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Ford Press Releases, January - May 1970
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Ford Press Releases, January - May 1970
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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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Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
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The original documents are located in Box D4, folder "Ford Press Releases, January - May
1970" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Harlmann release
Moffice Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 1970
Statement of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.) House Republican Leader
The Congress has heard many great and inspiring speeches, but President Nixon's
State of the Union message today will rank high among them.
It was a summons to action to a Congress which has been slow to act. Yet he
rose above narrow partisanship and called for a common advance on behalf of
all Americans. He placed our priorities the way the great majority of
citizens place them -- peace, solvency, safety and improvement of the quality
of life.
There was hope and inspiration in the President's eloquent speech. His are
not impossible goals but we can achieve them only by working together in
a fresh climate. I hope Congress, even though majority control is in the
hands of the President's political opposition, and this is an election year,
will rise and respond to President Nixon's statesmanlike appeal in the
same constructive and conciliatory spirit. I am sure the American people
applaud and support this style of leadership from the White House.
#
#
#
#
Digitized from Box D4 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Distribution Ruth Handled
M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
January 27, 1970
Remarks on floor of House of Representatives by Rep. Gerald R. Ford
Mr. Speaker:
I am sure all of us here listened to the President's talk on television last
night with great interest.
It was in my opinion a forthright and convincing speech.
It was a speech that recognized the value of and the need for not only
educational programs, but other social programs also.
But it was a speech that also made absolutely clear what the real issue is
and what it is not.
Certainly, the issue is not a debate on the merits of education or on whether
federal funds should be spent on education.
Certainly the issue is not one of whether or not we should have an impacted
aid program, although there is no doubt that that program needs extensive reform.
The issue was simply: inflation and the duty of the President as the national
leader to control it.
In the President's mind and I'm sure in the minds of most of us here, inflation
is the overriding domestic issue at this time.
This being so, the President recognizes that it is his duty and his obligation
to take the necessary steps to bring it under control.
One of these steps is to keep federal spending under federal income. This, too
the President is determined to do. That is why we have a balanced budget this year
and why we will have one next year. That is why the President has vetoed the HEW
appropriations bill. And that is why those who recognize the overriding need
GERA to FORD LIBRARY
control inflation will vote to sustain that veto.
####
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
January 27, 1970
Remarks on floor of House of Representatives by Rep. Gerald R. Ford
Mr. Speaker:
I am sure all of us here listened to the President's talk on television last
night with great interest.
It was in my opinion a forthright and convincing speech.
It was a speech that recognized the value of and the need for not only
educational programs, but other social programs also.
But it was a speech that also made absolutely clear what the real issue is
and what it is not.
Certainly, the issue is not a debate on the merits of education or on whether
federal funds should be spent on education.
Certainly the issue is not one of whether or not we should have an impacted
aid program, although there is no doubt that that program needs extensive reform.
The issue was simply: inflation and the duty of the President as the national
leader to control it.
In the President's mind and I'm sure in the minds of most of us here, inflation
is the overriding domestic issue at this time.
This being so, the President recognizes that it is his duty and his obligation
to take the necessary steps to bring it under control.
One of these steps is to keep federal spending under federal income. This, too
the President is determined to do. That is why we have a balanced budget this year
and why we will have one next year. That is why the President has vetoed the HEW
appropriations bill. And that is why those who recognize the overriding need to
control inflation will vote to sustain that veto.
####
Distribution Hartmann
M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 1970
Statement of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.), House Republican Leader
Once again the House of Representatives, speaking for the American people,
has upheld the President of the United States and the highest interest of
the country.
President Nixon's search for a just peace in VietNam was overwhelmingly
sustained by the House on a non-partisan basis. Today we demonstrated that in
domestic affairs, the Republicans in the House can sustain President Nixon
on a partisan basis, if need be.
I am deeply gratified that substantially more than the constitutional number
of 145 House votes to sustain a Presidential veto were cast by House Republicans.
I am also profoundly pleased that so many Democrats put the soundness of the
dollar and the future of the nation ahead of narrow partisanship in joining
to support President Nixon on this critical issue.
I am sure this victory for every American in the field of fiscal responsibility
will be followed promptly by a joint effort on the part of the President and
the Congress to support all our important health and education programs
adequately for the balance of this fiscal year.
*
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 1970
Statement of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.), House Republican Leader
Once again the House of Representatives, speaking for the American people,
has upheld the President of the United States and the highest interest of
the country.
President Nixon's search for a just peace in VietNam was overwhelmingly
sustained by the House on a non-partisan basis. Today we demonstrated that in
domestic affairs, the Republicans in the House can sustain President Nixon
on a partisan basis, if need be.
I am deeply gratified that substantially more than the constitutional number
of 145 House votes to sustain a Presidential veto were cast by House Republicans.
I am also profoundly pleased that so many Democrats put the soundness of the
dollar and the future of the nation ahead of narrow partisanship in joining
to support President Nixon on this critical issue.
I am sure this victory for every American in the field of fiscal responsibility
will be followed promptly by a joint effort on the part of the President and
the Congress to support all our important health and education programs
adequately for the balance of this fiscal year.
#
Distribution Hartmann
M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 1970
Statement of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.), House Republican Leader
President Nixon's proposed balanced budget and his economic message
are marked by courage and candor.
It is particularly gratifying that the President proposes to achieve
a budget surplus without new or additional Federal taxes.
He is moving deliberately and decisively to slow down and stop the
ravages of inflation as he is to slow down and stop the ravages of Vietnam.
Both are difficult and dangerous situations still, but years of drift have
been checked and we are now moving in new directions.
I have not examined the new budget recommendations in detail, but
I have great confidence in the Secretary of Defense and in the other Cabinet
Officers who have been called upon to make sharp cuts in their departmental
costs for the coming fiscal year. The Congress will, as always, have an
opportunity to study, adjust and finally work its will on the President's
proposed budget, but the House has just demonstrated that we can sustain his
promised veto of inflationary increases. The American people will support
such prudent concern for their savings, the buying power of their earnings,
and their tax dollars.
monor
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 1970
Statement of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.), House Republican Leader
President Nixon's proposed balanced budget and his economic message
are marked by courage and candor.
It is particularly gratifying that the President proposes to achieve
a budget surplus without new or additional Federal taxes.
He is moving deliberately and decisively to slow down and stop the
ravages of inflation as he is to slow down and stop the ravages of Vietnam.
Both are difficult and dangerous situations still, but years of drift have
been checked and we are now moving in nev directions.
I have not examined the new budget recommendations in detail, but
I have great confidence in the Secretary of Defense and in the other Cabinet
Officers who have been called upon to make sharp cuts in their departmental
costs for the coming fiscal year. The Congress will, as always, have an
opportunity to study, adjust and finally work its will on the President's
proposed budget, but the House has just demonstrated that we can sustain his
promised veto of inflationary increases. The American people will support
such prudent concern for their savings, the buying power of their earnings,
and their tax dollars.
Distribution
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10:45a.m.
2/9/70
12:00 moon 2/9/70
M affice Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
February 9, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of Representatives.
The Democratic State of the Union message can best be described as an
indictment of the previous Democratic Administration. It provided no answers
but it did raise many questions. The essential question it raised was
Where
were the Democrats during the eight years before President Nixon came into office?
If we have a mess in our environment, as Senator Jackson stated, where
were the Democrats while that mess was developing? Who made the mess? Who was
in charge while all of this was going on?
Yes, we are suffering from chronic inflation. But what caused it? The
$57 billion in Democratic deficit spending during the 60's was the chief cause
of the inflation we are wrestling with.
The Democrats complain of high interest rates. These interest rates are a
direct result of Democratic inflation.
The Democrats talk about the crime problem yet they let the entire First
Session of the 91st Congress go by without passing a single Nixon anti-crime bill.
In this State of the Union message, the Democrats have again shown them-
selves to be a party that talks about problems, spends more than the federal
government takes in, but never solves any of the problems. The Democrats spent
$1/2 trillion on social needs during the eight years before President Nixon entered
the White House, and what do we have to show for it?
Let them answer that question in their next political side show.
###
Distribution: Full
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a.m. 2/19/70
M Office Capy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
-- FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON --
Feb. 18, 1970
In the past we have talked of a "soft line" and a "hard line" in foreign
policy. President Nixon's foreign policy for the Seventies is a peace line -- a
realistic strategy for achieving and maintaining world peace.
I firmly believe that the foreign policy guidelines laid down by President
Nixon will lead to a safer world. The key to that safer world, as pointed up by
the President, is crisis prevention in place of attempts at crisis management
around the world.
There will be no return to isolationism under Nixon policy. Neither will
there be ratification of bureaucratic decisions in the foreign policy area.
Instead, as the President has stated, the proper course is for the
Commander-in-Chief to be presented with and to fully examine all of the options --
and then to make his own decisions.
I say that President Nixon's strategy for peace is a fully realistic foreign
policy because it is an extension of his do-it-yourself policy for Asia; it looks
to a fashioning of stronger regional groupings as a vehicle for peace through
strength; it nurtures no illusions regarding Communist purposes; it views Communist
nations individually and in terms of their own special interests rather than as
part of a supposed Communist monolith; it contemplates no withdrawal from the world
since this would only leave the world open to Communist takeover; and it sensibly
scales down our General Purpose Forces concept from readiness for two major and
one minor wars to one major and one minor conflict.
President Nixon's foreign policy for the Seventies is a way to stay in the
world, not a way to get out of it.
The underlying theme of it is a willingness to help those who are willing to
help themselves. We must not be in the front line of every confrontation. Always
there must be a willingness to negotiate and a basis for negotiation.
The President has laid before the Nation and the world a full and concise
explanation of his foreign policy block-building. No mysteries. Simply a realistic
formula for peace built upon three pillars -- partnership among nations, strength,
and willingness to negotiate.
The President's action in presenting this foreign policy paper to the Congress
and to the Nation is unprecedented. With it, the President has taken the people
completely Late his confidence. I am sure they welcome this sharing.
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m Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
Feb. 18, 1970
It's time to get tough--really tough--with the polluters of America's lakes
and streams.
That's the major thrust of the Nixon water pollution control measures being
introduced today.
There is a new awareness in the Nation of the need to restore, protect and
preserve our most precious natural resource--water. This new awareness must give
rise to effective enforcement of our pollution control laws. We must fashion a
club that will swing polluters throughout the country into remedial action.
One of the most serious defects in our present system of water pollution
control is the delay in taking an individual polluter to court. It now takes 18
months or longer to go through all the procedures involved before court action is
possible. The hearing stage is at the root of the delaying action.
President Nixon would eliminate the hearing stage and take a case directly
from an enforcement conference to the courts. I applaud this move. I also favor
the President's attempt to give enforcement more clout by empowering the courts
to impose fines of up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance with responsible water
quality standards.
In addition, the President has wisely recommended that the Secretary of
Interior be authorized to seek court orders halting pollution immediately in
emergency situations. These would be situations where severe water pollution
constitutes an imminent danger to health or threatens irreversible damage to water
quality.
We must protect our waters--and the public--in situations where time does not
permit routine enforcement and normal court procedures.
