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Press Release: "Excerpts of Remarks of the Vice President of the United States, Charleston, West Virginia, September 27, 1960." [Other Document], 9/28/1960
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WHSF: Returned, 49-3
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Press Release: "Excerpts of Remarks of the Vice President of the United States, Charleston, West Virginia, September 27, 1960." [Other Document], 9/28/1960
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
White House Special Files Collection
Folder List
Box Number Folder Number Document Date
Document Type
Document Description
49
3
09/28/1960
Other Document
Press Release: "Excerpts of Remarks of the
Vice President of the United States,
Charleston, West Virginia, September 27,
1960."
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Page 1 of 1
file
Mr. Herbert G. Klein
FOR RELEASE:
Press Secretary
WEDNESDAY AM - 9/28/60
to the Vice President
Nixon-Lodge Campaign Headquarters
1146 19th Street, N. W., Wash. 6, D. C.
EXCERPTS OF REMARKS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, SEPTEMBER 27, 1960
I think that Senator Kennedy, in the interest of the country, should
correct his false statement to the effect that 17 million people go to bed
hungry every night in the United States.
I think he should do this while Mr. Khrushchev and his Communist
colleagues are in this country. This statement has been grist for the
Communist propaganda mill. Just last week the Chinese Communist paper,
"The Peoples' Daily", cited it as proof of the fact that in America, a land
of plenty, millions of people were starving.
The Senator cannot remain silent on this issue. He claims that he
based this statement on a Department of Agriculture report in 1955. This
report indicated that one out of ten Americans had an unbalanced diet. But
it specifically stated that "this does not mean that those families were poorly
fed or subject to malnutrition."
The Senator should put his country above his partisan politics on
this issue and tell Mr. Khrushchev and the world that he was wrong in
making such a statement. He also should state the truth - that while there
are people in this country who do not share in our unprecendented prosperity
as we would like, and while we must move forward at all possible speed to
see that this situation is corrected, that all in all, the 180 million people
of this country are the best-fed, best-clothed, best-housed people in the
world; that we have come closest to the ideal which Mr. Khrushchev claims
as his own but has never been able to even approach - of prosperity for all
in a classless society; that a lower percentage of people suffer from malnu-
trition in the United States than in any major country in the world.
****
When Senator Kennedy was here two weeks ago, he charged Republi-
cans with being coldly "indifferent" to unemployment and distress in West
rginia.
(more)
Charleston, W. Va. - 2.
What he neglected to say was this:
First, that the idea of special legislation to help distressed areas was
originated by the Republican Administration, not by the Congress.
Second, that for five long years this administration has been trying,
but without success, to get Democratic-controlled Congresses to act sensibly
on this legislation.
Third, that the two bills rejected by the President which Congress
finally did pass were, in effect, a Congressional veto of the basic concept
the President had been urging all along. The Congress vetoed the Presi-
dent's bill, passed something entirely different, then cried foul when the
wanted
President firmly replied that he still/a law that made sense.
Fourth, that when the President rejected the bill that the Democratic
leaders rammed through, over his protest, for political purposes, he made
a sincere appeal for sound legislation to be passed at once so this state and
similar troubled areas could quickly have the help they need. My opponent
did not mention that the Congress refused to act.
Fifth, Mr. Kennedy failed to point out something else when he was
here. I cite these important facts:
The Democratic bill he bragged about would have helped Charleston
by making $589, 000 available. The Republican bill that the Democrats vetoed
would have provided $961,000 -- almost twice as much.
The Democratic bill would have helped the major areas in West
Virginia by $2. 4 million.
The Republicans whom he complains about had not $2. 4 million but
$3.9 million for West Virginia in the bill the Democrats vetoed.
In total, Republicans tried to make $8 million available to West
Virginia. But the Democrats said no. They wanted to give West Virginia
only $5. 7 million.
I believe that legislation to help distressed areas is absolutely vital.
This help could be here right now if the Democrats in control of Congress
(more)
Charleston, W. Va. -3
had chosen to act responsibly instead of cynically vetoing the President's
recommendations in order to build a fraudulent political issue rather than
provide the needed help.
The distressed areas of West Virginia need assistance and they need
it fast. Senator Kennedy's leadership in the special session of Congress
gives little hope that he would be able to get an effective bill through the
next session if he were elected President.
The best hope for action, rather than glib promises designed to win
votes rather than help people, is to elect not only our national ticket but to
give us the articulate support Cecil Underwood could bring to this problem
in the Senate.
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