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    "localId": "4525770",
    "label": "\"The Citizen and the Republican Party, \" 1962",
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    "id": "4525770",
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    "title": "\"The Citizen and the Republican Party, \" 1962",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4525770",
    "collections": [
        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
        "Speeches"
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    "subjects": [
        "Republican National Committee (U.S.)",
        "Education",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D15, folder \"The Citizen and the Republican\nParty, 1962\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the\nGerald 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 The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain.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.\n1962 Only Only capy\n2100 and\nThe Citizen and the Republican Party\nHON. GERAID R. FORD, JR.\nMuch of the mail coming into my Congressional office from Michigan residents\nreflects a sense of frustration at the domestic and foreigh policies of the present\nAdministration and the question, What can I do?\" is often asked. It is an unfortunate\nthing when citizens of our nation begin to feel that their government has become a thing\napart from them. While I ordinarily attempt to evaluate every problem and issue in terms\nof what is best for my constituents and for the Nation irrespective of party position,\nthis year I have come to the conclusion that the only way the American people can have\ngenuine peace with honor through strength abroad, and the only way they can enjoy\nprosperity in conjunction with their individual dignity and worth at home, is to elect\na Republican Congress in the all-important elections of 1962.\nHere in Michigan, as throughout the nation, there is a different approach among\nRepublicans to some specific issues in domestic and foreign policy. However, there are\nareas of common agreement far surpassing the synthesis found in the other major political\nparty today. As Senator Barry Goldwater, Governor Nelson Rockefeller and former Vice-\nPresident Richard Nixon can share a national platform on any topic with a common thread\nof basic agreements, so too can the most so-called *liberal\" Republican in Michigan\nagree with the more \"oonservative\" Republican as to the reasons why our party must be\nplaced in charge of the future affairs of our state before bankrupcy and ruin become\nthe legacy of future Michigan generations.\nTo me, the key principles which bind Republicans together are immeasureably more\nimportant than any disagreements which may tend to keep some apart. They include:\n1. Freedom of the individual, with equal rights and opportunity for all, is the\nkey to the greatness of our nation. While the state must fulfill its obligation to\nassist those of its citizens who are in genuine need, individual initiative and\nresourcefulness must be constantly encouraged.\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\nDigitized from Box D15 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n-- 2 --\n2. A free enterprise economy is essential to the continuation of our free\nsociety. Thus, government regulation must foster and not hinder the growth of\nthat economy and the development of new opportunities for employment.\n3. The burden of taxation of Michigan and of the nation must be lightened\nwhere possible and practical. Reductions in taxes can be most effectively\naccomplished by the elimination of non-essential governmental expenditures. Economy\nin government at all levels must replace extravegance and waste.\n4. Ever-increasing centralization of power and authority is entirely\ninconsistent with the preservation of our democratic way of life. Governmental\nauthority must be decentralized. This can best be done if Michigan' S state, county\nand local governments reassume their fundamental responsibilities to their citizens.\n5. The United States of America must continue to be the bulwark of liberty\nthroughout the world. Our leadership must be based not on the policy of meeting\naggression on the terms of the aggressor, but rather by an effective military posture\nof mixed forces and the willingness to commit these forces where necessary to deter\nSoviet aggression anywhere in the world.\nThus the Republican party can not be characterized by words like \"liberal\" or\n\"conservative\". The late Senator Arthur Vandenberg once said, \"What is a conservative?\nAt one point the dictionary says 'one who seeks to prevent loss, decay or injury, and\nwho protects and preserves.' In that sense, I want my party to be conservative.\n...\nBut at another point the dictionary says that a conservative is 'one #11 opposed to\nchange or progress.' In that sense I do not want my party to be conservative. If it\nis static, it will die.\"\nIn looking at the first eleven months of government under the New Frontier and\nthe policies followed by the Republican leadership in Congress and in other national,\nstate and local levels in our nation, I can point to several concrete examples of just\nwhy the Republican Party offers the best hope for the citizen--be he laborer, businessman,\nor in any other walk of life.