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Fifth District Weekly Radio Reports, July-December 1969
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This file contains material relating to Richard Nixon, Cherry Blossom Festival.
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The original documents are located in Box D36, folder "Fifth District Weekly Radio
Reports, July-December 1969" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and
Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D36 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEK OF JULY 5-6, 1969.
This is your
congressman, Jerry Ford, r eporting to you from Washington.
This past Friday we celebrated our 193rd birthday. We look upon July the
Fourth as the birth date of our Nation despite the fact that the War of Independence
did not end until 1781 and
the original states did not adopt a federal
constitution until 1787.
When it's your birthday, it is natural to take a look at yourself and do
a little stock-taking. That comes naturally for Congress in
July,
too,
91st
because at this time the Congre SS is about halfway through its first session.
In his Inaugural Addre SS last January 20, President Nixon said we faced
a "crisis of the spirit."
The House of Representatives last week faced a crisis of another sort and
barely surmounted it. That crisis came with the House vote on extending the 10 per cent
income
tax
surcharge.
Nobody likes the surtax. Naturally not, I don't like it. President Nixon
doesn't like it. You don't like it.
Everyone would have liked to see it expire June 30th. But I worked hard to
round up
votes to extend the tax despite the fact it is
unpopular.
I
would have been
derelict in my duty to the American people if I had not
done so. I say this because I
firmly believe it would have been
a terrible mistake
lif the
House had voted to
let the tax die before we have brought inflation under control.
President Nixon has predicted that the policies of his Administration extending
the surtax and keeping a tight rein on the money supply-will begin to curb inflation
LIBRAR
within
a matter of
two or
three months. I trust his judgment. I also
GER
-2-
feel it is absolutely vital that we win the fight against inflation.
The easy course for a member of the House of Representatives last week was
to vote against extension of the surtax. Two hundred and five members did so--
whatever reason a member
179 Democrats and 26 Republicans. That was the easy road
gave for voting against the surtax.
The tough decision, the difficult path to travel, was to vote for extension
154 Republicans and 56 Democrats,
of the surtax. Two hundred and ten members chose that
road--the responsible
road.
What a congre ssman had to ask himself
the surtax question was:
What will the consequences be if the surtax is allowed to die?
What I and 209 other members of the House did was to vote to phase down and
then - phase out the surtax. We voted to reduce it to 5 per cent as of next Jan. 1
and to eliminate it altogether as of midnight June 30, 1970.
What did the 205 who voted against the Administration do? They voted to
wipe out the surtax in one fell swoop.
I think that would have dramatically fed the fires of inflation. It also
would have signalled to the other nations of the world that Americans have given
up on their fight against inflation. And
that would have
thrown the world monetary system into a
deep crisis.
So I appeal to you for an understanding of what the results would have been
if the surtax had been allowed to die suddenly. I, for one, am not ready to give up
on the fight against inflation. To allow prices to get completely out of hand would
be far worse than to continue the surcharge at the 10 per cent rate for another
six months and at a five per cent rate for six months thereafter.
GERALD LIBRARY
-3-
The fight agàinst inflation is terr Tibly tough because for the past four
years the federal government under the previous administration pursued a guns and
butter policy that led to huge federal deficits. There was no spending restraint,
and prices kept going up and up and up. The surtax had to be imposed
in 1968 as a result of these policies--and it has to be extended in 1969 for the
same reason.
This
is your congre ssman, Jerry
Ford, reporting to
you
from Washington. I'll be back with - you next week-same time, same station.
#######
GERALD LIBRARY
Script for 5R Dist. stations whend of
July 12-13.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
The other day a news reporter asked me an interesting question. Why, he
wanted to know, is President Nixon asking Congress 88 to expand and strengthen the
unemployment insurance system at this time. Is the President expecting deep
unemployment?
My answer was simple and, I think, to the point. A man does not buy fire
insurance because he actually expects his house to burn down. He does BO because
he wants to protect himself against that exeximatity possibility.
And so it is with unemployment insurance. The best time to strengthen the
unemployment insurance system is when employment is high, as it is right now.
This is why the President has chosen this particular time to ask Congress
to extend unemployment insurance coverage to an additional 4,800,000 workers and
to provide it for workers who are being retrained. The President also recommended
a formula for automatic extension of unemployment benefits during long-lasting
periods of high unemployment.
There are several points that should be made clear about unemployment
compensation.
Unemployment benefits are not a giverway. They are earned benefits. They are
paid from a fund into which an employer pays as a kind of tax levied on tehalf of each
man EM or woman employed by him. This is like a fringe benefit. It is insurance
bought in the employe's behalf, much as many employers now pay the premiums on
FORD
hospitalisation insurance for their employes. The worker therefore is GRALUS entitled to
=
the benefits he receives when he becomes unemployed through no fault of his own.
There are many benefits to American society as a whole as a result of the
unemployment insurance system.
Unemployment compensation keeps a man and his family off welfare while he
is looking for another job. Money paid out as unemployment benefits also acts to
help keep the economy tx afloat during times when unemployment is high.
President Nixon's plans to expand unemployment insurance coverage to an
additional 4,800,000 workers includes 1,600,000 workers now employed in small
firms with less than four employes.
This could be a little rough on these employers, and so the President is
recommending that the States use a reduced unemployment insurance tax rate for
these newly included employers until enough time has elapsed to indicate what
their true rate should be.
But it is important that the 4,800,000 additional workers be covered because
many of them are low-wage workers with little job security and no prospect of
terminal pay if they are laid off.
In addition, the present gap in coverage works a special hardship on minority
employes because a higher percentage of the 4,800,000 involved in the Nixon proposals
is nonwhite, as compared with the entire labor force.
I commend the President formawing to close this gap at this time.
I also commend the President for legislation he now is shaping to attack the
worsening narcotics problem in this country.
At the last White House legislative meeting I attended I received a briefing
FORD
on a bill now being prepared by the Justice Department to deal more effectively with
nareotics traffic and drug addiction.
GERALD
The President passed me a note in whithhhe said that nearly 60 per cent of the
It is also important to remember that the sale of narcotics is a major source
of revenue for the Mafia and helps to finance the widespread operations of the
crime syndicates.
I hope the Congress acts promptly to implement President Nixon's recommendations
both in the field of narcotics control and unemployment insurance.
This is your congre asman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
Capital. I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#####
FORD LIBRARY "U Y
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JULY 12-13, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, r eporting to you from Washington.
a most
The other day a news reporter asked me an interesting question. Why, he
wanted to know, is President Nixon asking Congre SS to expand and strengthen the
increased
unemployment insurance system at this time. Is the President expecting deep
unemployment?
My answer was simple and, I think, to the point. A man does not buy fire
insurance because he actually expects his house to burn down. He does so because
he wants to protect himself against that exentualityx possibility.
And so it is with unemployment insurance. The best time to strengthen the
unemployment insurance system is when employment is high, as it is right now.
This is why the President has chosen this particular time to ask Congress
to extend unemployment insurance coverage to an additional 4,800,000 workers and
to provide it for workers who are being retrained. The President also recommended
a formula for automatic extension of unemployment benefits during long-lasting
periods of high unemployment.
There are several points that should be made clear about unemployment
compensation.
Unemployment benefits are not a giveaway. They are earned benefits. They are
paid from a fund into which an employer pays as a kind of tax levied on behalf of each
man NM or woman employed by him. This is like a fringe benefit. It is insurance
bought in the employe's behalf, much as many employers now pay the premiums on
hospitalization insurance for their employes. The worker therefore is entitled to
the benefits he receives when he becomes unemployed through no fault of his own. ORD
LIBRARY
There are many benefits to American society as a whole as a result
07/19
the
-2-
unemployment insurance system.
Unemployment compensation keeps a man and his family off welfare while he
is looking for another job. Money paid out as unemployment benefits also acts to
help keep the economy fx afloat during times when unemployment is high.
President Nixon's plans to expand unemployment insurance coverage to an
additional 4,800,000 workers includes 1,600,000 workers now employed in small
firms with less than four employes.
This could be a little rough on these employers, and so the President is
recommending that the States use a reduced unemployment insurance tax rate for
these newly included employers until enough time has elapsed to indicate what
their true rate should be.
But it is important that the 4,800,000 additional workers be covered because
many of them are low-wage workers with little job security and no prospect of
terminal pay if they are laid off.
In addition, the present gap in coverage works a special hardship on minority
employes because a higher percentage of the 4,800,000 involved in the Nixon proposals
is nonwhite, as compared with the entire labor force.
I commend the President formoving to close this gap at this time.
I also commend the Presi dent for legislation he now is shaping to attack the
worsening narcotics problem in this country.
detailed
At the last White House legislative meeting I attended I received a briefing
on a bill now being prepared by the Justice Department to deal more effectively with
nareotics traffic and drug addiction.
while of sat the next lite to him House at
FORD
The President passed me a note in which be said that nearly 60 per cent of the
ERALD
crimes committed in the New York City area involve narcotics in one way or another.
-3-
It is also important to remember that the sale of narcotics is a major source
(organized crime)
of revenue for the Mafia and helps to finance the widespread operations of the
crime syndicates.
