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This file contains mostly copies of his Reagan's newspaper columns with some later materials relating to his presidential campaign.
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Reagan, Ronald (1)
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Reagan, Ronald (1)
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This file contains mostly copies of his Reagan's newspaper columns with some later materials relating to his presidential campaign.
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collections
Gerald L. Warren and Margita E. White Files
Gerald Warren's and Margita White's Subject Files
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Press
International relations
Presidential campaign, 1976
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The original documents are located in Box 22, folder "Reagan, Ronald (1)" of the Gerald R.
Warren and Margita E. White Files 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. Gerald R. Ford 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Some items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted
materials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to
these materials.
Charles H Crutchfield
One Julian Price Place
President
Charlotte, NC 28208
few
Telephone 704 374 3500
Jefferson
January 28, 1976
Pilot
Broadcasting
Mr. Richard B. Cheney
Assistant to the President
The White House
Washington, D. C. 20500
Dear Dick:
Here are a couple of incredible reports on Reagan's
incredible visit yesterday.
I gave this to Margita White by telephone this morn-
ing, but knew you would also be interested in the
details -- particularly that statement he made re-
ferring to how he proposed to cut $90 billion in
federal programs: "I never did pay any attention
to that list. That was just some stuff the economists
gave me. I didn't even agree with all the things on
that list". Also, the fact that he only had 100 people
at a Charlotte cocktail party when at least 1500 were
expected is indicative of his standing here. I could
have gotten 1500 people together just to have a drink,
much less to hear a Presidential candidate.
For your information.
Cordially,
Clarlie
QERALO FORD LIBRARY
CHC:mm
Enclosures
cc: Ms. Margita White (w/enclosures)
WBT-AM
WBT-FM
WBTV
Jeffersonics
Jefferson Productions
Jefferson Data Systems
Charlotte, NC
WWBT
Richmond, Va
WQXI-AM
WQXI-FM
Atlanta, Ga KIMN
Denver, Co
Reagan
The Charlotte Observer
Less Clear
Wednesday, January 28, 1976
On Plan
By RICHARD BERGHOLZ
Los Angeles Times
WHEN HE FIRST unveiled his
Ronald Reagan said Tuesday he
program, Reagan said, his objective
had no intention last. September of
was "to tie spending and taxing
providing details concerning his
functions together wherever feasi-
plan to shift $90-billion worth of
ble, so that those who have the
federal programs to the states.
pleasure of giving away tax dollars
:
"I simply announced a broad pro-
will also have the pain of raising
the
former
"
LIS8ARY GERALD FORD
The Charlotte Observer
Wednesday, January 28, 1976
LIBRARY
Reagan's Rejoinders
Reagan Ridicules
GREATO
Satisfy Charlotteans
Social Programs
Continued from Page 1B
telligence efforts" or endanger the
lives of American agents.
Republican Reagan, "I think he's
tremendous. I've always been an
Abortion on demand?
admirer of his."
By JERRY SHINN
about 300 people at Gaston Coun-
Only when a pregnant woman's
Observer Staff Writer
try Club, Reagan repeated his pro-
Asked if he'd vote for Reagan if
life is in danger; not "on demand
posal for turning over many federal
Reagan were the Republican nomi-
...
or because it would be an in-
GASTONIA - Ronald Reagan
heaped indignation and ridicule
social programs to state and local
nee, Jeffers said, "I'd want to see
convenience, or because you did
Tuesday night on federal social
governments.
who the other party comes up
something you shouldn't have
programs and the bureaucracies To support that proposal. he de-
with."
done.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
SERALD
TO:
FROM: Margita E. White
Assistant Press Secretary
to the President
fiee my fees
now focher
Reagan
Campaign76
Media Communications. Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
UNEMPLOYMENT # 1
(:60 Radio)
V.O. MAN:
Governor Reagan, it's well known in this country
that as unemployment goes up (Fade under)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
An important part of Ronald Reagan's campaign is
the Citizens' Press Conference which gives the
people a chance to ask the questions
V.O. MAN:
Do you have any plans for full employment in this
country?
REAGAN:
Yes, there should be a plan, and I think there should
be measures to help those who bear an unfair burden
of the recession by being involuntarily unemployed.
But I think the long range solution is an end to the
40 years of the new philosophy of economics that has
told us we can spend our way to prosperity and that
a deficit doesn't hurt us,
SFX:
Applause
REAGAN:
The long range answer to the unemployment and recession
that beset us is to end deficit spending and balance
the budget.
This is the single cause of inflation and inflation
is the cause of the recession.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
LIBRARY GERALD FORD
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications, Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
GOVERNMENT
(:60 Radio)
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Recently, Ronald Reagan gave a group of citizens in
Conway his views on the roll of government.
REAGAN:
Politicians in Washington are slow in catching on to
something that people out in the states feel every
day. That's a reawakening of the American spirit of
independence and self reliance.
I think the people of this country today want more
than anything for government to get off their backs
and out of their pockets.
SFX:
Applause
REAGAN:
And I think they want government closer at hand, not
far away in the hands of a self anointed elite in the
nation's capitol.
Some jobs only the Federal Government can do. National
Defense, for example, is one of them. But domestic
programs should be managed at the local level where we
can do the job most efficiently.
The closer the program is to the people who pay for it,
the more they will take an active interest in it.
Our need is for a government that is confident not of
what it can do for the people, but of what the people can
do for themselves.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
BERMLO FORD LIBRARY
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications. Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
INFLATION
(:60 Radio)
REAGAN:
Today, governments, federal, state and local, are
taking more than 44c out of every dollar earned by
the people of this country, and Washington is getting
the lion's share.
No nation in history has ever imposed such a burden
on its people and long survived, but even this
(Fade under)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Ronald Reagan discusses one of our most serious
problems at an upstate Citizens' Press Conference
REAGAN:
Washington's refusal to operate its affairs as you and
I have to operate ours, making income and outgo match,
causes the run-away inflation that we've known for
these last several years which is the cruelest tax
of all.