I urge that the Congress give full backing to President Nixon's water pollution
control proposals. We must have large-scale action against polluters of our streams
and lakes.
########
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Mail 10:30a.m.2/19/70
M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
February 19, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Conviction of five of the seven defendants in the Chicago "conspiracy" trial
under the anti-riot law passed by Congress in 1968 represents a victory for the
American people.
In a little--known statement, Abraham Lincoln once said: "The people of these
United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to
overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
It is in that light that I look upon the Chicago verdict as a victory for
law-abiding citizens throughout our Nation.
I am proud that the law under which the five defendants were convicted is
Republican-sponsored law. The law making it a Federal crime for a person to cross
state lines with the intent of inciting a riot would never have appeared on the
statute books had it not been for Republican pressure and insistence. It was first
adopted by the House as an amendment to the proposed Civil Rights Act of 1966, which
died in the Senate. It became a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, approved by
both houses. But it was long bottled up by the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary
Committee.
This Republican-sponsored law does not limit the right of dissent and peaceful
demonstration. Legitimate activities by those who travel in interstate commerce to
participate in public gatherings or other lawful demonstrations are not prohibited.
But those who cross state lines to incite to riot, violence, looting, vandalism,
arson, bombing and physical assault are subject to prosecution under the anti-riot law
I feel sure the American people consider it to be good law and are thankful
it is on the books.
###
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
February 19, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Conviction of five of the seven defendants in the Chicago "conspiracy" trial
under the anti-riot law passed by Congress in 1968 represents a victory for the
American people.
In a little--known statement, Abraham Lincoln once said: "The people of these
United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to
overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
It is in that light that I look upon the Chicago verdict as a victory for
law-abiding citizens throughout our Nation.
I am proud that the law under which the five defendants were convicted is
Republican-sponsored law. The law making it a Federal crime for a person to cross
state lines with the intent of inciting a riot would never have appeared on the
statute books had it not been for Republican pressure and insistence. It was first
adopted by the House as an amendment to the proposed Civil Rights Act of 1966, which
died in the Senate. It became a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, approved by
both houses. But it was long bottled up by the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary
Committee.
This Republican-sponsored law does not limit the right of dissent and peaceful
demonstration. Legitimate activities by those who travel in interstate commerce to
participate in public gatherings or other lawful demonstrations are not prohibited.
But those who cross state lines to incite to riot, violence, looting, vandalism,
arson, bombing and physical assault are subject to prosecution under the anti-riot law
I feel sure the American people consider it to be good law and are thankful
it is on the books.
# # #
Distribution Fifth District media
all at 3:30 p.m. 2/20/70
m Office Copy
Statement for all Fifth District News Media
For Release on Receipt
Chicago Verdict
Clear Warning:
Obey the Law
BY JERRY FORD
The jury verdict in the Chicago conspiracy trial is a clear warning to all
who are abusing the right of free speech that they must obey the law or go to jail.
This is the real meaning of the Chicago conspiracy trial that the
defendants found guilty there had sought to use the right of free speech to tear
this country down, to incite others to violence.
Our whole system of justice was on trial in Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln preached "reverence for the laws."
The defendants in the Chicago conspiracy trial made a vulgar, vicious and
disgraceful assault upon the American judicial process.
For five months they insulted and vilified the presiding judge. They
ridiculed the court and sneered at the American system of justice. They called the
judge a fascist, a racist, a runt and compared him with Adolf Hitler.
In all of these disgraceful actions the defendants were aided by their
attorneys.
I believe the jury acted fairly and honestly in adjudging five of the
defendants guilty of crossing state lines with the intent to incite a riot.
I approve of the judge's actions in sentencing not only all of the defendants
but their attorneys as well for contempt of court.
The right of free speech does not give any American the right to incite others
to commit violence any more than it gives anyone the right to yell "fire" in a
crowded theater.
Neither does the right of free speech give anyone the right to shout insults
at a trial judge.
Justice cannot survive in the kind of atmosphere generated by the Chicago
trial defendants, and neither can it survive under the chaotic conditions the Black
Panthers on trial in New York are trying to create.
The American judicial system is eminently fair. It is ridiculous for anyone
to charge otherwise.
Freedom in the United Staes is under attack. But it is not under attack by
"the Establishment." It is under attack by those who would plunge this Nation into
anarchy, and those who mistake license for liberty.
###
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CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-
February 21, 1970
I fully concur with the President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed
Force that we should move toward an all-volunteer military as quickly as possible.
The commission proposes allowing the Selective Service Act to expire as of
June 30, 1971. There is good reason to believe that this would not only be
desirable but feasible. Meantime we should overhaul the draft law, raise first-term
military pay, and expand the role and capability of our reserve forces.
I have long advocated an end to the draft once the United States combat role
in Vietnam is reduced to the point where the draft no longer is necessary. Today
I reaffirm that advocacy. The only way to end all of the inequities in the draft
is to end the draft itself.
It appears to me that President Nixon's program for ending the U.S. ground
combat role in Vietnam through Vietnamization of the war will make it feasible to
carry out the recommendations of his Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force.
The commission has done an excellent job of analyzing the pros and cons of
an all-volunteer military. Each of its members deserves the thanks of the American
people.
###
Office
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.), Republican Leader,
on the Floor of the U. S. House of Representatives
Mr. Speaker, I am gratified that the responsible leaders of this
Congress, despite their party affiliations and personal opinions on the
policies of the French Government, are joining in the highest American tradi-
tion to welcome President Pompidou at a Joint Meeting of the Congress.
It is important that our Government achieve success in efforts to
develop a better understanding and closer relationship with France. Among
the modern nations of the world, France is our oldest friend. But more than
sentiment motivates my words. I am deeply concerned because the visit of
President Pompidou coincides with very grave developments.
The violence of the Middle East has escalated in recent days. It has
spread to Western Europe. A number of American citizens, innocent passengers
aboard an international airliner, have fallen victim to extremist fanaticism.
One of my own constituents, the wife of a respected Baptist minister of
Grandville, Michigan, has been ruthlessly murdered by terrorists. Her only
offense was to ride a tourist bus to view the holy places near Jerusalem.
Anger and emotion are rising in the Middle East. The conflict is
striking down innocent bystanders and affecting the transportation and communica-
tion links connecting Western Europe and America with the State of Israel. This
is a time for negotiation, not confrontation. It is a time to discuss with
President Pompidou the policies of his government in the Middle East, Europe,
and elsewhere, as they relate to the national security interests of the United
States. It is a time to seek ways of cooling down passions, to seek ways of
working with France to decrease the level of violence in the Middle East
and to limit the introduction into that region of destructive new weapons.
Our Government is now engaged in very serious talks with President
Pompidou. Our historic relationship with France demands that President Pompidou,
as the elected head of his government, be accorded the courtesies that have
been traditional. I do not completely agree with all the policies of the
Pompidou administration nor of the preceding De Gaulle administration. But
(more)
- 2 -
This is a time for statesmanship, nct chowmanship, a time for reconciliation,
not agitation.
We will accomplish nothing by boycotting or blockading, by walking in
or by walking out on President Pompidou. We may accomplish something, --
indeed, we may accomplish very much by exchanging ideas with President Pompidou
in a constructive, relevant, and civilized manner.
It has been a basic tenet of our Government that while we may be
divided at home on foreign policy matters we are nevertheless willing to permit
our Government to deal in an orderly and diplomatic manner with other governments.
The negotiations with France are of such importance that we cannot permit
an impression that this Congress is unvilling to accord the traditional
courtesies to the Republic of France. The violence and killing in the Middle
East are very serious. The situation is daily growing worse.
I would like to suggest a better course than an empty, negative
boycott of President Pompidou. Let us devote the same time and energy to
seeking a lessening of violence. I would like to suggest the alternative of an
international agreement to deal with the rise in airborne terrorism, bombings,
and hijacking; perhaps, a world conference on safety of air passengers. Another
alternative for the time wasted in opposing the Joint Meeting would be a
discussion of ways and means of implementing President Mixon's very recent
report to the Congress on foreign policy. I might add that the Government of
Israel has received this report with deep satisfaction. The President expressed
himself quite clearly on the threats to Israel and it is incumbent upon the
Congress to respond to his forthright leadership on this crucial issue.
Instead of negativism and obstructionism, let us strengthen the hand
of President Mixon when he speaks for all of us with President Pompidou. This
is the way to impress upon the French President the deep conviction and profound
unity of the American people on these matters.
We shall do everything we can in the interest of peace and stability
in the Middle East. But we will do more than talk. The United States cannot
and will not stand by and watch the military balance turn against Israel.
We will not let the situation deteriorate because of ill-advised policies of
other governments.
Of course, we hope that President Nixon's statesmanlike effort to limit
the arms race will generate a positive response from France, from Great Britain,
and, of course, from the Soviet Union. This aim is served by the courtesies
this Congress is rendering to President Pompidou in our common effort to create
better communications. This aim is frustrated by flamboyant gestures that add
to the dismay and discord of = troubled world.
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Copy
12 noon 2/24/70
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON WEDNESDAY--
February 25, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, to be placed in the Congressional Record of Wednesday,
Feb. 25, 1970.
Mr. Speaker: Last Thursday the House Majority Leader placed in the
Congressional Record a statement in which he castigated the Nixon Administration
for the inflation President Nixon inherited from the previous Democratic
administration.
This is the height of irony, Mr. Speaker -- that the Democratic floor leader
in the House should seek to blame the Nixon Administration for the inflation today
that is directly due to the policies of the previous Democratic Administration.
The gentleman from Oklahoma knows as well as does anyone else in this chamber
that the inflation from which we continue to suffer began in 1965 and gathered
speed because of excessive and often irresponsible federal spending and the
uncoordinated monetary policies in the years immediately thereafter -- years when
both the White House and the Congress were controlled by the Democratic Party.
The Democratic floor leader would have the American people believe that
their economic lot has suddenly worsened, has deteriorated because a Republican
President now sits in the White House.
The truth is that the Democrats, because of irresponsible fiscal policies,
brought on inflation which a Republican President now is forced to combat, with
all of the painful consequences attending such efforts.
The truth is that the real earnings of the non-farm worker in the private
sector rose hardly at all in the Democratic years of 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968 --
the years when then President Lyndon Johnson said we could have both guns and butter.
Figures I have just obtained from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics show that a non-farm worker's rise in gross weekly earnings between
January 1965 and January 1969 were almost completely eaten up by increases in
consumer prices and by income and Social Security tax increases.
The gross weekly earnings of this worker rose 19 per cent during this
period -- from $92.64 a week to $110.25.
But what happened to those weekly earnings as a result of price increases
and the rise in taxes? The advance in earnings almost vanished.
(more)
-2-
The Consumer Price Index jumped from 108.9 in January 1965 to 124.1 in
January 1969, a 14 per cent rise. When a non-farm worker's gross weekly earnings
were adjusted for price increases, he showed an increase in real earnings of only
4.4 per cent in that 4-year period under the Democrats.