I hope the Congress acts promptly to implement President Nixon's recommendations
both in the field of narcotics control and unemployment insurance.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's
Capital. I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#####
BERALD FORD
SCHIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF JULY 19-20, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, speaking to you from the Nation's
capital.
As our astronauts blast off on epic jeurneys into space, our eyes are
fixed on the new-new world of the moon and the stars but our feet remain earthbound.
continue
And problems that
to plague us on
our own sphere
remain very real and very much with us.
So it was that the President
this past week sent the Congress a
Message urging a wide-ranging and expanded new effort to deal with the growing
problem of narcotics trafficking and drug addiction.
Time was when drug addiction was primarily a personal tragedy. But now it is
fast becoming a national tragedy as well.
For many years the number of narcotics addicts was stable at around 60,000. Today
it is estimated that more than 100,000 Americans and perhaps hundreds of thousands
are addicted to
drugs. The problem has long been a blight in the inner city.
Now it has spread to the suburbs.
It is
conservatively estimated that more than 5 million Americans, both
juvenile and adult, have used marihuana one or more times. Twenty to 40 per cent
of our college students are estimated to have experimented with marihuanam,
and
perhaps 5 per cent with ISD,
It is allso estimated that as many as 10 per cent of the young people who have
tried marihuana have become chronic users who devote
large
portions of the ir time
to obtaining and using this drug.
The problem of drug addiction is a complex problem, a dilemma for which GER there is
FORD LIBRARY y CERTIL
no simple solution. It is a problem which required far more than improved and S trengthened
-2-
law enforcement.
It is imperative that
at the same time we
speed up our development of treatment and rehabilitation facilities, our research,
education and information programs, and our training of specialized personnel.
That was the thrust of the President's Message. President Nixon laid before
the Congress a comprehensive and constructive set of proposals for
dealing with this
growing national scandal of drug abuse.
The President
alled for not just
Federal, state and local
cooperation to meet this problem, but international cooperation-new, strong
efforts to halt the production
of illegal narcotics and the smuggling of such
drugs into the United States.
President Nixon proposed powerful new measure S to cope with the traffickers
and the pushers. At the same time, he placed strong emphasis on the need for
compassionate treatment of drug victims.
It is
just this kind of balanced, overall approach that is needed
to make the proper attack on this growing national problem.
The very moral fiber of our
society is threatened by the increasing
use of
dangerous drugs, especially by the young.
Dirug addiction is like a cancer, eating away at the community_at-large. And no
small part of the consequencel is that in some areas a majority of the major crimes
others
are committed by drug addicts who rob
to support their habito
We are living in a fantastic era--an era of miraculeus achievements, such as
excessive
our
space exploration, but also one of permissiveness in human
behavior,
escapism, and
carele SS experimentation with dangerous drugs.
FORD LIBRARY
While we press on in our exploration of the secrets of the universe, we must
also deal vigorously with the great problems that face us on earth. Perhaps space
-3-
simultaneously for
exploration will yield dividends yet undreamed of as we work
a
better life here on earth.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I
invite your comments and your views. Drop me a line when you have time.
I'll
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#####
DEPALO FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF JULY 26-27, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS
JO)B)
KIIoe 426-27 if (un)yn
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
For many years after the end of World War II, it was very commonplace for
people to ask each other, "Where were you on V-E Day?" There will be little or
no need to ask Americans where they were on July 20, 1969. Nearly all of them
were-of course--glued to the tube, watching two
of their countrymen
make an almost unbelievable landing on the moon. Then, on into the early hours of
July 21, 1969, Americans gazed in awe as their television sets brought them
pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the powdery surface of
another planet a quarter of a million miles away.
I could not help feeling as my wife Betty and I and the children watched
this greatest of all television spectaculars that the moon mission seemed almost
easy Then I remembered the price we had paid--not only an estimated $24 billion
in federal expenditures but also the lives of three gallant astronauts who didn't
make it to the moon, our own Roger Chaffee of Grand Rapids and his buddies Gus
Grissom and Ed White.
It is a jarring thought to think back to the flash fire of Jan. 27, 1967,
that took the lives of Roger Chaffee, Ed White and Gus Grissom, but I think we
should remember we should remember and honor them, just as much as we honor
the
moon mission men of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
Chaffee, Grissom and White also made an heroic contribution to the success of
Aprollo 11. They also helped make it possible for Eagle to land on the moon and
for Columbiato return to planet
earth with information that may unlock the secrets of the universe.
Now,
as we sit back and ponder the incredible journey of
jumbled. Apollooll FORD We
we are filled with mixed emotions and our thoughts are somewhat
-2-
feel a tremendous pride. But we also are troubled by nagging questions. If we can
put a man on the moon, why can't we solve the problems of the cities? If we can
put a man on the moon, why can't we find ways for men to live in peace on earth?
There are, of course, no easy answers to these questions. We must try,
and we must try much harder than we have. This I know. It is easier to put a man
on the moon than it is to resolve the crisis of the cities. The crisis of the cities
is an even greater challenge than space exploration. Not as exciting. But
success in this effort would be just as rewarding, if not more
SO,
So we are going to have to constantly review our priorities in terms of
demands on the federal dollar and what we know we must do as a Nation and a
people. Then, we must - do it.
As for the search for peace, President Nixon has embarked upon another effort
in that direction with his trip to Asia and to Romania. Some Americans may wonder
why the President should visit Romania. It's clear to me that the President is
seeking to promote friendship with those who want friendship with us--and that this
is the path to world peace. Enmity, hatred, hostility--these have never brought
peace, whether those involved were nations or individual men, At the same time,
America and the world should know that President Nixon is
a realist
in
dealing with the Communists. He does not intend to give away something for nothing.
Earlier I spoke of the great competition for the federal dollar posed by our
various national needs and interests. I might mention here and now the great need
to protect the dollar so that it
will continue to by buy something.
There are those in Congress who have opposed the President's plan to continue
then
the surtax at 10 per cent until Jan. 1, drop it to 5 per cent
and finally
phase
the
it our next June 30.
Some have argued that President's
cuts of $4 billion
-3-
in the federal budget were not enough. Last week the President announced additional a
cuts of $3.5 billion in federal spending, just to
offset
rises in certain
outlays
federal
over which thei Nixon Administration has no control--interest on
the national debt,
medicare, social security, civil service retirement benefits,
public assistance and veterans benefits. The President is
holding
very
extension and phaseout
down federal outlays to the best of his ability. And I am supporting the surtax
as the best weapon at hand to fight inflation.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll be with
you again next week-same time, S ame station.
GERALD R. LIBRARY FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF August 2-3, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
All of us were terribly shocked this past week by news of the horrible
murder of Karen Stie Beineman of Grand Rapidis. Karen Sue apparently was the
seventh victim of the same killer, since the method used in all of the slayings
of co-eds in the Ipsilanti-Ann Arbor area has been of a pattern.
I feared for Karen Sue the minute I heard she had disappeared. And my first
thought was that there must be a way to mobilize federal, state and local police
powers to track down the demented animal who has been pursuing and slaying these
young women.
On my instructions, my office has been in touch with the FBI here in Washington,
with Gov. Milliken's office and the office of Col. Frederic Davids, the head of the
State Police, and with the Criminal Division of the Federal Department of Justice.
My contacts with the FBI indicated there was no basis for bringing the FBI
into the investigation of the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor murders. However, I joined with
the Governor in nursing the hope that the Lindbergh Law or the Civil Rights Act
might serve as statutory authority for seeking FBI help.
Col. Davids gave
me a
detailed report on how the Beineman case and
the other cases are being handled. He said arrangements had been made
aimed
at the best possible coordination of State Police and local police investigative
work. He also noted that the description of Miss Beineman's suspected killer as
a young
curly-haired man riding a motorcycle was the best lead Michigan
amthorities have had thus far in the series of murders that have horrified the
people of
our state,
FORD LIBRAR
There was one last avenue I explored in connection with bringing the FBI into
-2-
the case. I consulted legal authorities here with regard to my introducing special
legislation aimed at giving the FBI statutory authority to come in. But the answer
was that
such legislation would almost certainly be
unconstitutional.
The last word I had from Col. Davids of the State Police is that "everything
is being done that can possibly be done."
I don't know whether it might be helpful in the Beineman case or not, but I
certainly believe that Congress should expedite dollar aid for local law enforcement--
an action which hinges on congressional passage of an appropriations bill which was in
the Senate when I made this broadcast.
I join with Attorney General John Mitchell in urging that federal aid for
local law enforcement be funded at the full $300 million called for in the authorization
bill already approved by the Congress. And I also commend the Nixon Administration for
going all-out in its efforts to combat organized crime.
Irefer to a statement made before a Senate Committee last week by Mr.
Mitchell, when he said: "In areas of direct federal jurisdiction, we have launched
an all-out attack on organized crime and upon international and interstate traffickers
in illicit narcotics and drug traffic."
Now I would like to turn to President Nixon's
global trip in search of
world peace.
