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Republican Dinner for Representative William E. Brock, Chattanooga, TN, May 6, 1966
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Republican Dinner for Representative William E. Brock, Chattanooga, TN, May 6, 1966
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This file contains material relating to mismanagement.
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975
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The original documents are located in Box D20, folder "Republican Dinner for
Representative William E. Brock, Chattanooga, TN, May 6, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Digitized from Box D20 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M.
Friday, May 6, 1966
SPEECH EXCERPTS--REPUBLICAN DINNER FOR REP. W. E. BROCK, R-TENN., AT CHATTANOOGA.
Our entire war effort in Vietnam is chugging along like an old coal-burner
in this day of the diesel locomotive. The more than a quarter of a million men
we have there want to end the war and achieve an honorable peace, but their
commander-in-chief is keeping the damper on.
Under President Johnson's direction, our magnificent military machine resembles
a car with a sparkplug missing. It isn't going very far or very fast. It's under
wraps.
This is the policy Mr. Johnson calls "measured response." It might more aptly
be named "the holdback policy."
The president appears to have no clear idea about how to end the Vietnam War.
Under his present policy, it could go on and on, endlessly.
That is mismanagement.
***
It is mismanagement, too, to pull troops and equipment out of Europe and send
them to Vietnam--and still find ourselves short.
This is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Those men and material might
very well be needed in Europe, particularly at a time when NATO has been plunged
into crisis by the Johnson-Humphrey Administration's failure to hold on to France
as a military partner.
It can be said that French President Charles deGaulle is a fanatic nationalist
and a most difficult man with whom to deal. But the fact remains that in its
preoccupation with Vietnam the Johneon-Humphrey Administration did far too little
to hold NATO together. That also is mismanagement.
***
It is mismanagement, and not merely excusable wartime inefficiency, when the
Defense Department buys back bombs from a West German fertilizer firm and from our
allies--bombs that have been disposed of as surplus.
It is mismanagement, not just one of those things, when military cargoes
destined for Vietnam are stacked up for weeks as far away as Manila.
(MORE)
-2-
SPEECH EXCERPTS
It is mismanagement, not cause for the Johnson-Humphrey Administration bragging
we have heard, when the military cargo pileup is reduced from three months to 20
or 30 days only to be succeeded by a tie-up in the unloading of Vietnam economic
aid cargoes.
It is mismanagement, not something to be shrugged off, when the paralysis in
the unloading of aid cargoes costs the United States millions of dollars in special
fees paid the ship owners because the vessels are delayed longer than chartered for.
***
Leading Democrats in Congress who became alarmed have dug up increasing
evidence of mismanagement in the Defense Department--mismanagement that goes beyond
bomb shortages into other supply problems and basic decision-making.
It was a Democrat, Sen. Ernest Gruening of Alaska, who on May 3 charged that
the Defense Department has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to replace still
useful Army equipment and kept it from going to Vietnam where it was badly needed.
It was a Democrat, Sen. John C. Stennis of Mississippi, who warned of a
shortage of trained manpower for Vietnam and revealed that more than half of the
55,000 reservists whose units were abolished by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
have simply discontinued their training.
It was a Democrat, Rep. Otis G. Pike of New York, whose House Armed Services
subcommittee found that our ground forces in Vietnam were not getting adequate
tactical air support.
It was a Democrat, Rep. Edward Hebert of Louisiana, who demanded that Congress
review all Defense Department decisions on weapons systems for fear the nation
might be "stripped of its defenses."
These Democrats have charged the Johnson-Humphrey Administration with poor
planning or poor carrying out of operations or poor judgment or worse.
I applaud these Democrats who are digging up the facts on our conduct of the
Vietnam War. They are helping to bring truth to the American people out of the
bureaucratic recesses of the Pentagon.
# # #
Blonnet
Drit
the
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M.
Friday, May 6, 1966
SPEECH EXCERPTS--REPUBLICAN DINNER FOR REP. W. E. BROCK, R-TENN., AT CHATTANOOGA.
Our entire war effort in Vietnam is chugging along like an old coal-burner
in this day of the diesel locomotive. The more than a quarter of a million men
we have there want to end the war and achieve an honorable peace, but their
commander-in-chief is keeping the damper on.
Under President Johnson's direction, our magnificent military machine resembles
a car with a sparkplug missing. It isn't going very far or very fast. It's under
wraps.
This is the policy Mr. Johnson calls "measured response." It might more aptly
be named "the holdback policy."
The president appears to have no clear idea about how to end the Vietnam War.
Under his present policy, it could go on and on, endlessly.
That is mismanagement.
* * *
It is mismanagement, too, to pull troops and equipment out of Europe and send
them to Vietnam--and still find ourselves short.
This is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Those men and material might
very well be needed in Europe, particularly at a time when NATO has been plunged
into crisis by the Johnson-Humphrey Administration's failure to hold on to France
as a military partner.
It can be said that French President Charles deGaulle is a fanatic nationalist
and a most difficult man with whom to deal. But the fact remains that in its
preoccupation with Vietnam the Johneon-Humphrey Administration did far too little
to hold NATO together. That also is mismanagement.
***
It is mismanagement, and not merely excusable wartime inefficiency, when the
Defense Department buys back bombs from a West German fertilizer firm and from our
allies--bombs that have been disposed of as surplus.
It is mismanagement, not just one of those things, when military cargoes
destined for Vietnam are stacked up for weeks as far away as Manila.
(MORE)
-2-
SPEECH EXCERPTS
It is mismanagement, not cause for the Johnson-Humphrey Administration bragging
we have heard, when the military cargo pileup is reduced from three months to 20
or 30 days only to be succeeded by a tie-up in the unloading of Vietnam economic
aid cargoes.
It is mismanagement, not something to be shrugged off, when the paralysis in
the unloading of aid cargoes costs the United States millions of dollars in special
fees paid the ship owners because the vessels are delayed longer than chartered for.
***
Leading Democrats in Congress who became alarmed have dug up increasing
evidence of mismanagement in the Defense Department--mismanagement that goes beyond
bomb shortages into other supply problems and basic decision-making.
It was a Democrat, Sen. Ernest Gruening of Alaska, who on May 3 charged that
the Defense Department has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to replace still
useful Army equipment and kept it from going to Vietnam where it was badly needed.
It was a Democrat, Sen. John C. Stennis of Mississippi, who warned of a
shortage of trained manpower for Vietnam and revealed that more than half of the
55,000 reservists whose units were abolished by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
have simply discontinued their training.
It was a Democrat, Rep. Otis G. Pike of New York, whose House Armed Services
subcommittee found that our ground forces in Vietnam were not getting adequate
tactical air support.
It was a Democrat, Rep. Edward Hebert of Louisiana, who demanded that Congress
review all Defense Department decisions on weapons systems for fear the nation
might be "stripped of its defenses."
These Democrats have charged the Johnson-Humphrey Administration with poor
planning or poor carrying out of operations or poor judgment or worse.
I applaud these Democrats who are digging up the facts on our conduct of the
Vietnam War. They are helping to bring truth to the American people out of the
bureaucratic recesses of the Pentagon.
# # #