Add to that the increase in income and Social Security taxes, and the
non-farm worker's real weekly earnings drop to $77.90 a week -- an increase in real
earnings of only 0.7 per cent in four years!
That is what the American worker has to show for all of his years of
struggle during the previous Democratic Administration -- a rise of 0.7 per cent
in real weekly earnings. This is less than a one per cent increase in purchasing
power, not much help for a growing or expanding family.
The Democratic floor leader has unfairly attacked the Nixon Administration
for its efforts to combat the inflation brought on by the previous Administration,
a Democratic Administration which committed 540,000 military personnel to Vietnam
and refused to pay for that war, an administration which ran up federal deficits
totalling $45 billion.
He should be candid enough to tell the workers of America that the Nation
is plagued by Democratic inflation -- that the Nixon Administration is finding it
extremely difficult to fight that Democratic inflation because it was permitted
to gain momentum while the Democrats controlled both the White House and the
Congress -- that Democrats currently are not cooperating with the President in his
efforts to fight Democratic inflation but are seeking to make political capital
out of those efforts.
It of course is naive to expect some Democrats to make such admissions,
although I must say that Sen. Edmund Muskie was frank enough to state in a recent
Christian Science Monitor interview that President Nixon had inherited his problems
from the previous Democratic Administration.
So we are not really being naive today. We are simply making a plea for
candor. And we would also express the hope that the Democrats would stop playing
politics with the people's pocketbook.
President Nixon is making a constructive effort to solve the inherited
problem of inflation. He is seeking to build a strong peacetime economy that will
provide jobs and industrial growth for a better America. He deserves better from
the opposition party than political sabotage.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON WEDNESDAY--
February 25, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, to be placed in the Congressional Record of Wednesday,
Feb. 25, 1970.
Mr. Speaker: Last Thursday the House Majority Leader placed in the
Congressional Record a statement in which he castigated the Nixon Administration
for the inflation President Nixon inherited from the previous Democratic
administration.
This is the height of irony, Mr. Speaker -- that the Democratic floor leader
in the House should seek to blame the Nixon Administration for the inflation today
that is directly due to the policies of the previous Democratic Administration.
The gentleman from Oklahoma knows as well as does anyone else in this chamber
that the inflation from which we continue to suffer began in 1965 and gathered
speed because of excessive and often irresponsible federal spending and the
uncoordinated monetary policies in the years immediately thereafter -- years when
both the White House and the Congress were controlled by the Democratic Party.
The Democratic floor leader would have the American people believe that
their economic lot has suddenly worsened, has deteriorated because a Republican
President now sits in the White House.
The truth is that the Democrats, because of irresponsible fiscal policies,
brought on inflation which a Republican President now is forced to combat, with
all of the painful consequences attending such efforts.
The truth is that the real earnings of the non-farm worker in the private
sector rose hardly at all in the Democratic years of 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968 --
the years when then President Lyndon Johnson said we could have both guns and butter.
Figures I have just obtained from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics show that a non-farm worker's rise in gross weekly earnings between
January 1965 and January 1969 were almost completely eaten up by increases in
consumer prices and by income and Social Security tax increases.
The gross weekly earnings of this worker rose 19 per cent during this
period -- from $92.64 a week to $110.25.
But what happened to those weekly earnings as a result of price increases
and the rise in taxes? The advance in earnings almost vanished.
(more)
-2.-
The Consumer Price Index jumped from 108.9 in January 1965 to 124.1 in
January 1969, a 14 per cent rise. When a non-farm worker's gross weekly earnings
were adjusted for price increases, he showed an increase in real earnings of only
4.4 per cent in that 4-year period under the Democrats.
Add to that the increase in income and Social Security taxes, and the
non-farm worker's real weekly earnings drop to $77.90 a week -- an increase in real
earnings of only 0.7 per cent in four years!
That is what the American worker has to show for all of his years of
struggle during the previous Democratic Administration -- a rise of 0.7 per cent
in real weekly earnings. This is less than a one per cent increase in purchasing
power, not much help for a growing or expanding family.
The Democratic floor leader has unfairly attacked the Nixon Administration
for its efforts to combat the inflation brought on by the previous Administration,
a Democratic Administration which committed 540,000 military personnel to Vietnam
and refused to pay for that war, an administration which ran up federal deficits
totalling $45 billion.
He should be candid enough to tell the workers of America that the Nation
is plagued by Democratic inflation -- that the Nixon Administration is finding it
extremely difficult to fight that Democratic inflation because it was permitted
to gain momentum while the Democrats controlled both the White House and the
Congress -- that Democrats currently are not cooperating with the President in his
efforts to fight Democratic inflation but are seeking to make political capital
out of those efforts.
It of course is naive to expect some Democrats to make such admissions,
although I must say that Sen. Edmund Muskie was frank enough to state in a recent
Christian Science Monitor interview that President Nixon had inherited his problems
from the previous Democratic Administration.
So we are not really being naive today. We are simply making a plea for
candor. And we would also express the hope that the Democrats would stop playing
politics with the people's pocketbook.
President Nixon is making a constructive effort to solve the inherited
problem of inflation. He is seeking to build a strong peacetime economy that will
provide jobs and industrial growth for a better America. He deserves better from
the opposition party than political sabotage.
# # #
2/27/70
Office copy
FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT NEWS MEDIA
For Jalileh Farah Salameh El Ahwal, the long nightmare of sitting alone and
afraid in war-torn Jordan is over. She is safe in the arms of her family in Grand
Rapids at last.
The story of Miss Ahwal's attempts to be reunited with a sister, her brothers
and other relatives in Grand Rapids tells of an ordeal which produced a file several
inches thick in the office of Congressman Gerald R. Ford and ended after a successful
three-year fight to get a special bill through Congress.
Ford first became interested in Miss Ahwal's case in 1966, when her brother,
Aziz Howell (Ahwal) of 1524 Tenth Street, N.W., Grand Rapids, wrote and begged Ford
to help his sister emigrate from Jordan to the United States.
Howell, a naturalized citizen who had legally changed his name, told Ford
that his sister, Jalileh, then 55, was living completely alone in west Jordan and
could not get a visa to come to the United States because she could not read or
write.
Howell wanted Jalileh to join him, his brother, Louis, and his sister,
Miledeh, in Grand Rapids, where there were seven households of Howells (Ahwals),
counting all of the relatives. Miledeh, the last of the Ahwals to leave Jordan,
had obtained a visa and had made the trip to America in August 1966. Now Jalileh
was left all alone.
Aziz Howell wrote Ford: "There are no close relatives in all of Jordan to
care for her or help her. There are 7th and 8th cousins in the city, but they all
have families and struggle for a living. Wages there are low, living costs are high
and work is scarce. If she becomes ill or needs care, there is no one to care for
her, and it is not safe for her to be alone. All of her family is here in Grand
Rapids, where she would receive care, affection, full support and the company of
her loved ones."
The immigration laws made no exception for a poor, lonely Jordanian woman
who could not read or write. If she could not pass the literacy tests in order to
obtain a visa, she could not come to the United States.
Congressman Ford introduced what is known as a private bill, H.R. 14752,
for "the relief of Jalileh Farah Salameh E1 Ahwal." The bill would make it legal
for Miss Ahwal to enter the United States despite the fact she could not read or
write.
(more)
-2-
Ford's bill languished in the Subcommittee on Immigration of the House
Judiciary Committee. The Subcommittee refused to report it out, which was the
usual procedure in such cases.
Ford and Aziz Howell continued to correspond. In 1967 Ford re-introduced
his private bill, but again the Subcommittee on Immigration refused to approve it.
In June 1967 fierce fighting broke out between the Arabs and the Israelis.
A blitz war, it lasted for just six days. At the end of that time, Jalileh found
she was living in territory occupied by the Israelis.
More than a year passed. Then on Jan. 3, 1969, Congressman Ford introduced
a new private bill on behalf of Jalileh, this one numbered H.R. 1707.
Ford made a fresh appeal to the Immigration Subcommittee, urging that Miss
Ahwal be permitted to enter this country on "humanitarian" grounds. He stressed
that she was living completely without family in Israeli-occupied Jordan and that
her brother, Aziz, would be entirely responsible for her if she were allowed to
enter the United States.
On April 1 Ford received the good news from Rep. Michael Feighan, chairman of
the Immigration Subcommittee, informing him the subcommittee had approved his bill.
The toughest legislative hurdle had been surmounted.
After House approval of the bill, Ford wrote to Sens. Robert P. Griffin and
Philip A. Hart alerting them to the fact his private bill was coming over to the
Senate and asking them to see it through that body. They did.
On August 25, 1969, President Nixon signed Ford's private bill into law and
sent him the pen with which he had signed it. Ford happily informed Aziz Howell
that the way now was open for his sister, Jalileh, to come to the United States.
But there followed more delays--the red tape of actually obtaining a visa
for Jalileh and a mixup over where the financial responsibility bond posted by Aziz
Howell was to be sent. Ford wrote letter after letter, working to get all of the
snarls straightened out.
At long last Jalileh obtained her visa, and a few days ago Aziz Howell wrote
Ford that she was safe in the arms of her family in Grand Rapids. The nightmare
that began four years ago was behind her.
"My sister is very happy," Aziz Howell told Ford. "We are all very happy for
her. And we will never forget all you have done for us. 11
In a quaint translation from the Arabic, Mrs. Howell said: "Jalileh was
scared too much. 11
###
Distribution Full
Galleries mail 1:15p.m. 1:00p.m. 2/27/70 Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
Friday, February 27, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
I congratulate President Nixon for doing what four Presidents before him
talked of doing but never accomplished. He has set forth, in concrete clear
language, sensible ways to improve the handling of national emergency labor disputes.
I am most impressed by the President's recommendations. The general thrust
of Mr. Nixon's proposals is to encourage true collective bargaining and to produce
settlement of national emergency labor disputes without damaging strikes or resort
to binding arbitration.
In my view, President Nixon has submitted historic labor legislation which
signals a return to genuine collective bargaining in this country and the promise
of far healthier labor-management relations in the transportation field.
There has been no important legislation in this critical area of national
emergency labor disputes since 1959. Our objective now must be to strengthen free
collective bargaining and to eliminate unnecessary government interference with
that process. The President's recommendations appear to be ideally designed to
accomplish that objective.
We have recognized in this country that the right to strike is basic to
justice for the American workingman. Let us proceed now on the basis that the way
to avoid strikes is to develop alternate strategies for resolving disputes but at
the same time achieving the justice which would render strikes unnecessary. I
believe prospects for congressional approval of President Nixon's proposals are
good.
# # #
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON
March 3, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
Improving the quality of the American educational system has long been one
of this Nation's most urgent and compelling needs.
President Nixon has wisely concluded that an administration in which reform
is the watchword would be failing in its overall mission if reform of our educational
system were not made a high priority objective.
I have carefully studied the President's Message on Education Reform. I
not only fully concur with his recommendations but also urge that the Congress
act with the greatest possible dispatch in implementing them. Nothing is more
important than a quality education for all of America's young people. I believe
the President's proposals will help us move toward that goal.
The overall thrust of the President's proposals clearly is to promote as
good an education for the child from the slums as the youngster from the suburbs.