First of all, I would like to emphasize that the President is not simply sitting
back, S tudying the world situation, and reacting to
moves by the
Communist powers. Instead he is taking initiatives for peace
with his trip to
,with his addre SS to the Nation and the world regarding Vietnam,
his relaxation of trade and
travel restrictions involving
FORD
China, and now with his trip to
Southeast Asia, Saigon, and Romania.
GERAL
-3-
I agree with President Nixon that it is time the North Vietnamese and the
Viet Cong made a movement which might help end the Vietnam War--after
all the concessions we and Saigon have made. We certainly have opened wide the
door to peace, and President Thieu of South Vietnam has joined us in that effort
by proposing free, internationally-supervised elections in which the Viet Cong
candidates could participate.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to y2 you from Washington.
I'll be back with you again next week-same time, same station.
#####
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 9-10, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS
This is
your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
This past week the news was
bursting with big developments. The most
significant
events were related to two topics of great interest to
all of us--peace and taxes.
Tax reform and tax relief are on the way for the Nation. That we now can
say with
some feeling of certainty.
In dealing with taxes, the House passed and sent to the White House a six-month
surtax extension as a weapon against inflation and then tackled the most comprehensive
tax reform bill in the history of our country.
The tax reform
legislation is aimed at eliminating inequities in the income tax laws.
about
It also is pointed toward cutting everyone's tax rates by
five per cent by
1972.
nearly six
It would take
million taxpayers off the tax rolls as too poor to be
indundrials
all other taxpayers
paying income taxes and would cut tax rates for
in two stages.
It is natural that all of us should resent the burden of the federal surtax,
combined with increased State and local taxes. At the same time, low and middle
income taxpayers feel very acutely the effects of the inflation stimulated by the heavy
deficit Federal spending of recent years.
Now we are climbing out of this intolerable situation. We are on the way to
adepte
initiated by the previous administration.
phasing out the surtax We are beginning to get hold of inflation. We are on the
road to wiping out tax inequities and
reducing
as far as the
income tax rates,
fed god, concerned, is
ax reform is long overdue. It is to President N ixon's credit
FORD
that he endorsed tax reform and proposed 13 sweeping changes to the Congress
made by the Pres.
ERALDO Congress PERARY
has built on those proposals and we now are moving toward the first major Verhaul
-2-
is
of our tax system in 10 years and the most comprehensive changes in our history.
I personally am delighted that at long last tax reform apparently will become a
President
reality. It is enly because the Nixon Administration has tightened up on federal
spending that meamingful tax reform has become possible.
welfare
We also are moving
toward long-needed reform as a result of
this Pres
far-reaching changes proposed by President Nixon. This, again, is a matter of
great urgency. I certainly will do my utmost to bring about welfare system
changes which will be in the best interests of all the American people. I have
always subscribed to the objective of getting people off welfare rolls and onto
payrolls. To every extent possible, we must make self-supporting citizens of
our tax eaters.
I would like to turn now to President Nixon's world trip because I believe
and meaningful
it is the most historic presidential trip in this decade.
The President's
global trip
signalled the beginning of
important changes in American foreign policy.
The Prin
Mr. Nixon's foreign policy declaration on the island of Guam marked a
world
innunciated by his preduction.
definite departure from former President Johnson Is policy of massive intervention
The policy of the past has been
ground
in
the internal affairs of Asian nations through the use of American
forces. It means President Nixon is determined there shall be NO MORE VIETNAMS.
After meeting with the President and hearing him discuss the new policy, I
can report to you that
Mr. Nixon has declared a "do-it-yourself
doctrine" for the Asian nations. He has told them they can expect economic aid and
military aid in the form of arms, but not the use of American in dealing with
combattroops,
internal
disorders. This is the new Nixon Doctrine for Southeast Asia.
Ibelieve this is sound policy. I believe it will be good not only for the
LIBRAR
United States but also for our Asian friends. It is a building block for a more stable
-3-
world, a more peaceful world. It is not isolationism. It is common sense.
had dup significance
President Nixon's visit to Romania
also was important. It may
me an
the beginning of a breakthrough in our relations with Eastern
Europe. As Mr. Nixon said, "Nations can have widely different internal orders and
live in peace."
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be back with you again next week--same time, same station.
#####
GERALD TORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 15-16.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you. zxexzxzxzxzxzxzxzx
short med team
Congre SS is taking a three week vacation or recess as we call it. When
Kent + Imea countries
you hear this message, I will actually be among you, visiting with people in the
district to get their thinking and to help with their problems. This report to
you on doings in Washington was taped before I left for home.
It is a big break from the pattern of recent years for Congress to take
a mid-session recess. But it is now becoming clear that legislating in the Nation's
capital has become a year-around job. And so some provision had to be made for
young members of Congress with children to get some time off for a summer vacation
with the family. I expect that after Congress reconvenes we will be in session at
least through November and possibly on into December.
This is a good time to report to you on the job Congre SS has done to diate,
what the President has most recently proposed to the Congress, and what the outlook
is for the President's program.
The greatest single accomplishment of the Congress up to this point is the
movement toward tax reform and tax relief.
As you know, the House of Representatives has passed the most comprehensive
tax reform and tax relief bill since the Income Tax Law first was enacted 56 years ago.
Nearly six million low-income Americans will be taken off the tax rolls, and nearly
everyone else will have his taxes cut. The standard deduction will be increased, and
tax rates will be reduced in steps running to 1972.
Maybe you wonder how taxes can be cut when there is so much talk about the
FORD
LIBERT
need to fight inflation. There IS a big need to fight inflation. What GERAL hany people
do not realize is that in 1970 the new tax changes will actually be anti-infletfonary.
-2-
By that I mean that loophOle plugging, action taken to see that none of
the rich escape paying income taxes, and repeal of the 7 per cent investment tax
credit previously allowed business and industry will bring in $2.4 billion more
than the Treasury loses through tax cuts for the low-income and middle and uppiter
middle-income groups.
I would also caution that while the surtax will drop from 10 per cent
to five as of next Jan. 1, the tax bill passed by the House continues it at the
five per cent rate for the first six months of 1970. President Nixon believes this
is necessary to hold down on consumer prices. flung So, too, does the Democratic
chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Wilbur Mills of Arkansas.
After 1970 the tax rate reductions will be felt by the Treasury, so that
by the time they take full effect the Treasury will wind up with a net annual loss
of more than $2 billion on balance as a result of the tax legislation.
causes some concern especially with so many groups demanding additional speading
This distrurbs the Nixon Administration. There is just one saving factor.
And that is that our great American economy, assuming healthy
and normal growth, generates about $10 billion more in income tax revenue each year.
In reviewing other congre ssional a ction this year, we have to agree that
the Congress has concentrated on quality rather than quantity. This is not bad. Rather,
it is good for the country. We need to digest and to review and to revise and make
work all of the laws and programs we now have going for us.
There were, of course, some highly important actions taken by the Congressxx
up to recess time-approval of the surcharge extension at 10 per cent for six months
by both Houses of Congress as a weapon against inflation, approval by the Senate of
FORD
the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and the Nixon Administra Administration exvictory
GERA
in the Senate on the Safeguard antichall missiled defense issue.
3
Meantime, the bulk of President Nixon's program still is in committee,
and the President has just unveiled some exciting new proposals. I am confident
most of the President's program will be approved. He has advanced sound proposals,
proposals which will return the Government to the people and will help disadvantaged
Americans get up off their backs and onto their two feet.
will not, of course, be reporting to you by radio during the three-week
congressional recess. My next Washington report will come to you the weekend of
Sept. 6 and 7. Until then, this is your congressman, Jerry Ford, saying so long
for now.
Hope to see you at home & Then after
the recess will le ##### back with my weekly
ratio report on This station
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED BY MR. FORD FOR USE BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF SEPT. 6-7, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Developments in Hanoi and Paris eclipsed everything else as Congres met again
h short
after & 31 week summer recess. The talk here was of Ho Chi Minh's
death
and of hints by Hanoi's chief negotiator in Paris that rapid withdr swal of American
troops from Vie tnam might get the stalled peace talks moving
soon,
it
We are all so anxious to see an end to the Vietnam War that
is
tempting to believe
will
A
Ho
Chih
Minh's
departure
from
the
scene
signal a big breakthrough
I-am
H
maybe
atthough Lope mit,
in the Paris peace talks.
afraid
this
shiply wishful thinking
It is a good guess that whether Ho Chih Minh is succeeded by one man or by a
ruling
group
the
new
regime will be just as determined as Ho was to force Communist
rule on South Vietnam.
As for the hints by Hanoi
that a rapid and massive American
troop
withdrawal might break the deadlock at Paris, this
may well be true.
After
all,
for Hanoi this would be an intermediate step in their announced goal
of getting all U.S. troops out of Vietnam.
I think a realistic approach to the question of U.S. troop withdrawals from
South Vie tnam is that they
should be geared too the growth of South Vietnamese
& it is growing
strength, This has to be our guideline unless we are willing to tell
ourselves that we are going to pull out all of our troops on a massive and unilateral
basis without regard for the consequences.
