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Ford Press Releases, January - April 1966
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Ford Press Releases, January - April 1966
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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U.S. House of Representatives. 3/4/1789-
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Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
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The original documents are located in Box D4, folder "Ford Press Releases, January - April
1966" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File 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. The Council 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Digitized from Box D4 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release Jan. 26, 1966
WASHINGTON, D.C.--- A "just and secure peace" is the United States'
"only objective" in Viet Nam and "our only aim is to promptly bring
home all American servicemen alive and whole," Congressman Gerald
R. Ford said today.
The House Republican leader said in a newsletter to Fifth District
constituents "our only opposition is to getting bogged down in an extended
and massive land war in the jungles of Southeast Asia."
Ford predicted that this type of war "could go on for many years and
produce thousands of casualties."
President Johnson can expect Republican support in his peace efforts,
Ford said in pledging similar backing of "military efforts."
"We will support anything which Mr. Johnson does to obtain a prompt,
just, and secure peace," Ford said, "If this can be accomplished by
immediate negotiations to achieve freedom and independence for the Vietnamese,
we will support such action."
Ford concluded, "knowing that there is no substitute for victory, we
will back the President in his every effort to achieve military or
diplomatic success" in Viet Nam.
Turning to the Administration's so-called war on poverty, Ford said
Republicans are "pleased" that the President "has finally named a full-time
commander-in-chief" of the big program.
Referring to Sargeant Shriver, who recently was relieved of his Peace
Corps assignment, Ford said he hopes the new fulltime director of the Office
of Economic Opportunity "will change the course of the war (on poverty) and
bring some sort of order out of the present chaos,"
Rapping the handling of the poverty program, Ford cited "misuse of
poverty funds, disastrous results", arguments among administrators, and
resignations of top officials.
-more-
Ford
-2-
"Our Nation can afford to help all of our less fortunate citizens," Ford
said, "but it cannot afford to squandor any of the hard-earned dollars
collected from taxpayers.
"Tragically, little of the $2.3 billion appropriated to date for the war
on poverty has actually been received by the Nation's poor. But, the army of
officials certainly those in the higher echelons has been well taken
care of."
Ford said Republicans "will push for a complete and independent audit"
of the use of poverty program funds, calling for a "thorough, bipartisan
investigation of the anti-poverty war."
The House Republican leader called for a "war" against both inflation
and taxes, pointing to a cost of living that is two percent higher than a
year ago and the President's demand that excise taxes on telephones and
automobiles be again levied on the 1965 level.
Describing the living cost increase as a "secret sales tax," Ford said
a remedy is to "hold down non-essential, non-defense spending" Opposing
"new taxes," Ford urged "prudent restraint" in spending public money.
Ford also recommended a "war for advancement" to solve most social
problems in education and training.
"The poor, the unemployed, the handicapped, and all youth need education,
a skill or training to meet job opportunities," Ford said.
Republican-introduced legislation calls for an income tax credit "for
those who pay the education bill in the form of tuition, books, taxes, and
other expenses," Ford said.
The House Minority Leader said he favors "returning some federal funds
to the states for educational use without federal control."
The GOP "Human Investment Act," Ford said, also would encourage industry
to train more persons on the job.
"The war to advance the position and skill of all our people is another
war we must win," Ford concluded.
# # # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release
February 2, 1966
WASHINGTON A White House proposal to double the length of terms
for House members was swatted today by Congressman Gerald R. Ford
as a plan that would beef-up the Executive branch as a "one-man rule"
type of federal government.
The House Republican leader said "we want our Congress to
exercise independent judgment" predicting that a four-year term
could lead in the opposite direction,
Thumping in favor of the present term system, Ford said "every
two years is not too often for a Congressman to put his record on
the line and seek the endorsement of those who elected him."
A two-year term, Ford said, helps "keep the Congressman close
to his constituents."
Taking a poke at President Johnson on another issue, Ford
predicted Congressional approval of the Administration budget in
its present form could lead to a national tax hike or "runaway
inflation."
Riddling the Administration's proposed record budget with
stinging criticism, Ford said, "I find it hard to understand how the
President can ask business and labor to avoid price and wage
increases which are measured in terms of millions of dollars when
he is increasing non-defense spending by billions,"
The Michigan Republican Congressman predicted the President's
budget will be pared by the House Appropriations Committee.
Ford made his statements a weekly letter to Fifth District
constituents.
#
#
#
#
#
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release February 9, 1966
WASHINGTON President Johnson's whopping $3.4 billion foreign aid request
should be given a "genuine, effective, and deep" Congressional surgical
treatment, House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford said today.
In urging the use of an economic scalpel on the President's request, Ford
said "substantial reductions in expenditures can be made without materially
weakening any good which may be accomplished."
Although critical of the Administration's foreign aid request, Ford said
he agreed with the President's stated purpose "to carry forward the best of
what we are now doing in the less-developed world, and to cut out the worst."
Ford added: "Our mutual security program, with some exceptions, has
served a useful purpose and I have supported its basic principles."
The Fifth District Representative from Michigan said that the President's
financial plan "can and should be cut considerably by the Congress, especially
in view of our was expenditures and Mr. Johnson's insistence on increasing
non-defense spending."
The President's stress in his foreign aid message that "we must concentrate
on countries not hostile to us which give solid evidence that they are
determined to help themselves" was applauded by Ford.
"The burden of proof on cooperation and constructive results must rest
with the recipient country," Ford said.
The President was criticized by Ford for failing to insist that "our
aid in tax dollars go only to those nations which are helpful to us in the
Vietnamese War."
Ford said he "cannot justify nor support any assistance to those nations
which in any way help the North Vietnamese aggressors."
#
#
#
#
#
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release Feb. 16, 1966
WASHINGTON
President Johnson's hush-hush conduct of the Vietnam War and his
failure to tighten economic pressure on the Communist enemy heartland of Hanoi
fall short of serving the national interest, Congressman Gerald R. Ford
said today.
Free world shipping to the enemy aggressor in North Vietnam "at a time when
the United States is fighting to protect freedom" was blamed on the President
by the House Republican leader.
Referring to reports of 119 free world ships "carrying goods to and from"
the enemy last year, Ford accused the President of virtually hiding information
from the American public.
The Administration's figures on the volume of shipping to North Vietnam
"do not present the complete picture," Ford said, charging that cargo activity
may be more than double the totals contained in a report on vessel movement.
"This situation emphasizes at least two significant truths," Ford said.
"The American people are not being given the facts about Vietnam to which they
are entitled and which in no way give aid and comfort to the enemy.
"Secondly, the Johnson Administration is not using every proper and
available means for applying economic pressure on Hanoi."
Ford recalled that last year the President "objected strenuously" to a
proposal that would have prohibited U.S. foreign aid from going to any country
whose merchant ships trade with North Vietnam.
"I supported that restriction," Ford said, "and I continue to urge the
President to use every means at his disposal to wage economic warfare against
North Vietnam, including cutting supply routes, be they on land or sea."
Ford made his statements in a newsletter to Fifth District constituents.
#
#
#
#
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release at 4 p.m.
Friday, February 25, 1966
James M. Mudge, my Press Secretary since early in 1965, is
resigning to accept a position with The Detroit Free Press as
Chief of the newspaper's City-County Bureau.
A member of the Free Press editorial staff more than 5 years
before coming to Washington, Jim is returning to the newspaper
with the responsibility of directing press coverage of Detroit
City and Wayne County governments,
# # # #
[March 1966,
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Because the Johnson-Humphrey Administration refuses to
face up to the serious problems of inflation and Insuses to do any-
thing about the increase in the cost of living, President Johnson
undoubtedly will ask Congress to increase Federal taxes.
Republicans strongly believe it would be better to reduce
to
non-military Federal spending than increase Federal taxes.
If the President would cooperate with Republicans in reducing the
cost of the Federal government we could avoid another tax increase.
Regrettably I see no evidence that the Johnson-Humphrey Administration
will economize -- which means new tax increases from the White House.
#
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release March 2, 1966
WASHINGTON "Why the rush?" in providing a $750,000 executive mansion for
Vice President Hubert Humphrey somewhere in Washington, Congressman Gerald
R. Ford asked today.
The House Republican leader indicated he favors adequate housing for U.S.
military personnel before Congress spends taxpayer's money for an "expensive
new home" for the Vice President,
Reported to be a favored choice is a site at the Naval Observatory in
northwest Washington. Sponsors of a bill being considered by a House Public
Works subcommittee reportedly favor a "three-story, brick and stone structure,
three-car garage, with grounds properly landscaped and fenced."
Ford, who said he hopes the proposal will die in committee, asserted that
"some of our servicemen have been living in little more than barns, even in
tents" while plans are being pushed to provide a Vice Presidential executive
mansion.
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara figured in Ford's critical attack on
the "house for HHH" plan.
The Michigan Congressman recalled that McNamara has refused to use funds
already appropriated to furnish proper housing for service personnel.
In shelving the military housing appropriation, McNamara was quoted by
Ford as claiming the spending "would add to inflation."
