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    "label": "Grand Rapids Reserve Officers Association, August 1948",
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    "title": "Grand Rapids Reserve Officers Association, August 1948",
    "description": "This file contains material relating to Bartel Jonkman.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4525612",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D13, folder \"Grand Rapids Reserve Officers\nAssociation, August 1948\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech\nFile at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nspeech by Germed R. Ford - Republic Candidate for Congress\nmonthly muting of Brand RESERVE Rapids OFFICERS branch SPPECH Revenue offers Essention -aught 1948\nFellow reserve officers: It was my original understanding that my\nopponent in the Republican Primary, the incumbent, Bartel J. Jonkman, was\nalso to be a guest of the R.O.A. and was to appear on this platform with\nme so that you would have the opportunity of hearing first hand from those\nwho seek to represent the 5th District in Washington. For one reason or\nanother but obviously as the part of a pdan to refrain from any public\nappearances before his constituents, Mr. Jonkman is not here. His reaction\nto your invitation was not entirely surprising to me. In the past\nseveral weeks your present representative in Congress, the man who is\nbeholden to all of us for his position and who is legally and monally\nobliged to represent the voters of this district, refused four separate\ninvitations from various civic groups.\nTo one, the Grand Rapids League of Women Voters, he replied for\npublication that he had \"previous commitments\" but the private reason\nfor his refusal to participate in this non-partisan meeting, long a custom\nin political campaigns here, was that it would be a \"spectacle.\" To\nothers, one representing small businessmen in this district and another\nrepresenting veterans, he curtly replied that he was \"too busy.\" To an\ninvitation by me to discuss the issues for the benefit of the voters of\nthe 5th district Mr. Jonkman said, \"there are no issues.\"\nMr. Jonkman's non-appearance before this group here tonight, the\nReserve Officers Assn., is quite understandable. Many of you will recall\nthat approximately one year ago he was your guest speaker. At that time\nhe was to report to your members on National Defense and allied matters.\nMr.\nI believe it was the concensus of those who heard Jonkman on that occasion\nthat he knew little about the fundamental problems of our Armed Forces\nand had little or no knowledge about the problems you men individua\nor collectively had as & part of our national defense set-up.\nPenhaps .FORD LIBRARY\nhis disappointing showing at your previous meeting accounts for his\nDigitized from Box D13 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n2.\nfailure to appear here tonight.\nFor your benefit let's look at the record. We can ly dge a\nperson's future action by his past record. I submit that Representative\nJonkman is a product of, and a contributor to, the type of thinking that\nled him to vote against practically every measure which possibly could\nhave bulwarked America's defenses before World War II. Both in Congress\nand in public appearances in 1940 and 1941 he showed his complete inability\nto percieve the dangers about us at that critical time. This lack of\nforesight, this blindness guided his thoughts at a time when our\nEuropean friends and allies were over-run by the totalitarian nationa and\nthe catastrophe at Pearl Harbor was only a few months or even weeks away.\nI can say to you who are in this audience, for all of us have had\nsimilar experiences during our various military careers, that we as\ncitizens of this district can not again place our future and the welfare\nof the succeeding generątions in the hands of a man who was partly to\nblame for an insufficient number of ships and planes during the early\nlast\nphases of the/war. We must have men in Washington with a civilian back-\nground who also know from first-hand knowledge that you can't build\nairplanes and train personnal overnight, that ships and their crews are\nnot thrown together as fighting units in a fortnight, that tanks and those\nwho man them are not equiped to face the enemy at the drop of a hat and\nan\nthat infantrymen are not trained to be effective force by a 30 day drill\nperiod with wooden rifles. We have tolerated too long the presence of\nmen in office are and who were not cognizant of the fundamental\nproblems facing us in building an adequate national defense.\nThis country is again in grave danger from totalitarian forces that\nseek to destroy democracy throughout the world. The threat to our\nnational security and our way of life is as imminent today as it was in\n1940 and 1941. This country can not afford again to be plagued with\nFORD\nGERALD\nLIQUARY\nadership that will lead us down the path of appeasement and retrenchment.\nInasmuch as I strongly favor a foreign policy that is non-isolationist\n3.