A
group of nine outstanding Americans known as the Citizens Committee for
FORD
Beace with Freedom in Vie tnam recently finished a round-the-world tour SERVICE hich included
a week in Vietnam. This group concluded that
if
President Nixon precip tously
withdraws
U.S.
troops from Vie tnam without
regard for South Vietnamese streng
-2-
"the enemy can reverse the tide running against him. and we will have lost more
than 35,000 American lives in vain." The Committee for Peace with Freedom in
Vietnam is headed by Edmund A. Gullion, dean of
the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University.
One last comment on Vietnam. I believe the tide is running against the enemy.
I think this is reflected in the reduced rate of enemy infiltration from North
will
Vietnam into South
Vietnam. I also believe that the death of Ho Chih Minh
drain
some of the spirit out of the North Vietnamese people,
so that they will lose some of their determination to pursue the war to what they
would consider a successful conclusion.
I would like to turn now to the Congre SS and what lies immediately ahead in the
House of Representatives.
This coming week or the following week we will be voting on a proposed
Constitutional Amendment
which would abolish the Electoral College and
provide for direct popular election of the President. I strongly support
this
amendment.
I
believe it is what the American people want. It is an action which
would do away once and for all with the danger that
present
every
four
years--the danger that no candidate for President will receive a majority of the
electoral vote and the election therefore will WORK be thrown into the House of
Representatives. I expect the House to approve the amendment by more than the
necessary two-thirds
majority, and I hope the Senate will do likewise and
that
three-fourths of the State Legislatures will approve the amendment. This is
a remedy for which the American people have waited too long.
FORD LIBRAN
Soon after
voting on the President Election amendment, the House will
take up extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
-3-
I want to ee the Voting Rights Act extended but I also believe it should be
made applicable to all 50 states, not just pointed at the South. I believe, for
instance, that if literacy
tests are banned in the Southern states they
should
also be banned in all other states. This, it seems to me, is only fair.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. If
you have any problems I can be helpful with, please do not hesitate to write me or
to contact my district office on Cherry Street in Grand Rapids. I'll be talking
with you again next week-same time, same station.
#####
GERALD FORD MBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED BY REP. FORD FOR USE BY 5TH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF SEPT.13-14/69
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I would like to chat with you about a variety of subjects today, beginning
with President Nixon's order cutting back on direct Federal construction projects
as a move against inflation.
white House
I want to point out that the Nixon order does not affect the projected Federal
in 600 urban renewal area downtown
building to be constructed in Grand Rapids is That project is in the property
acquisition stage and has not reached the point of construction. There were no
construction
funds for the building in the fiscal 1970 Federal budget for that reason. So the
is
project is in no way affected by the cutback order.
n
I would also emphasize that the Nixon order does not involve the Federal
highway program or construction of airports, or for that matter any Federal projects
now under way.
Let me turn now to two actions taken by the U.S. House of Representatives within
the last few days.
In what I consider a very significant move, the House unanimously passed a bill
Land sentoto the Senate
which I believe will result in the production of better quality car and truck tires.
The bill
would require tire manufacturers to notify buyers of any defects
discovered after the sale of a tire.
This was one provision in the
general legislation, which extends and expands the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of
The House this past week approved and sent to the Senate a bill extending the
life of the Peace Corps for another year and permitting appropriations of up to $101.1
the program.
Prace Enpe become 2 believe
million to finance it. I strongly suppor ted the bill. I also joined with a House
the 4. 5. gets its an $11.1 best return million m this investment an the foreign and area.
majority in blocking cut in the funding authorization. The amount I supported was
Mr
approved by the Homer
the Sum sought by the Nixon Administration. That amount was $900,000 less than the
-2-
total appropriated by the Congress for fiscal 1969. This cuttack had the
informant of The new administration
The House this past week also
began debating an historic proposal--a
proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college and choose the
President of the United States by direct popular election. I am doing everything
in my power to see to it that this proposed constitutional amendment is approved by
a two-thirds vote in the House. We will get no direct indication of the outcome until
Wednesday, Sept. 17, when the voting
begins on
amendments to the
direct election proposal. I am hoping and predicting that the direct election
without any major modifications
proposal will go through the House
umchanged and receive the necessary two-thirds
n
approval.
Comprosiment in 1950
collo
The House has not considered a major electoral reform plan for more than a
century, so the current action is indeed of the highest historical significance.
As the House set the stage
for its deb tate on electoral reform, the House
Republican Policy Committee pledged strong Republican support for the direct election
method of choosing American Presidents.
There are differences of opinion on this issue
in both Republismn and
members
Democratic ranks in the House, of course.
ome
will be offering
alternatives to the direct election proposal. But assuming that those alternatives
fail--and I believe they will--then an overwhelming number of
House Republicans will
support direct election in the final voting.
I support direct election because it is the fairest of all the alternatives to
Lihe Pre.
will be
the electoral college system. It means that the vote of a man er woman in Michigan
exactly equal to that of a voter in the huge-electoral-vote-package states of New York
the direct election of the method would eliminate
Pree
FORD
and California, for instance. In addi tion,
and ERALDOR
the possibility of a popular vote winner in a Presidential contest losing the White
-3-
House in the Electoral College.
irect election
is the only method which
vote system.
I believe the Electoral vote system
completely does away with the Electoral
should be abolished. It serves no useful purpose.
It simply perpetuates
inequities and dangers
which should have been eliminated long ago.
We must not forget that on three occasions a candidate for the Presidency has
won the largest number of popular votes but has been denied the White House in the
Electoral College. And we must not forget the near-crisis we experienced in the
Presidential election just past.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be
talking with you again
next week-same time, same station.
########
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF SEPT. 20-21, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Last week President Nixon announced the second phase
in his policy of
withdrawing American combat forces from South Vietnam as conditions permit.
With this second replacement of U.S. troops by South Vietnamese, President
Nixon will have withdrawn 60,000 men from South Vietnam since he took office
last January.
Hanoi and Moscow have pooh-poohed these troop withdrawals and called them
"driblets." But these statements of course are aimed at trying to offset the
truth in the court of world opinion. The truth is that the United States is
trying desperately to end the Vietnam War but the Communists are
drage
it out
in the hope of accomplishing at the bargaining table
what they have been unable to achieve on the battlefield--a complete takeover of
South Vietnam.
As President Nixon declared after announcing the S econd troop withdrawal, the
withdrawal of 60,000 American troops from Vietnam is a significant step. It means
that the time for meaningful negotiations with the Communists has arrived.
Ibelieve chances are good for additional troop withdrawals even if there is
no immediate progress at Paris. But these subsequent
withdrawals will
depend largely on whether the rate of enemy infiltration from North Vietnam continues
to decline, the level of enemy
combat activity and of American casualties
declines, and the South Vietnamese armed forces continue to grow in readiness to
take over from the United States.
GERALD FORD VIBRARY
I think the Communist leaders in Hanoi are making a mistake if they believe the
American people want U.S. forces withdrawn in massive numbers from Vietnam in
precipitous retreat. This would wipe out the credibility of American commitments in
-2-
Asia and would be a crushing blow to American prestige throughout the world. What
we want is a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam conflict which will simply allow
in free elections
the Sputh Vietnamese to determine under what government they wish to live.
Here in the Congress the House of Representatives has been engaged in historic
degate over
the proposal to elect the President by direct popular vote. I
supported
this move to do away entirely with the electoral vote system because
direct election is the only way to make the vote of each citizen in our country
count exactly the same. All of the alternative proposals--the district plan and the
proportionate plan--would weight the votes through a system of intermediate steps.
Plans of that kind diminish the integrity of the individual vote. For that reason
I
strongly urged every member of the House to support the proposed
Constitutional Amendment providing for direct election of the President.
The House of Representatives interrupted its debate on the electoral vote system
last Tuesday to meet jointly with the United States Senate
as a forum
to honor the
three Americans who flew to the moon. I was
privileged to be a member of the committee of congressmen and senators who escorted
the three astronauts into and out of the House Chamber.
It was a pleasure to hear the crew of Apollo 11 speak. There was no bombast,
no bragging, no fancy oratory. There was, howeger, some simple eloquence. And it
€ame chiefly from the one man in the three-man crew who had to stay in the mother
ship, Columbia, while the spidery craft, Eagle, touched down on the moon's surface
with Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin.
I think
astronait Michael Collins probably expressed the prevailing
FORD
spirit in America when he told the joint meeting of Congress: "We cannot launch our
planetary probes from a springboard of poverty, discrimination and unrest. But
-3-
neither can we wait until each and every terrestrial problem has been solved. Such
logic 200 years ago would have prevented expansion westward past the Appalachian
Mountains, for assuredly the eastern seaboard was beset by problems of great
urgency then, as it is today. Man has always gone where he has been able to go.
It is
that simple. He will continue pushing back his frontier, no
matter how far it may carry him from his homeland."
With Michael Collins'
eloquent words I agree. This is your congressman,
Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll be talking with you again next
week-same time, same station.
#######
BIREAD FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO S TATIONS THE WEEKEND OF SEPT. 27-28,1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, r eporting to you from Washington.
