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Christian Labor Association, September 3, 1951
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D14, folder "Christian Labor Association,
September 3, 1951" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D14 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Christian Labor assn. - 9/3/51
1] Major Points X 9/5. threatened at home + almod.
A. Foreign Policy
1/. what has happened in 6 yrs.
2) What we must do - can't be
isolated
3] mac arthur incident.
B. Domestic Policy - Preservation f
"Free Enterprior "system (Beck)
D. Keep givt under control
Every time a problem anies Indent
govt doesn't have to passa law.
2
Int sommy
3
Federal this
FORD is LIBRARY 077839
4
mise Speeches
SPEECH BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, JR. for CHRISTIAN LABOR ASSOCIATION,
on LABOR DAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1951, at JOHN BALL PARK,
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
This is Labor Day throughout America. It is the 70th anniversary
of Labor Day. Since 1882 the first Monday in September has been appro-
priately set aside to permit public tribute to the men and women of our
nation who work in American industry. This holiday in these critical
times has even greater significance because our citizens, and particularly
our young men in the battlefields, are vitally dependent on the skill and
effort of those who are employed in the free enterprise system in America.
Naturally, I am glad to participate in this program honoring the free
workers of our nation. I am confident that in the struggle between
Communism and free enterprise the United States and its allies will
triumph and a major factor in that victory will be what our working people
can do in comparison to the slave labor of those behind the Iron Curtain.
- 1 -
FORD & IBRARY GERALD
- 2 -
This afternoon I would like to discuss several vital and important
issues. First, some @bservations and comments in reference to foreign
policy.
Only a few months ago this nation and our city lost a great states-
man. All of us mourned his passing. All of us feel that if the late
Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg had been well and in good health in the
months prior to and after the Korean invasion American foreign policy
in Asia and the Pacific would have been more successful.
The record shows that Senator Vandenberg never participated in
or agreed to the foreign policy which the United States followed in the
Pacific and Asiatic areas in the years following World War II. The
Senator did believe in a bi-partisan or unpartisan foreign policy but
such a policy never existed in reference to China or the Far East. In
several speeches in 1949 Senator Vendenberg specifically denied the
existence of bi-partisanship on post-World War II China Policy even
though he firmly believed unity in foreign policy was desirable for this
nation.
FORD if LIBRARY GERALD r
- 3 -
It is unfortunate in this crisis that we cannot have the counsel
and guidance of Senator Vandenberg. I think he would urge unity at this
crucial hour, just as it appears our citizens want such a program in
the struggle against the Godless leaders in the Kremlin.
Yes, the country wants unity, but it does not want unity on a
policy which has led to disaster or on the perpetuation in power of those
who made that policy and who cannot be expected to make good on any other.
In other words, the country does not want unity on defeat, or unity on
disaster. Disunity hurts our cause without question but unity on a
policy which was wrong could bring even greater disaster.
So the important problem and the great task which the Congress and
the President have in Washington today is this: We must develop a
policy which is right. I firmly believe that if our foreign policy is
going to be right it must represent the best thinking of all of our
national leaders, including those who disagree with the President as well
as those who agree with him.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 4 -
In order to determine what our policy should be it is necessary
first for us to see where we are. What has happened in the past six
years? Six years ago, at the conclusion of the most costly war in this
nation's history, we were the most powerful nation on the face of the
globe. We had a monopoly on the atomic bomb. We had the strongest army,
the strongest navy, the strongest air force in the world. And as far as
people in the world were concerned, there were approximately 1,760,000,000
people on our side in the world conflict, and there were only 180,000,000
people on the Communist side.
Six years have passed, six years of conferences, six years of wars
like the one in Korea and others of lesser magnitude--and what is the
situation today? Today, we no longer are stronger on the ground; we
are stronger in strategic air, but not as strong in tactical air. We
are stronger above the sea; we are weaker under the sea. As far as the
atomic bomb is concerned, we fortunately have more than our potential
enemy, but they have the bomb as well as we. And when we analyze the
FORD is LIBRARY 928470
- 5 -
the breakdown in people, what do we find? We find that today there are
only 540,000,000 people on our side-the side of the free nations;
there are 800,000,000 on the Communist side; and there are 600,000,000
who will have to be classified as neutral-countries like India and
Pakistan. Recent developments, however, indicate that India can hardly
be called neutral. In effect Nehru has aligned himself with the
Kremlin, tragic as that may be.
In other words, six years ago the ods in people or manpower in
the world were nine to one in our favor; and today they are five to three
against us.