"If this is true, why the rush for an expensive new home for the Vice
President?" Ford asked. He concluded, "This is one expenditure that can wait."
The Minority Leader's statements were included in his newsletter to
Michigan Fifth District constituents.
#
#
#
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release at 12 noon
Tuesday, March 15, 1966
Washington -- House Republican leader Gerald R. Ford today named
Paul A. Miltich of Booth Newspapers as his press secretary,
effective immediately.
Miltich, 46, succeeds James M.Mudge, who resigned to become
chief of the DETROIT FREE PRESS City-County Bureau.
Miltich will be giving up a seat on the House and Senate Press
Galleries' Standing Committee of Correspondents. He was elected
to the post last January.
Ford's new press man has covered Washington for 8½ years for
Booth Newspapers, concentrating on the activities of Michigan
members of Congress. Prior to that he worked for 11 years as both
reporter and desk man for THE SAGINAW NEWS, one of the nine Booth
newspapers.
Miltich was graduated "with distinction" in June, 1941, from
the University of Minnesota, where he was elected to honor societies
for creative writing and outstanding work in literature and
languages. He is a native of Virginia, Minnesota.
##########
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release Friday, March 18, 1966, P.M.
WASHINGTON--Medical help for South Vietnamese civilians
is woefully inadequate and the Administration must act quickly
to meet that need, House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford
declared today.
Ford said he has received reports of miserable conditions
in Vietnam hospitals and in some cases "abeolute filthiness"
from a Grand Rapids, Michigan, orthopedic surgeon who has
donated his services in Vietnam on three occasions and has just
returned from a voluntary tour of duty there.
The surgeon, Dr. Alfred B. Swanson, told Ford he is
"appalled by the lack of medical facilities in Vietnam."
"It's a national disgrace," Dr. Swanson declared.
Ford noted that Health-Education-Welfare Secretary John W.
Gardner, now on a Vietnam tour, has found hospital conditions
fully as shocking as Dr. Swanson has described them.
He pointed to a news dispatch from Banmethuot, South
Vietnam, telling how Gardner visited a 30-bed Banmethuot hos-
pital ward with 70 men and women patients piled into it and
muttered to the hospital supervisor: "Impossible, impossible."
Gardner flew to the hospital, 170 miles north of Saigon,
to see what medical and educational aid South Vietnam lacks.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Two
Dr. Swanson charges that the Administration has talked
for years about giving South Vietnam medical aid but hasn't
done anything about it.
Ford said he will raise his voice again and again until
the Administration acts. He said he hopes to have Dr. Swanson
testify before the congressional committees concerned so they
can learn what he has seen in Vietnam.
Of Administration officials, Dr. Swanson said:
"Their charts indicate they're doing a lot (about
Vietnam's medical problems) but I've been there three times
in four years, and there just haven't been any improvements."
He added:
"In a country that's burning and bleeding to death, it's
fantastic we aren't doing more to save the lives of the civi-
lian population. It's just plain wrong."
Dr. Swanson said there are many dedicated people providing
medical aid in Vietnam but not enough of them.
At the same time, the lack of hospital bed space and
other facilities is staggering, Dr. Swanson added.
Dr. Swanson estimated the need for new hospitals at 40 to
50 spotted throughout Vietnam.
He quoted the Vietnamese Army's surgeon general as saying
they would cost $300,000 to $500,000 apiece and should be de-
signed to include a civilian wing and an army wing with a
common laboratory-surgical unit in the center.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Three
"The President should ask Congress to appropriate funds
for this program," Dr. Swanson said.
"Congress has just voted $1.8 billion to replace aircraft
shot down over Vietnam. If they would put the same amount of
money into social reconstruction, the war would be a lot closer
to being won."
"Even now the AID (Agency for International Development)
people over there could at least do something about the filthi-
ness in the hospitals--at least get the walls scrubbed down
on a regular basis. But they won't do it, and their excuse is
that the Vietnamese don't do it and it's their problem.
"It's mostly a matter of the guy at the top (President
Johnson) saying, 'Let's do something about this; and if there's
anything you can do, we'll back you up.'"
Ford emphasized that Congress has just approved $415 million
in special economic aid for Vietnam. He suggested some of this
money could be used to improve medical conditions there.
Dr. Swanson recalled that Vice-President Humphrey on his
recent visit to Vietnam pledged help on two fronts--social as
well as military. If the United States follows through, the
surgeon continued, this should mean medical funds equal to the
need.
Dr. Swanson currently is trying to put together a polio
immunization program for Vietnam with-private assistance coupled
with the government's blessing.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Four
He said all he needs to line up 1 million shots of polio
vaccine, to transport it to Vietnam, and to get two deep
freezers to store it is a letter of intent from Maj. Gen. James W.
Humphreys, Jr., public health chief in Vietnam on loan to AID.
Polio is not an epidemic disease in Vietnam but the people
are deathly afraid of it, Dr. Swanson said.
He wants to begin by immunizing the 500,000 children in
the Saigon area.
#######
"
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
Friday, March 18, 1966
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R- MICHIGAN
"It would be a shame if the presidential presence on television
is blacked out because the White House insists on using Signal Corps'
technicians instead of network union engineers to handle pickups of
Mr. Johnson's TV and radio broadcasts,
GI's are great fellows, but I don't think men in uniform should
be doing jobs that can and should be handled by civilians--and I
believe they feel the same way about it.
I'm surprised that the President does not have more concern
that the contract between the NBC and ABC networks and the National
Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (AFL-CIO) should
be honored.
The union points out that presidential use of Signal Corpsmen
to handle broadcast pickups violates a network-union contract pro-
vision requiring that the union's members handle all technical work
at the "point of origination."
Harry G. Schleggle, director of network affairs for the union,
contends that non-network personnel have moved into this kind of
work more and more in the past two years.
(MORE)
Friday, March 18, 1966
-2-
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
Unless there are overriding reasons for this--and I can't see
them at this time--I believe the presidential policy is manifestly
unfair to the network technicians,
The White House maintains that security is involved and that
using network engineers would take up some of the President's time.
For Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Robert H. Fleming to
raise the issue of security implies that some of the network tech-
nicians may be disloyal to the United States. I don't believe that
for one minute.
It's difficult to believe the security question is a real
problem. Certainly these men can be screened and given security
clearance.
As for the union technicians unnecessarily taking up the
President's time, we have the word of William McAndrew, President
of NBC news, that their own technicians "can be unobtrusive too."
Surely these matters can be worked out to the satisfaction of
the President while at the same time the livelihood of the men who
work as network technicians is protected."
# # # #
March 21, 1966
FOR MONDAY P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I like Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Gavanagh because he is a Democrat who
apparently doesn't mind helping the Republican Party.
He is befriending the GOP--whether or not that is his intention--by
fighting Soapy Williams for the Michigan Democratic Senate nomination.
He and Soapy will be chopping each other up in the August primary, and
that will improve chances for the Republican candidate to win in November.
Not only will Democratic ranks be bitterly divided by the Cavanagh-
Williams race, but it's obvious that all campaign contributions spent to
influence the outcome of that struggle will be lost to the Democratic
Party in the general election drive.
All of this promises a Republican victory in the Michigan Senate contest
this fall, whether Cavanagh or Williams is the Democratic nominee..
I'm sure the voters of Michigan will recognize Cavanagh for what he is--
one of the biggest of the big spenders, a man who as Detroit's mayor keeps
begging for more and more federal funds and keeps complaining Detroit isn't
getting enough. At the same time, he is collecting Cavanagh's income tax--
one per cent from the pay of every Detroit wage earner and of every
suburbanite who works in Detroit.
Williams is 55; Cavanagh is 37. Cavanagh himself has tagged Williams
as a tired old political warhorse who is back in the starting gate after not
having stood election for eight years. When Williams left the Michigan
governorship, the state was bankrupt. Now he wants to pull the same sort of
stuff in the U. S. Senate.
That's the choice offered Michigan voters by the Cavanagh-Williams
primary contest--a choice between a young spender and an old one.
FORD. LIBRARY
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
Monday, March 21, 1966
FOR P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
It's an insult to the intelligence of the American people for
Democratic leaders to contend the Republican Party and the press have
kidded the public into thinking inflation is here.
The people know that certain prices have been going up steadily and
that all the nibbles at the family paycheck have added up to a great big
bite. That's why it's ridiculous for any Democrat in Congress to remark
casually that price increases since the 1957-59 period have been gradual
and to dismiss last month's record jump for a February in the wholesale
price index.
In February the wholesale price index registered the sharpest rise
for that month since 1951. That is a real danger signal, and no Democrat
in Congress can ignore it.
President Johnson recently stated candidly that inflation is "perhaps
our most serious economic challenge in 1966." If Mr. Johnson is aware of
that--just as we Republicans are and have been for some time--I'm sur-
prised other Democratic leaders are not.
Some Democrats in Congress apparently are not as interested in polls
as is Mr. Johnson. They seem not to have seen the latest Gallup Poll
results on inflation's impact on the family. That poll showed Americans
believe a family of four needs $18 more a week just to get along this
year, as compared with a year ago. That adds up to $936 more in a 12-month
period--or nearly $1,000 more a year. I'd like to ask Democrats in Congress
how many families have an additional $1,000 net this year to meet the
climb in the cost of living.