I know of nobody who is not pleased that President Nixon has cancelled draft
calls for 50,000 men during the months of November and December and spread out the
October draft call over the next three months. As one newsman remarked when he
heard the announcement: "Merry Christmas !"
critinging The announcement
It amazed me, therefore, to hear some college students putting down the
news by saying the President was simply trying to blackmail Americans who otherwise
would be inclined to protest against the Vietnam War.
I really do not know what the President has to do to convince some
people
that he is honestly trying to end the war, short of simply throwing in the towel
and calling all of our troops home immediately.
Rather than talk of blackmail, those who are anxious to see a quick end to the
should
Vie tnam War
that objective by supporting the President on his
Vietnam policy and his efforts to reform the draft.
The President is determined to Vietnamize the war by gradually
turning
more and more of the combat operations over to the South Vietnamese and bringing
our men home in phased withdrawals. Meantime he is also pressing delegathy for a bre takthrough
in the negotiations at Paris,
On the subject of the draft, the President has moved to
limit the
draft to 19-year-olds, so that the
time that a young man wonders if he will
those
be drafted is limited to that one year. This would lift a terrible burden from the
20 to 26-year-olds.
The older brachits
The Fresident sent Congress his proposed lottery system for the draft May 19.
Repettably
on this Nifon proposals
ABRARD
Congress has not acted in the many months since that date. So now the President has
-2-
served notice that if the Congre SS does not act before the end of this year, he
will take
action
similar to the lottery system by
Executive order. Actually, all Congress would have to do to allow the President
to institute a lottery or random selection draft system is to repeal one sensence
in the 1967 Selective Service Act. That sentence specifies that the oldest
men
in any draft pool must be called first.
To get back to anti-war protests, it is just such actions
on the part of Americans which
persuade the hawks among
North Vietnamese
leaders that they
should drag the war out and refuse to negotiate
at
Paris.
At one time the anti-war movement served the purpose of pushing the national
administration toward negotiation and away from a military solution in Vietnam.
But now the stronger and louder the protest movement in the United States the
less chance there is that the hawks among the leadership in North Vietnam will
decide to seek a compromise solution in Paris. That is the tragedy of the
one-day American anti-war students' S trike scheduled for
Oct.
15.
Nobody can argue with the right of the students to conduct the strike. But
I would seriously question their wisdom in doing so, because I think they are working
against their own objectives in the process,
The situation in Vietnam has improved for our side. That is why it was
possible for the President to cancel the November and December draft calls.
How wrong it is for any American to pooh-pooh such developments and to try to
cut the ground out from under the President's peace efforts.
FORD
Our second troop withdrawal
from Vietnam is a clear sign of good faith
IBRARI
to North Vietnam. It's time for the other side to make good on the words of
-3-
their chief negotiator.
As you may recall, he recently
said that further reductions
of American troops in Vietnam could improve
prospects for a breakthrough in negotiations at Paris. The North Vietnamese now
should translate these words into action,
I am here in Washington to serve you. If there is any way: in which I can
help you, please write me. This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you
from Washington. I'll be back with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
SCRIPT FOR USE BY 5TH DISTRICI RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF OCT. 4-5, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Responses to my congressional questionnaire have literally been pouring into
my office. The volume of returns has been excellent.. just great. There is
still time for those of you who have not yet filled out and sent back the questionnaire
to do SO. The more returns I receive, the more complete will be the sampling of
issues
opinion in
Kent and Ionia Counties on the in the questionnaire.
There have been many developments in Washington on which I would like to
comment.
Michigan--and particularly West Michigan-can t ake pride in the election of
of Traverse City
U.S. Senator Robert P. Griffin as assistant minority leader of the Senate. What
Sen Griffin's elevation to this position of national leadership means is that his
colleagues in the Senate recognize what the people of Michigan have known all along--
that Bob Griffin is a man of unusual ability and leadership qualities.
The U.S. House of
Representatives recently passed legislation which
would establish a Council on Environmental Quality, a group of prominent and qualified
Americans to preserve and protect our air, water and other natural resources. I voted
for this bill and hope that the Senate will approve it quickly. We do have a Cabinet-
level Council on Environmental Quality established by order of President Nixon on
May 29 but we need to
create an organization of experts to back up
the Cabinet-level Council. This is the function the House-passed bill would fulfill.
Moving a little closer in point of time, I have introduced in the House a bill
to increase Social Security benefits by at least 10 per C ent effective Jan FORD 1,
1970.
The cost of living has gone up nearly 8 per cent to this date since the Congress last LIBRA
raised the benefits, and our elderly need all the help they canget. So I hope the
-2-
Congress will move fast to increase Social Security benefits enough to fully
offset all rises in the cost-of-living since the last Social Security increase
took effect. Ercolation claush
Meantime the
House
Judiciary Committee has begun hearings on
legislation I introduced to fight the flood of pornegraphic material which is
reaching homes throughout the nation by mail. One of my bills
would
prohibit the dissemination of obscene matter to homes where children 16 years of age
or younger reside. The other would require smut peddlers to obtain the permission
of a prospective
customer in advance before mailing him any pornographic
advertising material.
Responding to public demand for a crackdown under existing law, the Nixon
Administration has quietly mounted an extensive campaign against huge mail-order
distributors of pornography. As a result, I am pleased to report, 20 persons and
22 companies have been indicted during the past eight months on charges of
distributing obseene materials.
The House Armed
Services Committee has
begun hearings on draft
reform as requested by President Nixon.
The proposed change would permit the
President to institute a lottery or random selection system for picking draftees,
The House
recently passed census legislation which permits the Federal Goverhment
to obtain the information it needs for intelligent decision-making but at the same
time protects the rights and privacy of our citizens.
The Mministration has unveiled a new general farm program aimed at making
Sec Nixon Jagreculture
efficient farmers less dependent on government subsidies and making it, possible for
lessing The cost
to The american tabopayer
inefficient fermers to get out of agriculture entirely.
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
Much attention is being focused here on the
demands by some members of
-3-
Congress that we set a deadline for getting our troops out of Vietnam.
repondy
My feeling is that such demands undermine the efforts of our President to end
1
the Vietnam War in an honorable way. What the deadline setters are saying is that
declare ourselves defeated Prendent Niston wants
we should throw
in the towel
and go home.
to And the war before Dec 1970. while those who ret a deadline prolonging 15 month The away War. are
I say that all Americans
should united behind the President in his efforts to
per
bring about a negotiated settlement in Paris, And those who have planned an anti-wer
demand that The communit leaders in north Vutram
projest for Oct. 15 should instead spend their time praying that the President will
A and in addition
be successful.
joint with war 0th the
This is Jerry Forder reprorting to you from Washington. I'll be talking with you
again next week--same time, same station.
######
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
ESHSIEE
ACER-S
/
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICE RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF OCT. 11-12, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
In most
important recent action, the House of Representatives debated
and approved a $21.3 billion military procurement bill.
During the three days of debate on the bill, the House voted twice on the
deploy
vital question of whether to
President Nixon's
Safeguard
anti-ballistic missile system. In both instances the House gave very strong
support to the President recommendation
The first decision came on a standing vote in which ABM opponents sought to
cut
all but research and development funds fortheABM. That effort lost
219 to 105.
The final test was a straight up-or-down note on whether to proceed with
deployment of the
Safeguard ABM at the two missile sites in Montana and South
Dakota. On that vote, deployment was approved by a rollcall tally of 270 to 93.
So although the Senate approved initial deployment of the Safeguard missile
defense system only 51 to 50, the House gave the proposal resounding endorsement--first
on a teller vote of 2 to 1 and then on a rollcall vote of 3 to 1.
With this vote of confidence by the House of Repr esentatives, President Nixon
now can deal with the Soviet Union from a position of strength in the
strategic
arms limitation t alks expected to begin soon.
The final version of the $21.3 billion military procurement bill will be
hammered out by a Hou se and Senate conference committee and then submitted to the
(
two bodie S of the Congress for routine
second-round approval. The bill will
then go to the President.
FORD LIBRABY
Critics of the military lost on more than a dozen attempts in the House to cut
-2-
woopens
research
back on funds for various items or weapons systems, including money for a new bomber
and funds for a new Freedom Fighter plane.
The House did, however, impose tighter restrictions on the reporting, movement
and testing of chemical and biological warfare agents. That, I think, was a very
good move. We cannot be too careful in connection with the testing of chemical and
biological war fare
agents.
There was another recent development here which I believe is highly
significant.
That was President Nixon's endorsement of
direct popular election of the
President, the proposal which was overwhelmingly approved by the House of
Representatives.
Now that Mr. Nixon has given his
blessing to direct popular election I think
the proposal has a far better chance of winning
two-thirds approval in the
United States Senate and getting the approval of the required three-fourths of the
states.
There is, of course, virtually no possibility that 38 states--the necessary
three fourths
will approve this proposed constitutional amendment in time for
it
tobe effective in 1972.
are schedule to
The reason is that only 30 of the state legislatures meet in 1970, and as
the proposed amendment is drawn it
would not go into effect until the Jan. 21,
following its ratification. To be effective with the 1972 election, the amendment
would have to be approved by the 38th state no latter than Jan. 20, 1971. That just
isn't in the cards.