This, I believe, is the key to solving many of America's most perplexing social
problems. We must bend every effort to achieve equality of educational opportunity.
Meantime, let the President's words be particularly heeded by those who would
spend additional billions on Federal aid to education without measuring the results.
As the President said, we are willing to spend more on education but we must also
learn how to invest those dollars wisely.
###
tribution Full
Galleries Our Mail 12 11:30a.m. noon 3/3/70 3/3/70 M office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON--
March 3, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
Improving the quality of the American educational system has long been one
of this Nation's most urgent and compelling needs.
President Nixon has wisely concluded that an administration in which reform
is the watchword would be failing in its overall mission if reform of our educational
system were not made a high priority objective.
I have carefully studied the President's Message on Education Reform. I
not only fully concur with his recommendations but also urge that the Congress
act with the greatest possible dispatch in implementing them. Nothing is more
important than a quality education for all of America's young people. I believe
the President's proposals will help us move toward that goal.
The overall thrust of the President's proposals clearly is to promote as
good an education for the child from the slums as the youngster from the suburbs.
This, I believe, is the key to solving many of America's most perplexing social
problems. We must bend every effort to achieve equality of educational opportunity.
Meantime, let the President's words be particularly heeded by those who would
spend additional billions on Federal aid to education without measuring the results.
As the President said, we are willing to spend more on education but we must also
learn how to invest those dollars wisely.
###
Distribution Full
Galleries Our Mail 11:30a.m. noon 3/3/70 3/3/70 M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON-
March 3, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
Improving the quality of the American educational system has long been one
of this Nation's most urgent and compelling needs.
President Nixon has wisely concluded that an administration in which reform
is the watchword would be failing in its overall mission if reform of our educational
system were not made a high priority objective.
I have carefully studied the President's Message on Education Reform. I
not only fully concur with his recommendations but also urge that the Congress
act with the greatest possible dispatch in implementing them. Nothing is more
important than a quality education for all of America's young people. I believe
the President's proposals will help us move toward that goal.
The overall thrust of the President's proposals clearly is to promote as
good an education for the child from the slums as the youngster from the suburbs.
This, I believe, is the key to solving many of America's most perplexing social
problems. We must bend every effort to achieve equality of educational opportunity.
Meantime, let the President's words be particularly heeded by those who would
spend additional billions on Federal aid to education without measuring the results.
As the President said, we are willing to spend more on education but we must also
learn how to invest those dollars wisely.
###
Distribution : 5th District media
3/5/70
Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
SPECIAL TO FIFTH DISTRICT NEWS MEDIA
MARCH 5, 1970
--FOR USE ON RECEIPT--
Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids has urged the Nixon
Administration to promote a large-scale educational campaign on radio and
television against the use of narcotics and dangerous drugs.
Ford said the campaign he is pressing for should be of the same magnitude
as the current highly successful radio and TV campaign against cigaret smoking.
Ford called for the educational drive against drug abuse in a letter to
John E. Ingersoll, director of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, U.S.
Department of Justice.
In his letter to Ingersoll, Ford asked for a progress report on
efforts by the bureau to turn young people away from possible drug use. He noted
that Ingersoll last year told a special House Committee on Crime that the bureau
is working with the National Coordinating Council on Drug Abuse Education and
Information, the National Advertising Council, and the J. Walter Thompson Co.
to develop radio and TV spots aimed at preventing drug abuse.
"I personally feel that every effort should be made to mount the same
kind of radio and TV educational campaign against the use of narcotics and
dangerous drugs as is currently being so successfully waged against cigaret
smoking," Ford said.
Ford called attention to the tremendous number of hours American young
people spend in front of the TV set. He quoted President Nixon as reporting that,
before he graduates, the average high school student spends 15,000 hours watching
television as compared with 11,000 hours in school.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-
March 11, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., placed in the Congressional Record of
Wednesday, March 11, 1970.
Mr. Speaker: On Monday the distinguished Majority Leader of the House
informed us that because the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent in January
he had concluded this Nation is in the grip of a recession.
This is a most interesting observation, Mr. Speaker, particularly if you
look at the unemployment rates for the years 1961 through 1965, when Democrats
were in control of both the White House and the Congress.
A look at the unemployment rates for those years tells us that the Majority
Leader is making statements that are indefensible. Apparently he is trying to talk
us into a recession.
If he is not trying to talk us into a recession, then he would have to
assert that the United States suffered through a five-year recession in the last
decade -- because in all of those years the unemployment rate exceeded the current
rate of 4.2 per cent.
In 1961, the unemployment rate was a shocking 6.7 per cent. In 1962, it
was 5.5 per cent. In 1963, it was 5.7; in 1964, 5.2; and in 1965, 4.5.
In 1966, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8, less than 4 per cent, and it
has remained below 4 per cent until recently.
Now to what can we attribute this drop to less than 4 per cent in
unemployment -- a most welcome decline if viewed as a bit of data unrelated to
other economic factors.
One does not have to hold a doctor's degree in economics to recognize that
the sharp decline in unemployment in 1966 coincided with a sharp surge in the
economy triggered by the Vietnam War.
Conclusion -- the only valid conclusion -- is that we have been experiencing
a false prosperity generated by a war into which we were led by the previous
administration.
That same false prosperity generated inflationary pressures which steadily
pushed up the cost of living for every man, woman and child in America. And, as
(more)
-2-
former President Johnson said in his last Economic Report, transmitted to the
Congress in January 1969: "The problems of rising prices and wages remain intense
as 1969 begins."
The Majority Leader now talks of a recession. In fact, he flatly asserts
that "we are in a recession" because the uenmployment rate has risen to 4.2 per cent.
Would he also say then that the years 1961 through 1965 were recession years?
The Majority Leader talks at the same time of "Nixon inflation," and yet
Lyndon Johnson in his 1969 Economic Report freely admitted that "the first
significant break in relative price stability occurred early in 1965" and added
that "more pervasive inflationary pressures started in the second half of 1965
when the military buildup in Vietnam began." Mr. Johnson went on to say:
"Higher costs had been built into the economy during 1965 and 1966, and when the
economy picked up speed in the second half of 1967, prices and wages again
accelerated.' "Union settlements," he said, "which had lagged in the initial
stage of the advance, rose especially sharply in late 1967 and in 1968.' And
at that point Mr. Johnson stated that price and wage increases remained a severe
problem at the beginning of 1969.
Mr. Speaker, President Nixon and others of us are fighting the inflation
which was allowed to gather momentum under the previous Democratic administration.
One of the unfortunate consequences of that fight is that we are in a temporary
slowdown and unemployment has risen.
Mr. Speaker, rather than talking us into a recession it would better behoove
the Majority Leader to lend his support to the fight against inflation. He knows
full well that it has been necessary to cool off the economy in an effort to slow
the rise in prices. He knows full well that a rise in unemployment is an
unfortunate but inevitable result of that cooling off.
The Majority Leader has been seeking to blame the present Administration
for the sins of the previous Democratic administration. This kind of "politicking"
is bad for the entire country. And I doubt it is good politics because the
American people know that our inflation problems were inherited from a Democratic
Administration, and our fellow citizens also know that the Nixon Administration
has made sound decisions which will avoid a recession, slow down inflation and
preclude unacceptable unemployment.
###
distribution Full
Galleries knoon 3/11/70
M
pail 12:15p.m. 3/17/70
Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
Tuesday, March 17, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
In the absence of Rep. Robert Taft, Jr., who has business in Ohio, I am
today announcing the formation of a House Republican Task Force on Seniority.
Authorized by the House Republican Leadership, this task force will study
alternative methods of selecting committee chairmen or ranking minority members.
The task force will operate under the House Republican Research Committee headed
by Mr. Taft and will be chaired by Rep. Barber Conable of New York.
Task force members will reexamine the seniority system. Changes in
procedure would come about by party action alone, since the Rules of the House
do not require that seniority be followed.
Following a thorough examination of the present and alternative methods
of selecting committee chairmen and ranking minority members, the Task Force
will report its recommendations to the Republican Leadership and the House
Republican Conference.
It is essential that this study be conducted at this time, so that the
Republican Party in the House can be prepared in January 1971 to make decisions
concerning committee leadership on the basis of a careful weighing of the
alternatives available.
Let me emphasize at this time that no judgments have been made on this
question. The task force and the Party are starting with a clean slate.
In addition to Rep. Conable, the task force members are: J. Glenn Beall,
Md., Edward G. Biester, Jr., Pa., Clarence J. Brown, Ohio, John W. Byrnes, Wis.,
James C. Cleveland, N.H., David W. Dennis, Ind., Jack Edwards, Ala., John N.
Erlenborn, Ill., Durward G. Hall, Mo., James Harvey, Mich., Thomas S. Kleppe,
N. Dak., Paul N. McCloskey, Calif., Albert H. Quie, Minn., John J. Rhodes, Ariz.,
William L. Springer, Ill., William A. Steiger, Wis., Burt L. Talcott, Calif.,
and Wendall Wyatt, Oreg.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. TUESDAY--
March 17, 1970
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S.
House of Representatives, at a fund-raising dinner for Rep. Lawrence Hogan,
R-Md., at the Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington, D. C.
No greater challenges face us as we move into the decade of the Seventies
than clearing the criminal from our streets and clearing the poisons and solid
waste from our environment.
There is no more deeply disturbing problem before this Nation today than
that of the ever-rising crime rate--and nowhere is that problem more pressing than
in the Nation's capital.
I am pleased to impress upon you here tonight that Congressman Larry Hogan
has been in the forefront of the fight against crime in the District of Columbia
and the Washington metropolitan area, just as he has been one of the foremost
fighters in the crusade to clean up our environment.
The House will soon have before it an Omnibus D.C. Crime Bill. Larry Hogan
helped to shape that bill. In fact he was the only Republican lawyer on the
subcommittee which drafted it and reported it out.
The bill that Larry Hogan helped draw up will restructure the D.C. courts,
create a vastly improved bail agency to supervise pretrial release of criminal
defendants, permit pretrial detention of dangerous hard-core repeat offenders,
establish a full-fledged public defender office to serve indigent adult and juvenile
offenders, and revise the D.C. Juvenile Procedures Code to update and improve the
handling of juvenile and family matters.
The Omnibus D.C. Crime Bill will give law enforcement officers and the courts
tools they sorely need to combat crime in the District of Columbia. It will
significantly improve the administration of justice in the Nation's capital.
Nearly every American city is experiencing a rising crime rate but in D.C.
the rate has soared far faster-until recently. I say "until recently" because
the Nixon Administration has given the D.C. Government a big assist on law
enforcement and that big lift has paid off in a falling crime rate over the last
few months. What the President did was to give D.C. extra funds to put an
additional 200 policemen on the streets each day by working regular officers on
their days off as overtime. Meantime the recruiting of added new policemen is
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-2-
going great, as Police Chief Jerry Wilson pushes toward higher authorized police
force strength.
This is the kind of action Larry Hogan has pressed for. He has been right
in there pitching. Larry will tell you, as I do now, that what happens in the
District of Columbia is vitally important to Prince Georges and Charles Counties
and all the Washington suburbs.
