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Political Science Seminar, Elon College, Winston-Salem, NC, April 25, 1966
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The original documents are located in Box D20, folder "Political Science Seminar, Elon
College, Winston-Salem, NC, April 25, 1966" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Developmy Political Concepts -
Introduction 2 McNamena
Political Science Seminar - Elon College- Winston Salem, n.c.
april 25,1966
CHANGING POLITICAL PATTERNS
There is a new politics in this country today. We are experiencing
a political revolution with its genesis in Washington and an impact
felt throughout the land.
This political revolution has as its main forward thrusters the
civil rights upheaval, the unparalleled use of the Executive Branch
of the Federal Government to reelect members of the majority party to
the U. S. House of Representatives, the Supreme Court's one-man,
one-vote ruling, and something which is being called "creative federalism."
The civil rights upheaval as a force upsetting old political
patterns is making itself felt in the South as Negro voter registration
swells. This is a new element which is causing some old-line politicians
to alter their approach and to welcome Negro support.
The growing presence of the Negro voter will make itself increasingly
felt in the South as the passage of time brings heavier and heavier
Negro registration. It is a new fact of political life which will
produce adjustments in the campaign techniques of politicians in both
FORD LIBRARY
(MORE)
Digitized from Box D20 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
major parties wherever the Negro vote significantly affects the outcome
of election contests.
Last year in Virginia, for example, the entrenched political machine
of former Senator Harry Byrd opened its party meetings to Negroes and
ardently wooed the Negro vote.
As a result of that shift in basic strategy, the Democrats elected
Mills Godwin as governor while a majority of the white vote split
between Linwood Holton, Republican, and a third-party candidate on the
Conservative Ticket, William J. Storey, Jr.
The old rules are going out the window in American politics.
There has always been an advantage for the incumbent in a
congressional race because he has been able to do things for people for
two years or more.
But the present administration is engaged in an unprecedented
public relations effort aimed at upsetting the tradition that the party
out of power makes big gains in an off-year election.
It is a hitherto untried program under which the Executive Branch
in close collaboration with the majority party's national campaign
FORD is LIBRAR, GLRALD
(MORE)
-3-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
committee is providing special assistance and guidance to the party's
freshmen congressmen.
These fledgling congressmen have been supplied with expert advice
on administration programs by Executive Branch officials and have been
handed large amounts of speech material for use back in their districts.
Scores of so-called community development meetings have been
arranged by these freshmen congressmen, with large numbers of Federal
officials serving as "consultants" to small-town and rural office-holders
from back home.
While it is true that these visitors to Washington pay their own
transportation and meal expenses--that is, their communities pay these
costs--these seminars also demand the time of top or second-echelon
Federal officials who are drawn away from their customary duties.
The ostensible purpose of the seminars is to inform local officials
about federal aid programs and how to obtain assistance in solving local
problems.
There admittedly is also the purpose of advertising the freshman
congressman among local officials and all his other constituents and
(MORE)
-4-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
giving him the appearance of a man of influence in Washington.
Put more bluntly, the aim is to make the freshman congressman
look good and help him in his bid for reelection.
Republicans are going to have to rely on the issues and the common
sense of the American people. They do not have available to them a
new-style campaign apparatus operating under the guise of a public
information service.
Nobody knows how well the majority party's new campaign weapon will
work, of course. It has never been tried before.
One of the new angles the majority party is exploring is that of
cultivating village and rural officials by offering them sewer and water
pollution control money for the first time. This is being done under a
new $50 million federal aid program which seeks to bring rural folk
under the federal aid umbrella for the first time and bind them to
Washington.
Typical comments I have heard from rural officials who have attended
the majority party's community development seminars and learned about the
new $50 million aid program is that they might just as well climb into
(MORE)
-5-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
the federal money tree, too. But they feel a bit as though somebody is
making a monkey out of them.
One official remarked privately that his village delegation would
never have found itself in Washington hat in hand at the seminar if the
village fathers had only gone to work on local problems many years before.
"It would have cost a lot less to solve our problems then," he said.
Political scientists--you fellows--tell us that the farm vote is
diminishing in importance. But as I have just noted, the majority party
is focusing new attention on it.