I
hope that the momentum needed to getratification
will continue despite the time lag involved.
FORD
In still another development, I have learned that Grand Rapids is offering
BERA
the Housing and Urban Development Department a prototype site under
Secretary George
-3-
Rommey's Operation Breakthrough Program. The idea behind the program is to build
prototype low-cost housing on eight selected sites in various sections of the country.
These prototypes will become the models for volume production of low-cost quality
housing at prices our citizens can afford to pay. Operation Breakthrough is a challenge
both labor and mant
to the construction industry and to all other industry to come up with
A
new ideas, new designs and methods. I certainly hope
the Grand Rapids
site is
among those chosen.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford,
reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#######
FORD MERARA
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF OCT. 18-19, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Since I last talked with you, the days here have been crowded with events.
The most spectacular happening, of course, has been the Vie tnam Moratorium.
But there have also been other developments of importance to the merican people,
and I would like to comment on these before discussing the Vietnam Situation.
One of these developments dealt with water pollution control and the amount
of money to be appropriated by the Congress this fiscal year to help local
additional
communities build sewage treatment plants.
There is no question that water pollution control is one of the country's
top priorities.
On that basis, the House Appropriations Committee looked at the President's
request for $214 million in pollution control funds and boosted it to $600
million Meantime, a group of House members decided the appropriation should be
for a 12- MD period
increased
increased to $1 billion. This was despite the fact that all but 18 states would
be unable to use the extra funds that would be made available as federal
matching money under the $1 billion appropriation.
Those House members who sought the $1 billion appropriation ignored the fact
that the Congress earlier this year imposed a strict spending limitation on the
President, a spending ceiling he is already finding it
extremely
difficult to stay under.
FORD
When the House considered all sides of the situation, House members
narrowly LIBRARY
voted, 148 to 146 to stay with the committee's $600 million figure, and then
water
overwhelmingly approved the pollution control bill on final passage.
J believe that plus a new program which the Pres: will
be submitting shortly will be an adequate amount of money and a
In another recent development, the House did disregard its injunction
good program to help mich. salve its problem with local funds.
-2-
against exce ssive federal spending and voted a federal employe pay
raise
would
which
add $1.5 biblion to federal expenditures this fiscal year and
would boost federal spending
thereafter by more than $4 billion
a year.
The chief defect in the bill is that it would knock out hopes for the
President's proposal to create a government-owned, self-supporting postal
corporation. Under that plan, postal employe pay would be set through
collective bargaining and not as a result of pre sure on the Congress.
when you look at all
aspectiof it the added
I have to say that the pay bill approved by the House last Tuesday 18 wee
prospecture defeat of
Post Office reform ligisation
ill-considered legislation. If it also passes the Senate, I believe the President
will veto it.
Now the tnam Moratorium. I understand completely how those taking part
in the Moratorium felt. Frastration,
Anxiety. A host of emotions
were involved.
And that is precisely the point. The Moratorium was an outpouring of
emotion, an outprouring of feeling which North Vie tnamese leaders find a ready
under any circumstances
subject for exploitation.
I do not question the motives of most of the demonstrators. But
I was not at all surprised to see the premier of North Vietnam address an
open letter to the American people in which he praised the demonstrators for
"their fall offensive" aimed at forcing President Nixon to withdraw all U.S. troops
from Vie tnam immediately.
The attempt by the North Vietnamese leaders to exploit the moratorium
R.FORD was LIBRARY
not something to go unchallenged,
And so Senate Republican Leader Hugh
along with the Democrate lendere in the Heavy
Scott and introduced resolutions in the House and Senate urging the demonstrators
-3-
to repudiate this blatant and insolent
mintrusion into American
affairs by the premier of North Vietnam and to disassociate themselves from
his statement.
state of affairs in this
I think it is
a
sad commentary on the
Nation
if
a Communist unemy powly
an enemy power
is able to seize upon a public demonstration in
America
and turn that demonstration to its own purposes.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
#######
GERALD 1898817 FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY ME FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF OCT. 25-26, 1969
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
First of all, I want to announce that the responses to my congressional
questionnaire now are being tabulated and I will be reporting the results to
you shortly. I received a tremendous number of returns. The usual number is
about 10 per cent of all of the questionnaires mailed out to all addresses in a
congressional district. The response to my questionnaire was far in excess of
that. So I am greatly pleased.
Many
people in Kent and Ionia Counties wrote comments on the questionnaire
cards-comments I had invited because I want to know as fully as possible what my
constituents are thinking. Others wrote me letters because they wanted to say
more than the space for comment on the questionnaire card allowed. I was very
glad to get these comments. They represent the pulse of the people.
The
bulk of the comments centered on two topics of great concern today--
inflation and the Vietnam War.
The comments on
both inflation and the war reflected impatience--an
impatience I understand completely.
These comments also indicated a need for
greater knowledge of what the Nixon Administration is doing to deal with inflation
and the war.
The best explanation of Administration policies on inflation is contained in
a little-publicized letter which President Nixon sent recently to business and labor
leaders. In this letter, the President set forth an anti-inflation formula which is
the only alternative to either runaway inflation or an inflationcrackdown which
GEREAN FORD would LIBRARY
surely produce a recession and deep unemployment. That formula is contained in
one word: RESTRAINT. Self-discipline on the part of government, business and labor.
The Administration is employing restraint by holding down on government spending
-2-
and
keeping a tight check on the nation's money supply. Now it is up to busine SS and
labor to follow the xampletset frestraint by the
Administration. The same is true
of the consumer
because, after all,
prices in today's
market place still
are affected by supply and demand.
It is the law of supply and demand that the President was referring to when he
told busine SS
leaders that "the business that commits errors in pricing on
the up side, expecting to be bailed out by inflation, is going to find itself in a
poor competitive position." "Betting on
ever-higher prices is a sure way of
losing, "the President said.
At the same time, the President told labor leaders: "It is in the interest of
every union leader and workingman to a void wage demands that will reduce the purchasing
power of his dollar and reduce the number of job opprortunities." That may not be easy
to see, but that is what happens when pay increases are crarked into the price of
products and passed on to all consumers in the form of
ever-higher prices.
Restraint,
as the President said, is not pleasent medicinge. But we have to take it
if we want to cure inflation. And the Administration is determined to do SO.
In looking at the Vietnam situation, I have before me a White House paper which
compares the situation in Vietnam now with what it
was
on Jan. 20 when President
Nixon assumed the Presidency. This paper shows
conclusively that President Nixon
has made bold moves in the search for peace in Vistnam--offering to negotiate on every
point except the right of the South Vietnamese to decide their own future, pulling
60,000 American troops out of Vietnam. 12 per cent of all our forces there and 20
per cent of our combat forces, greatly speeding up the Vietnamization process
by DR.FORD which LIBRARY
we are gradui lly turning the war over to the South Vietnamese, greatly reducing
casualties so that casualties during the first nine months of this year are one-third
-3-
le SS than in the first nine months of last year and the lowest currently that they
have been in about three years,
changing our combat policy in Vietnam from one
of search and destroy to one of protective reaction.
In short, President Nixon has been winding down the war and at the same time
has made moves that should have produced a breakthrough at Paris except for the
S tubbornness of the other side.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF NOV. 1-2, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I would like to talk with you today about a variety of items, beginning with
Vietnam.
Great interest is centering right now on what President Nixon will tell the
Nation on Nov. 3 when he discusses "where do we go from here" in Vietnam. The
President talked about his speech with me and other congressional leaders earlier
this week but cautioned us not to specu late on what he was going to say. He
did, however, tell us that his speech would be reassuring to the American people.
I found that most heartening. Other than that, I can say nothing except that the
President's speech will be a broad, comprehentsive review of the situation in
Vietname I t hink the speech will be timely and significant.
I personally have been predicting that more than half of our troops will be
withdrawn from Vietnam
within a year from now.
this observation is
a cumulative impression based on all I have
heard in White House meetings
with the President and others. It is not based on any advance knowledge of what the
President will say on Nov. 3.
There is
a mood of cautious optimism on Capitol Hill regarding Vietnam,
the feeling of optimism also springs in part from the fact that the
Soviet Union has finally agreed to a beginning of Strategic Arms Limit ation Talks,
the so-called SALT talks. Those talks will begin Nov. 17 at Helsinki,
Finland.
I don't think we should get all
excited about the
SALT talks and
expect that they inevitably will produce beneficial results. We are all hopeful of
FORD LIBRAR
course. But we must realize that the talks probably will drag on for a long time, and
that the subject of the negotiations is most difficult and complicated. I would like
to make this observation: The agreement by the Soviet Union to begin the talks
-2-
belies
the fears of those who opposed the President's anti-ballistic missile system
on the ground it would hamper any moves toward arms control. I have long contended
that, rather than blocking such talks, action by the U ited States to
deploy
the ABM would be an incentive to the Russians to talk about arms control.