It robs you of your savings.
It makes a mockery of the stable-fixed income that has
been promised to retired citizens.
It is time for the federal government to adopt a
schedule for balancing the budget so that the people
know that the dollar next month will buy as much as
it did last month and the months before.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
GLRALD R.FORD LIBRIER
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications. Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
SOCIAL SECURITY
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
At a recent Citizens' Press Conference, Ronald Reagan
talked about a problem of concern to retired persons.
REAGAN:
I know that some of you here today paid-in for months
and years into the Social Security Program, in the
belief that you'd have a monthly benefit check as long
as you live.
Now even Washington is admitting that there's a great
imbalance in Social Security.
It's been as badly handled as all their other money
affairs, but any reform must have as its first priority
the guarantee that those who must depend on Social
Security for their livelihood will continue to receive
their monthly check and that their benefits will not
decline in purchasing power but will keep pace with
inflation.
It is time for the Federal Government to adopt a
schedule for balancing the budget so that the people
on a fixed retirement income know that the dollar
next month will buy as much as it did last month and
the months before.
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
GERALD ReFORD LIERAD
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications, Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
TAXES
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
It happened at one of Ronald Reagan's Citizens'
Press Conferences.
A small boy stood up and (Fade under)
V.O. BOY:
I'm from Lancaster, New Hampshire. I think the
taxes should be lower because I don't think all
that money goes to good use.
SFX:
Applause
REAGAN:
You've just got your answer right there, son, and
I tell you, I wish you were old enough to go to
Congress because you're talking sense.
SFX:
Laughter
REAGAN:
You bet. There is too great a percentage of the
people's earnings being taken by governments at all
levels in this country.
But I believe that it is time for a study in this
country that would set a limit on the percentage of the
people's earnings that can be taken by government
without the people's consent.
That only in time of emergence would they vote an
increase in it.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
GERALD FORD
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications. Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
UNEMPLOYMENT If 2
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Here's another question for Ronald Reagan asked the
other day at a Citizen's Press Conference.
V.O. MAN:
For quite some time, 8% of the labor force has been
without work. The present administration is apparently
mistaken in its belief that the economy can correct
itself.
If elected President, what steps would you take to cut
back the persistent 8% unemployment?
REAGAN:
The private sector is the source of jobs and I believe
that far more could be done if the Federal Government
would explore the possibilities while we're fighting
recession, as well as inflation, of where tax incentives
could be used to persuade industry to put on more people.
But the only answer of any duration to unemployment, to
recessions of the kind we're going in, is going to be
the elimination of inflation.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
LIGHARY GERALD FORD
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications, Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
FOREIGN AID
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Ronald Reagan was asked this question at a Citizens'
Press Conference he held recently in Whitefield.
(Fade under)
V.O. MAN:
Governor, we've been spending a lot of our money: billions
and billions of dollars every year on aid to foreign
countries. I'd like to know, what are your views
on this?
REAGAN:
I think that with our foreign aid we've been very
foolish. We're a great and a generous country and
we've done some pretty wonderful things that we're
not getting credit for.
I think that if our foreign aid over the last few
decades had been dedicated more to exporting American
know-how and telling them how to solve some of their
own problems, instead of making them dependent on us
It's like feeding a deer up in the woods. If you feed
him long enough he'll never be able to take care of
himself again, and that's what we've done to an awful
lot of people in the world.
And I think we need some more common sense in the
application of foreign aid.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications. Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
DEFENSE
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
An important part of Ronald Reagan's campaign are
the Citizens' Press Conferences which give the
people a chance to ask the questions.
V.O. MAN:
As President, how would you deal with the Congressional
Democrats who are calling for still further cut-backs
in Defense spending?
REAGAN:
Well, here again is where I believe a President must
take his case to the people. And, the people must
be told the facts. I think the people will not make
a mistake if they have the facts.
Today there's confusion. None of us are quite sure
what the situation is. We hear someone saying,
"Oh, they're just saying that to get their budget
up" and someone says something else.
But the one thing we must be sure of is the United
States must never be second to anyone else in the
world in military power.
SFX:
Applause
REAGAN:
But the purpose of weapons is not to go to war. The
purpose of weapons is to convince the other fella that
he better not go to war.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
1/23/76
Peter H. Dailev. Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Bruce S. Wagner, Executive Vice President; Robert C. Moot, Treasurer; Robert P. Visser, Secretary
Campaign76
Media Communications, Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
GUN CONTROL
(:60 Radio)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Here's another question for Ronald Reagan (Fade under)
V.O. WOMAN:
Since New Hampshire is a supporting state what
about your gun control?
REAGAN:
I am against the kind of gun control that is being
talked in the Congress of the United States.
I see it as only something that would make it difficult
for an honest citizen to own a gun, but would do nothing
at all to impede the criminal in his getting a gun.
I think the type of laws that we had in California
that we instituted while I was Governor, and one
that we recommended that now has been passed, control
the criminal in the use of the gun.
And to do this, we passed a law that anyone convicted
of a crime if he had a gun in his possession when
he committed the crime, whether he used it or not,
you can add five to fifteen years to his sentence.
I think this is the proper approach, but I don't
think you're going to serve any good purpose at all
in disarming the honest citizens and leaving the other
ones armed.
SFX:
Applause
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
GERALD FORD
1/23/76
Campaign76
Media Communications, Inc.
1828 L STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 (202) 833-8950
NUCLEAR POWER
(:60 Radio)
V.O. WOMAN:
Mr. Reagan, in light of the recent upsurge of
interest in the energy proposals for this country
(Fade under)
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
All over our state, Ronald Reagan has been answering
your questions like this one
V.O. WOMAN:
I'd like to know how you feel about nuclear power.
REAGAN:
I think it offers us the greatest opportunity to
meet our energy shortage and to get out from under
the monopolistic control of the OPEC nations.