Democratic leaders say Republicans complaining about inflation are
"looking at the stock market and its gyrations rather than the overall
economy as it is." The American housewife certainly is not looking at the
stock market when she goes to buy necessities for her family and then
cries out: "My goodness, the price has gone up again."
# # #
Albicopy
March 21, 1966
FOR MONDAY P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I applaud President Johnson's determination to provide safeguards against
tragic accidents which have resulted in injury or death to many children
throughout the nation.
I strongly favor the child safety legislation outlined by the Fresident
in his consumer message, and I believe that we have tarried too long in
enacting such a measure.
The President's Consumer Message is a strong and wise one in this regard,
but he makes certain general statements which only point up an Administration
weakness.
He says, "The consumer has a right to a dollar of stable purchasing power."
The Administration to date has failed to halt the steady rise in the prices of
many consumer items, notably food and clothing. The President simply has done
too little to cope with the inflationary fever which is depriving
of areah of the real rise in their earnings.
He says, "Our standard of living has never been higher." But what he
fails to say is that while Americans are spending more and living better, their
standard of living will suffer a sharp setback if the Administration and
Democrate in Congress refuse to stem the tide of inflation.
(MORE)
FORD ON CONSUMER MESSAGE
-2-
The President calls for swift passage of the truth in packaging and
truth in lending bills. Both bills are tied up in Senate committees and
there has to be good reason for this.
Nobody's opposed to truth in packaging and truth in lending. That's
like being against motherhood.
The truth in packaging bill is a touchy package because there's reason
to believe it would result in added cost to the consumer--and we've already
had enough of rising prices.
In addition, many of the packaging complaints aired before the Sens te
Commerice Committee have resulted in remedial action by the producers and
packagers.
Advocates of the legislation also are ignoring the fact that the
President already has all the power he needs to do the job. Deseptive
packaging already is a violation of federal and state law.
In sort, the legislation just isn't meaded.
As for truth in lending, nobody in his right mind wants to see anyone
deceived into paying ridiculously high interest charges. But many contend
the proposed Douglas bill is unworkable because it's virtually impossible
to determine the simple interest rate accurately at the time of purchase.
This legislation also may be unnecessary because the states are moving
in on the gougers in the metropolitan areas where the west practices exist.
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State have is
expected to report in a short tind that any federal law of this type would
conflict with state laws. The conference also is expected to report that
state laws should be adjusted to apply uniformly to the gougers. This would
be far better then federal action in this field.
see
GERALD R. FORD
MICHIGAN OFFICE:
FIFTH DISTRICT, MICHIGAN
425 CHERRY STREET SE.
GRAND RAPIDS
Congress of the United States
Office of the Minority Leader
house of Representatives
Mashington, D.C.
March 21, 1966
FOR MONDAY P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I applaud President Johnson's determination to provide safeguards against
tragic accidents which have resulted in injury or death to many children
throughout the nation.
I strongly favor the child safety legislation outlined by the President
in his consumer message, and I believe that we have tarried too long in enacting
such a measure.
The President's Consumer Message is a strong and wise one in this regard,
but he makes certain general statements which only point up an Administration
weakness.
He says "the consumer has a right to a dollar of stable purchasing power." 11
The Administration to date has failed to halt the steady rise in the prices of
many consumer items, notably food and clothing. The President simply has done
too little to cope with the inflationary fever which is drpriving wage-earners
of much of the real rise in their earnings.
He says, "Our standard of living has never been higher." But what he
fails to say is that while Americans are spending more and living better, their
standard of living will suffer a sharp setback if the Administration and
Democrats in Congress refuse to stem the tide of inflation.
(MORE)
FORD NIBRARY
FORD ON CONSUMER MESSAGE
-2-
The President calls for swift passage of the truth in packaging and
truth in lending bills. Both bills are tied up in Sanate committees and
ther e has to be good reason for this.
Nobody's opposed to truth in packaging and truth in lending. That's
like being against motherhood.
The truth in packaging bill is a touchy package because there's reason
to believe it would result in added cost to the consumer--and we've already
had enough of rising prices.
In addition, many of the packaging complaints aired before the Senate
Commerce Committee have resulted in remedial action by the producers and
packagers.
Advocates of the legislation also are ignoring the fact that the
President already has all the power he needs to do the job. Deceptive
packaging already is a violation of federal and state law.
In sort, the legislation just isn't needed.
As for truth in lânding, nobody in his right mind wants to see anyone
deceived into paying ridiculously high interest charges. But many contend
the proposed Douglas bill is unworkable because it's virtually impossible
to determine the simple interest rate accurately at the time of purchase.
This legislation also may be unnecessary because the states are moving
in on the gougers in the metropolitan areas where the worst practices exist.
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is
expected to report in a short time that any federal law of this type would
conflict with state laws. The conference also is expected to report that
state laws should be adjusted to apply uniformly to the gougers. This would
be far better than federal action in this field.
FORD is LIBRARY
# # #
March 22, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD (R-MICH.)
REGARDING DEATH OF AP NEWSMAN G. MILTON KELLY.
Associated Press newsman G. Milton Kelly died Tuesday, and with his
death the country lost one of its finest reporters. Mr. Kelly covered the
U.S. Senate and always turned in excellent work.
I have a special feeling for "Milt," as all his friends called him,
because Milt was a native of Hancock in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and
worked for AP in my home town of Grand Rapids as well as in Lansing, the
state capitol.
Milt was assigned to Washington in 1939 by the AP after serving in
Michigan and in New Delhi, India.
Here he wrote some of the best stories of his career, doing an
outstanding job in covering a series of Senate investigations that made top
news throughout the country--the Army-McCarthy hearings, the Bobby Baker
case, the TFX plane investigation, and the Labor Rackets Committee hearings.
One of the finest pieces Milt ever wrote was one about the nicknames
of some of the characters summoned before the Labor Rackets Committee--men
with such colorful names as "Greasy Thumb" Guzik. It made page one wherever
newspaper desk men were on the alert for a great feature story.
The journalism profession is the poorer for Milt Kelly's death. So is
Washington, and so, too, is the nation.
###
FORD LIBRANO
"Great society"
March 24, 1966 - Thursday
REP. gerald R. FORD ON FLOOR OF HOUSE
Mr. Speaker:
We have been told by the President of the United States that it will
not be necessary to sacrifice his Great Society programs in order to pay for
the mounting costs of the war in Vietnam. We have seen his estimates in the
fiscal 1967 Budget submission, and have noted that he would prefer that the
Congress prune some tried and tested programs, such as the school milk pro-
gram and Federal aid to land-grant colleges.
But until recently, I have not seen any estimate of what all the new
and unproved Great Society programs are going to cost when they become fully
implémented and are all added together. The first-year costs of most Federal
programs are relatively small, but they have a way of growing bigger every
year, and I can hardly recall during my 18 years here of one ever starting
to shrink.
In the current (March, 1966) issue of the respected magazine, "Reader's
Digest," an article by Mr. Charles Stevenson examines this serious problem
under the title, "What Price--The Great Society?" The article reports that
even if the war in Vietnam is brought under control, economists estimate
conservatively that by 1975--just nine years hence--we will have a Federal
budget of around $204 billion and that welfare-state programs will account
for more than half the total expenditures.
It also notes that state and local governments will be compelled to find
matching funds so that their combined spending will soar during this period
from about $72 billion in 1964 to $179 billion in 1975. I commend this
interesting and informative article to the attention of my colleagues and
all Americans who wonder why Republicans are trying to hold down the high
cost of government during this Great Society, or High Society, spending sprem.
Under leave to extend my remarks, I include the article by Mr. Stevenson.
# t #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FROM THE OFFICE OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT
MARCH 25, 1966
WASHINGTON--House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., today
proposed that Congress investigate the rash of reported sightings of
unidentified flying objects in Southern Michigan and other parts of the
country,
Ford said he believes a congressional inquiry would be worthwhile
because the American people are becoming alarmed by the UFO stories.
He noted that Air Force investigators have been checking on such
reports for years but have come up with nothing conclusive.
"In the light of these new sightings and incidents," Ford said,
"it would be a very wholesome thing for a committee of the Congress to
conduct a number of hearings and to call responsible witnesses from the
executive branch (of the government) and witnesses who say they have
sighted these objects."
"I think the American people would feel better if there was a
full-blown investigation of these incidents, which some persons allege
have taken place."
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
FOR SATURDAY P. M. RELEASE
MARCH 26, 1966
One of the selling points for the $1.5 billion anti-poverty program
launched last year by the Johnson Administration was that it would take
people off the welfare rolls and reduce welfare spending.
Yet federal welfare officials have asked a House Appropriations
subcommittee for an extra $381 million to pay welfare bills through
June 30 of this year, and this requested $381 million would be added to
the $3.2 billion Congress voted last year for fiscal 1965-66 welfare
payments to the states.