\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n-- 3 --\nIn Federal Aid to Education legislation, the Republican party has repeatedly\nendorsed efforts to allocate federal funds to those school districts where maximum\nneed exists and where supreme local effort has been made in vain to solve problems on\na local level. During the Eisenhower Administration, some such legislation was enacted,\nbut the New Frontier advocated a completely new concept in education legislation which\nwould make the federal government in principle responsible for education in every facet\nat every level of learning. HEW estimates that some 607,000 classrooms must be built\nduring the deade of the 60' S to take care of added enrollment, e xisting backlogs and\nreplacement of obsolete facilities. At present, the average annual construction of new\nclassrooms on a local school district basis has reached almost\nare\n70,000-which would mean 100,000 more classrooms than 11 necessary under current\nconstruction conditions during The next In years.\nNo provision was made in the 1961 legislative proposals of the Administration which\nwould in any way reward those school districts which have themselves paid for needed\nimprovements in their educational systems. As a matter of fact, the suspicion is that\nlocal school districts may reduce their efforts if general Federal aid to education\nwere to become an actuality at this time. Here in Michigan we would particularly be\ninjured if school districts or States which hold back on tax revenue in order to pirate\nour industry would be rewarded under these circumstances.\nThe advocates of general Federal aid for education have, in short, made no\nsuccessful effort to justify current legislation on the basis of either need or local\neffort of both. Republicans wished only to aid the of 1% of the school districts of\nour nation in true need and those who had exerted all possible local effort.\nRepublicans in Congress also showed the varying philosophies between, rather than\namong, the political parties as far as the recession and anti-recession measures were\nconcerned. After the sound and fury of the election campaign and preliminary pronouncement\nby Administration leaders about \"the depths of the depression\" and the firm action that\nhad to be taken to bring prosperity to the American people once more, the actual experience\nof the American economy once more proved that the private enterprise system prevailed.\nso called\nWe emerged from the recession without the aid of one anti-recession measure. Republicans\ngenerally supported ADC extension and extension of unemployment compensation benefits\nas temporary stopgap remedies, but otherwise, had the justified faith that the economy\nwould emerge of its own volition.\nMeanwhile, the Administration and the majority leadership in the Congress enacted an\nArea Redevelopment bill which was one of the most ineffective and ill-conceived pieces\nof legislation emerging from the New Frontier. A housing bill equally expensive and\nineffective in its long-range effects was passed, with a total of $8.8 billion in back-\ndoor spending 10 written into the bill. In its economic legislation, the 87th Congress\nconsistently trampled traditional concepts of interstate commerce regulation, leaving the\nway open for new Federal water pollution enforcement provisions applying to all waters\nin every State, even though the pollution and its effects are entirely intrastate.\nThe results of this have been an expansion of governmental expenditures now and in\nthe future. The American taxpayer, cheered by President Eisenhower' S preliminary estimate\nshowing a balanced budget for fiscal year 1962, looked up 9 months later and found that\nhis equity in America had been rudely shaken by the following events:\n1. Actions of Congress will lead to an increase of $12.5 billion in new obligational\nauthority over the estimates of former President Eisenhower for fiscal year 1962. Mean-\nwhile, some $19.5 billion in identifiable back-door spending was included in the authoriz-\nation bills enacted during 1961, leaving a total of some $113 billion as this session' S\ncontribution to Federal expenditures.\n2. The cost of civilian employment in the executive branch of the Federal\nGovernment reached its all-time high at the end of fiscal year 1961. The total annual\nMAY\nFederal expenditures for its civilian payroll reached $13.6 billion, and an additional\nin\n16,700 employees joined the New Frontier in July, 1961, alone. The Administration then\nbecame October penny after wise imobiating and pound the foolish Congrams in dismi for ssing more several x more security spending officials from January (An the to\nSeptember. This John come- appearance casts a shalow as To The\nState Depa tment and in vetoing postal longevity legislation to try to recoup some of\nvalidate of the new Fronteer efforts to save The after all Compress ent the\nthe billions thrown away by unsound legislation mentioned above.