SFX:
Applause
REAGAN:
But with regard to the safety factor, the truth is
that danger of a nuclear fatality in a nuclear power
plant is about one in 75 million.
The one accident involving a nuclear power plant for.
the surrounding area is one in 5 billion.
I think the case has been made for the safety of
nuclear power plants, and I think we absolutely
have to have them if we're going to have clean air
and if we're going to have to add the energy this
country needs.
V.O. ANNOUNCER:
Reagan. He'll provide the strong, new leadership
America needs.
Paid for by Citizens For Reagan.
LIBRARY GERALD FORD
1/23/76
Nov. 17, 1975
Editors:
This is the last of the Ronald Reagan columns. Since the
governor is expected to announce his presidential candidacy on
Nov. 20, we are releasing this column for immediate
publication.
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
LISEARY GERALD ? FORD
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Immediate Release)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
It's part of the past now, but there was a time when
a lot of teen-agers got after-school, weekend, and summer
jobs simply because it was easy for local businessmen to
hire them. At the end of the week the boss could dig into
his pocket, pay the youngster the agreed wage, and not worry
about a blizzard of tax forms to fill out.
No one would argue that the tax deductions and the
paper work do result in some benefit for the working
teen-agers, but the benefits may not outweigh the
SERAL FORD LIBRASK
disadvantages. When you look at unemployment figures you
see that teen-agers make up a large portion of the
job-seeking group these days.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
Human nature being what it is, many employers who
might put teen-agers on part-time if they didn't have to
contend with minimum wage laws and stacks of forms just
don't do it.
A new bill in Congress could complicate things
further so far as work for teen-agers is concerned.
HR 10130 by Congressman John Dent of Pennsylvania would
amend the Fair Labor Practices Act to raise the minimum
wage, by degrees, to $3 per hour in July, 1977. (Present
law calls for it to go to $2.65 by then.) It would tie
the minimum wage level at that point to the consumer price
index, thus making it contribute to the seemingly endless
wage-price spiral. In other words, part of the problem
instead of part of the solution.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
Overtime would go from time-and-a-half to
two-and-a-half times the basic wage rate, if the bill passes.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
Organized labor has been pushing for this
liberalization of the minimum wage law, but it doesn't
seem to want to think about the fact that it will end up
costing all consumers -- including those it benefits
directly -- more for the things they buy.
It will more directly affect thousands of teen-agers
in such businesses as "fast foods." One operator of
fast-food franchises in several states says the net effect
of the bill would be to shift the composition of his work
force from mostly high school-age youngsters who now work
a complicated pattern of odd-hour shifts, to fewer workers,
adults who will work full-time. His reason: scheduling the
teen-agers is time-consuming. If the minimum wage goes up
that high, that fast, with promises of more and faster
increases, it's simpler to let the teen-agers go and hire
full-time employes.
GERALD FORD LIBRAR
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
Now the labor hierarchy may say "just fine" to that,
because it will presumably make jobs available for the adult
unemployed. Maybe so, but even if it were true, what do
they suggest the newly unemployed teen-agers do? Tear
around town on two wheels?
The fast-food franchise estimates there are a
quarter of a million part-time teen-age workers in this
field alone. What of the boys who drive delivery trucks
after school for pharmacies, florists and other small
businesses, or the kids who sweep out stores and do other
odd jobs on weekends? Chances are, the escalating
minimum wage will cause many an employer of teen-agers to
decide he can do without them and either reduce services
or distribute their work to other employes.
FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
While Congress is considering these changes in the
minimum wage law they might also study the possible effect
on teen-age employment in particular and the work force in
general of a two-tiered minimum wage system. One would
be for full-time workers; the other, lower one, for part-time
student workers.
So far the bill's proponents haven't come up with
any suggestion to replace the benefits of part-time work
for teen-agers who learn from it the value of work,
self-reliance and the need to save for the future.
Old-fashioned perhaps, but hard values to replace.
-30-
11/17/75
mc
LISBARY BERALD BERALD & FORD
RF
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Oct. 3, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
America's craze for nostalgia seems even to have
swept up some of the politicians. Sens. Hubert Humphrey
and Jacob Javits have dusted the cobwebs off that quaint
old-timer "National Economic Planning," and have trotted
it out in the form of a bill, S 1975, "The Balanced Growth
and Economic Planning Act of 1975."
You will have to look across the seas to view the
wonders which National Economic Planning has created. You
see, it's really another term for piecemeal socialism. The
Soviet Union, in its early days, adopted it with one fell
swoop, and has had a series of Five-Year Plans ever since.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
They have produced a consumer standard of living so
great that we would have to cut our own almost in half to
match it. India has demonstrated the wonders of National
Economic Planning, too, and even France and Britain have
flirted with it, without success.
How does it work? It starts with the assumption that
all segments of the economy need to exchange information
about their goals and plans in order for everything to work
in harmony with beneficial results for all. Unfortunately,
their assumption is wrong. Lack of advance information
isn't the problem; public policy mismanagement is.
Inflation, recession and shortages are caused by political
decisions made by administrations, congresses and federal
bureaus. Additional information won't cure that.
In fact, the Humphrey-Javits bill would make things
a good deal worse.
FORD is LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
It would create a new superagency of the federal
government; the Economic Planning Board. The board would
come up with a series of national objectives and
five-year-type plans. Then they are supposed to employ
something called "a consistent set of economic techniques"
to get business, labor and the consumer to go along with
their plans.
Under the co-chairmanship of Wassily Leontieff of
Harvard, who has received more than $ 1 million since 1962
to study his pet project of National Economic Planning,
the Initiative Committee for National Economic Planning
tells us in its brochure how this Economic Planning Board
should get everyone to make the decisions it wants. It
says, "The means of influencing those decisions are already
familiar to us.