Testimony released Friday showed that subcommittee members were
astonished by the Johnson Administration request.
Now the House Ways and Means Committee is demanding to know why
welfare spending is mounting during a period of low unemployment--low
unemployment partially caused by the manpower needs of a wartime economy.
I also am amazed by the request for more welfare funds, and I hope
the hearings planned for this summer by the Ways and Means Committee
will produce some answers for the American taxpayer.
This request for more welfare money casts grave doubt on the
Administration argument that the anti-poverty war will put welfare
families back on their feet. It also reflects on the manner in which the
anti-poverty war is being waged. I am talking now not only of political
favoritism by the Democrats and obvious misuse of taxpayer money but of the
overall strategy being employed in the war on poverty--a strategy that
produces frustrating feuding at the local level and blunts or paralyzes
an attack on the problem.
###
GERALE FORD LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, P.M.
MARCH 29, 1966
NOTE TO ALL NEWS MEDIA: House Minority Leader Gerald P., Ford,
R-Michigan, today sent the attached letter to the chairmen and the ranking
Republican members of the House Committees on Armed Services and Science
and Astronautics, urging that one committee or the other investigate the
subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's).
Ford is not satisfied with the Air Force explanation of the recent
sightings in Michigan and describes the "swamp gas" version given by
astrophysicist J. Allen Hynek as "flippant."
Ford has received a number of telegrams and letters from individuals
anxious to see a congressional investigation of UFO's.
# # #
COPY
March 28, 1966
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Science and Astronautics Committee
Armed Services Committee
U. S. House of Representatives
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D. C.
Dear Chairmen Miller and Rivers:
No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of newspaper stories about
unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special interest in
these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have been
in my home state of Michigan.
The Air Force sent a consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek of
Northwestern University, to Michigan to investigate the various reports;
and he dismissed all of them as the product of college student pranks or
swamp gas or an impression created by the rising crescent moon and the
planet Venus. I do not agree that all of these reports can be or should
be so easily explained away.
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and
because I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough
explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date, I am
proposing that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee of the House schedule hearings on the subject
of UFO's and invite testimony from both the executive branch of the
government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFO's.
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing the
advisability of an investigation of UFO's.
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond, published
last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these reported
sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need a more credible
and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are getting."
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn together
to one place and examined far more objectively than anyone has done so far.
A stable public opinion will come from a trustworthy look at the evidence,
not from belittling it."
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective and
respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all present and
future evidence about what is going on."
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you scan
the enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the Griffin-
Larrabee News Bureau here. In the last of his articles, published last
January, Mr. Griffin says, "A main conclusion can be briefly stated. It
is that the Air Force is misleading the public by its continuing campaign
to produce and maintain belief that all sightings can be explained away
as misidentification of familiar objects, such as balloons, stars, and
aircraft."
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional
investigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R. Brown,
Ardmore, Tennessee, who says, "I have seen UFO. Will be available to
testify."
Another, from Mrs, Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oregon, reads, "Nine out of
ten people want truth of UFO's Press your investigation to the fullest."
FORD
(MORE)
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Page Two
March 28, 1966
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as "a scientist from
M.I.T.," urges that you "do everything in your power to make Air Force
Project Blue Book (the AF name for its study and verdicts on UFO reports)
known to the people."
Are we to assume that everyone who says he has seen UFO's is an unreliable
witness?
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dated March 21, 1966, states that
"at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that they saw
a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land in a swamp near
here Sunday night."
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of a
recent UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical engineer
employed by Ford Motor Company. He points out that an aeronautical
engineer can hardly be considered an untrustworthy witness.
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation
than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there
be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena.
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFO's
and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject.
Kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
/s/
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:plr
Enclosures
###
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 29, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
It is unfortunate that President Johnson is actively thinking about a
5 to 7 per cent personal and corporate income tax increase as a weapon
against current inflationary pressures in preference to a cut in non-military
federal spending.
However, I fully understand his concern that Democrate in Congress
probably will add $1 billion to his budget instead of reducing non-military
federal expenditures. I can assure him that Republicans would be glad to
help him cut spending by as much as $5 billion as an alternative to a tax
increase.
Mr. Johnson mentioned three possible courses of action to halt the
inflation that has become all too apparent to most of us--wage and price
controls, spending cuts of $5 billion or more, or a $5- to $10 billion tax
increase. We Republicans believe a reduction in non-military spending is
easily the best course, and we would be glad to help Mr. Johnson and the
Democrats in Congress take that road.
# # #
FORD i LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT
MARCH 29, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
Acting like the Air Force with flying saucer reports, Johnson
Administration economists are trying to explain away the 0.5 of one per cent
increase in the consumer price index for February.
It makes no sense to try to make this bad news less bad. The realist
will recognize the February rise in the consumer cost-of-living figures for
what it is--the largest since June of last year, which was the same. Last
month's consumer price jump also was the biggest for a February since 1951.
If the monthly rise in the consumer price index continues at the
February rate, it will result in a nearly six per cent jump in prices at
retail for the year.
It should be remembered in this connection that for the November-
February period, the wholesale price rise was at a six per cent annual rate.
This is the peril in the February consumer price increase, coming as
it does after a wholesale price reading which shows the steepest climb in
wholesale prices for a February since the Korean War--0.7 of one per cent.
The consumer price rise for February brings the consumer price index
to 111.5. This means it cost $11.15 last month to buy what $10 bought in
the 1957-59 period, which is used as a base for the index.
Johnson-Humphrey Administration economists are seeking to calm the
public's fears about inflation, so they claim that food prices already have
begun to drop.
Their forecast of a food price decline may prove no more trustworthy
than President Johnson's faulty figures on January-February retail sales
announced at his press conference last week.
All the American people have to go on are the government's monthly
readings of wholesale and consumer prices. If, indeed, food prices do
decline this month, there may well be increases in other items.
This much we know--prices have been increasing and sharply. The
Johnson-Humphrey Administration, because it continuously promotes more
federal spending, is the prime cause of spiralling costs for every family.
###
GERAL
LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR WEDNESDAY, P, M. RELEASE
MARCH 30, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
It is now revealed that President Johnson was the purveyor of
misinformation when he told news reporters last week that retail sales for
January and February showed a "slight drop" from November and December.
Mr. Johnson was eager to display to inflation-anxious Americans an
"indicator" that the economy is cooling off.
Tuesday, we learned that the "flash" figures on which Mr. Johnson
based his statement about a drop in retail sales for January and February
were cockeyed. Revised Census Bureau figures now disclose that retail
sales rose vigorously in January, and the guessing by government analysts
is that February sales ran slightly above the $25.016 billion January
figure.
It is a small wonder that the American people are doubting the
Johnson-Humphrey Administration's ability to keep the economy from running
wild when Mr. Johnson cites faulty figures.
The revised government figures showing an increase in January-February
retail sales are another indicator that Republicans are right when they
insist upon cutting government spending as an alternative to a tax increase.
Since Mr. Johnson is 80 determined to avoid a tax increase, he should
submit a revised fiscal 1967 budget to Congress and thus do a service to
all Americans who want a tax increase no more than he does.
It is ironic that instead Mr. Johnson is appealing to businessmen to
hold off on plant expansion and to governors and mayors to hold back on
their governmental spending.
It would doubtless be more effective and have a greater impact on
the economy if Mr. Johnson would take the course his cockeyed January-
February retail sales figures initally blinded him to take--reductions in
non-essential domestic spending by the federal government.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 1, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
No "April-Fooling" about it--it has now become more and more urgent
that Democrats in Congress join Republicans in looking for places to cut
the President's $112.8 billion budget instead of trying to inflate it.
The reason is that French President Charles deGaulle has announced
he wants all allied commands and installations out of his country by
April 1, 1967. France just announced it will not pay one penny toward
the cost of removing the U. S. and other allied NATO bases from French
soil, and I don't think there is any way we can force France to assume
any of that tremendous expense.
Estimated cost of the move-out runs as high as $2.5 billion, according
to news dispatches from Paris where deGaulle and his cabinet yesterday
met on the question for 2½ hours. The cabinet firmly rejected a demand
by us and our NATO allies that France pay for removing the NATO bases.
It has been impossible for me to learn the extent to which our 13
NATO allies apart from France will share in the cost of base removal; but
since most of the installations are ours, we know the U. S. will pay most
of the bill. A good guess is that our share will exceed $1 billion.
This will create an unanticipated and heavy drain on U. S. defense
funds in fiscal 1967 at a time when we are pouring billions of dollars into
Vietnam with no end in sight.
This is something that has received little attention, eclipsed as
it is by the Vietnam war and by the problem of inflation here at home. It
is an added reason why Congress should cut spending as a move to halt
inflation and avoid a tax increase.
There is no question that the reorganizing of NATO's supply lines in
Europe will require heavy military expenditures by the U. S. I personally
am most concerned and feel this is another reason for Congress to cut back
non-military spending.
###
GERALE R.TORD CIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 1, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
I am shocked and outraged by the charge reportedly made last night
by a John Birch Society official in Arkansas that President Johnson was
under Communist influence in civil rights matters.