Let me tell you that street crime in D.C. is a first-hand problem for the
Congress--a problem of the greatest urgency. In addition, anti-crime techniques
being proposed for Washington have national significance. They might well serve as
models for the rest of the Nation.
I ask immediate action on lawlessness in the Nation's capital and I attach
the same sense of urgency to proposals the President has made for fighting street
crime and organized crime throughout the country.
The Democratic-controlled Congress let the first session slip by without
enacting any of the President's anti-crime proposals into law, but currently I
believe prospects are good for approval of at least some of the Nixon legislation
aimed at fighting crime in D.C. and throughout America.
Let me turn now to the problem of cleaning up our environment -making our
skies blue again, our waters clear again, and our land a better place in which to
live and grow.
This should not be a partisan issue. We are ready to move ahead in the
crusade for a clean America--and we will move ahead because we now have the leader-
ship we need to take a giant leap for all mankind.
We now have a President who is vigorously on the side of clean air, clean
water, and abundant recreational land, and that is what makes the difference as we
begin to pay for years of neglect.
For the first time in recent history we have a President who has called for
a national commitment to restore our environment and return to the day when our air
was pure, our water was clean, and our land was uncluttered.
Look now at Richard Nixon's 37-point program for cleaning up America, and
you see the difference. That difference is Presidential leadership.
This is the kind of leadership America cries out for as we move into the
Seventies--leadership looking toward reform programs that will carry this Nation in
a New Direction. I believe the forward-looking programs proposed by the President
herald a new era of advancement, a decade of unparalleled progress.
A whole host of reforms still awaits Congressional action. The Congress
must get cracking on them.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 18, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, placed in the body of the Congressional Record of Wednesday,
March 18, 1970.
Mr. Speaker: The distinguished House Majority Leader is continuing to play
the oldest of political games -- setting up straw men and knocking them down.
That can be the only explanation for the absurd attack made by the Majority
Leader Tuesday on the Nixon Administration's crime-fighting record and the
President's continuing efforts in the war against crime.
I am amazed that the Majority Leader would have the temerity to seek to
exploit the crime issue in 1970. Since he has done so, we will let the facts --
particularly the facts he omitted from his statement of Tuesday -- speak for them-
selves. They will be answer enough.
The Majority Leader cited the fact that crime rose 11 per cent nationwide in
1969, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
What the Majority Leader failed to mention is that the 11 per cent rise in
crime in 1969 represented a sharp drop in the rate of crime increase -- a sharp drop
that took place during the first year of the new Republican Administration. This is
Republican progress, and we expect to do better.
The Majority Leader also naturally forgot to mention that the 11 per cent
increase in crime in 1969 was the lowest increase in the last four years.
He forgot to mention that the rate of increase under the Democrats in 1968
was 17 per cent, as compared with 11 per cent in the Republican year of 1969.
He forgot to mention that with one exception increases in every category of
violent crime were down in 1969 under the Republicans.
The Majority Leader flatly asserts that neither Attorney General John N.
Mitchell nor the Administration has a program to combat the growing rate of crime,
and yet big-city crime was down throughout the country in 1969 under Republicans.
The FBI reported only a 9 per cent increase in crime in cities of over 250,000
population in 1969, as compared with an 18 per cent rise in 1968. For suburbs the
rise in 1969 was 13 per cent as against 18 per cent in 1968; and for the rural
areas, it was 11 per cent in '69 as against 12 per cent in '68.
In light of the facts, it is ridiculous for the Majority Leader to accuse
the Nixon Administration of failing to have an anti-crime program. After all, it
(more)
-2-
is his party which controls the Congress and let the entire first session slip by
without enacting even one of the 17 Nixon anti-crime bills into law. Only now is
that Democrat-controlled Congress belatedly bestirring itself with regard to the
Administration's sorely needed anti-crime bills.
The Majority Leader would have the Congress and the people believe that the
Nixon Administration seeks to seriously underfund the war against crime in fiscal
1971.
The facts are that in fiscal 1971 Federal anti-crime outlays proposed by
the President total more than $1 billion 257 million. This is the first time in
history that any Administration has sought more than $1 billion in new obligational
authority for the Justice Department. The total of $1.257 billion compares with
$947 million estimated to be spent in fiscal 1970 and is 91 per cent more than the
outlays for fiscal 1969.
Major emphasis will go to programs for improving State and local criminal
justice systems and for assisting anti-crime efforts in local communities.
Of the $1.257 billion for fiscal 1971, $518 million or 41 per cent will be
for programs or projects which help State and local governments fight crime.
Outlays of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, set at $368 million,
would be more than double the 1970 outlay of $177.5 million and nearly seven times
as great as LEAA expenditures in fiscal 1969.
Apart from its direct assistance to local communities through LEAA, the
Nixon Administration is greatly abetting their anti-crime efforts with its highly
effective war against organized crime. Whether or not the Majority Leader
recognizes it, violent, individual street crime often results from the machinations
of organized crime. Many street crimes flow from drug addiction, for instance;
and, of course, the flow of addictive drugs is a consequence of organized crime
along with such evils as prostitution, gambling and loansharking. Unless we root
out and destroy organized crime, we will never succeed in controlling the aimless
crimes of violence which tear at our society. As organized crime is curbed, so
also will mindless street crimes of violence be reduced, and our people will be
safer on the streets and in their homes.
The Democrat-controlled Congress has an obligation to the American people
to approve President Nixon's legislation which would give the Attorney General
more tools to fight organized crime and the narcotics traffic.
# # #
Distribution: Full
Galleries 4:30 p.m. 3/18/70
10:30 a.m. 3/19/70
maffice Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 18, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, placed in the body of the Congressional Record of Wednesday,
March 18, 1970.
Mr. Speaker: The distinguished House Majority Leader is continuing to play
the oldest of political games -- setting up straw men and knocking them down.
That can be the only explanation for the absurd attack made by the Majority
Leader Tuesday on the Nixon Administration's crime-fighting record and the
President's continuing efforts in the war against crime.
I am amazed that the Majority Leader would have the temerity to seek to
exploit the crime issue in 1970. Since he has done so, we will let the facts --
particularly the facts he omitted from his statement of Tuesday -- speak for them-
selves. They will be answer enough.
The Majority Leader cited the fact that crime rose 11 per cent nationwide in
1969, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
What the Majority Leader failed to mention is that the 11 per cent rise in
crime in 1969 represented a sharp drop in the rate of crime increase -- a sharp drop
that took place during the first year of the new Republican Administration. This is
Republican progress, and we expect to do better.
The Majority Leader also naturally forgot to mention that the 11 per cent
increase in crime in 1969 was the lowest increase in the last four years.
He forgot to mention that the rate of increase under the Democrats in 1968
was 17 per cent, as compared with 11 per cent in the Republican year of 1969.
He forgot to mention that with one exception increases in every category of
violent crime were down in 1969 under the Republicans.
The Majority Leader flatly asserts that neither Attorney General John N.
Mitchell nor the Administration has a program to combat the growing rate of crime,
and yet big-city crime was down throughout the country in 1969 under Republicans.
The FBI reported only a 9 per cent increase in crime in cities of over 250,000
population in 1969, as compared with an 18 per cent rise in 1968. For suburbs the
rise in 1969 was 13 per cent as against 18 per cent in 1968; and for the rural
areas, it was 11 per cent in '69 as against 12 per cent in '68.
In light of the facts, it is ridiculous for the Majority Leader to accuse
the Nixon Administration of failing to have an anti-crime program. After all, it
(more)
-2-
is his party which controls the Congress and let the entire first session slip by
without enacting even one of the 17 Nixon anti-crime bills into law. Only now is
that Democrat-controlled Congress belatedly bestirring itself with regard to the
Administration's sorely needed anti-crime bills.
The Majority Leader would have the Congress and the people believe that the
Nixon Administration seeks to seriously underfund the war against crime in fiscal
1971.
The facts are that in fiscal 1971 Federal anti-crime outlays proposed by
the President total more than $1 billion 257 million. This is the first time in
history that any Administration has sought more than $1 billion in new obligational
authority for the Justice Department. The total of $1.257 billion compares with
$947 million estimated to be spent in fiscal 1970 and is 91 per cent more than the
outlays for fiscal 1969.
Major emphasis will go to programs for improving State and local criminal
justice systems and for assisting anti-crime efforts in local communities.
Of the $1.257 billion for fiscal 1971, $518 million or 41 per cent will be
for programs or projects which help State and local governments fight crime.
Outlays of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, set at $368 million,
would be more than double the 1970 outlay of $177.5 million and nearly seven times
as great as LEAA expenditures in fiscal 1969.
Apart from its direct assistance to local communities through LEAA, the
Nixon Administration is greatly abetting their anti-crime efforts with its highly
effective war against organized crime. Whether or not the Majority Leader
recognizes it, violent, individual street crime often results from the machinations
of organized crime. Many street crimes flow from drug addiction, for instance;
and, of course, the flow of addictive drugs is a consequence of organized crime
along with such evils as prostitution, gambling and loansharking. Unless we root
out and destroy organized crime, we will never succeed in controlling the aimless
crimes of violence which tear at our society. As organized crime is curbed, so
also will mindless street crimes of violence be reduced, and our people will be
safer on the streets and in their homes.
The Democrat-controlled Congress has an obligation to the American people
to approve President Nixon's legislation which would give the Attorney General
more tools to fight organized crime and the narcotics traffic.
###
Distribution Full
Halleries
p.m.
3/19/70
Maffici Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 19, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U. S. House of
Representatives, placed in the Congressional Record of Thursday, March 19, 1970.
Both President Nixon and Postmaster General Blount have expressed their
great concern over the postal strike in the New York City area.
While it is impossible for the Administration to endorse this strike -- a
strike which is illegal under existing law -- both the President and the Postmaster
General agree that working conditions and rates of pay for postal workers must be
improved.
The President expressed to me his hope that the striking employees would
return to their jobs.
The mail is the life blood of our economy. This strike means a delay in
the delivery of millions of welfare, social security and pension retirement checks
in the New York area. It means the interruption of vital business service. It
means a delay in the delivery of life sustaining medicines to the critically ill.
The President further expressed his concern over the refusal of the
strikers to obey the Federal Court injunction issued yesterday ordering the
striking employees back to work.
The postal strike is illegal under existing law and the failure to obey
the Federal injunction places the strikers in contempt of court.
The Congress has, I think, demonstrated its interest in improving working
and wage conditions for postal employees. Last week the House Post Office and
Civil Service Committee, in an unprecedented bipartisan move, reported to the
House floor a postal reform-salary adjustment act which will provide collective
bargaining rights for postal employees for the first time.
Under this measure, postal employees can bargain with postal management
over their grievances with the added provision that points of contention which
cannot be settled at the bargaining table can go to binding artibration.
It means that the striking employees in New York could, through their
national leadership, bargain over the points of contention which precipitated
this strike.
(more)
-2-
The same legislation contains a 5.4 per cent wage increase for most
postal employees retroactive to January 1, 1970. While this does not meet the
current demands of the striking New York employees, it is a step in the direction
of an upward adjustment in postal salaries.