Republicans have always worked hard to win the farm vote and will
continue to do so. This is an area where we have good reason for
optimism this year.
There will, of course, be new and heavier emphasis on the city and
suburban vote by both parties. The suburbs have increased greatly in
political importance because of the Supreme Court's one-man, one-vote
decision.
As a result of that decision and subsequent redistricting, a member
of the House may find himself running in a district that has shifted
ORD LIBRAR,
(MORE)
-6-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
from heavily Republican to marginally Republican or even marginally
Democratic--and vice versa.
More than 20 states have rearranged the boundary lines of their
congressional districts in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling
and others will have completed the redistricting job before the
November 8 election.
The elections this fall will be a whole new breed of cat in many
districts. The old rules just won't hold good because the pendulum of
voting power has swung even more toward the cities and suburbs.
Political patterns were thrown into complete confusion in the 1964
congressional elections when Democratic candidates won in districts where
they ordinarily wouldn't have entertained any hope of victory. The GOP
suffered a net loss of 37 seats.
This will be a very special election this fall because it will
decide the balance of power in the House of Representatives for the
next two years even though my party does not have a real chance to win
a majority of the seats.
As you know, the present lineup in the House is 293 Democrats and
140 Republicans, with two vacancies.
(MORE)
-7-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
Fifty-one of the Democrats are freshmen. These are the men getting
all the special help I mentioned previously in an unprecedented
aid-to-freshmen program engineered by the administration and the majority
party's national campaign committee.
Many of the 51 Democratic freshmen won their seats by the slenderest
of margins. These seats will be special GOP targets.
The House elections will be of greatest importance in 1966. It is
in these elections that the will of the electorate will be most clearly
reflected and will have the greatest potential for change.
There will not be much change in the makeup of the Senate. Senate
seats on the line this year do not offer enough of a possibility for
GOP gains.
But the makeup of the House may be sharply altered as a result of
this fall's balloting.
Political observers are predicting Republican gains of anywhere
from 50 to 80 seats.
If they are right, the outcome will greatly influence the conduct
of our domestic affairs over the next two years.
(MORE)
-8-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
For the past two years the President has talked of what he calls
"greative federalism.
This is directed toward accomplishing a gradual
and longrange change in our political patterns.
The President speaks of creative federalism in terms of working
with the states and local communities to solve various problems and of
developing new fiscal arrangements to promote that so-called partnership.
From a philosophic standpoint, creative federalism might more
accurately be called destructive federalism. It would promote not so
much a partnership between the federal government and the states and
localities as it would a dependence on the federal bureaucracy.
This so-called creative federalism is marked by a shift away from
the old, across-the-board federal grants-in-aid toward specifically
targeted programs that carry with them greater federal restrictions.
So-called creative federalism means less of a role for the nation's
governors.
It means more and more that Washington is bypassing the states and
working directly with local units of government as in the anti-poverty
program.
GERALD FORD
(MORE)
-9-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
The proposed "demonstration cities" program is an example of so-called
creative federalism. The administration bill provides for a federal
coordinator for each program of massive aid to a selected city. Democrats
and Republicans alike are afraid this means a new layer of federal bureau-
cracy--the "federal mayor."
The multi-state Appalachia program is another example of what the
President calls "creative federalism." It provides a special extra
infusion of federal dollars into a group of states which are not sharing
in the general progress of the nation.
Rep. Jamie Whitten, Mississippi Democrat who's on the House Appropri-
ations Committee, recently remarked that if he had known what the Appalachia
program involved in terms of federal spending he never would have voted
for it.
There is another political pattern emerging with bipartisan support,
and it may counter the so-called creative federalism which I contend is
destructive of state and local initiative.
This is the proposal for sharing federal revenue with the states once
the Vietnam war ends and such income tax diversion becomes feasible.
(MORE)
-10-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
The Republican National Coordinating Committee has developed a
revenue-sharing formula which initially would return 2 per cent of
annual federal income tax revenues to the states and gradually increase
this amount to 10 per cent.
There would be no strings attached to the revenue thus diverted to
state and local use.
The purpose would be to encourage state and local governments to
do for their people whatever can best be done at the local level.