The President and I have had our political differences, as you well
know. But if anybody says Lyndon B. Johnson was under Communist influence
on this issue, they will have to say the same of all of us who have
championed human decency and equal justice in this country.
The author of these remarks in Arkansas, according to the UPI, also
smeared the late President Kennedy with the same foul brush just as another
John Birch official has smeared former President Eisenhower.
I believe in a good hard political fight and intend to make one this
year for a Republican Congress that will keep a close eye on President
Johnson for the rest of his term. But I think partisanship should stop far
short of the cesspool.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR SUNDAY A.M. RELEASE
APRIL 3, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
As I had expected, some persons have ridiculed my call for a congressional
investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). These people are a
fraction of those who have given me their reaction to my proposal. The
overwhelming majority of those expressing a view in letters to me believe
a congressional investigation would be useful and is needed.
Those who scoff at the idea of a congressional investigation of UFO's
apparently are unaware that the House Armed Services Committee has scheduled
a closed-door hearing on the matter Tuesday with the Air Force and that
Rep. Joseph E. Karth, D-Minn., headed a three-man subcommittee which held
two days of hush-hush hearings five years ago on behalf of the House Science
and Astronautics Committee. Karth has confirmed in conversation with a
member of my staff that he conducted these secret hearings.
The present Science and Astronautics Committee chairman, Rep. George P.
Miller, D-Calif., has shied away from a UFO probe at this time, saying his
committee does not have jurisdiction over the Air Force. But the late
Rep. Overton Brooks, D-La., obviously had different ideas because he tapped
Karth to summon Air Force witnesses and question them after a flurry of UFO
sightings in 1961.
Karth has informed me that his subcommittee made an oral report to the
full committee but never released anything to the public. According to
Charles F. Ducander, the committee's staff director, no record was made of
conversation between Karth subcommittee members and Air Force witnesses.
The hearings, he said, took place in Karth's congressional office.
I have never said that I believe any of the reported UFO sightings
indicate visits to earth from another planet. Apart from pranks and natural
phenomena, some of these objects may well be products of experimentation by
our own military. If this is so, why doesn't the Air Force concede it and
in this way reassure the American people? There would be no need to go into
detail on the nature of the experiments.
###
GERALD LICENSE
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 5, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MCIHIGAN
In line with his "jawbone" campaign to cool off the economy and try
to halt inflation, President Johnson is setting an example by postponing
construction of "two little rooms to a house that we have down home that
we will occupy some of these days."
If Mr. Johnson thinks it important to defer adding "two little
rooms" to a house he owns, then it would be only logical for him to veto
the Hubert Humphrey House bill now awaiting his signature. By vetoing
that bill, the President would deal inflation a much weightier blow than
by his deferment of the two-room addition he speaks of. He would be
putting off a $750,000 construction project which hardly falls into the
category of essential wartime spending.
In explaining his decision to postpone the two-room addition to his
house, Mr. Johnson said: "I asked Mrs. Johnson to defer those two
rooms because the construction people who would be working on them would
be very much in demand."
The same is true, of course, about Hubert Humphrey House.
Mr. Johnson said his two-room addition was "a little thing" but
added that if everybody postpones non-essential building "the economy
won't get out of our hands, and the prices won't go up five per cent in
the next five months."
I suggest to the President that he could set an even better example
for the people by vetoing the bill which will put Hubert Humphrey House
on the drawing boards. He has until Saturday to sign the bill. He can
strike a blow against inflation by vetoing it.
###
GERALD
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR WEDNESDAY P.M. RELEASE
APRIL 6, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
I feel certain the House will pass highway safety and tire safety
bills in some form this year. I personally feel there should be action
in this area. But it might be useful at this point, when the Senate
hearings on highway safety are in progress and House hearings are to
start late this month, to try to put auto safety in proper perspective.
There is danger in the sensationalism of the Senate hearings. It
tends to distort the auto safety problem, throw it out of proportion.
Dramatic testimony has been presented to the effect that 1965 Chevrolets
and 1964 and 1965 Chevelles equipped with Powerglide Transmission present
a potential hazard--the possibility that the accelerator will stick when
kept at the same level for some time under certain winter driving conditions.
Testimony making GM out to be a villain is obscuring the fact that
GM knows of only five incidents resulting from this potential hazard.
Also drowned out in the tumult and the shouting is the fact that no
injuries occurred in any of the five incidents. GM is calling all of
these cars back--as, of course, it should--and is installing a splash
guard at a total cost of $3 million to protect against any further incidents.
I am not trying to minimize the seriousness of a development of this
kind.
But I do believe there is a temptation under the circumstances to try
to pin most automobile accidents on the manufacturer, saying he simply
isn't engineering enough safety into his product. Of course, we want
safety built into our cars, but we must not lose sight of the fact that
auto accidents are caused by a variety of factors--and it is highly unusual
to find the kind of potential hazard in new automobiles which GM is now
taking steps to eliminate in 1.5 million of its cars.
There is also much to be learned from a four-year on-the-spot study
of fatal auto accidents in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area just completed
by University of Michigan scientists Donald F. Huelke and Paul W. Gikas.
(MORE)
LIBRARY
-2-
AUTO SAFETY STATEMENT
Their study, believed to be the most extensive of its kind ever made,
indicated that 71 of the 177 persons killed in the Ann Arbor area auto
accidents would have lived had they been wearing seat belts--that's
nearly out those who died.
two of/four of
The study also showed that an additional 35 of the victims would have
survived had they been wearing shoulder harnesses as well as seat belts.
The additional 35 brings to 106 the number of persons among the 177
victims who would have lived had both seat belts and shoulder harnesses
been used.
It is difficult, of course, to get people to wear shoulder harnesses.
They are extremely uncomfortable. And you and I also know that many
people driving cars equipped with seat belts use them maybe half the time.
It's easy to point the finger at the auto manufacturers. It's about
time we also pointed a finger at ourselves.
There should be a three-pronged attack on the highway safety problem--
by government, by industry, and by the driver.
# # #
,RALO
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 7, 1966
House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., will tour the First
Congressional District of Wisconsin April 22 and 23 with Henry C. Schadeberg,
Republican candidate for Congress.
Ford will speak at a campaign kick-off dinner for Schadeberg Friday
evening, April 22, at the new Carthage College Field House in Kenosha
before an expected audience of 1,600 Schadeberg supporters.
Saturday, April 23, Ford will address a Walworth County breakfast
meeting at the Green Shutters Restaurant in Whitewater at 8:30 A. M. and
a luncheon rally at the Aero Park hall in Janesville at 12:30 P. M.
Ford, congressman from the Fifth District of Michigan, is in his
18th year in Congress. He was elected Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives at the opening of the 89th Congress on January 4, 1965.
During the 88th Congress (1963-64) he was Chairman of the Republican
Conference of the House. Before becoming Minority Leader, Ford served on
the committee on Appropriations where he was senior Republican on the
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Schadeberg is campaigning to return to Congress from the First District
of Wisconsin. From 1961 to 1964 he represented the area composed of Racine,
Kenosha, Walworth, and Rock counties in the 87th and 88th Congresses. A
resident of Burlington, Schadeberg was minister at the Plymouth Congregational
Church before his election to Congress.
###
BRANT
1st DISTRICT REPUBLICAN PARTY
Fred D. Hartley, Chairman
P.O. Box 629
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN
House Minority Leader Gerald R. R-Mrich Ford Will tour the First
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Congressional District of Wisconsin April 22 and 23 with Henry C.
Schadeberg, Republican candidate for Congress.
Ford will speak at a campaign kick-off dinner for Schadeberg.
Friday evening, April 22, at the new Carthage College Field House in
Kenosha before to an expected audience of 1600 Schadeberg supporters.
Saturday, April 23, Ford will address a Walworth County breakfast
meeting at the Green Shutters Restaurant in Whitewater at 8:30 AM, and a
luncheon at the Aero Park hall in anesville at 12:30 PM.
Ford, rally Congressman from the Fifth District of Michigan 18th
year in of Congress
He was elected Minority Leader of
the House of Representatives at the opening of the 89th Congress on
January 4, 1965. During the 88th Congress (1963-64) he was Chairman
of the Republican Conference of the House. Before becoming Minority
Leader, Ford served on the committee on Appropriations where he was the
senior Republican member Defensepprepriationa on the Subcommittee of
Schadeberg is campaigning to return to Congress from the
First District of Wisconsin. From 1961 to 1964 he represented
the area composèdgof Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, and Rock counties
in the 87th and 88th Congresses. A resident of Burlington, Schadeberg
was minister at time Plymouth Congregational Church before his election
to Congress.
****
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
1st DISTRICT REPUBLICAN PARTY
Fred D. Hartley, Chairman
P.O. Box 629
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN
Racine Journal Times, News Desk, Racine, Wis.
Pictorial News Advertiser, 256 S. Pine Street, Burlington, Wis.
The Standard Press, Burlington, Wis.
Mukwonago Chief, Mukwonago, Wis.