This tragedy is the result of the policy that we have followed
in the past. I, therefore, think that as we look at the result of our
past policy, it becomes vitally important that we analyze our present
policy to see how we can improve upon it; because unless we do, we are
going straight down the road to disaster and national suicide.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 6 -
It is essential that we recognize at the outset that our great
potential enemy and the only threat to the peace of the world is the
international Communist conspiracy with its power center in the Soviet
Union. We must also bear in mind that the Communists have gained and
the free nations have lost 600,000,000 people in the past six years,
without a single Russian soldier being killed in combat. It is thus
apparent that new tactics, new strategy, new concepts have been developed
by the Soviet leaders; consequently, we in the United States must develop
strategy, tactics and concepts to meet those of the Communists.
The great lesson which we must bear in mind is this: The men in
the Kremlin are the most realistic men who have ever lived. They are
men who will never take a chance. As long as they are convinced because
of the strength on their side, that if they begin a war any place in the
world they might lose it, they will not begin it. But once they are
convinced because of their strength as against our weakness, that if
they begin a war they might win it, then war will come. And so under
the circumstances, the first precept in our policy must be: Keep
FORD & LIBRARY OFRALD
- 7 -
stronger than the Communist nations, stronger militarily. How can we
do this?
First, we must recognize that the United States cannot do the job
alone. We do not have the people; we do not have the resources, great
as our resources are. That means we need allies. We need them in Europe,
and we need them in Asia.
As far as Europe is concerned, we find that during the past five
years, our Government's so-called bi-partisan foreign policy, was based
upon the assumption that it was important to deny Europe to the Communists.
Why? Because as long as Europe was kept out of Communist hands, they
would lack the skilled manpower and the productive power which is essential
if they are to commence a war which they could win. And so we adopted
the Greek-Turkish loan program, the Marshall Plan, the Arms Aid program--
programs which had the effect of keeping Europe from falling under
Communist domination. That is what we did on one side of the world.
What was happening on the other side of the world? In Asia, we
adopted an altogether different policy, because our policymakers made a
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
- 8 -
basic error. The error was in misjudging the character of the Communist
movement in China. Communists in China were allegedly different-they
were agrarian reformers; they were liberals. It did not make any
difference whether China went Communist or not because there would be
a good chance that in the end China might be oriented toward the West
rather than toward the East----away from Stalin; that some sort of Titoism
might be set up.
The result was that at Yalta we made concessions to Russia which
paved the way for Communist domination of China. We withdrew our aid
from the only non-Communist forces in China. We withdrew it incidentally
for a very interesting reason: Because we said the Chinese Nationalist
Government was corrupt, the Chinese Nationalist Government was unstable.
But we look at Europe, and what was the situation there? There was no
more corrupt or unstable government in the world than the government of
Greece, but we recognized that it was not a question of the Greek
government or something better, but a question of the Greek government
or something worse, and we gave the Greek government the assistance which
GERAÇO R.FORD. LIBRARY
- 9 -
enabled them to defeat the Communists.
But in China we followed a different course. And what were the
results? First, 400,000,000 people went under the domination of the
Communists, and the Russians did not lose a man in the process.
And the second result was the Korean War. Now, you may say,
"Well, that's a very arbitrary conclusion. Can it be substantiated?"
I think it can. Whether we are military men or not, we will recognize
that the Korean War would not have happened unless China had gone
Communist, because the North Koreans would never have dared move south
unless they had a friendly government on their northern border;
otherwise they would have been confronted with a two-front war which
they could not have risked. Once China went Communist, the North Koreans
could move south with safety. And so that basic error, the great mistake,
the mistake of misjudging the character of the Chinese Communist movement--
we are paying for today, we are paying for it with the blood, the sweat
and the tears of the Korean battlefront.
GERALD FORD VIBRABI
- 10 -
Having in mind this background, what can the United States expect
from the attempts at a "cease-fire" and a "negotiated peace" in the
Pacific area? The "cease-fire" negotiations again prove conclusively
the treacherous methods of the Communists. The turn of events in Korea
illustrate the villainy of the Reds for they have talked "cease-fire"
but built up their military forces for a big push against our G.I.'s.
What has happened to date indicates America must remain strong
militarily, for the minute Uncle Sam drops his guard, be it in Korea or
elsewhere, the Kremlin will throw an attempted knock-out blow.
Let's turn for a few minutes to the domestic problems of our
great land. I am concerned just as you are about the corruption of
American morals. All of us are particularly shocked and dismayed at
what has happened to moral standards and ethics in high places in
government. Fresh in the minds of our citizens are the stories from
Washington of gifts of pastel mink coats and deep freezers and there is
the case of an Army general in Detroit who accepted gifts from those
who sought and obtained huge government defense contracts. Unfortunately
FORD & LIBRARY
- 11 -
the list does not stop with a few and no one knows how many more have
not been exposed.