This is in keeping with the best traditions of America. This is
a changing political pattern which I heartily applaud.
# # #
Political Science Seminar
OfficeCaff
ElonCollege, Winston Salems n.c.
april 25, 1966 (afternoon)
CHANGING POLITICAL PATTERNS
There is a new politics in this country today. We are experiencing
a political revolution with its genesis in Washington and an impact
felt throughout the land.
This political revolution has as its main forward thrusters the
civil rights upheaval, the unparalleled use of the Executive Branch
of the Federal Government to reelect members of the majority party to
the U. S. House of Representatives, the Supreme Court's one-man,
one-vote ruling, and something which is being called "creative federalism."
The civil rights upheaval as a force upsetting old political
patterms is making itself felt in the South as Megro voter registration
swells. This is a new element which is causing some old-line politicians
to alter their approach and to welcome Negro support.
The growing presence of the Negro voter will make itself increasingly
felt in the South as the passage of time brings heavier and heavier
Megro registration. It is a new fact of political life which will
GERALD ABRUSIT FORD
produce adjustments in the campaign techniques of politicians in both
(MORE)
-2-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
major parties wherever the Megro vote significantly affects the outcome
of election contests.
Last year in Virginia, for example, the entrenched political machine
of former Senator Marry Byrd opened its party meetings to Negroes and
ardently wood the Megro vote.
As a result of that shift in basic strategy, the Democrate elected
Mills Godwin as governor while a majority of the white vote split
between Linwood Holton, Republican, and a third-party candidate on the
Conservative Ticket, William J. Storey, Jr.
The old rules are going out the window in American politics.
There has always been an advantage for the incumbent in a
congressional race because he has been able to do things for people for
two years or more.
But the present administration is engaged in an unprecedented
public relations effort aimed at upsetting the tradition that the party
out of power makes big gains in an off-year election.
It is a hitherto untried program under which the Executive Branch
in close collaboration with the majority party's national campaign
(MORE)
-3-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
committee is providing special assistance and guidance to the party's
freshmen congressmen.
These fledgling congressmen have been supplied with expert advice
on administration programs by Executive Branch officials and have been
handed large amounts of speech material for use back in their districts.
Scores of so-called community development meetings have been
arranged by these freshmen congressmen, with large numbers of Federal
officials serving as "consultants" to small-town and rural office-holders
from back home.
While it is true that these visitors to Washington pay their own
transportation and meal expenses--that is, their communities pay these
costs-these seminars also demand the time of top or second-echelon
Federal officials who are drawn away from their customary duties.
The ostensible purpose of the seminars is to inform local officials
about federal aid programs and how to obtain assistance in solving local
problems.
There admittedly is also the purpose of advertising the freshman
FORD
congressman among local officials and all his other constituents and
(MORE)
Changing Political Patterns Speech
giving him the appearance of a man of influence in Washington.
Put more bluntly, the aim is to make the freshman congressman
look good and help him in his bid for reelection.
Republicans are going to have to rely on the issues and the common
sense of the American people. They do not have available to them a
new-style campaign apparatus operating under the guise of a public
information service.
Nobody knows how well the majority party's new campaign weapon will
work, of course. It has never been tried before.
One of the new angles the majority party is exploring is that of
cultivating village and rural officials by offering them sewer and water
pollution control money for the first time. This is being done under a
new $50 million federal aid program which seeks to bring rural folk
under the federal aid umbrella for the first time and bind them to
Washington.
Typical comments I have heard from rural officials who have attanded
the majdwity party's community development seminars and learned about the
new $50 million aid program is that they might just as well climb into
(MORE)
-5-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
the federal money tree, too. But they feel 8 bit as though somebody is
making a monkey out of them.
One official remarked privately that his village delegation would
never have found itself in Washington hat in hand at the seminar if the
village fathers had only gone to work on local problems many years before.
"It would have cost a lot less to solve our problems then," he said.
Political scientists-you fellows--tell us that the farm vote is
diminishing in importance. But as I have just noted, the majority party
is focusing new attention on it.
Republicans have always worked hard to win the farm vote and will
continue to do so. This is an area where we have good reason for
optimism this year.