Royal Publishing, Inc., Mr. Irwin Muehleisen, 1102 Mound Street, Racine, Wis.
Union Grove Sun, Union Grove, Wisconsin 53182
The Nu Vue, Richmond, Illinois 60071
Kenosha Evening News, Kenosha, Wis. 53140
WAXO P.O. Box 725, Kenosha, Wis. 53140
Radio Station WLIP c/o Wm. Lipman, Kenosha National Bank Hldg. Kenosha, Wis. 53140
Westosha Report, Twin Lakes, Wis. 53181
Beloit Daily News, Political News Editor, Beloit, Wis. 53511
Radio Station WBEL, 430 State Street, Beloit, Wis. 53511
/ Radio Station WGEZ, Beloit, Wis., 53511 c/o Jack Rieley, News Dir.
Clinton Tipper, Clinton, Wis. 53525
Edgerton Reporter, Edgerton, Wis. 53534
Evansville Review and Brooklyn Teller, Evansville, Wis. 53536
Radio Station WCLO c/o Vern W. Williams, Janesville, Wis. 53545
Milton-Junction Courier, Milton Junction, Wisconsin, 53564
Delavan Enterprise, 621 E. Geneva St. Delavan, Wis. 53115
News-Graphic, Delavan 53115
East Troy News, 123 Mill Street, East Troy, Wis. 53120
Elkhorn Independent, Elkhorn, Wis. 53121
Lake Geneva Regional News, Lake Geneva, Wis. 53147
Lloyd Nawak, Studio Mgr. WVIR Radio, Hwy. 50 east, Lake Geneva, 53147
Sharon Reporter, Sharon, Wis. 5385
Walworth Times, Walworth, Wis., 53184
Whitewater Register, Whitewater, Wis. 53190
Albany Herald, Albany, Wis. 53502
Brodhead Independent, Brodhead, Wis.
Milwaukee Metro, 3072 N. 27th Street. Milwaukee 53210
Milwaukee Sentinel, Editor, State Desk, Milwaukee, Wis. 53210
WISn-TV Newsroom, 759 N. 19th St. Milwaukee, Wis. 53233
Channel14, WTMJ-TV Newsroom, 720 E. Capitol Dr. Milwaukee, Wis.
Carl Zimmerman WITI-TV, 5445 N. 27th St. Milwaukee, Wis. 53209
FACTS, P.O. Box 31, Madison, Wisconsin, 53701
Wisconsin State Journal, 115 S. Carroll Madison, 53703
Radio Station WEKZ, Joseph Urban, Monroe, Wis. 53566
Monroe Evening Times, Monroe, Wis. 53566, c/o Edmund C. Hamilton
Antioch News, Lake County Reporter, Antioch, Illinois
Radio Station WMCW, News Department, Harvard, Illinois
Rockford Morning Star, News Tower Bldg. Rockford, Illinois
Milwaukee Journal, News Desk, Milwaukee, Wis.
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 7, 1966,
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I urge this Congress to change its rubber-stamping, loose-spending
ways when it returns from Easter Recess.
The 89th Congress in this session has continued to be a rubber stamp
for the White House. On critical votes most Democrats have done whatever
President Johnson told them to do. They don't seem to have minds of their
own.
This Congress in the first three months of this year has resumed the
wild spending spree it embarked on in 1965. This has caused painful
inflation, increases in automobile and telephone excise taxes, and now the
strong possibility of an income tax increase.
The way the Johnson Administration and the tcp-heavy Democratic
majorities in Congress are throwing the people's money around, one would
almost think there was no war going on in Vietnam. It's acting like a
business-as-usual Congress, not a war Congress.
It's claimed this is one of the hardest working of all Congresses. I
say the hardest work is being done in certain major committees by those
Democrats intent on inflating already bloated Administration spending
requests.
It's claimed this has been one of the most productive Congresses. I
say this Congress has moved at a rather slow pace, and the product is
nothing to be proud of. Apart from quick action on emergency money requests
for the multi-billion-dollar Vietnam war, the thing that stands out is
Mr. Johnson's $6 billion tax bill.
It's said this Congress is living up to the reputation it established
in the first session. That's true. It is living up to a reputation for
big spending and total disregard of the taxpayer's wishes.
###
GERALE FORD LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE MONDAY P. M., APRIL 11, 1966
WASHINGTON--House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, Mich., will address the
Republican faithful at appreciation dinners for two GOP members of the House in
appearances April 15-16 in California.
Ford will speak the evening of April 15 at Santa Rosa on behalf of Rep. Don H.
Clausen. The Clausen dinner is sponsored by the First District Republican
Committee.
The House GOP leader will be the principal speaker April 16 at a Lincoln-
Day-in-April dinner at Burbank honoring Rep. Ed Reinecke of California's 27th
congressional district.
Prior to the Clausen dinner, Ford will speak to the Republican Associates
of San Diego County at San Diego.
On his swing into Santa Rosa, Ford will arrive at 4:40 p.m, at San Francisco
International Airport, where a press conference is scheduled.
He will spend the night of April 15 at. San Francisco and will have another
press conference at 10:30 a.m. April 16 at the Hilton Inn before departing for
Burbank.
Ford will fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he is due at 3:30 p.m.
There he will be greeted by a Burbank civic committee. Burbank city officials
will be having their own annual dinner-dance that evening and so will be unable
to attend the Ford-Reinecke dinner.
Ford will meet the press at Burbank at 5:30 p.m. and later mingle with
guests at a social hour preceding the dinner for Reinecke.
Ford has made more than 200 speeches throughout the country since becoming
House Republican leader January 4, 1965. Congressman from Michigan's Fifth
District, he is serving his 18th year in the House. During the 88th Congress, he
was Chairman of the House Republican Conference. Before becoming Minority Leader,
he was ranking Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Clausen, of Crescent City, was elected to Congress January 23, 1963, to fill
a vacancy caused by the death of Democratic Rep. Clem Miller. He was reelected
to the 89th Congress.
Reinecke is a first-termer who was named whip of the California Republican
delegation January 6, 1965.
###
LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY AT 10:30 A.M.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1966
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER.
Yesterday was the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. Today is the anniversary
of Abraham Lincoln's death. Tomorrow, as most of us are unhappily aware
even without this reminder is Great Society Tax Day--the deadline for filing
your federal income tax returns for 1965.
President Johnson is in Mexico City today unveiling a statue of Abraham
Lincoln, so I suppose it will not be amiss for me to say a few words in praise
of Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson, though he called himself a Republican, is regarded now as the
Father of the Democratic Party. Lincoln, the first Republican president, was
himself a great admirer of Jefferson, saying that "the principles of Jefferson
are the definitions and axioms of free society." For his part, Jefferson
declared that "every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle
We are all Republicans; we are all Federalists."
So without quibbling about labels, let me merely note that we are all today
indebted to Thomas Jefferson for one major contribution to our system of
government. He was the Founding Father who started the Two-Party System. You
might say that, as Vice-President, he was the first minority leader here on
Capitol Hill. And the country has prospered under the two-party system which
developed--thanks to Jefferson--outside the provisions of the Constitution.
It added another and most important check and balance to our experiment in
self-government.
As to Jefferson's principles, during his presidency he cut federal spending,
reduced taxes, repaid $33 million of the national debt, and repealed the excise
tax on whisky. Whether he was the last Democrat or the first Republican to do
this I will leave for historians to argue.
There certainly can be no argument, however, about the differences of
principle that divide our two parties in this lopsided 89th Congress. There is
no doubt which is the spending party and which is the prudent party. Nevertheless,
we keep hearing noises from the direction of the White House that we 140
Republicans in the House of Representatives, outnumbered more than two to one,
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GERAL
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FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 14, 1966
are wrecking the Johnson-Humphrey Administration's earnest efforts to economize
and head off higher taxes. The President pleads with us and with the housewives
and businessmen and the farmers and labor leaders to sharpen our pencils and help
him halt inflation.
Well, I have sharpened my pencil on my income tax forms, so let me show you
a little simple arithmetic:
At this moment, there are 293 Democrats and 140 Republicans in the House.
That is a two-to-one majority with 13 votes to spare. Even the liberal
"Democratic Study Group" in the House of Representatives boasts enough members
to outvote the Republican minority.
In the Senate there are 68 Democrats, including Wayne Morse, and 32
Republicans. That's also a two-to-one majority with four votes to spare.
In short, this is a Blank Check Democratic Congress which can do virtually
anything it pleases, or anything President Johnson pleases, whether the
Republican Loyal Opposition likes it or not. Such lopsided legislative majorities
can spend your money, raise your taxes--and that's exactly what this Blank Check
Democratic Congress is doing.
And remember, no matter what President Johnson says or how fervently he
pleads with the housewives to stop buying steaks, the responsibility for federal
spending and for federal taxing rests with the Congress. This Blank Check
Democratic Congress will have to face the American voter in November, and the
people will know who are the spenders and who are the savers.
They will know because there will be roll calls on every spending bill that
comes to the House of Representatives which offers any hope of saving a single
wasted dollar of your money.