The President has further expressed his support for additional postal pay
increases above the 5.4 per cent -- and also a raise for other Federal employees.
But he has asked that these increases be withheld until next year.
###
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U. S. House of
Representatives, placed in the Congressional Record of Thursday, March 19, 1970.
Both President Nixon and Postmaster General Blount have expressed their
great concern over the postal strike in the New York City area.
While it is impossible for the Administration to endorse this strike -- a
strike which is illegal under existing law -- both the President and the Postmaster
General agree that working conditions and rates of pay for postal workers must be
improved.
The President expressed to me his hope that the striking employees would
return to their jobs.
The mail is the life blood of our economy. This strike means a delay in
the delivery of millions of welfare, social security and pension retirement checks
in the New York area. It means the interruption of vital business service. It
means a delay in the delivery of life sustaining medicines to the critically ill.
The President further expressed his concern over the refusal of the
strikers to obey the Federal Court injunction issued yesterday ordering the
striking employees back to work.
The postal strike is illegal under existing law and the failure to obey
the Federal injunction places the strikers in contempt of court.
The Congress has, I think, demonstrated its interest in improving working
and wage conditions for postal employees. Last week the House Post Office and
Civil Service Committee, in an unprecedented bipartisan move, reported to the
House floor a postal reform-salary adjustment act which will provide collective
bargaining rights for postal employees for the first time.
Under this measure, postal employees can bargain with postal management
over their grievances with the added provision that points of contention which
cannot be settled at the bargaining table can go to binding artibration.
It means that the striking employees in New York could, through their
national leadership, bargain over the points of contention which precipitated
this strike.
(more)
-2-
The same legislation contains a 5.4 per cent wage increase for most
postal employees retroactive to January 1, 1970. While this does not meet the
current demands of the striking New York employees, it is a step in the direction
of an upward adjustment in postal salaries.
The President has further expressed his support for additional postal pay
increases above the 5.4 per cent -- and also a raise for other Federal employees.
But he has asked that these increases be withheld until next year.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 19, 1970
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U. S. House of
Representatives, placed in the Congressional Record of Thursday, March 19, 1970.
Both President Nixon and Postmaster General Blount have expressed their
great concern over the postal strike in the New York City area.
While it is impossible for the Administration to endorse this strike -- a
strike which is illegal under existing law -- both the President and the Postmaster
General agree that working conditions and rates of pay for postal workers must be
improved.
The President expressed to me his hope that the striking employees would
return to their jobs.
The mail is the life blood of our economy. This strike means a delay in
the delivery of millions of welfare, social security and pension retirement checks
in the New York area. It means the interruption of vital business service. It
means a delay in the delivery of life sustaining medicines to the critically ill.
The President further expressed his concern over the refusal of the
strikers to obey the Federal Court injunction issued yesterday ordering the
striking employees back to work.
The postal strike is illegal under existing law and the failure to obey
the Federal injunction places the strikers in contempt of court.
The Congress has, I think, demonstrated its interest in improving working
and wage conditions for postal employees. Last week the House Post Office and
Civil Service Committee, in an unprecedented bipartisan move, reported to the
House floor a postal reform-salary adjustment act which will provide collective
bargaining rights for postal employees for the first time.
Under this measure, postal employees can bargain with postal management
over their grievances with the added provision that points of contention which
cannot be settled at the bargaining table can go to binding artibration.
It means that the striking employees in New York could, through their
national leadership, bargain over the points of contention which precipitated
this strike.
(more)
-2-
The same legislation contains a 5.4 per cent wage increase for most
postal employees retroactive to January 1, 1970. While this does not meet the
current demands of the striking New York employees, it is a step in the direction
of an upward adjustment in postal salaries.
The President has further expressed his support for additional postal pay
increases above the 5.4 per cent -- and also a raise for other Federal employees.
But he has asked that these increases be withheld until next year.
###
Distribution: 5th District media
all p.m. 3/20/70
moffice Copy
FOR USE THE WEEK OF MARCH 22-28, 1970
A proud new U.S. Navy gunboat named for the City of Grand Rapids, Mich.,
will slide down the ways April 4 at Takoma, Wash.
Susan Elizabeth Ford, 12-year-old daughter of Congressman and Mrs. Gerald R.
Ford of Grand Rapids, will swing the traditional bottle of champagne against the
bow of the new vessel.
The christening and launching ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m., Pacific
Standard Time. The Navy has selected Congressman Ford as the principal speaker.
Construction of the Grand Rapids started Nov. 15, 1968, at the Takoma
Shipbuilding Company yards. She cost $2,943,000 to build.
Then-Secretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius designated Patrol Gunboat 98
as the "Grand Rapids" on June 26, 1968.
The Grand Rapids is a modern, new-type motor gunboat intended for coastal or
interior water patrol, blockade and surveillance duty. She will have the speed and
ability to interdict and destroy costal shipping in shallow or restricted waters
and to defend small craft during an amphibious operation.
The new gunboat has an aluminum hull and fiberglass deck. She has an overall
length of 165 feet; an extreme beam of 24 feet; a full load displacement of
250 tons; a maximum draft of 5 feet, 10 inches; and a designed speed in excess
of 35 knots. She is powered by two 752-horsepower diesel engines for cruising and
one 1400-horsepower gas turbine engine for high speed.
The Grand Rapids will have a complement of four officers and 24 men. She
will be armed with one 3-inch 50-caliber gun, one 40-mm. gun, and two 50-caliber
twin mount machine guns.
After the launching April 4 the Grand Rapids will be fitted out and will
undergo sea trials. Estimated date of delivery and commissioning for sea duty is
June.
The U.S.S. Grand Rapids is the second vessel of the fleet to be named in
honor of the City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
The first U.S.S. Grand Rapids was a patrol frigate which was laid down at the
Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, Inc., Superior, Wis., on July 30, 1943. That
ship was launched Sept. 10, 1943, under the sponsorship of Mrs. Ted Booth. After
river trials, repairs and shakedown, the first Grand Rapids sailed for Argentia,
Newfoundland Jan. 6, 1945, and was assigned to Commander Task Force 24 as a weather
picket ship.
The first Grand Rapids was decommissioned at Boston April 10, 1946. She was
struck from the Navy list May 21, 1946, and was sold to Sun Shipbuilding and Dry
Dock Company, Chester, Pa., on April 14, 1947. She was scrapped Sept. 21, 1947.
# # #
FOR USE THE WEEK OF MARCH 22-28, 1970
A proud new U.S. Navy gunboat named for the City of Grand Rapids, Mich.,
will slide down the ways April 4 at Takoma, Wash.
Susan Elizabeth Ford, 12-year-old daughter of Congressman and Mrs. Gerald R.
Ford of Grand Rapids, will swing the traditional bottle of champagne against the
bow of the new vessel.
The christening and launching ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m., Pacific
Standard Time. The Navy has selected Congressman Ford as the principal speaker.
Construction of the Grand Rapids started Nov. 15, 1968, at the Takoma
Shipbuilding Company yards. She cost $2,943,000 to build.
Then-Secretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius designated Patrol Gunboat 98
as the "Grand Rapids" on June 26, 1968.
The Grand Rapids is a modern, new-type motor gunboat intended for coastal or
interior water patrol, blockade and surveillance duty. She will have the speed and
ability to interdict and destroy costal shipping in shallow or restricted waters
and to defend small craft during an amphibious operation.
The new gunboat has an aluminum hull and fiberglass deck. She has an overall
length of 165 feet; an extreme beam of 24 feet; a full load displacement of
250 tons; a maximum draft of 5 feet, 10 inches; and a designed speed in excess
of 35 knots. She is powered by two 752-horsepower diesel engines for cruising and
one 1400-horsepower gas turbine engine for high speed.
The Grand Rapids will have a complement of four officers and 24 men. She
will be armed with one 3-inch 50-caliber gun, one 40-mm. gun, and two 50-caliber
twin mount machine guns.
After the launching April 4 the Grand Rapids will be fitted out and will
undergo sea trials. Estimated date of delivery and commissioning for sea duty is
June.
The U.S.S. Grand Rapids is the second vessel of the fleet to be named in
honor of the City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
The first U.S.S. Grand Rapids was a patrol frigate which was laid down at the
Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, Inc., Superior, Wis., on July 30, 1943. That
ship was launched Sept. 10, 1943, under the sponsorship of Mrs. Ted Booth. After
river trials, repairs and shakedown, the first Grand Rapids sailed for Argentia,
Newfoundland Jan. 6, 1945, and was assigned to Commander Task Force 24 as a weather
picket ship.
The first Grand Rapids was decommissioned at Boston April 10, 1946. She was
struck from the Navy list May 21, 1946, and was sold to Sun Shipbuilding and Dry
Dock Company, Chester, Pa., on April 14, 1947. She was scrapped Sept. 21, 1947.
###
Statement given to AP & UPI 3/22/70 and to G.R. Press 3/23/70
I want to compliment the postal clerks and letter carriers of Grand
Rapids for their overwhelming vote to stay on the job.
Their vote represents a reasonable and positive approach to the postal
crisis. It. is clearly the best way to achieve concrete results.
The management of the postal system is willing to negotiate in good
faith with the union leaders once the postal employes across the United
States return to work. Congress is fully willing to meet its responsibilities
on pay increases and postal reform once these negotiations are completed.
I commend the Grand Rapids postel employes for their action. I
understand that postal workers in other parts of the country are beginning
to return to work and that others have voted to stay on the job. I sincerely
hope that this trend will continue and that mail delivery service will be
rapidly restored throughout the Nation.
#####
istribution: Full
Galleries 4:00p.m. 3/23/70
mail 4:30p.m. 3/23/70
Moffice Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 23, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
President Nixon is to be applauded for confining his callup of the military
to postal duty to New York alone. He took the most constructive action available
to him in this time of domestic crisis. His appeal to the strikers was low-keyed
and yet eloquent. It was the voice of reason. I hope the strikers will heed it.
I would at this time also compliment Letter Carriers National President James
Rademacher for urging the strikers to return to their jobs.
It should also be noted that H. R. 4, the pay increase and postal reform
bill which probably would have avoided this entire situation, was held in the
House Post Office and Civil Service Committee for too long a time. That was a
tragic delay. When the committee did report out the bill on March 12, it was not
brought quickly to the House floor for affirmative action. The postal walkout
started on March 18. I urge that H. R. 4 be moved through the House as soon as
the strikers return to work.
###
distribution: Full
Galleries- 4:45p.m. 3/24/70
M Office Copy
Mail -5:30 p.m. 3/24/70
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 24, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
The President has taken a strong sensible approach to the problems of
integration.
Certainly the President's commitment to upholding the law of the land
cannot be questioned, particularly in view of his willingness to earmark
$1.5 billion in Federal funds to help local school districts with their desegre-
gation problems. I applaud the President's pledge to help make desegregation
work. At the same time I agree completely with his position that the neighborhood
school is the cornerstone of the local school system and that students should not
be bused outside of their neighborhoods merely to achieve an artificial racial
balance in schools. Like the President, I believe that funds spent on forcible
busing of students might better be spent on improving the quality of education in
our elementary and secondary schools. The President's statement was noteworthy
for its honesty and realism.