As we speak of Vietnam and arms control, it is also natural that we conaider
the draft. This is what Congress now is doing
in response to President Nixon's
request that we adopt a system where a young man is vulnerable to the draft for only
one year, instead of seven years as at present. When that one year is over, the young
man knows he will not be taken except in case of national emergency. Those who are
deferred for good reason become one-year-vulnerable when that defer ment ends. So all
would be
exposed to the draft-but only for one year.
I believe the Vietnam situation will improve
enough in the coming
months so that next year Congress could begin laying the groundwork for ending the
draft and going to an all-volunteer Army. As
President Nixon's program of
phasing out U.S. combat forces in Vietnam and phasing in Southvietnamese forces
progresses, we will have a substantially lessened need for draftees. For that I
am terribly thankful. Meantime, I think Congress should give the President the
power he asks to revise present draft procedures.
Congress recently moved in another area--the housing field--to build a better
America. The House passed a $5 billion housing bill, different in some respects from
a
$6.3 billion bill passed earlier by the Senate. Now the two houses of
Congress will have to act to resolve their differences.
The most significant
changes in the House bill open the way to build
cheaper housing faster and call for a replacement of razed homes in urban
renewal
LIBRARY
areas on a one-for-one basis.
-3-
The provision to help build cheaper homes more quickly is congressional
backing for Housing and Urban Development Secretary George Romney's "Operation
Breakthrough. " That is a program to find ways to build low-cost housing
on a mass production basis. A number of such projects will be launched on an
experimental basis in various of our cities. Grand Repids is one of the
site
cities
which has offered
such prototype housing. I hope Grand Rapids
is one of those cities selected.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
#######
GERALD FORD LIBRAEK
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF NOV. 11-12, 1969.
OK.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Today I want to talk with you about a
variety of
topics...action by
the Congress and other important developments here in the Nation's Capital.
The most significant happening here, of course, has been President Nixon's
address to the nation on Vietnam, and the show of support for him that followed that
speech.
As you know, thousands of telegrams in support of the President's Vietnam
policy poured into the White House after Americans heard Mr. Nixom explain
why
he has chosen to pursue his plan for peace in Vietnam and has rejected
immediate withdrawal. of surrender.
I think this tremendous show of support for the President was
a
primarily
response to four sentences in his Vietnam speech. "Let us be united
for peace. Let us alsobe united against defeat. Because let us understand: North
Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that."
I agree completely with this statement by President Nixon. And I feel sure that
a solid majority of alli Americans agree with him too.
That Is why I believe the second Vietnam Moratorium,
planned for Nov. 13
through 15 will not only fail to arouse greater support for immediate
U.S.
withdrawal from Vietnam but will boomerang on
those who
urge a U.S. surrender
in Vietname
One reason I believe the Vietnam Moratorium next week will boomerang is that
while some of the
leaders are simply idealistic young men others are dedicated
FORD
American Communists. It is
Communists like David Dellinger and other
GERAL
LISBIRT
members of the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam who will be leading
-2-
the
a
Moratorium
march
in Washington on Nov. 15. I believe the American people
will feel repelled by this demonstration and will make their feelings known.
President Nixon has made clear what the choice for America is in Vietnam:
Defeat by the Communists--what I call an American Dunkirk in Vietnam--or
his pursuit of
a peace with honor either through negotiations or through
Vietnamization of the war.
As the President has said, the consequences of an American defeat in Vietnam
would be a disaster of the greatest magnitude=" collapse of confidence in
American leadership not only in Asia but throughout the world, and, ultimately, it
would not bring peace but more war.
Now there are
a number of other items to which I would Tike to all your
attention.
The House of Representatives, by an overwhelming vote, has passed a bill which
would allow President Nixon to establish a lottery system--a true random selection
system-for picking draftees.
Unfortunately, the Democratic leaders in the
Senate have indicated there
will be no Senate action on this bill. I hope the
members of the Senate will enter into a gentlemen's agreement to approve the
one change in the draft law the President is asking for now and take up comprehensive
reform of the draft law next year. This is the course of action which is indicated now.
It is vital for our young people. It is vital for the Nation.
In recent actions, the House of Representatives passed long-needed a
measure
to
project coal miners. It requires mine owners to adopt safety practices recommended by
President Nixon and the House Education and Labor Committee.
R.FORDL
The House also has passed a bill providing Federal funds to help schools educate
their pupils on the dangers of drug abuse. This much-needed is three-year program in drug abuse
-3-
education.
Finally, I want to point out that
President Nixon has sent the
Congress proposals to greatly strengthen protection for the American consumer. He
is asking for a fair deal for the consumer in the market place. He proposes a
Buyer's Bill of Rights that would set up a new Office of Consumer Affairs, strengthen
the Federal Trade Commission, and in other ways protect the consumer against fraud
and dishonesty. I hope the Congress acts soon on the President's consumer proposals.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I
will be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
GLEALD FORD TERRAR
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF NOV. 29-30, 1969.
This is your cangressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
There have been some significant news developments in the last few days, and
I want to c orment on them. But first I would like to sum up some recent
congressional actions.
The House has just passed and sent to the Senate an extension of the Federal
Aid Highway Act. The House gave the Administration three more months to e stimate
what it will
cost to complete the interstate highway system.
The highway bill also included a $1.5 million authorization to keep alive
the highway beautification program which began in 1965. The House kept in the bill
the present penalty of a 10 per cent loss of highway construction funds for any
state which fails to submit plans for tearing down by July of 1970 all billboards
that are within 660 feet of state and primary highways.
Prior to that action, the House
approved and sent to the Senate a bill
which authorizes
appropriations of up to $2.2 billion for foreign aid for
fiscal 1970. This amount was roughly $400 million less than the President asked.
And the amount that will
be appropriated by the Congress for actual
expenditure will undoubtedly beless.
I have consistently supported the principle of foreign aid because I believe
it is a program which promotes world peace. But I have also supported cuts in the
dollar amounts spent on the program.
The House
and Senate recently approved and sent to the White House
a $7.5 billion farm appropriation bill for fiscal 1970. Inddoing this, the Congress
deleted a $20,000 annual ceiling on individual farm subsidies. The ceiling QURD
subsidies was eliminated
because it would have triggered an old formula which
LIBRARY
would have cost the taxpayers far more in subsidy payments to individual farmers.
-2-
The
most significant recent action on the national scene was President
Nixon's decision to take the United States out of the field of germ warfare.
Germ warfare is actually too horrible to
contemplate.
And
it
is
possible that President Nixon's action eliminating bacteriological weapons from
the United States
arsenal will lead to an international ban on
germ
warfare.
I
personally feel that
the
germ war fare ban could
very well have a
favorable impact on the strategic
arms limitation talks now taking place between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
The psychological impact is
there, because by taking itself out of the
field of germ warfare the United States is once more demonstrating its devotion
to peace.
It seems significant, too, that just this
past week the United States and
the Soviet Union ratified the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
The strategic arms limitation talks--or SALT talks, as they are known--have
now moved through their second week. These are preliminary talks, aimed at finding
common ground for the two nuclear giants of the world to find ways of curbing the
nuclear arms race.
There appear to be a few encouraging signs of
serious
Soviet
intentions.
American disarmament specialists are saying that they see a more pronounced
Soviet interest in arms controls than at any time in recent memory.
Of course, we must be cautious. And we are being cautious. In an earlier era,
we would have called such signs & thaw in the Cold War. But we think of Soviet support
of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in Vietnam and of the Soviet-led invasion of
-3-
Czechoslovakia, and we keep our feet on the ground and our heads out of the clouds.
We must be cautious and realistic--at the same time hoping against hope that the
SALT talks will move the world
at least in
some measure away from
possible nuclear destruction.
I think a realistic approach to the SALT talks W ill make the chances of
success all the more likely.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Wash ington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, S ame station.
#####
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
SCREPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DEESTRICT RADIO STATIONS, WEEKEND OF DEC. 6-7, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
A tremendous show of support by the House of Representatives for President
Nixon's efforts to negotiate a just peace
in Vietnam--and the first use of
the lottery system to pick draftees since World War II
These were the
highlights in the news this past week.
-333+055-
The House voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Vietnam resolution backing
President Nixon.
What the resolution said was this: Resolved, that the House of Representatives
affirms its support for the President in his efforts to negotiate a just peace in
Vietnam, expresses the earnest hope of the people of the United States for such a
peace, calls attention to the numerous peaceful overtures which the United States has
made in good faith toward the Government of North Vietnam, approves and supports the
fe
principles enunciated by the President that the people of South Vietnam are entitled
really
to choose their own government by means of free elections open to all South Vietnamese
and supervised by an impartial international body, and that the United States is willing
to abide by the results of such elections, and supports the President in his call
upon the Government of North Vietnam to announce
its willingness to honor such
elections and to abide by such results and to allow the issues in controversy to be
peacefully
so resolved in order that the war may be ended and peace may be
restored at last in Southeast Asia.
Now, what does this resolution mean?
a peace resolution. What it does
is to strengthen the President's hand in the Paris negotiations because it shows the
strong support the President has on the part of both political parties in
DERAGE the FORD House LIBRARY
for the kind of peace he is trying to achieve.