We asked President Johnson at the outset of this session to put wartime
priorities on his wartime budget requests. So far he has refused. We have gone
along with our elected commander in chief on everything he has asked to support
our fighting men in South Vietnam--but when I read what is happening over there
and how we are running short of bombs despite all the billions we have voted
for defense, I wonder how long we can underwrite shocking mismanagement in the
name of national unity.
We are certainly going to take hard second looks at all the rest of the
Johnson-Humphrey spending proposals when the Congress resumes.
Now here is the record on nondefense spending rolled up by the Blank Check
Democratic Congress thus far this session: On six key money measures, an average
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LIBRARI
-3-
FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 14, 1966
of 82 per cent of the Democrats have voted for higher spending and, inevitably,
higher taxes. (See Table)
On the same six roll calls in the House of Representatives, an average of
93 per cent of my Republican minority colleagues have stood up for economy and
the now dwindling hope of holding off inflation and higher federal taxes for
future April fifteenths.
We were faced with 3 new spending proposals, all having some merit in normal
times but steamrollered through the Blank Check Democratic Congress by lopsided
majorities. Then we tried to trim excess fat from 3 appropriation bills which
came to us before the recess. Some of these proposals were worthy, and they had
powerful advocates. But we are at war--and not doing too well with it. So again
the roll was called. Again the result was the same. Ninety-three per cent of
the Republicans were for saving; 82 per cent of the Blank Check Democrats were
for more spending.
Who votes for higher taxes? Democrats--four out of five of them. We cannot
expect to stop this steamroller without substantial help from any Jeffersonian
Democrats still left in the Congress--and it doesn't look like there are very
many of them left.
But we are going to make the record clear for the people to judge in
November, and I predict that the next Congress will be known as the Check and
Balance Congress instead of the Blank Check Congress. I am confident that here
in the legislative branch, at least, this country will have the right kind of
leadership next year to meet the mounting array of dilemmas and disasters at
home and abroad.
# # #
GTRALD 030
TOTAL STRENGTH: 293 DEMOCRATS VS. 140 REPUBLICANS (Two seats vacant)
SIX ECONOMY ROLL CALLS IN THE HOUSE - 1966
DEMOCRATS VOTING
REPUBLICANS VOTING
FOR SPENDING MORE
FOR CUTS AND SAVING
82%
93%
(Average)
(Average)
88%
Five per cent cut in
95%
Interior Appropriations.
4/6/66
93%
Five per cent cut in
89%
Postal-Treasury Appro-
priations.
4/6/66
75%
$12,000,000 Supplemental
95%
for Rent Subsidies.
3/29/66
76%
$750,000 new authority
95%
for H.H.H. House.
3/22/66
79%
$4,600,000 new authority
94%
for Alaska Centennial.
3/2/66
83%
$9,500,000 new authority
87%
for Florida "Interama".
2/3/66
WHO VOTES FOR HIGHER TAXES?
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT, APRIL 18
President Johnson is going to have to make a big decision soon-whether to
make greater use of our air and sea power or to send many more U. S. troops to
Vietnam, maybe an additional 200,000 or more.
We apparently must make such a choice to achieve even a stalemate in Vietnam
and to gain a cease-fire in a war that now looks like a war without end.
Infiltration of enemy troops from North Vietnam into the south has been
officially estimated at 4,500 a month. How should we deal with this continued
infiltration?
U. S. combat losses so far this year already have exceeded those for all of
1965--1,361 Army, Marine, Navy, and Air Force men killed in combat between
January 1 and April 9 as compared with 1,342 men in all of last year.
This reflects the fact that there were only about 25,000 American troops in
Vietnam last year at this time, while there now are more than 240,000 there.
Use of more air and sea firepower would seem preferable to sending more U. S,
manpower to Vietnam. Let's try this before sending more of our boys into combat.
I feel use of more air and sea power could save thousands of American lives
and hasten the accomplishing of our objective in Vietnam--to stop Communist
aggression, persuade the enemy to agree to a negotiated settlement, and promote
an honorable and lasting peace.
Is there a shortage of certain kinds of bombs in Vietnam? The Pentagon has
acknowledged that our factories will not be turning out new 750-pound bombs until
July and that meantime we're resorting to such things as buying back 5,570
750-pounders we sold to a West German fertilizer firm which wanted the nitrate
from the explosives.
We find that the Pentagon sold these bombs to the West German firm for $1.70
apiece two years ago and now is buying them back for $21 apiece. That means the
German firm is making a gross profit of $102,124 on the deal--1,200 per centprofit.
If there is no shortage of 750-pound bombs, then I can't understand why the
Defense Department would be willing to buy back its own bombs. Let the Pentagon
explain that away.
I say such an incident substantiates my charge of mismanagement. I say it's
a glaring example of mismanagement. And I'm sure the American people will feel
the same way about it.
GERALD
LIBRAR
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY P. M.
APRIL 20, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
President Johnson today asked Congress to give its blessing to a government
debt refinancing scheme that resembles a gigantic crap game with the taxpayer
the only one who loses.
What the President proposes to do is to dump $4.2 billion in government loans
into a pot at the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and invite
investment firms to grab a piece of the action--put some money into a government
revolving fund and get paid off with interest by the taxpayer for their trouble.
The conventional way to handle this kind of debt is to sell government bonds.
But this would show up in President should Johnson's budget. It also would be subject
to the with debt interest? limit. Congress frush refuses to approve the President's refinancing
scheme the projected Johnson deficit for fiscal 1967
not
$1.8
billion
but $6 billion.
It costs more in interest to refinance as the President proposes. If Congress
rubber-stamps the President's refinancing bill, the taxpayer will pay off to
private investors to the tune of up to $210 million more over the 10-year life
of the refinancing game. The lid also will be off the national debt.
Why is Mr. Johnson willing to make a goat of the taxpayer with his refinancing
scheme?
He wants to opend more but make it look like less. He wants a budget that
looks smaller on the outside but is bigger on the inside. And he wants to get
out from under the debt ceiling with government agency loans.
This is the Great Deception of the Great Society. Mr. Johnson found himself
with a $6 billion fiscal 1967 deficit--not a $1.8 billion red ink figure--until
his budget director tucked the ball under his jersey and pulled a sneak run around
the budget. Congress has to stop this run around the budget before it crosses the
goal line.
This devious financing scheme is just another handle for backdoor spending.
Mr. Johnson is trying to treat the taxpayer like the spendthrift husband who
keeps his debts hidden from his wife. That chap runs up a lot of bills, consolidates
his debts by borrowing fresh money from a finance company at higher rates and then
blithely resumes his role of the big spender.
Unless Congress rejects the President's refinancing plan, the road to greater
inflation will be wide open. Congressional committees will have no
FORD
no say in future lending operations of the agencies involved. The eommittees will
not be standing in the way to say this is as far as you go. They may as well GERAL hang
up a "gone fishing" sign over their doors.
###
LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT-APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
A week ago, in reiterating that the Republican minority in the House had given
the President every penny he has asked for defense purposes, I raised a question of
serious shortages and inadequate advance planning by the civilian managers in the
Penatagon which, according to widely publicized reports by reliable and patriotic
Americans close to the scene, have been and still are hampering thestepped-up level
of combat operations in Vietnam.
These reports, coincident with serious internal disturbances in that troubled
country, came as something of a surprise to me, to a great many members of the
Congress, of both parties, as well as to the millions of Americans we are here to
represent. We had been told in October 1963, by Secretary of Defense McNamara,
that most Americans would be out of South Vietnam by the end of 1965. We had been
assured, again by Mr. McNamara early last year that neither more combat troops nor
more money would be needed in South Vietnam. Late last year, the Defense Secretary
returned from a personal inspection of the situation there to say, "We have stopped
losing the war!" And we have been told ever since that the situation was improving
day by day.
So it produced something of a sonic shock wave when suddenly the front pages of
the newspapers and the radio and television newscasts were full of reports of
internal unrest, attacks on Americans, and curtailment of combat operations against
the Communist enemy. These were variously attributed to supply tieups, shortages
of essential equipment, and civil disturbances in South Vietnam. Evidence mounted,
and continues to mount, that the Pentagon planners were not adequately prepared to
cope with the kind of limited, non-nuclear type of military operation for which
they have supposedly been reorganizing since the end of the Eisenhower administra-
tion, with much fanfare about modern management methods.
When I raised the question of mismanagement, Mr. McNamara quickly--perhaps too
quickly--sought to smother it by sheer weight of computer-like statistics. He
called a quickie press conference that afternoon and personally declassified large
areas of secret information about U. S. bomb loads and backlogs. This information
was presumably classified on the grounds of national security and potential value
to the enemy. It was not the first time he has removed the "secret" label when
criticism of the Pentagon came too close for comfort.
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REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
In the course of Mr. McNamara's news conference to discredit his critics--who
have never supposed or suggested that any of his mistakes were deliberate or
dishonorable--the Secretary found himself partially confirming our concern. He
admitted that the Air Force had to buy back 750-pound bombs which had originally
cost U. S. taxpayers $330 apiece, were sold as surplus to a West German fertilizer
firm two years ago for $1.70 apiece, and have now been recovered for $21 apiece.