What has happened to American morals, particularly the morals of
those in our government? What has become of the rugged honesty which was
the pride of our founding fathers? Fortunately, there is a grass-roots
movement for a rebirth of public and personal morality which is spread-
ing throughout the length and breadth of America. I hope it reaches
and seizes Washington before irreparable damage has been done.
One of the basic difficulties lies in the fact that there is in
Washington too much power, too much spending and too much bureaucracy.
America in recent years has seen many of the functions and prerogatives
of local government usurped by the selfish, power-seeking bureaucrats
in the nation's capital.
It might be well for us to analyze some comparative facts and
figures to see whether or not you get more for your tax dollar in
Washington or in Grand Rapids. When I am through decide for yourself
where and by whom you want your taxes spent.
GERALD FORD LIBRABY
- 12 -
You pay $28,26 per capita in local taxes in Grand Rapids. For
this you get fine schools, good roads, excellent police and fire pro-
tection, and dozens of other services. In contrast, you pay $340 per
capita in Federal taxes. As yourself: What do I get for it? Does the
Federal government give as good a return as your local government on
your tax investment? The answer is No simply because the federal
government is too far removed from the folks at home.
Do you know that the Federal government's "tax take" from Grand
Rapids last year was approximately $59,719,980? If government economy
made possible a Federal tax cut of 10 per cent, the citizens of our
community would save $5,971,998. Remember this, there is no tax relief
in sight when the President's budget calls for expenditures totalling
over 90 billion dollars annually.
Let's make another comparison. The bonded indebtedness of Grand
Rapids today is $2,465,000. That debt made possible the construction of
many public facilities in our community. Grand Rapids' share of the
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 13 -
Federal government's bonded debt is $298,599,900. Do we as citizens have
as much to show for the federal burden as we have for the local indebted-
ness? It goes without saying there is a better return on your local tax
dollar. As a result I strongly urge the retention of all possible
governmental power and prerogatives on the local level.
Last year an average family paid $1290 in Federal taxes. This
amount would cover the down payment on a home, would be helpful in the
education of your children, or would be equal to $25 a week, which each
family could put into their savings accounts. Bear these facts in mind
when someone urges you to ask Congress for more funds for a pet program
or project. Every time Congress appropriates money please remember the
appropriations come out of your Federal taxes or from the federal taxes
to be paid in the future by our children.
Do you realize the entire assessed valuation of Grand Rapids is
$315,820,740? At the same time, Grand Rapids' share of the federal
government's debt is $298,599,900. Developments in recent years indicate
we are rapidly approaching the day when the Federal debt will exceed
GER GERRIDO the B. FORD LIBRARY
- 14 -
assessed valuation of all property throughout the United States.
In fact, in many communities the total per capita share already does
so. In Grand Rapids that is almost the situation today. Obviously,
such a condition is not a healthy one and it will not be corrected if
the federal government and its functions continue to expand.
Last year our Community Chest raised approximately $788,000. You
all know the tremendous effort and the unselfish giving that is required
to raise this money. We are proud of our record in this regard but each
year the people of Grand Rapids pay $59,719,980 in Federal Taxes! Just
think of how much good could be accomplished in our community with some
of the money that is being siphoned away from us by Washington. If just
a part of these funds went into the Community Chest instead of to the
free spenders in the nation's capital our local needs would be better
handled.
Facts and figures oftentimes are dull and uninteresting but at
this crucial hour in our nation's history it is important for all of us
to take the time to learn what is going on in our government. I repeat,
GERA R.FORD
- 15 -
the best government is the government that is close to home, where you
can keep an eye on what's being done or what is being neglected. If you
don't like the way our community is being operated you can go to the
mayor and City Commission. From a practical point of view that isn't
possible on the federal level and as a result your federal government is
not operated economically or efficiently. As a consequence I strongly
urge that we keep away from further centralization in Washington and
in fact build up and expand local responsibility.
In closing, let me summarize and re-emphasize several points:
1. America and our allies cannot trust the Godless tyrants in the
Kremlin and as a result the United States must remain alert and strong
militarily during the perilous days ahead.
2. This nation, and particularly those in positions of responsi-
bility in government must set and maintain high standards of morality as
examples for our allies and our fellow citizens. America must not
sacrifice principle for expediency and corruption in high places in
Washington and elsewhere must be eradicated promptly before our
- 16 -
government deteriorates from within.
3. Last but not least, keep your government at home where there
can be and must be a close check on what is happening to the taxes you
pay.
Our nation, our people, have the necessary fundamentals to
achieve peace and prosperity. The opportunity to win these ends-
perhaps our last-must not slip from our grasp even at this late hour.