\nI can not condone the activities of those who follow or who have followed\nthe Munish philos phy \"let's give in a little in hopes that they won't\nask for more \" You never stop a bully by retreating. Democracy's cause\nshould be carried forward by those who have a deep conviction in the\nrighteousness of our way of life. We must use superhuman efforts to sell\ndemocracy to the freedom loving nations throughout the world and at the\nsame time we must be prepared and willing to defend our own interest in\nfreedom by defending the right of others to decide between totalitarianism\nor democracy. We cannot convincingly earry the torch for freedom against\nthe Russian bully unless we are adequately prepared from a military point\nof view.\nI will briefly summarize our present military strength. On V.J. Day\nwe had more than 10 million men and women in the Armed Forces. of May\n1948 the authorized strength of the Armed Forces was 1, 732,000 and on\nthat date our actual strength was 85% of the authorized total or 1, 384,500\nSince that date, after much invaluable time had been lost and after\nsmoke screen after smoke screen had been laid to hide the dire need,\nCongress passed the peace time draft act in June 1948. I only hope that\nour position as a world power has not been prejudiced in these perilous\ntimes by delays resulting from a lack of courage on the part of certain\nlegislators.\nFor a time at least the personnel problem of the Armed Forces has\nbeen met but Congress has the solemn obligation to re-examine the situ-\nation periodically to determine whether the present program achieves the\nmaximum results both from the point of view of the Army, Navy and Air\ncorps as well as from the point of view of the individuals who are called\nupon to serve their country. The present plan, hurriedly born in com-\npromise in order to get something that would save face, unquestionably\nBERALD FORD VIBRARY\nwill have defects. If nominated and elected I promise to work for a\nprogram that will insure to those who serve an education or trade that\nwill be valuable to them upon their re-entry into civilian life. I also\nsincerely believe that a career i the Armed Forces can be made appealing\nto ma of our youn men. We who have served i the various bra ches of\nthe military know what must be done along those lines. I, as your repre -\nsentative, will do my utmost to achieve this objective.\nIn April 1948, a 70 group air force was authorized by Congress. In\nlight of the present foreign situation the upward revision from a 55 group\nair force to a 70 group air force was proper for we should do everything\npossible to guarantee the superiority of our air power in this air age.\nBut the mere building of more planes does not answer the question. we\nmust train new personnel and we must also keep trained those men who were\ntrained during the last war.. This means proper attention to our Air corps\nreserves. They must have equipment, they must have a program that is\nintegrated with the over-all scheme and they must have funds with which\nto these groups\nto operate To-date money has been coming in slowby. There must be no\nmore delay.\nAll of these points I urge for a twofold purpose. First, I think\nthese actions are necessary to prepare us for an the eventuality of\nanother war; second, I am sure that military strength in the United States\nis one of the few effective methods of convincing Russia--or any other\nnation-that tampering with our security is risking the destruction and\nsudden death.\nIf we convince the Russians of this, and if we continue to bulwark\nfreedom-loving nations in Europe with dollars-and-cents aid in their\nstruggle to remain free, then we may be assured that the already-cracking\nCommunist bloc will not destroy peace in the world.\nIt has been encouraging in recent weeks to see the new Yeadership\ncooperation between the Army, avy and Air Corp under the leadership of\nSecretary of Defense Forrestal. In the spring at the time of the\nFORD celebrated Key West conference where Mr. Forrestal did his best to co-\ni LIBRARY GERALD\nordinate and integrate the efforts of the various branches of the service,\nt was evident that there was little real unity in thought or in action\n5.\namong our Admirals and Generals. This friction, this inability to arrive\nat a satisfactory solution, was disc uraging to everyone who believed that\ntrue unification of the armed forces had become a reality as the result of\nthe re-organization of the military departments by Congress. It appears\nhowever that the gravity of the foreign situation, the explosive character\nof the United States--Russian relations has brought new unity and accord.\nIn brief the results can be summarized by stating that the Air Force gets\nthe \"exclusive role of XXXXXXX XXXXXX ///// ********\nin the field of stæategic air warfare.' This is the job of bombing enemy\ncities and enemy industry overseas. The Navy will have exclusive control\nover anti-submarine warfare.