GERMLO FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
"Some, such as tax incentives and disincentives, and
traditional monetary and fiscal policies, influence
individual actions indirectly. Others, such as selective
credit controls, guidance of basic 'capital flows, limits to
the use of air, water and land and mandatory resource
allocation, affect individual actions directly. " And
there you have a recipe for complete socialism.
Despite its obvious lack of success elsewhere- not
to mention its assault on human freedom--centralized
economic planning is being touted by a number of well-known
economists, including John Kenneth Galbraith, who is a
board member of the initiative committee.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
The planning advocates, with their obsession for
controlling everything in sight, believe that they can do
so wisely if only they can accurately predict future actions
in the economy. But Galbraith, in his latest book, says:
"All official predictions in economics are suspect. " So
much for consistency.
When it comes to job security, though, these
economists are a resourceful bunch. Not only has Prof.
Leontieff kept the flame of Socialist economics flickering
for 15 years with grants of federal dollars, but also several
hundred economists would be employed by the new federal
agency if the Humphrey-Javits bill ever becomes law.
Leontieff and several of his committee members even helped
draft it.
Nostalgia is fine, but I think we would all be better
off if the economists switched to swallowing goldfish.
9/29/75
-30-
jy
GERALD FORD
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Oct. 31, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
In a classic case of "Washington knows best," Big
Government (with a nudge from Big Labor) is telling the
independent-minded people of Aroostook County, Maine, what's
good for them.
For generations, the citizens of Aroostook, America's
largest potato-growing county, have had to work hard and
fast each year to harvest their crop before the long winter
sets in. Everyone joins in, grown-ups and youngsters alike.
In fact, nearly two-thirds of the harvesters are kids of the
county. They earn money, of course, but virtually everybody
in the county believes that the harvest experience has an
even more important aspect:
FORD CLORARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
It's a vital part of the process of learning
responsibility and the satisfaction and independence
that come from working.
Curiously, Washington now wants to do away with the
Aroostook tradition on the grounds that work is bad for
youngsters.
Child labor in industry was banned by Congress nearly
30 years ago. Few would argue that decision. Agriculture
was exempted from the ban, though, until last year when
Congress tacked a little-noticed rider to the minimum wage
bill, ruling out agricultural work for youngsters.
Aroostook County people were furious. John Moorers,
a potato farmer, put it bluntly when he told a reporter,
"Whatever happened to the belief that this country was built
on hard, honest work? That you work for what you get and
that work builds character?
FORD :- 07V839 LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
"These are the values the whole country's losing.
We've kept them here in Maine and now some know-nothings
down in Washington are trying to tell us what we've done for
generations is wrong. =
Congress had good intentions (as it often does), but
with uneven results (which it often gets). With urging from
the AFL-CIO, Congress was setting out to prevent exploitation
of children in the harvesting of some crops. It probably
didn't cross anyone's mind to study the situation in
Aroostook County or in Washington state, where students
traditionally pitch in with the strawberry harvest.
One Washington observer called it a classic example
of the application of broad-brush national standards where
local differences should be considered instead.
QERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
Aroostook citizens have marched and testified against
the measure, with no success thus far. The House
Argiculture Labor subcommittee voted to waive the ban in the
case of both Aroostook and the Washington strawberry pickers.
But, Big Labor leaned hard on congressmen in its debt on
the full House Labor Committee, and that group turned down
the waiver nearly 2 to 1. Thus, Big Labor proved it can be
just as insensitive as Big Government when it comes to
understanding that Americans weren't all stamped out of
cookie cutters.
Rep. William Cohen of Maine, summed it up effectively:
"These people are hardworking, decent, self-sufficient. The
family is still a strong unit and the harvest has always
been a family effort.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
"It's really a shame to start destroying that type
of life-style and spirit and philosophy, especially when
there's no social advantage to doing it and the use of
child labor wasn't abused in the first place. "
Those values he's speaking about undergird the
whole nation's heritage, of course, and have had a lot to
do with the productive genius of the American people.
Apparently, though, too many on Capitol Hill these days are
marching to a different drummer.
-30-
10/27/75
pg
GERALD FORD
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release in Papers of Friday Nov. 14 or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
Maybe it's time for all Americans to examine detente
more closely to understand what it means to us and to the
Soviet Union.
A very fine writer and historian, James Burnham,
recently did this in National Review magazine. He pointed
out that our leaders "think of detente as a diplomatic
equivalent of a business deal." Each side has its own
special interests but they agree to function within the
rules of the marketplace -- something for something. Each
will receive some of what it wants, but each will in turn
give something.
FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
In the case of detente, the plus for both sides is
believed to be some assurance against that horror of
horrors -- nuclear war. With that agreed upon, we hope for
eventual trade, cultural exchange and, in time, legitimate
friendship as we get to know each other better.
That is the way we see detente. Not so with the
Communists. For them, detente is not a "step toward peace. "
Nor is it, Mr. Burnham says, "an effort to achieve an
evenly balanced equation.' " It is a way for them to carry on
the revolutionary struggle with the advantage for them
increased by detente. Indeed, they see the whole arrangement
as the result of our weakness. Gus Hall, leader of the
Communist Party, U.S.A., has written that detente represents
a new "qualitative change in international relations, a
deterioration of our strategic situation. 11
BERÄLD FORD LIBRAM
The Ronald Reagan Column --- 3
It is explained that we have been forced to accept
detente on Communist terms and they don't lack for evidence
to support that claim.
There is our retreat from Indochina, retreat of the
West from such important strategic areas as Mozambique and
Angola. Then there is the Marxist push in Portugal, the
Greek-Turkish trouble in NATO, the oil squeeze on the West,
increased Communist influence in Italy, France and
Britain. We could add the increase in Soviet naval strength,
the terrorist activities we seem unable to halt and the
Soviet Union's arrogant violations of the SALT agreements
on arms limitation. They arm and we limit.
We are blind to reality if we refuse to recognize
that detente's usefulness to the Soviet Union is only a
cover for their traditional and basic strategy for
aggression.
DERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
It would appear that our situation is worse than
just not recognizing facts.