###
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
The President has taken a strong sensible approach to the problems of
integration.
Certainly the President's commitment to upholding the law of the land
cannot be questioned, particularly in view of his willingness to earmark
$1.5 billion in Federal funds to help local school districts with their desegre-
gation problems. I applaud the President's pledge to help make desegregation
work. At the same time I agree completely with his position that the neighborhood
school is the cornerstone of the local school system and that students should not
be bused outside of their neighborhoods merely to achieve an artificial racial
balance in schools. Like the President, I believe that funds spent on forcible
busing of students might better be spent on improving the quality of education in
our elementary and secondary schools. The President's statement was noteworthy
for its honesty and realism.
###
distribution: Full
Galleries - 11:00am. 3/25/70
mail - 12:45 p.m.3/25/70
m office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 11 A.M.--
March 25, 1970
Legislation being sent to Congress by President Nixon to make a Federal
crime of the illegal possession, use and interstate transporting of explosives
should be dealt with on an emergency basis.
The times are critical and call for immediate action. I believe the strong
penalties proposed by the President to deal with the rash of bombings we have
witnessed are appropriate to the problem.
The punishment the President has proposed fits the crime. Whether upon
enactment it will serve as a deterrent to the commission of such crimes by the
highly irrational individuals who engage in terrorist bombings remains to be seen.
But certainly it will assist State and local authorities if the investigative
powers of the F.B.I. are brought to bear on the situation by greatly broadening
the scope of existing Federal law dealing with the illegal handling of explosives.
I commend the President for this most timely effort.
###
Distribution: Galleries Full
12:05
p.m.
3/25/70
Office Copy
12:45p
3/25/70
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR USE IN THURSDAY P.M.'s--
March 26, 1970
An Advertising Council campaign directed at drug abuse will be launched
this spring, Congressman Gerald R. Ford reported today.
Ford said the campaign will be part of a three-year Nixon Administration
project to develop a drug abuse prevention program. The program will be presented
through radio, television and other mass media. Compton Advertising Agency is
handling the account, Ford said.
The three-year program is being developed by the White House Ad Hoc
Committee on Drug Abuse, the Justice Department's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs, the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Ford recently wrote to John E. Ingersoll, director of the Bureau of
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, asking for a progress report on drug education
efforts across the Nation.
Ingersoll told Ford there have been preliminary showings at the White
House of spot announcements and other materials to be used in the three-year
program of drug education. He said the campaign will be coordinated by Charles
"Bud" Wilkinson, special consultant to the President.
Said Ingersoll in a letter to Ford:
"It is estimated that during the three-year period about $55 million in
free air time will be provided for media messages on the dangers of drug abuse.
We anticipate a greatly increased effort when the Advertising Council campaign is
initiated later this spring.'
The National Institute of Mental Health already is conducting a mass media
public service campaign against drug abuse, featuring radio and TV spot announce-
ments and newspaper and magazine ads. According to the Institute, stations across
the Nation report that they use the spot announcements as frequently as possible.
Ford wrote Ingersoll for a progress report on drug education because he
felt the program was lagging far behind the efforts being made to combat cigaret
smoking.
###
Distribution: House mail galleries a.m. 4/11/70 11:00a.m. 4/10/7PM Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
April 10, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
The U.S. Senate's refusal to confirm G. Harrold Carswell of Florida as a
justice of the Supreme Court was a slap in the face to the South.
I think it is only logical to conclude--as President Nixon has done-that
Judge Carswell was rejected because he is both a Southerner and a strict con-
structionist. The same must be said about Judge Clement Haynsworth of South
Carolina before him.
The truth is that a hatchet job was done on both of these men by U.S.
senators who find the judicial philosophies of Judges Carswell and Haynsworth
greatly at variance with their own thinking.
Because they found it impossible to accept the idea of placing a strict
constructionist Southerner on the Supreme Court, these senators mounted the most
vicious attacks on Judges Haynsworth and Carswell that one could possibly imagine.
That these opponents of conservative philosophy were successful in their
attacks does not redound to their credit. Rather, the rejection of Judge Carswell,
coming immediately after the Senate's refusal to approve Judge Haynsworth, simply
proves to the South and the rest of the Nation that certain wilful men have used
the Senate's advise and consent powers to keep strict constructionist Southerners
off the highest court in the land.
The President is absolutely right in categorizing the Carswell rejection
as he has. And he has rightly concluded that the South should not be subjected
to any further humiliation at the hands of Senate liberals.
# # #
Galleries mail -1:00p. -12:45p.m. M. 4/15/70 4/15/70 m Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
April 15, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
The President's Message on Great Lakes Disposal is another example of the
tremendous leadership President Nixon is displaying in the effort to restore our
environment.
For years I have urged a halt to the dumping of polluted dredged material
back into the Great Lakes. I introduced legislation last year aimed at accomplish-
ing that objective.
I am therefore greatly pleased that the President has thrown his support
behind my efforts to stop this practice, which flies in the face of common sense.
It it were at all feasible, I would favor a ban on dumping any dredged
material back into the Great Lakes, whether such material was adjudged to be
polluted or not. But of course finding adequate areas for land disposal of the
dredgings is always a problem.
The Administration bill to stop the dumping of polluted dredge spoil into the
Great Lakes is most welcome. The Federal Government should be setting an example
for the States, localities and private industry in our efforts to restore and
preserve our environment.
The question of polluted dredgings goes deeper, of course, than finding a
place to dump such spoil. We should go behind that problem and prevent the entry
of polluted soil into the lakes. Until the day arrives when we have accomplished
that goal, however, it is vital that dumping of polluted spoil back into the lakes
be stopped.
At the same time, we certainly need a study of ocean dumping as outlined by
the President in his Message to the Congress. I am glad to see that the President
has ordered such a study made.
###
moffice Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
April 24, 1970
Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
Rules Committee Chairman William M. Colmer has decided not to program the
Wyman Resolution during the 60-day period alloted by the House Judiciary Committee
to an investigation of Justice Douglas.
I have met with Judiciary's Senior Republican William M. McCulloch and
Judiciary Chairman Emanuel Celler and they have assured me that their investigation
will be full and fair and will be undertaken without delay.
On the basis of their personal assurances to me, I will abide by the decision
of the Rules Committee chairman.
#####
M Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
April 27, 1970
A Statement by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich,, Republican Leader, U.S. House of Reps.
Justice Douglas' action in disqualifying himself from participation in
censorship cases involving Barney Rossett, president of Evergreen Review and of
Grove Press, is a tacit admission that he should have disqualified himself in
the libel case in which publisher Ralph Ginzburg was the defendant.
The Douglas disqualifications nnounced Monday also indicate the extent
to which Justice Douglas' off-the-bench activities have diminished his usefulness
on the Supreme Court.
#####
Distribution Fifth District news media
4/29/70 Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR USE ON RECEIPT--
Special to all Fifth District news media
The Calvin Theological Seminary Choir of Grand Rapids will conduct the
Sunday worship service at the White House May 10, Congressman Gerald R. Ford
announced today.
Ford said he personally brought the choir's excellence to the attention
of President Nixon, and the worship service invitation from the White House
followed.
Ford suggested to the President that the choir be invited to the White
House after the choir had completed a spring concert tour of California, Oregon
and Washington state.
Vicar Neal R. Rylaarsdam told Ford that during the concert tour he had
heard it said the Calvin Theological Seminary Choir repertoire was "fit for the
President of the United States."
The choir will be conducting the White House service. The first part of
the choir's traditional program is a liturgical worship service in song.
###
Distribution: 5th District newspapers moffice Copy
4/30/70
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids urges all West Michigan residents
to become acquainted with the safety rules that should be followed in the event of
a tornado.
The Environmental Science Services Administration under the Department of
Commerce, reports that the months of May and June are peak tornado months.
ESSA said that hundreds of tornadoes are reported during these months each
year.
Ford listed the following safety rules to be followed when a tornado hits.
1. When you receive a tornado warning, seek inside shelter,
preferably in a tornado cellar, underground excavation, or
a steel framed or reinforced concrete building.
2. Stay away from windows.
3. If you are in an office building, stand in an interior hallway
on a lower floor or basement.
4. Factory workers should move to the section of the plant offer-
ing the greatest protection.
5. In homes without tornado shelters, take refuge in the basement.
6. Seek shelter under heavy furniture in the center of the house
if you have no basement.
7. Keep some windows open, but stay away from them.
8. Do not stay in mobile homes when a tornado warning is
received.
9. In schools, go to an interior hallway or basement shelter;
avoid auditoriums, gymnasiums, and other structures with wide
freespan roofs.
10. During tornado emergencies, stay tuned to your radio or
television for latest messages.
###
4/30/70
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids urges all West Michigan residents
to become acquainted with the safety rules that should be followed in the event of
a tornado.
The Environmental Science Services Administration under the Department of
Commerce, reports that the months of May and June are peak tornado months.
ESSA said that hundreds of tornadoes are reported during these months each
year.
Ford listed the following safety rules to be followed when a tornado hits.
1. When you receive a tornado warning, seek inside shelter,
preferably in a tornado cellar, underground excavation, or
a steel framed or reinforced concrete building.
2. Stay away from windows.
3. If you are in an office building, stand in an interior hallway
on a lower floor or basement.
4. Factory workers should move to the section of the plant offer-
ing the greatest protection.
5. In homes without tornado shelters, take refuge in the basement.
6. Seek shelter under heavy furniture in the center of the house
if you have no basement.
7. Keep some windows open, but stay away from them.
8. Do not stay in mobile homes when a tornado warning is
received.
9. In schools, go to an interior hallway or basement shelter;
avoid auditoriums, gymnasiums, and other structures with wide
freespan roofs.
10. During tornado emergencies, stay tuned to your radio or
television for latest messages.
###
Distribution
: 5 the District news media
GERALD R. FORD
weeklies 5/1/70
moffice MICHIGAN Copy
FIFTH DISTRICT, MICHIGAN
dailies 5/4/70
425
CHERRY
STREET
GRAND RAPIDS
ZIP 49502
Congress of the United States
Office of the Minority Leader
house of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
May 1, 1970
Dear News Editor:
I am mailing a congressional questionnaire to the nearly 142,000
residences in the Fifth District.
Naturally I am hoping that as many people as possible will fill out the
questionnaire and return it to me. Any help you can provide in calling
attention to this project would be a service to the people of the district.
The 10 questions in the survey have been most carefully formulated. Every
effort was made to guard against phrasing any question in such a way as to
suggest a particular answer. I want to get as good a sampling of con-
stituent opinion as possible.
I am sending you a copy of the questionnaire so that you might have
information as to the questions included in the survey. If you care to
publish the questionnaire, I would be most pleased.
I hope you will agree with me that this is a worthwhile project and that
the questions have been formulated fairly.
I should emphasize that the results of the survey will be for guidance
purposes only. This means that the results of the survey will enter into
the decisions I make on votes I cast in Congress but will not necessarily
be governing.