There will, of course, be new and heavier emphasis on the city and
suburban vote by both parties. The suburbs have increased greatly in
political importance because of the Supreme Court's one-man, one-vote
decision.
As a result of that decision and subsequent redistricting, a member
of the House may find himself running in a district that has shifted
(MORE)
-6-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
from heavily Republican to marginally Republican or even marginally
Democratic--and vice versa.
More than 20 states have rearranged the boundary lines of their
comgressional districts in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling
and others will have completed the redistricting job before the
November 8 election.
The elections this fall will be a whole new breed of cat in many
districts. The old rules just won't hold good because the pendulum of
voting power has swung even more toward the cities and suburbs.
Political patterns were thrown into complete confusion in the 1964
congressional elections when Democratic candidates won in districts where
they ordinarily wouldn't have entertained any hope of victory. The GOP
suffered a net loss of 37 seats.
This will be a very special election this fall because it will
decide the balance of power in the House of Representatives for the
next two years even though my party does not have a real chance to win
a majority of the seats.
FORD
As you know, the present lineup in the House is 293 Democrats and
140 Republicans, with two vacancies.
(MORE)
-7-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
Fifty-one of the Democrate are freshmen. These are the men getting
all the special help I mentioned previously in an unprecedented
aid-to-freshmen program engineered by the administration and the majority
party's national campaign committee.
Many of the 51 Democratic freshmen won their seats by the slenderest
of margins. These seats will be special GOP targets.
The House elections will be of greatest importance in 1966. It is
in these elections that the will of the electorate will be most clearly
reflected and will have the greatest potential for change.
There will not be much change in the makeup of the Senate. Senate
seats on the line this year do not offer engugh of a possibility for
GOP gains.
But the makeup of the House may be sharply altered as a result of
thes fall's balloting.
Political observers are predicting Republican gains of anywhere
from 50 to 80 seats.
If they are right, the outcome will greatly influence the conduct
of our domestic affairs over the next two years.
(MORE)
-8-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
For the past two years the President has talked of what he calls
vreative federalism." This is directed toward accomplishing a gradual
and longrange change in our political patterns.
The President speaks of creative federalism in terms of working
with the states and local communities to solve various problems and of
developing new fiscal arrangements to promote that so-called partnership.
From a philospphic standpoint, creative federalism might more
accurately be called destructive federalism. It would promote not so
much a partnership between the federal government and the states and
localities as it would a dependence on the federal bureaucracy.
This so-called creative federalism is marked by a shift away from
the old, across-the-board federal grants-in-aid toward specifically
targeted programs that carry with them greater federal restrictions.
So-called creative federalism means less of a role for the nation's
governors.
It means more and more that Washington is bypassing the states and
working directly with local units of government as in the anti-poverty
program.
(MORE)
-9-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
The proposed "demonstration cities" program is an example of so-called
creative federalism. The administration bill provides for a federal
coordinator for each program of massive aid to a selected city. Democrate
and Republicans alike are afraid this means a new layer of federal bureau-
cracy--the "federal mayor."
The multi-state Appalachia program is another example of what the
President calls "creative federalism." It provides a special extra
infusion of federal dollars into a group of states which are not sharing
in the general progress of the nation.
Rep. Jamie Whitten, Mississippi Democrat who's on the House Appropri-
ations Committee, recently remarked that if he had known what the Appalachia
program involved in terms of federal spending he never would have voted
for it.
There is snother political pattern emerging with bipartisan support,
and it may counter the so-called creative federalism which I contend is
destructive of state and local initiative.
This is the proposal for sharing federal revenue with the states once
the Vietnam war ends and such income tax diversion becomes feasible.
(MORE)
-10-
Changing Political Patterns Speech
The Republican National Coordinating Committee has developed a
revenue-sharing formula which initially would return 2 per cent of
annual federal income tax revenues to the states and gradually increase
this amount to 10 per cent.
There would be no strings attached to the revenue thus diverted to
state and local use.
The purpose would be to encourage state and local governments to
do for their people whatever can best be done at the local level.
This is in keeping with the best traditions of America. This is
a changing political pattern which I heartily applaud.
# # #