Not seeing the facts is useful for those who can
turn a profit from dealing with the Soviets, even though
such trade increases our danger. And, according to Burnham,
free world diplomats can use it to cover up their mistakes
and hide their "lack of a cohesive policy. = In other words,
politicians can hide their lack of willingness to be real
leaders, their lack of courage and their governing by
public opinion polls.
Detente is for the Soviet Union a no-can-lose
proposition. It fits their Communist dialectic. According
to this dialectic, "opposites clash and become ultimately
fused into a synthesis on a higher plane. =
FORD LIDRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
In Soviet eyes, the primary clash today is
between imperialist capitalists and revolutionary workers;
the synthesis is the proletarian dictatorship led by the
Communists.
All Communist strategy is conceived against that
doctrine or background - - and that most assuredly includes
detente.
- -30-
11/10/75
1m
LISBARY BERALD FORD
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday Oct. 10 Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley NEWS Service
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro is anxious to normalize
trade and diplomatic relations with us, we are told, but
he picked a funny way to prove it when he staged an
international conference in Havana in September to
promote the "liberation" of Puerto Rico from the United
States.
Back in March, the World Peace Council, an
organization controlled by the Soviet Union, called for a
preliminary meeting of Marxist representatives in Cuba
to discuss the matter of Puerto Rico.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column - 2
The delegates to that meeting issued a call for the
larger September gathering, all of which was designed to
promote one Juan Mari Bras' tiny Puerto Rican Socialist
Party.
The "call" was the usual Marxist harangue: "The
people of the world must redouble their efforts to defeat
in Puerto Rico the promoters of crime in Vietnam, Chile,
Palestine and other places, so that the liberation of the
Puerto Rican people will signify a new victory in the
cause of freedom
"
It is always ironic to see representatives of the
Soviet Union joining in denunciations of "imperialism"
by the United States, since the USSR holds the world
championship for imperialism.
RALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column - - 3
All this led to the September "international
conference on solidarity with Puerto Rico's independence"
in Havana. Some 300 delegates attended, including a
smattering of U.S. Communist Party functionaries.
The object of their affection, and of the
superheated rhetoric that flowed from the three-day
conference, is an "open" movement for Puerto Rican
independence that is about as popular there as ants at a
picnic. The issue of independence versus continuation of
the commonwealth status of the island was put to a vote
of its people just eight years ago. Out of more than
700,000 votes cast, fewer than 1 per cent voted for
independence.
This, of course, hasn't deterred Mari Bras or the
terrorists of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional
GENALD FORD
(FALN)
The Ronald Reagan Column - - 4
The FALN has claimed it bombed New York's historic
Fraunces tavern last January. Five people died in that
bombing. According to the FBI, the FALN leadership got its
training in sabotage in Cuba. Sounds like the "old" Castro
Cuba which routinely exported guerrilla warfare and
violence all over the hemisphere.
The fine hand of the Soviet Union in all this
mischief isn't hard to see. A Russian actually served as a
vice chairman of the Havana conference, and the Soviets'
puppet World Peace Council appears to have provided the
over-all strategy for the propaganda service. Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger took a properly dim view of the
proceedings. He said the "meeting in Havana can only be
considered by us as an unfriendly act. =
GL8ALD FORD LIBRATA
The Ronald Reagan Column --- 5
Castro's best-known U.S. fan recently has been Sen.
George McGovern. His wife, Eleanor, who visited Cuba with
him a few months ago, said of the bearded dictator: "The
most impressive thing about Fidel is his mind. The
breadth, depth and width of his knowledge is enormous.
Fidel knows the specifics of everything."
If that's so, perhaps he can grasp the idea that he
can't have things both ways. He can't have normal trade
and relations with the United States and, at the same time,
be the Western distributor for Soviet Marxism. Indeed,
if he wants the former, one of the points we must insist on
is that he deny the Soviets base and landing rights on Cuba
and that he guarantee in writing that he'll stop training
guerrillas for revolutionary export around the Western
Hemisphere.
SALD FORD LIBRARY
-30-
10/6/75
jy
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Oct. 17, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
In the 1950s Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov was
known as the "father" of the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb.
Today, he is known as the winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize.
It's been a long, difficult and courageous road for
the man who now ranks alongside Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
as a champion for human rights in the Soviet Union.
Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the USSR early last
year, but Sakharov continues to speak out for amnesty for
Soviet political prisoners with a courage which soon may
earn him the same fate.
FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
As early as 1958, Sakharov's misgivings about the
awesome consequences of nuclear warfare led him to circulate
"Samizdat" (literally, "self-publishing"), calling for a
ban on nuclear testing.
If you read Solzhenitsyn's monumental "Gulag
Archipelago," you know that a Soviet citizen does not do
such things lightly, for it can easily lead to a 10-year
sentence in a concentration camp, followed by years of exile.
Sakharov continued, however, and made a personal
appeal to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1961. It was
ignored. Five years later, he took a further step. He
participated publicly in a one-minute vigil for human rights.
He was fired from his high post in the Soviet nuclear program.
GERALD FORD LIBRAN
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
But the fact he wasn't arrested showed that the
Kremlin was concerned that harsher reprisals against such
an outspoken public figure might trigger even more protests
against repression.
In 1968 his book, "Progress, Peace, Coexistence and
Intellectual Freedom," was published in the West, but
circulated only in "Samizdat" form inside the USSR.
Now, the Nobel Prize Committee has cited him for his
"fearless effort in the cause of peace among mankind, " for
his warning "against the dangers connected with the bogus
detente, based on wishful thinking and illusions,' and for
his fight "not only against the abuse of power and violations
of human dignity in all its forms, but for the ideal of a
state founded on a principle of justice for all "
LIBRARY GERALD = FORD
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
All that Sakharov stands for contradicts the Soviet
system, with its denial of human rights, punishment for
dissenters, intimidation and the use of fear.