-2-
This resolution
recognizes the fact that the American people
want peace
in Vietnams
and not surrender, because they know that surrender
might
well mean the outbreak of a new Korean
War in 1970 or the encouragement of new
Communist
aggression elsewhere.
Thei House resolution on Vietnam is an expression of unity. Democrats and
Republicans worked on it together and both parties backed it. The chief sponsor was
Rep. Jim Wright of Texas, a Democrat. I worked with him on
the resolution
and helped to draft it.
Jim Wright and I worked together because we know-as all seund-thinking Americans
do--that unity in America is needed more in time of war than at any other time.
The
Vietnam resolution adopted by the House declares to friend and foe alike
that despite some differences in viewpoint on the ietnam conflict the members of the
Democrate - Republicans,
House of Representatives/are firmly behind President Nixon as he works for peage in
Southeast Asia.
Turning now to the draft lottery, I want to say I was glad to see the random
selection system finally put to use as recommended by President Nixon.
The lottery conducted this past week will affect some 850,000 young men in the
19-to-26 age group. The drawing determined appréximately when they can e xpect their
induction notices, if at all. I say "if at all" because about 600,000 in the total
except in the case of all- out war.
group will not have to go, This is why
blind chance is the fairest way of
picking those who will be drafted.
The first drawing was for a specific date during the year. Those dates represanted
birthdays. A second drawing was made from a scrambled list of the
26 letters of the
alphabet, representing the first le tters of the surnames of the men born on the dates
previously drawn. A third drawing from the alphabet represented the first initial of the
-3-
first name.
So to find out how he stands in the draft, a young man finds his birthdate on the
list produced by the lottery drawing and looks at the number beside that date. That is
his position in the draft cal 1. A number from 1 to
122 means he probably
will be
c alled. A number from 123 to 244 means he may or may not be called. A number from
244 to 366 means he is unlikely to be called. And
the letter representing the first
letter of his last name indicates how fast he will go among those in his birthday group,
if he is called.
I have
gone through this explanation because
I have received a number
of
inquiries about the lottery system and how it works.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD A LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF DEC. 13-14, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
First off, I want to tell you I am concerned about the fate of the tax
bill. I am concerned because the Senate has gone so far beyond the sensible,
responsible bill that the House passed that tax relief and tax reform
this year have been placed in jeopardy.
One great difference between the
House and Senate bills is that the House
cut taxes by reducing tax rates. The Senate voted to cut taxes by increasing personal
exemptions from $600 to $800.
Now, what the Senate did is politically popular
all know that a $600
exemption today doesn't mean very much in
terms of what it costs to support a
person for 2 year. But neither does $800. And so it all comes down to this: Which
by
is the
better way to reduce taxes at this time by cutting tax rates or
no
raising exemptions a little
The House used the rate-cutting method because it is
easier that way
to control how much revenue the Federal government will lose through tax reductions.
$4.5
The Senate action
would mean the loss of
billion
more in
and This comes at a
Federal revenue than the House-approved rate cuts. And that is one reason President
time Nixon says when he would many groups of tax bill are with whing the $800 that personal Longress e *temption spend in it. more
federal funds on many many projects
The Senate bill also could blow to the Federal bude at. It prevides
increased Social Security bone fits which would cost $6.5 billion. That's $2 billion
more than
benefit increase approved by the
House
Ways and Means Committee. So that is another reason that the
FORD
President
would voto the tax bill in the
form approved BRARY
by the Senate.
Senate tax bill would
As the President put it, the ban exemption and Social Security increases voted by
-2-
the Senate would benefit some of the people but the result would be rubber
dollars-greatly
increased inflation--and all of us would pay the price
for that.
The Senate did what it is easy for a politician to do--vote for a lot of goodies
without any thought for the consequences to the Nation. The President is refusing to
go along with
such irresponsible action. Let me add hower, 2
believe Compress The House will of Representatives mp with a this good past The week cleaned reform up bill nearly 4 all responsible of tax
reduction
the Federal Government's remaining appropriation bills and sent them to the Senate.
The House last Tuesday night passed and sent to the Senate the
smallest
foreign aid money bill in our history-just $1.6 billion. The vote was 200 to 195.
I voted for the bill on final passage because I believe that, int principle,
the
foreign aid program is in the best interests of our Nation. I believe the foreign
aid program, properly administered, promotes world peace.
The big fight during the nine hours of debate on the foreign aid bill was over
$54.5 million to supply a jot fighter squadron to Nationalist China. I supported the
jot fighter move. It was successful on a vote of 113 to 77.
The House also voted to cut off U.S. aid from any nation trading with Communist
China.
The day before. the House approved a 69 billion 960 million dollar defense
appropriation bill.
This was $5.3 billion less than President Nixon asked in
April and nearly $7.8 billion less than former President Johnson had estimated in
January. However, Defense Secretary Laird had meantime announced defense spending cuts
totalling $3 billion. So the House
went the Administration only $2.3 billion better.
FORD
There were attempts by some House members to make deeper cuts than the $5.3 billion
reduction recommended by the Appropriations Committee. These moves were
rejected.
They
--3-
eliminate
included an attempt to
funds for initial deployment of the Safeguard
missile defense system
The fact that no House member tried to increase the figures recommendd by the
Appropriations Committee pointed up the mood of the Congre SS this year on military
spending.
However, the House did concern itself-and properly--with whether the $69 billion
in the bill would do the job of
giving this country a reasonably acceptable
military posture. I and my colleagues are satisfied that it will.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll be
alking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF DEC. 20-21, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's capital.
I wish you all a happy holiday season. But even as I do so I am saddened
by
the
are
mought that America is still at war-and that thousands of our families
separated from sons, brothers and husbands by the realities of that war.
I thank God, therefore, that President
Nixon has announced another troop
cuts
that brings to 115,000 the number of U.S. troops
he has cut
from our Vietnam commitment since he took office last January.
Some letter writers ask me why we are still sending new men to Vietnam, now that
we are cutting back on our total commitment there. The reason for that is our rotation
policy. Our policy is that no man shall serve in Vietnam for more than a year. So we
have to send over fresh troops to replace the veterans who are coming home on rotation.
Of course, the number of new men we send to Vie tham each month is dropping as the
President
reduces our overall troop commitment in Vietnam.
One of the saddest aspects of war during this holiday season is that 1,359 Americans
are
either missing in action in Vie tnam or held captive in Communist prison
camps. It is pitiful that the families of
these men do not even know if they
are alive. These prisoners of war are in the hands of a ruthless enemy which
completely disregards the accepted standards for humane treatment of war prisoners as
laid down by the Geneva Convention of 1949.
Both the United States and North Vie tnam are bound by
Geneva Convention. The
Convention covers
undeclared as well as declared wars. We honor the Geneva
Convention but North Vietnam refuses to gbide by it,
The House of Representatives has adopted resolutions calling upon North
to
ALD
honor the Geneva Convention, and joint teams from the Pentagon and the State Department
have been briefing the families of Americans held captive in Vietnam.
-2-
What can the people of America do about this prisoner of war tragedy?
Everyone can do as Sen. Robert P. Griffin and I zoni are doing, at the suggestion
of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce.
We can put moral pre ssure on the North Vietnamese by deluging Xuan Thuy, chief
of the North Vie tnamese delegation in Paris, with messages.
I, like many others, have sent a Christmas card to Xuan Thuy with a message urging
that North Vietnamese leaders abide by the Geneva Convention and make arrangements for
the early release of U.S. prisoners of war.
I urge that all of you listening do this, too. Your cards should be addressed to:
Project Xuan Thuy, Box 2600, Washington, D.C., 20013. That is the collection point for
the cards. The Jaycees will see that they are delivered to the North Vietnamese leaders.
I do have one bright note to comment upon at this time. It is a kind of Christmas
present to the elderly in America,
to all of those on Social Security.
It is virtually certain that Social Security benefits will be increased
by
15 per cent acress the board, effective Jan. 1,
Now, something to remember is that the increased payments will not show up.
in
Social Security checks until the check of April 3. And then the retroactive
The Social Security administration takes that long to crankings mechanced
sums
for January and February will be sent out in a special check later in the month of
new dichs
April. So it will be a belated Christmas present. But it is the best that we can do
because it is mechanically impossible for the Social Security Administration to gear up
for the change in payment amounts before April.
The extra
15 per cent increases the monthly checks of single retired persons from
$100 to
$116. Other average increases are $170 to $196 for a couple; $88 to $100 for
a widow; $254 to $296 for a widow with two children;
$113 to $130 for a disabled worker;
and $237 to $273 for a disabled worker with a wife and two children.
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Another piece of good news during this holiday season is that tax cuts are on the
way, along with tax reform.
So. a happy holiday season to you. This will be my last radio report from
Washington until the Congress meets again in January. We have a few worthwhile
accomplishments to S how for the first session of the 91st Congress, but the big task
still lies ahead. I will be reporting to you regularly during the new session. Be
talking with you then. This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, saying so long for now.
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FORD
GERALD R.