And let me give you another several points.
I am the first President seeking election or reelection in
the last 20 years who can say that the United States is at
peace. So when you put it all together, our policies
diplomatically militarily, have been right. We have the
peace and we are going to keep it because we are right.
And then if you will take the third word, trust.
I think since I have been President, August of 1974, we
have had an open, we have had a candid, we have had a
forthright Administration. The door was never closed to an
individual or to any group. We have been frank with the
American people, and the net result is there has been a
restoration of confidence in the Presidency and that: is
something that was necessary, something we can build
on.
So on the basis of those three words, prosperity,
peace and trust, I think you can talk to your friends
and neighbors and say that Jerry Ford ought to be the
President of the United States for the next four years.
END
(AT 12:10 P.M. CDT)