Despite its love of propaganda as a weapon to advance
the Marxist cause, the USSR has a clumsy track record in
handling its most famous citizens who dissent. When Boris
Pasternak won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, the
Soviets pressured him into turning it down, an act which
simply underscored their heavy-handedness. Solzhenitsyn
won it in 1970 but couldn't go to Oslo to receive it for
fear of being unable to return home.
Following their expulsion of Solzhenitsyn last year,
the Soviets launched a continuous propaganda barrage to
discredit him. It has had the opposite effect.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column - 5
His own compelling testimony on Soviet repression
and his profound moral stand about human freedom simply
have been verified by the shrill propaganda.
The betting in Oslo is that Sakharov won't be
allowed to pick up his prize, since the very awarding of it
by the committee will appear to the thin-skinned Soviet
regime to be a criticism of its repressive nature. And it
is.
(Note: The courageous writings of Soviet dissenters
in "Samizdat" form are collected and published in English
several times a year by the Samizdat Bulletin, P.O. Box
6128, San Mateo, Calif. 94403. If you ever had any doubt
about the way the Soviets treat their defenders, subscribe
to this publication.)
-30- -
10/13/75
jt
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Nov. 7, or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
Everything from chicken manure to windmills is being
touted as America's great energy hope. Most of the talk is
just that. All the exotic energy sources put together won't
provide more than a fraction of U.S. energy needs in the next
several decades.
Solar power is the most talked about exotic source.
It is being used today to heat a few buildings and swimming
pools. Its advocates conjure up visions of heating the whole
country with it. They ignore its limitations, which are great.
The sun's power is very diluted when it reaches us.
It takes about 10 square feet to gather enough energy for a
single kilowatt of power.
BERRLD FORD LIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
While a building's roof may be large enough to hold
solar "collectors" for a nearby swimming pool, the size
requirements for the collectors are staggering when you begin
talking about power plants.
A nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1,000
megawatts needs a 25-acre site. A solar power plant with the
same capacity would need 50 square miles of collectors, and
to equal the nation's projected nuclear capacity by the
mid-1980s (200,000 megawatts), you'd need an area larger than
the state of New York to hold all the collectors!
Like other exotic energy sources, solar power has some
useful limited applications, mostly in warm weather areas.
In fact, any discussion of its merits and risks should include
a calculation of the number of people in heavy winter areas
who would fall off their roofs trying to scrape snow from
their solar collectors.
GERALD FORD LICENSE
The Ronald Reagan Column - - 3
Some power companies are considering limited efforts
to extract methane gas from
manure, but it would be hard
to find a scientist who would bet that this "source" ever
will amount to more than a small percentage of our needs.
Windmills are in the same category. They can be useful
where strong winds prevail, but their cost per kilowatt is
high and it's hard to imagine Americans covering their
landscapes with them.
Harnessing the tides, though feasible, would provide
for only a small amount of the nation's energy needs, even
if a massive, expensive development program were undertaken.
Tapping the heat of the earth's core is many years
away, although use of steam near the surface is today
providing a small percentage of our energy.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
While talks go on about "alternative sources" to
fossil fuels, the United States has the largest proved
reserve (not total reserve) of oil it's ever had--enough
for 11 years' supply. On the continental shelf alone,
there are an estimated 98 billion barrels of oil, plus
natural gas. The bulk of it has been tied up, not by lack
of technology but by bureaucratic red tape and the political
maneuvering of so-called environmentalists.
Dr. P. Beckman, a quiet but plain-speaking University
of Colorado professor who specializes in the study of energy,
says this about solving our short-range needs:
"Use all the oil you can get till other sources come
in." He's referring, of course, to domestic oil. Those
"other sources" are coal and nuclear power.
But why not use conservation to combat energy
scarcity?
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
Because politically inspired scarcity, which we've
been wrestling with for two years, cannot be solved by
legislated conservation, such as rationing and price controls.
They only rearrange the problem.
The forces of a free marketplace are the best means
of achieving conservation, Dr. Beckman observes.
"There is no rule that says you can't throw diamonds
out the window, but people just don't do it," he says. "If
gasoline costs more, people will conserve it and economize
in other areas. "
Coal, of which we have a huge reserve, may offer the
best alternative to gasoline for powering our automobiles
not too many years from now, if political roadblocks can be
cleared away.
is
FORD
GERALD
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 6
Pilot projects have shown that by drilling down into
a coal field, exploding the coal and reducing it to rubble,
injecting water and oxygen, you produce methane gas. Piped
out, it can be refined into methanol, which can power an
internal-combustion engine. Its heating value is only that
of gasoline, so cars would need larger tanks, but this is
outweighed by its potential abundance and the fact that it is
nearly pollution-free. We could do away with costly gadgets
such as catalytic converters, which replace one type of
pollution with another.
The methanol-from-coal program suffers primarily
from investment anemia at present.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 7
And, should serious talks begin on developing such
a fuel to replace gasoline, it probably would trigger a
major campaign by the environmental extremists, who seem
intent on reducing the mobility and freedom of choice of
the workingman in order to recapture for themselves a bucolic
past that never was.
-30-
11/3/75
mc
MEW
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Sept. 5, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
Earlier this summer, in a western state, a young
man approached me and asked if I would sign the Declaration
of Independence.
He handed me what looked like the center spread of
a newspaper. On one half was a reproduction of the
Declaration of Independence backed by spaces for signatures.
I tore it off, signed it and handed it back to him. The
other half was something else again.
It was an ad for something called Peoples' Bicentennial
Commission.
FORD in LIBRARY 07V830
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
Despite its mild name and easy confusion with
the official American Revolution Bicentennial Commission,
the PBC doesn't represent the people, isn't interested in
celebrating the Bicentennial and is not a federal commission.
Instead, it is a self-appointed band of political
radicals intent on twisting the nation's 200th birthday to
its own purposes.
Its leader is a self-proclaimed Socialist
revolutionary, Jeremy Riskin, whose understanding of
American history is hazy but whose zeal is not.
