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Remarks of the President at the Oxford Valley Mall [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7346524
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Remarks of the President at the Oxford Valley Mall [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976
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Digitized from Box 33 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 30, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Langhorne, Pennsylvania)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
OXFORD VALLEY MALL
6:38 P.M. EDT
Thank you very, very much, my very good friend
and former colleague, Ed Biester. Ed, everybody here knows
that you have done a superb job as a Member of the House
representing this area in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
and I will miss you in the next four years, and I thank
you for your support and your friendship over the years.
Ed, we will miss you very, very much.
But let me add very quickly, I have had the
privilege and the honor to get to know Jack Renninger,
who is running to succeed Pete, and it is my observation,
having seen a good many Members of Congress and candidates
for Congress, that this district should send Jack down to
Washington to represent you and help me in the next four
years.
But I also want to thank Harry and Ruth for the
fine job they have done in this area.
But I would also speak out very strongly for
another friend who you need and who I need and the country
needs in the United States Senate, and I speak now
strongly, affirmatively for John Heinz, your next United
States Senator.
I brought along here, I am sure, somebody all
of you know. He is a very good friend of mine. He has
been campaigning with me for the last 10 days and, believe
me, he has been extremely helpful and beneficial. Let me
introduce to you a great guy, my friend, I am sure your
friend, Joe Garagiola. Thank you very, very much, Joe.
Now for a few minutes in this wonderful Oxford
Valley Mall in Bucks County in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania -- when I left Kansas City, I made a commit-
ment that I wouldn't concede a single vote and that I
wouldn't concede a single State, and the net result is
our campaign has gathered momentum every day.
And so today I can stand in front of you,
this tremendous crowd, and say with conviction that I
am inviting you, on behalf of Betty and myself, to come
on down to the inauguration for Jerry Ford and Bob
Dole on January 20, 1977. We will have a real swinger,
all for America.
MORE
Page 2
In August of 1974, this country was in deep,
deep trouble. That day that I became President
obviously I will never forget, but that day we were on the
brink of the worst recession. Inflation was over 12
percent; Americans had lost faith in their country, had
lost faith in the White House; we were still deeply
involved in Vietnam; there was anger, there was a
division among the American people.
And as I took that oath of office, standing
in the East Room with Betty at my side, I said I had
not been elected by your ballots; I asked to be confirmed
by your prayers. Because of your prayers and because we
put the good old ship of State, the United States of
America, on an even keel, because we had a firm, strong,
common sense hand on the tiller, we began to make the
kind of progress that today we can say in real conviction
America is making progress, America is on its way, America
is safe, America is secure. We made an incredible comeback
and we aren't stopping here.
We have cut the rate of inflation by better
than 50 percent, which means particularly to our older
people who live on fixed incomes, that they are going to
have more and a better opportunity to live their lives
in retirement. It means that people are going to invest;
that it will be easier to buy a home, particularly for
the young person.
Yes, we have cut the rate of inflation by
better than 50 percent. But let me make a commitment
to each and every one of you. I won't be satisfied until
we win the battle against inflation 100 percent, period.
Yes, we have gone through a serious recession,
the worst in 40 years. But, in the last 18 months we
have added 4 million jobs primarily in the private sector.
We have 88 million people working today--in all-time history,
the tops.
I am not satisfied, I won't be satisfied until
every person who wants to work has a job, and I pledge to
you that will be our goal and we will make it in the next
four years.
I think the record is clear that we have restored
the trust of the American people in the White House itself.
I have been open, I have been candid, I have been frank,
I have been forthright, and I again make a solemn pledge
to each and every one of you that in the next four years
you can trust the President who has been open, frank,
honest with you in the last two years. We will do it in
the next four years, as well.
Doesn't it make you feel good that I can say and
you know it is true, that not a single young American is
fighting and dying on any foreign soil tonight, and no
young American is facing the prospect of the draft or
Selective Service? We have an Army, Navy, Air Force and
Marines that are number one, and we are going to keep them
number one under Jerry Ford.
MORE
Page 3
I know from my experience in the White House that
to keep the peace we have we must remain strong. That
will encourage our allies. It will warn our adversaries.
And that peace that came so hard is a peace we can keep
because we are united in America.
The Congress is now supporting the kind of defense
budget that will buy us the best weapons, give us the best
military personnel. Because of our military strength and
our diplomatic skill, America has the peace, and we are
going to keep it so that we can live a better quality of
life here at home, a quality of life with peace and freedom.
But what does that mean? It means that we have
to stimulate the economy, and the best way : do that is
by a tax reduction. The best tax reform i know is tax
reduction.
Last January, when the Congress reconvened, I
submitted to them a tax reduction program that would have
done two things: One, it would have increased your personal
exemption from $750 to $1,000.
The other day I was in a factory talking to a group
of working people, and one of the men said, "Well, how
are you going to reduce my taxes?" I looked him right
in the eye and I said, "How many children do you have?"
He said, "Three." So, he had himself, his wife and three
children. I said, "If the Congress had acted responsibly,
next April when you were going to make out your income tax
return, you would have had $1,250 more in personal exemption,"
which, in a family like that gentleman had, would have
permitted him to do the things to upgrade his living,
improve his quality of life.
The Congress didn't do it. But let me put them
on warning. I am going to have a tax reduction proposal on
their desk when they reconvene in January, and if they
don't pass it next year, it will be on their desk the next
year, and if they don't pass it in 1978, you and I will
go out and lick 'em in 1978 in the next election.
But we also have an obligation to stimulate
the economy so that business can expand, so that business
can build new factories, buy more equipment. So, between
giving a tax reduction to the middle income people who have
been short-changed by the Democratic Congresses for the last
10 years and a tax reduction to stimulate business, we are
bound to have a healthy economy under the Ford Administration
for the next four years. I pledge that to you right here
in Orchard Valley, Bucks County -- Oxford. Let me apologize
to Oxford Valley. (Laughter) We were in the right county
anyhow. (Laughter)
MORE
Page 4
But one final observation: We have an obligation
to our older people. We have an obligation to do better
in the reduction of the rate of crime. We have an
obligation to make sure that our water is clear and our
air is free. We have an obligation to make certain that
the quality of life, so that an individual, a family can
buy that home in a decent neighborhood, so that health
care is available at affordable prices, so that recreational
opportunities are available for all of you.
Yes, now that we are over the hump of the recession
and on the way to the right kind of prosperity with peace
throughout the world, we can look forward to a new era,
the first four years in America's third century. a
century that can be the brightest and the best in the
history of this great country.
I have been proud to be your President during
the troubled times of the last two years. I would be
honored to be your President for the next four years.
And so I say to you tonight that two years ago
you confirmed me with your prayers. Tonight, I ask you
to not only confirm me with your prayers but also to
elect me with your ballots on November 2. And I pledge
to you that Jerry Ford won't let you down in the next
four years.
Thank you and good night.
END
(AT 6:56 P.M. EDT)