If this is good management, I am mistaken about the meaning of the word. If there
was no bomb shortage, was this transaction really necessary?
Mr. McNamara also denied there is any shipping shortage affecting Vietnam. Yet
only last Monday there were reliable reports--one headlined "U. S. Again Short Of
Viet Ships" from the April 18 Journal of Commerce--that the government is trying to
get 20 or more additional vessels from private shipping companies. It is a known
fact that ships have been stacked up for weeks as far away as Manila waiting to
unload their Vietnam cargoes. Mr. McNamara cites figures on Post Exchange supplies
delivered to Saigon in answer to allegations that our airmen haven't enough bombs.
He says there is no ship shortage, only shortages of dock facilities, I am
not interested in playing word games, nor am I interested in playing politics with
this serious situation. I am only interested--and I think every member of the
House and Senate, Democrate and Republicans, is also interested--in seeing that the
billions for defense we have unhesitatingly voted is well and wisely spent and that
every American sent 10,000 miles from home is given all the support and supplies he
needs to protect himself, defend all of us, and bring the war to a swift and
satisfactory end.
There has never been any doubt in my mind that every one of my colleagues in
the House and Senate, regardless of party, agrees completely on this point. I am
proud to see such distinguished Americans and distinguished Democrats as Senator
Scennis say, as he did on a national television network last Sunday, that his
Preparedness Subcommittee has found evidence of "mismanagement" in Pentagon planning
for the war. I am encouraged to hear that Mr. McNamara conceded before the
Fulbright committee that we have some "temporary dislocations of supplies" in South
Vietnam because that means that he is going to do something about it. I am informed
that he sent his chief of Air Force logistics to Saigon to investigate what he
calls the non-existent bomb shortages and to eliminate them. That's what we want.
But I am deeply concerned that Mr. McNamara, in his Senate testimony yesterday,
brushed off the concern of millions of patriotic Americans as "all this baloney."
I share this concern, and I shall continue to express it. I think such able members
of Congress as Senator Stennis, Chairman Carmatz of the House Merchant Marine
(MORZ)
-3-
REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
Committee, and Congressman Otis Pike of the House Armed Services Committee share
it. I know that many responsible newsmen here, covering the Pentagon and sharing
risks with our fighting men in Vietnam will continue to express their concern
because that is our obligation to the American people,
Now here are just a few of the reports that have come in to corroborate the
question I raised a week ago:
1. New York Times Correspondent Neil Sheehan, in a front page story from
Saigon yesterday, reported that since April 6 "the number of Air Force attack
sorties in South Vietnam has shreek to about 43 per cent of its former level"--
from 185 daily sorties dropping about 1000 bombs on Communist targets to an
average of 83 sorties and 400 bombs. Rocket firings, according to this reliable
report, have fallen even more spectacularly from 2800 a week to 98. Mr. Sheehan
says further that our planes are being sent out against the enemy with light
loads--which is another way of saying more American manpower is being exposed to
combat risks with less firepower. The New York Times dispatch states that "Air
Force officers in Vietnam have repeatedly warned the Pentagon over the last four
months that munitions were not arriving fast enough to meet requirements" and so
far they are still inadequate. This has nothing to do with recent civil
disturbances at South Vietnamese ports nor with the internal distribution system
of our fine military field commanders under Gen. Westmoreland, according to
Mr. Sheehan's sources. This New York Times report was called to Mr. McNamara's
attention in the Senate hearings yesterday and he called it "baloney."
2. Earlier, CBS News Correspondent Peter Kalischer, quoting what he called
an "unimpeachable" source, reported from Saigon that "a dire lack of ammunition
and explosives" has forced a cutback in U. S. Air Force sorties from over 400
to less than 100 per day. Kalischer said the critical shortage was not in bombs
but in fuses and other key parts that make bombs usable. He also reported a
shortage of 20-millimeter cannon shells and planes taking off half-loaded.
"Only emergency missions and those in direct support of ground forces operations
are being flown," CBS News said. This and other careful reports from trained
war correspondents on the scene also, apparently, come under Mr. McNamara's
category of "all this baloney."
3. The long-range management of our overall defense effort can be faulted
for its failure to adequately anticipate the needs of the American Merchant
Marine, a subject which we discussed at some length yesterday at the House
Republican Policy Committee press conference. As recently as the start of this
year, Mr. McNamara testified that our merchant fleet was adequate for our defense
needs and reaffirmed his earlier preference for airlift. Yet this week the
administration is reportedly trying to scrape up 20 or more additional U. S.
flag carriers, and the current budget includes funds for replacement of only
9 to 13 of the World War II merchant ships that form the bulk of our dwindling
merchant marine--now fallen to about 1000 vessels, mostly old, while the Soviet
Union has 1500, mostly new, and 673 more building or on order. In this connection,
I note that Mr. McNamara yesterday brushed off questions by the distinguished
senator from Kansas, Senator Carlson, about the resale of surplus items by NATO
nations. He said it was all "World War II equipment junk." It's a sad fact
this is true of much of the Merchant Marine that he considers perfectly adequate.
But our alarm over shipping is more "baloney."
4. The authoritative magazine, Aviation Week, in a series of articles by a
Marine Corps Reserve pilot who spent two in Vietnam reports in technical
detail on a wide range of ordnance and ammunition shortages, deficiencies and
deterioration. The publication, Aviation Daily, in its April 19 issue summed
up the misstatements Mr. McNamara has made in recent weeks and concluded that
"he has managed to almost meet himself coming back on some of the stories he
has presented to the public."
Mr. McNamara has a great gift for figures. He is extremely agile in the use
of words. As I said previously, I am not the least concerned with playing word
games. I have not myself used the word "baloney" to characterize disagreements
among equally patriotic Americans. We in the minority in this Congress cannot
GERALD
LIBRARY
(MORE)
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REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
selectively declassify information which has been stamped "Secret" in order to
substantiate the serious questions raised about the safety and support of our
fighting men in Vietnam and the future security of our country.
We must therefore depend in large measure on the kind of responsible,
independent reporters I have cited for firsthand information on the situation in
Vietnam. I for one do not regard them as "baloney." Whether you call these
exemples mistakes of judgment, mismanagement, poor planning, faulty foresight,
bad bungling or just plain goofs, I don't care. Whether they are "alarming" or
"distressing" or "shocking" or whatever word you prefer--they are intolerable as
long as they endanger any American soldier, airman, sailor, or marine. They are
intolerable as long as we, by asking questions of the Pentagon and persisting
after answers, can compel or speed up remedial action. This is the joint duty
of the responsible press and the responsible representatives of the people. I
intend and hope they intend to continue this duty. It is not "baloney."
# # #
GERALD <<<<<<<
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON THURSDAY, P.M.,
APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
The Air Force has informed me it is arranging for a study by high-caliber
scientists of some of the UFO sightings which have never been explained.
This study will be placed under contract soon after July 1, start of the new
fiscal year. It will be carried out by a university which has no close ties with
the Air Force so that the findings will be completely objective, Air Force officials
tell me.
Those people engaged in the study will be high-caliber scientists who have
never taken a position on UFO's, the Air Force said. It will be made clear to them
that they are not being hired to come up with findings in support of previous Air
Force statements regarding UFO's, I am informed.
The Air Force said there is too much effort involved to ask these scientists
to make this study without pay.
The report will definitely be made public, the Air Force assured me. The
whole purpose of the study is to clear the air as far as the public is concerned.
This, of course, was my purpose in recently requesting that public hearings
on the subject of UFO's be conducted by either the House Armed Services Committee
or the House Science and Astronautics Committee.
It was as a result of my call for a congressional investigation that the Air
Force now is arranging for a study of UFO's by topflight scientists not connected
in any way with the Air Force.
I would have preferred a congressional investigation with witnesses to include
reliable persons from among those who say they have seen UFO's. I still think this
would be beneficial. But the UFO study by a panel of scientists, with the report
to be made public, is a step in the right direction.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
The rise in the cost of living for March, the second consecutive monthly
jump, is in line with my prediction that consumer prices will climb 3 to 5
per cent this year as compared with a 2 per cent rise in 1965.
It also is proof that the jawbone technique the President is using to
try to halt inflation--talk, talk, talk--just isn't working. He is going to
have to make a choice within perhaps the next six months on asking Congress
for an income tax increase or cutting back substantially on the level of
federal spending.
I urge that he resolve to reduce spending and pass that word to Democratic
members of Congress. If this is done, there will be no need to impose a
second tax increase on the American people this year--and no excuse to do SO.
The consumer price index rose four-tenths of 1 per cent in March. In
February, it went up five-tenths of 1 per cent. There was no change in January.
The trend is unmistakable. Inflation is here. Averaging in the no-change
month of January, we find that consumer prices rose at an annual rate of
3.6 per cent for the first quarter of this year. If there are no more no-change
months during 1966, the rise for the year may be considerably greater than that.
It's time the President stopped talking about inflation and did something
about it.
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