He says, "It makes no sense for the New Left to
allow defenders of the system the advantage of presenting
themselves as true heirs and defenders of the American
Revolutionary tradition.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
"Instead, the revolutionary heritage must be used as
a tactical weapon to isolate the existing institutions and
those in power by constantly focusing public attention on
their inability to translate our revolutionary dream into
reality. "
Riskin's idea of translating "revolutionary dream
into reality" is to organize a crowd of about 20,000
demonstrators (many of them apparently fugitives from the
anti-Vietnam War movement, looking for a new cause) and have
them try to break up official Bicentennial events.
That's what they tried to do in April, heckling
President Ford as he spoke at Concord Bridge in commemoration
of "the shot heard round the world. "
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
Never mind the fact that the American Revolution was
a war of independence from foreign domination and not an
ideological class war of the type Riskin supports, the PBC
hasn't the slightest hesitation gulling government
bureaucrats into giving it some of your tax money to support
its radical rhetoric and activities.
Stating as its purpose, "to research, assemble and
disseminate to workers and students historical information
on the lives and roles of working people during the
Revolutionary War period, with an emphasis on the ideas and
events that shaped the formation of the early Republic,"
the PBC sought--and got--a grant of $7,210 from the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Once the federal dollar
faucet was turned on, it didn't stop. Last year, the NEH
approved a grant of $394,000 for some of the PBC people to
lecture throughout 13 western states.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 5
Presumably, Riskin and his followers could have sold
the NEH the Brooklyn Bridge if they'd wanted to, for, while
submitting innocuous-sounding grant applications, Riskin
was declaring to all who cared to pay attention that the
PBC's real aim was to show that " a genuine understanding
of revolutionary ideals links Thomas Paine, Sam Adams and
Benjamin Rush and the American people with Lenin, Mao, Che
Guevara and the struggle of all oppressed people
"
.
So much for U.S. history.
-30- -
8/29/75
pg
FORD 07VD39 LISRARY
file
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Aug. 15, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
The price of hot air is going up! Congress has just
given itself a pay raise.
With the nation facing the prospects of "double-digit"
unemployment and several public officials setting an example
for austerity (one new governor rides the bus to work;
another a bicycle), the House of Representatives has voted
to fatten its members' paychecks by nearly $4,000 a year,
going from $42,500 to $46,112.
To the credit of a good many congressmen, the vote
was close. It passed by a single vote, 214 to 213.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
In fact, had it not been for some last-minute
histrionics on the part of Democratic Caucus Chairman
Philip Burton, the electronic voting device in the House
would have recorded it the other way around.
In the final seconds of voting, with the tally at
214 "against" and 213 "for," Burton hollered: "The machine's
broken! The machine's broken!"
He later told reporters that this was a ruse. The
machine wasn't broken at all, but Burton's theatrics had
given him the time he needed to get the machine turned back
on to record some switch votes he was arm-twisting. Speaker
Carl Albert helped Burton by using some stalling techniques
at the podium.
So much for congressional "leadership" at a time when
public opinion polls show the average American ranks Congress
at its lowest point in history in terms of confidence.
MERALD
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
By tacking their pay raise measure to a post office
bill, which also raised salaries of federal judges and
upper-level bureaucrats, Burton & Co. hoped to make their
move inconspicuous. Their plan to rush it through without
a roll call vote (thus avoiding embarrassing questions from
voters at election time) was thwarted, but it's a safe bet
that those voting "aye" aren't going to shout from the
rooftops about it back home.
Burton and his allies were luckier a few weeks ago
when the House Administration Committee granted the entire
House a juicy $10 million package of perquisites. These
benefits will come automatically to each member--the
committee's decision didn't even require ratification by
the full House.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
It was rammed through in express-train fashion by
Committee Chairman Wayne Hays, who said he would deal
with opponents of the measure by simply eliminating their
staffs. That silenced the opposition.
The "perks" include extra money to put out those
puff-piece newsletters to constituents twice a year
(previously they were paid for from each congressman's
office budget) and nearly twice as many paid-for trips back
home to their districts. As many as 12 of the total of 64
trips can now be assigned to staff members.
If you're upset about all this boom-time
generosity in the middle of a recession, don't bother
writing your congressman about it this month. He's off on
vacation.
-30-
8/11/75
pg
Fill
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, Aug. 8, Or Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
Congress left for a month's vacation without breaking
the impasse which has left our relations with Turkey in a.
shambles and has seriously weakened NATO's southern flank.
Despite efforts in the Senate to rescind the embargo
of arms to Turkey, a handful of House members refused to
budge and that body rejected a move to allow Turkey to take
possession of some $185 million worth of material which it
had purchased and paid for before the ban went into effect.
R.FORD LIBRURA
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
Humiliated and angry the Turks swiftly retaliated by
seizing 26 U.S. bases in their country including
communications and intelligence-gathering stations vital to
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's defense network.
Defense Secretary James Schlesinger said the loss of
the military bases "has the makings of an American tragedy,"
and he may well be right.
The House's intransigence represents a defeat for
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who, in his belief that
foreign policy must be shaped far from the battlefield of
domestic politics, seriously underestimated Congress' ability
to interfere.
The problem first arose over Turkey's use of U.S. arms
in its invasion of Cyprus last July. Feelings ran deep among
U.S. citizens of Greek descent over the situation in the
divided Mediterranean island nation.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
They lobbied hard--and effectively- for Congress to
ban further arms shipments to the Turks.
In the most recent vote to uphold the ban several
conservative Republicans even joined those voting to sustain
it. Apparently they were angered by Kissinger's handling of
detente with the Soviet Union and his recent critical remarks
about Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
When Congress returns in September a good deal of oil
is going to have to be poured on troubled waters by the
administration if the embargo problem isn't solved. Even
then, Congress may insist that a resumption of arms shipment
carry a quid pro quo that the material not be used on Cyprus.