Your peace and security and the peace and security of your children
depend on your present and future efforts. May God give us the
courage and vision to lead us from chaos and uncertainty to everlasting
peace, security and righteousness.
Spacher
EXCERPTS FROM SPEECH BY REPRESENTATIVE GERALD R. FORD, JR.
ON LABOR DAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1951, AT GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
One of the basic difficulties lies in the fact that there is
in Washington too much power, too much spending, and too much bureaucracy®
America in recent years has seen many of the functions and prerogatives
of local government usurped by the selfish-power-seeking bureaucrats in
the nation's capital.
It might be well for us to analyse some comparative facts and
figures to see whether or not you get more for your tax dollar in
Washington or in Grand Rapids. When I am through, decide for yourself
where and by whom you want your taxes spent.
You pay $28.26 per capita in local taxes in Grand Rapids.
For this you get fine schools, good roads, excellent police and fire
protection, and dozens of other services. In contrast, you pay $340
per capita in Federal taxes. Ask yourself: What do I get for it? Does
the Federal goverment give as good a return as your local government on
your tax investment? The answer is NO simply because the federal govern-
ment is too far removed from the folks at home.
Do you know that the Federal government's "tax take" from
Grand Rapids last year was approximately $59,719,980? If government
economy made possible a Federal tax cut of 10 per cent, the citizens of
our community would save $5,971,998. Remember this, there is no tax relief
in sight when the President's budget calls for expenditures totalling over
90 billion dollars annually.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
Let's make another comparison. The bonded indebtedness of
Grand Rapids today is $2,465,000. That debt made possible the construction
of many public facilities in our community. Grand Rapids' share of the
Federal government's bonded debt is $298,599,900. Do we as citizens have
as much to show for the federal burden as we have for the local indebted-
ness? It does without saying there is a better return on your local tax
dollar. As a result I strongly urge the retention of all possible govern-
mental power and prerogatives on the local level.
Last year an average family paid $1290 in Federal taxes. This
amount would cover the down payment on a home, would be helpful in the
education of your children, or would be equal to $25 a week, which each
family could put into their savings accounts. Bear these facts in mind
when someone urges you to ask Congress for more funds for a pet program
or project. Every time Congress appropriates money, please remember the
appropriations come out of your Federal taxes or from the federal taxes
to be paid in the future by our children.
Do you realize the entire assessed valuation of Grand Rapids is
$315,820,740? At the same time, Grand Rapids' share of the federal govern-
ment's debt is $298,599,900. Developments in recent years indicate we are
rapidly approaching the day when the Federal debt will exceed the assessed
valuation of all property throughout the United States. In fact, in many
communities the total per capita share already does so. In Grand Rapids
that is almost the situation today. Obviously, such a condition is not a
healthy one and it will not be corrected if the federal government and its
functions continue to expand.
GERALD, FORD NERARY
Last year our Community Chest raised approximately $788,000.
You all know the tremendous effort and unselfish giving that is required
to raise this money. We are proud of our record in this regard but each
year the people of Grand Rapids pay $59,719,980 in Federal Taxes! Just
think of how much good could be accomplished in our community with some
of the money that is being siphened away from us by Washington. If just
a part of these funds went into the Community Chest instead of to the free
spenders in the nation's capital, our local needs would be better handled.
Facts and figures oftentimes are dull and uninteresting but at
this crucial hour in our nation's history it is important for all of us to
take the time to learn what is going on in our government. I repeat, the
best government is the government that is close to home, where you can
keep an eye on what's being done or what is being neglected. If you don't
like the way our community is being operated, you can go to the Mayor and
City Commission. From a practical point of view that isn't possible on
the federal level and as a result your federal government is not operated
economically or efficiently. As a consequence I strongly urge that we
keep away from further centralisation in Washington and in fact build up
and expand l6cal respensibility.
In clesing, let me summarize and re-emphasise several points:
1. America and our allies cannot trust the Godless tyrants
in the Kremlin and as a result the United States must remain alert and
strong militarily during the perilous days ahead.
2. This nation, and particularly those in positions of
responsibility in goverment must set and maintain high standards of
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
merality as examples for our allies and our fellow citizens. America
must not sacrifice principle for expediency and corruption in high places
in Washington and elsewhere must be eradicated promptly before our govern-
ment deteriorates from within.
3. Last but not least, keep your government at home where there
can be and must be a close check on what is happening to the taxes you pay.
Our nation, our people, have the necessary fundamentals to
achieve peace and prosperity. The opportunity to win these ends--perhaps
our last-must not slip from our gramp even at this late hour. Your peace
and security and the peace and security of your children depend on your
present and future efforts. May God give us the courage and vision to
lead us from chaos and uncertainty to everlasting peace, security and
righteousness.
FORD & LIBRARY QERALD