\nKennedy budget by over #2 bellion much more could have been saved if This Lconony attutude previded Carles\n3. A projected surplus of $100 million for F.Y. 1961 was permitted to lapse\na deficit of over $3 billion--while a projected surplus of $1.5 billion for F.Y. 1962\nnow turns out to be a deficit approaching $7 billion. Action by Republicans and some\n5\nsonservative Democrats did hold down spending somewhat. They rejected $8 billion\nrequested in back-door appropriations for foreign aid while holding to the concept of\nnecessary long range foreign aid planning. A $325 million school construction bill was\na bureaucrate monstorosts\ndefeated in the House. A gigantic agricultural bill, amounting to some $12 15\nannually by Farm Bureau estimates, was rejected in Committee. However, the total 1961\nCongressional authorizations for new obligational authority and back-door spending\namounted to $628 for every man, woman and child in the United States. This commite the\ncitizens of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to some $111 million and the citizens of Michigan\nto 4.9 billion dollars in spending merely through the actions of the New Frontier and\nthe 87th Congress. What the taxpayers of our state could do with this money on a local\nlevel gives new directions to the imagination.\n4. As the ranking Republican member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,\nI backed the Administration in its requests geared to giving us a stronger defense.\nWhile I would have prefered a foreign policy more along the lines of the past Republican\nAdministration, which made amply clear the fact that we not only had appropriate weapons\nof retaliation but also that we would not hesitate to use them if the need arose, I\nfelt that only through a position of strength could the United States successfully meet\nbetterly\nthe challenge of atheistic Communism. However, I was disappointed that the Administration\nat least in part\nrefused to hold down nondefense spending to compensate for this increase of almost\n$6.5 billion in the defense budget since January.\nWe must guard not only against the Soviet threat in a military way, but we must\nalso have an America which develops with determination its productive power. American\ncan and must face up to the hard fact that if our free society is to be preserved, we\nas a nation can afford neither the luxury of inadequate defense nor an unsound economy\nstemming from habitual unbalanced budgets. This nation must reject the 1111 philosophy\nthat our only choice in order to prevent military surrender to the Russians is to spend\nourselves into an economic and political defeat.\nOn May 24, 1957, Khrushchev stated that \"we do not intend to blow up the capitalist\nworld with bombs. If we catch up with the United States in per capita production of meat,\n-- 6\nbutter and milk we will have hit the pillar of capitalism with the most powerful torpedo\nyet.\" Thus inflationary pressures resulting from defense spending for spending' S sake\nor from unsound nondefense expenditures could cripple our economic and military strength\nalike.\nThe Republican Party, here in Michigan and in the nation, is geared toward a\nsound policy of fiscal responsibility at home while meeting the genuine needs of the\nmilitarily\nAmerican citizenry. In foreign policy, it advocates strength ********, firmness\ndiplomatically, and an understanding of our aims for victory in the Cold War among\nthe American people. This is in refreshing and marked contrast with the policies of\nthe other political party in America, which seeks to neglect the creeping hours of time\nto the extent that our Nation may someday be faced with the alternative of runaway\ninflation or rigid governmental controls domestically, and perhaps with an international\ncrisis rendering our deterrent incredible and exposing ourselves to the anslaught of\nwhatever minions communism deems to be expendable.\nNo label today can characterize either of our major political parties. However,\nthe Republican party is liberal enough to march with the times and to dare new answers\nto new problems and to use the power and strength and initiative of Government to help\ncitizens help themselves. It is conservative enough to apply to the issues of the day\nprinciples of our American republic as they are and not as some people wish they would be.\nEdmund Burke once said that \"the people never give up their liberties but under\nsome delusion.\" The Republican Party seeks today to tanish delusions which would blind\nAmerican citizens to their stake in government, and, more importantly, to their governm\nment' S stake in them. This is why a victory for our party, in the state and in the\nNation, becomes so vital in 1962.\n1 GERALD LIBRARY FORD\nITEM TRANSFER REFERENCE FORM\nThe item described below has been removed to:\nNew File Location:\naudio Visual materials\nDocument Description: 425 8 X10 BW Photos\n50\n8.5\nEnvelope labelled GRF Photos 1962-1966\"\n250\n400\nOld File Location: Congressional Speeches, Box 22, NOW in\nnew arrangement, Congressional Speeches, Box 12, Terruary, 1956 to\napril, 1962\nBy Dennis Lakomy & Date much 6, 1978\nNLFP - 11/4/77"
}