Whether the Turks will be in a mood to accept any "strings"
is a matter of conjecture, and whether the Greeks will trust
them is also a matter of conjecture.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
The Cyprus issue is one where there is "so much good
on either side," that very skillful diplomacy and a dose of
good faith will be needed to reduce the voltage level of the
issue.
Meanwhile, the Soviets aren't wasting any time in
exploiting our troubles. The Russians have signed an economic
agreement with Turkey worth about $600 million to the Turks,
and Soviet technicians are preparing to demonstrate their
troop-carrying attack helicopter, the MI-8.
Along with nature, it seems the Soviets abhor a vacuum
and are prepared to replace us as Turkey's arms supplier.
Let us hope Kissinger and Congress can bury the hatchet in
time to prevent this.
-30-
8/4/75
mc
JUN 30 1975
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, June 27, And Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
On June 30, the U.S. Agency for International
Development (AID), our dispenser of foreign aid, will fold
its tent and silently steal away from Laos, leaving the
tent (and all its other property) to the new Pathet Lao
Communist government which wants U.S. aid money to continue
flowing, but with no strings attached.
Although opposition to the Pathet Lao collapsed
more swiftly - after a decade of tug-of-war- than even the
Pathet Lao expected, the new regime hasn't wasted any
time consolidating its position.
FORD is LIBRARY 07V830
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
For years the Laotian cabinet had been a delicately
balanced coalition of leftists, rightists and "neutralists,"
kept glued together by neutralist Prime Minister Prince
Souvanna Phouma.
Shortly after Saigon fell, though, Pathet Lao
"rent-a-crowds" (as one European diplomat describes them)
began demonstrating in Vientiane for the removal of rightist
members of the cabinet. Most of them got the message very
quickly and took off for Thailand.
Since the emigres were mostly generals and
represented whatever military leadership the right wing
had, the Pathet Lao rushed in to fill the vacuum. Its
army, with North Vietnamese well-integrated into it
(right down to the company level), made a show of strength
to intimidate hitherto rightist towns in southern Laos
and the bloodless takeover was, indeed, over.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
The street demonstrators, meanwhile, stormed the
AID offices in Vientiane, occupying them and taking
hostages. To end the occupation and win the release of
the hostages, U.S. officials had to agree to pull AID
out of Laos entirely, along with its 200 American
employes (it also employs 2,500 Laotians).
The Pathet Lao wants to not quite kill the goose,
for they like those golden eggs it produces. Now, they
want U.S. aid ($32 million this fiscal year) "direct and
unconditional." In other words, a blank check. It's
no wonder they want the money: the United States is
Laos' largest donor by far and this aid keeps the local
currency afloat. Without it, the Laotian economy will
be in real trouble.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
Those arguing for continuation of our aid on
Pathet Lao terms contend it will help maintain a tiny
U.S. toehold in Indochina, but close observers of the
scene believe the "toehold" will produce no tangible
benefits and no leverage over the Pathet Lao.
Removal of AID would probably result in the Laotians
breaking off diplomatic relations with the United States,
but in the wake of the fall of Cambodia and South Vietnam,
that would scarcely be a catastrophe.
As long as we're dispensing foreign aid, we'd better
turn our attention to allies who need it, such as South
Korea, and forget Laos. Perhaps the Pathet Lao can float
a loan with their allies, the North Vietnamese.
-30-
6/23/75
pm
n
JUN 23 1975
THE RONALD REAGAN COLUMN
(For Release In Papers Of Friday, June 20, And Thereafter)
By RONALD REAGAN
Copley News Service
Although parity in strategic arms has been the
announced goal of the United States and Russia in their
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) negotiations,
the results of SALT II may turn out to be about as equal
as horse-and-rabbit stew: one horse and one rabbit--with
the United States on the short end of the recipe.
Indications are that the negotiators are under
pressure to come up with an agreement in time for President
Ford and Soviet party boss Leonid Brezhnev to sign when
the latter visits the United States in early fall.
Placing a premium on speed suggests that a poor agreement
is believed to be better than no agreement.
GERALD FORD CIBRARY
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 2
This could prove disastrous for U.S. security in
the long run. And it isn't necessary.
The speed with which Congress passed the defense
bill after its recent recess suggests, instead, that
plenty of congressmen found the folks at home won't sit
still for a weakened U.S. defense system. Against this
background, the U.S. negotiating posture should be a
tough one. The worry is that it won't be.
The major drawback of the proposed SALT agreement
announced by Messrs. Ford and Brezhnev at Vladivostok last
fall is its failure to provide for parity in missile
payloads ("throw weight").
In 1972, the United States already was at a
4 to 1
disadvantage on this score.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 3
The Soviets have since engaged in an aggressive
research and development program involving five new
ICBMs and a new submarine missile. If they replace their
existing land-based missiles with the new models and we
don't deploy a new ICBM to replace our Minuteman, the
payload gap will widen to 10 to 1 in the 1980s.
The grim significance of this disparity is
underscored by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul
Nitze in a recent article in "Foreign Policy."
He. postulates that if the Soviets wish to destroy 1,200
fixed targets (such as our missile silos), "blanket 400
squares miles of aircraft escape area, and barrage 100
aim points at sea," they would have enough throw weight
available to still keep half in reserve. In other
words, first-strike capability with plenty left over.
The Ronald Reagan Column -- 4
Another threat to our military forces and our
cities is posed by the Soviets' new supersonic bomber. They
don't want this counted in the USSR weapons total. The
U.S. negotiators seem willing to go along with this idea,
despite the dangers. There may be a quid pro quo in
the works, but virtually nothing is being said
publicly.
Though the Vladivostok proposal calls for
limiting the number of strategic weapons, it doesn't
prevent them from being fitted with multiple warheads
(MIRVs). This makes it all the more essential that we
negotiate an agreement which provides for accurate
MIRV verification and, at the same time, calls for
equality of throw weight.
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