Thank you for any help you may provide in publicizing the questionnaire.
Sincerely,
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:pc
Enclosures (2)
FOR USE ON RECEIPT
Congressman Gerald R. Ford today announced he is mailing out 1970
questionnaires to the nearly 142,000 residences in the Fifth Congressional District
to obtain a sampling of district views on current issues.
A new feature of the questionnaire, Ford said, is that both husband and
wife will be able to express their opinions on the same questionnaire form.
"I discovered last year that some questionnaires came back with an indication
that the husband and wife strongly disagreed on some issues," Ford said. "So my
questionnaire this year offers 'his' and 'hers' columns."
Ford said he has limited the number of questions to 10 so as not to
discourage replies. He also noted that issues omitted were covered in his 1969
questionnaire, which means he already has an indication of district thinking on
those questions.
Ford emphasized that answers to the questionnaire will be helpful to him
in deciding how to vote on various matters yet to be tackled by the Congress this
year.
"I have the responsibility for my votes, but the 1970 questionnaire will
provide me with valuable guidance," Ford said. "I would like the advice of the
people in Kent and Ionia Counties on important questions facing the Congress."
Eight of the 10 questions in the 1970 Ford poll require yes or no answers.
The other two are multiple choice questions.
The multiple choice questions deal with general farm legislation to be
voted on by the Congress this year and a choice of the most important issue of
the day.
Ford said every word that went into makeup of the questions was carefully
analyzed to make sure the queries are as objectively phrased as possible.
Ford said he has purposely made his questionnaire card simple in order to
encourage as many replies as may possibly be obtained.
"All anyone needs to do is to check the boxes next to the questions, detach
the lower half of the card and mail it back to me," Ford said.
Ford emphasized that the questionnaire is not printed at Government expense.
###
office Capy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
RELEASE ON RECEIPT
5/2/70 D.C. media
Enemes media
House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford today said that statement by some
Senate Democrats that they might refuse to attend a Presidential briefing on Cambodia
are "too arrogant by double." Ford made the remark in response to press reports
that an unidertified Senator called the President's decision to invite both House
and Senate members of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees to the
White House briefings "too clever by half."
"Any Senator who criticizes the President for deciding to brief the pertinent
members of both houses on matters of great importance is "too arrogant by double,"
Fordsaid.
Ford strongly endorsed the President's invitation to meet committees next
Tuesday, emphasizing the responsibility of the House to participate in such discussions
of major military and foreign policy matters.
Ford said he has read reports that some Senators "might find the joint meeting
unacceptable" and that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, William
Fulbright, "could not accede" to the invitation without consulting his committee
first. He noted that Senators are quoted as saying that the proposed meetings are a
"farce" and a "slap in the face."
Ford declared, "Just as the Constitution provides for three branches of
government -- Legislative, Executive and Judicial -- it also sets up two co-equal
branches of Congress -- The Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has
special prerogatives regarding confirmations and advise and consent to treaties, just
as the House has special prerogatives in other areas, but it is nonsense to contend
that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has a monopoly on foreign relations.
Furthermore, the President is not seeking the advice and consent of the Senate to a
treaty; he has offered to discuss with affected committees of Congress the use of
American military forces in Cambodia. He is to be commended for offering to do
this and his invitation very properly included both the Senate and the House.
"I trust that members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee do not feel
too self-important to sit in the same room with the President of the United States
and their colleagues from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Any suggestion of
that kind by some individuals in the other body is repugnant to everyone of the 435
legislators in the House.
(more)
LIBRARY BERALD 2.
-2-
If there are to be objections to joint meetings of these committees with
the President, I suggest it is the House Committee that has been insulted and is
entitled to an apology from the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
#####
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Distribution: Fifth 5/13/70 District news Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT--
May 14, 1970
Congressman Gerald R. Ford today expressed confidence construction can
begin this year on a new Courthouse and Federal Building in Grand Rapids.
Pointing to House passage Tuesday of a bill containing $9,411,000 for the
project, Ford said he believes the Grand Rapids project will easily clear the
Senate.
"However, I am leaving nothing to chance," Ford said. "And so I have
written to Sen. Robert P. Griffin and Sen. Philip A. Hart alerting them to the
fact that the Grand Rapids project is in the Independent Offices Appropriations
Bill and asking them to steer it through the Senate. The sooner the Senate acts,
the sooner we can get actual construction under way."
Ford said it should be possible to begin construction of the new building
soon after the funding.
The project as designed provides a seven-story reinforced concrete or
steel frame building with four courtrooms, and interior parking on two underground
levels for about 190 vehicles.
The gross area of the building will be 263,500 square feet, and it will
provide net space of 207,600 square feet.
It will be constructed on a 225-foot deep site just north of City Hall,
between Monroe and Ottawa Avenues, N.W.
The new building will house the federal courts and all of the Federal
offices in the area except the Weather Bureau and the Post Office. This will
bring the Federal Housing Administration, the Social Security Administration, and
the Federal tax agencies together under one roof with other Federal offices in
Grand Rapids. The building will house about 530 officials and employes.
Total project cost is $10.6 million. This includes $9,411,000 for
construction, $834,000 for site, design and review, and $355,000 for management
and inspection. The site, design and review costs were funded in fiscal 1965.
"I am delighted that this fine new Federal Building will be constructed in
Grand Rapids after years of effort by myself and others," Ford said. "The present
(more)
-2-
facilities are clearly inadequate. This new structure will meet our needs and
is essential to the development of the Vandenberg Civic Center. Together with
the new state office building, it will complete the splendid new complex of
downtown urban renewal structures."
The Federal Building project dates back to April 1964, when it first was
authorized by the Congress.
Ford persuaded the Nixon Administration to include construction funds for
the project in the Federal Government's fiscal 1971 budget.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT--
May 14, 1970
Congressman Gerald R. Ford today expressed confidence construction can
begin this year on a new Courthouse and Federal Building in Grand Rapids.
Pointing to House passage Tuesday of a bill containing $9,411,000 for the
project, Ford said he believes the Grand Rapids project will easily clear the
Senate.
"However, I am leaving nothing to chance," Ford said. "And so I have
written to Sen. Robert P. Griffin and Sen. Philip A. Hart alerting them to the
fact that the Grand Rapids project is in the Independent Offices Appropriations
Bill and asking them to steer it through the Senate. The sooner the Senate acts,
the sooner we can get actual construction under way."
Ford said it should be possible to begin construction of the new building
soon after the funding.
The project as designed provides a seven-story reinforced concrete or
steel frame building with four courtrooms, and interior parking on two underground
levels for about 190 vehicles.
The gross area of the building will be 263,500 square feet, and it will
provide net space of 207,600 square feet.
It will be constructed on a 225-foot deep site just north of City Hall,
between Monroe and Ottawa Avenues, N.W.
The new building will house the federal courts and all of the Federal
offices in the area except the Weather Bureau and the Post Office. This will
bring the Federal Housing Administration, the Social Security Administration, and
the Federal tax agencies together under one roof with other Federal offices in
Grand Rapids. The building will house about 530 officials and employes.
Total project cost is $10.6 million. This includes $9,411,000 for
construction, $834,000 for site, design and review, and $355,000 for management
and inspection. The site, design and review costs were funded in fiscal 1965.
"I am delighted that this fine new Federal Building will be constructed in
Grand Rapids after years of effort by myself and others," Ford said. "The present
(more)
--2-
facilities are clearly inadequate. This new structure will meet our needs and
is essential to the development of the Vandenberg Civic Center. Together with
the new state office building, it will complete the splendid new complex of
downtown urban renewal structures."
The Federal Building project dates back to April 1964, when it first was
authorized by the Congress.
Ford persuaded the Nixon Administration to include construction funds for
the project in the Federal Government's fiscal 1971 budget.
# # #
Distribution all Fifth District news mediaf affice Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON THURSDAY-
May 14, 1970
Grand Rapids will record "a first" on May 22 -- the first Business Expansion
Conference of its kind in the state of Michigan, Congressman Gerald R. Ford
announced today.
The conference will bring state and Federal officials to Grand Rapids to
discuss with local businessmen how more business can be brought to the Grand
Rapids area.
Co-sponsored by Ford and the Greater Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, the
conference is scheduled for 1:30 to 4 p.m. May 22 at the Vandenberg Room of the
Pantlind Hotel.
Ford will appear on the program along with officials from the U.S.
Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the Federal Housing
Administration, and the Michigan Department of Economic Expansion.
"This is somewhat of a pilot project," Ford said. "It is the first of its
kind to be held in Michigan." "I believe," he added, "that such a meeting will
be valuable in providing considerable information about government services to
strengthen business expansion activities.'
Theme of the conference will be "Let's get down to business to get more
business."
Officials taking part will include Frank A. Alter, director of the Detroit
field office, U.S. Department of Commerce; Robert F. Phillips, regional director,
Small Business Administration, Detroit; Eddie McGloin, director, Federal Housing
Administration, Detroit; and Bernard M. Conboy, executive director, Michigan
Department of Economic Expansion, Lansing.
###
Distribution: all Fifth 5/28/70 District news media
office
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT--
Tabulation of his 1970 questionnaire results has begun but there is still
time for Kent and Ionia County residents to turn in their cards, Congressman
Gerald R. Ford announced today.
Ford said: "We have begun the processing of our questionnaire returns,
which have flooded in by the thousands. We have to establish a cutoff point
somewhere, so I am expecting at this time to finish turning the returns over to
the tabulators on Saturday, June 6. This will mean I have allowed roughly a
month for all of the questionnaires to be returned."
Ford already has one set of results from the questionnaire--the outcome
of balloting by the 54 seniors in instructor Jack E. Butterworth's government
class at Saranac High School. He is wondering whether voting by the general
public will parallel the opinions registered by the Saranac seniors.
Singling out the one most important problem in the country today,
60 per cent of the Saranac seniors picked the Vietnam War; 20 per cent, air
and water pollution; 13 per cent, inflation; and 7 per cent, crime and violence.
On the question of busing school children out of their neighborhoods to
achieve better racial balance, 78 per cent opposed such busing while 22 per cent
approved it.
On the draft, 78 per cent of the seniors favored temporary deferments
for college undergraduates, with 22 per cent opposed.
Although 76 per cent favored "preventive detention" for criminal defendants
who might commit serious crimes if freed on bond, only 57 per cent favored allowing
Federal officers with a search warrant to enter private premises without knocking
on the basis that illegal drugs might otherwise be disposed of.
In other results of the questionnaire balloting, the Saranac seniors
opposed placing the Post Office Department on pay-as-you-go (57 per cent to 43);
said the U.S. can rely on agreements reached with the Soviet Union (65 to 35);
opposed gradual expansion of U.S. trade and diplomatic relations with Red China
(65 to 35); favored President Nixon's $10 billion program to fight water pollution
(96 to 4); favored giving greater priority to budget-balancing during the fight
against inflation (69 to 31); favored continuing the Federal farm program as it
presently exists (77 per cent).
On the farm program question, 17 per cent favored a reduction in subsidies
and only 6 per cent were for phasing the program out.
# # #