\nThe still unsettled question is, Should the Navy have any. 65,000 ton\nsupercarriers for use on long range bombing missions? The Navy contends\nthat these supercarriers are the best weapon for striking back quickly in\ncase of a future Pearl Harbor. The Admirals argue that with carrier-\nbased bombers we could strike rapidly anywhere in Europe or Asia. The Air\nForce claims that supercarriers are too sostly and too vulnerable. The\nflying Generals contend that it is uneconomical and shortsighted to build\none supercarrier when you could, for the same price, build 300 B-29\nbombers.\nR.\nAs a forma Naval officer who served two years aboard a combat\ncarrier in the Pacific theatre I am familiar with the advantages of\nalso\ncarrier striking power but I am cognizant and quite familiar with the\nOA\npossible vubnerability of floting air bases. Prejudices for or against\nbased on previous service with one branch of the service or another can-\nnot and should not influence one's thinking when we have our nation's\nsecurity at stake. I can assure you that it will be my aim in Congress\nto support a program based on making our striking forces the most\nGETAL FORD STBRART\nAfective in the world.\nThere is an additional subject that should be mentioned before\nclosing. Within the last several months you have heard of the move to\n6.\nvirtually do away with the National Guard. The plan is to make the\nNational Guard a part of the regular army, stripping the various states\nof any control and substituting in its place a state militia. I am\nopposed to such a program.\nThe argument put forth for such a drastic change is that the National\nGuard is not up to regular army standards and that in the next war there\nwill be no time to retrain and recondition the numerous units of the\nguard. Such an argument does not hold true for we all are familiar with\nthe excellent and heroic records of our Michigan units when they were\ncalled up early XXXX 11111 in the last war. If in some instances the\nNational Guard has not been up to standard such a condition is the fault\nof the Army itself and is not a condition impossible to remody previding\nthere is proper supervision and direction.\nI wouls also oppose the transfer of the National Guard away from\nstate jurisdiction because it would give support to the growing belief\nthat we in our own homes localities were unable to handle our own problems,\nthat the federal government in another instance is the only government\nable\nunit, to cope with new problems facing us today.\nThis ia a dangerous type of thinking. It has grown up in this and\nother Congressional districts--and more particularly within the federal\ngovernment itself--because many of our representatives in Congress are\nnot performing the duties that were laid our for them when this\ngovernment was organized.\nsuch congressmen\nSpecifically, they are not representing the people. They are part\nof a mass that votes through mass pressure directed against them on a\nnational scale, rather than voting according to the beliefs of the\nindividuals congressman's constituents, and for the best interests of\nthese constituents.\nBut to get back to the National Guard--it performs valuable functions\nFORD i LIBRARY QERALD\nor the various states. During local emergencies the Guard stands ready.\nto protect your interests and mine. We should not turn this organ-\n7.\nizat ion over to the central government. We should insist that the\nNational Guard retai n its identity and integrity so that it can\nfn\nfunction for us locally in times of peace and fight for the nation\nas a ole in times of war.\nWhether most of you know it or not, this chapter of the\nReserve Officer Association deserves special commendation for E ading\nthe fight during the last year for the B ssage of the \"Like-pay-for-\nLike -Service\" Bill in Congress. Until this organization put its\nshoulder to the wheel under the leadership of several of your officers,\nthis bill in Congress was doomed to failure. For many years the army\nreserves had been unfairly discriminated against in that they received\npay only while on active duty whereas the Navy and the National Guard\nreceived remuneration for drill and other activites.\nAt this time I would like to compliment those of you who worked\nso diligently on behalf of this project. I might add that the condition\nhad existed too long and it might have been remedied sooner if we had\nhad a. representative in Congress who was alert and wh 0/5/ml had so me\nfirst-hand knowledge of conditions in theArmed Forces.\nIn Conclusion let me say that when elected to Congress I will strive\nto make our Armed Forces more efficient by more completely unifying the\nactivities of the various departments. There must be integration and the\nelimination of duplicate roles and missions. We must provide ample funds\nfor scientific research so that this country has the most advanced and\nmodern equipment in all fields. Lastly, bu not least, we must make the\nmost effective use of our manpower. Those who serve in the Army, Navy,\nand Air corps in time of peace and war must be educated and trained to\nFORD be useful and productive citizens upon re-entry into civilian life.\nGERALD LIBRARY"
}