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Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO Legislative Conference, December 20, 1966
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Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO Legislative Conference, December 20, 1966
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The original documents are located in Box D21, folder "Maritime Trades Department,
AFL-CIO Legislative Conference, December 20, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D21 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
ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, (R-MICH.) BEFORE THE MARITIME TRADES DEPT.
AFL-CIO LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE, TUESDAY DEC. 20. (FOR PM'S RELEASE.)
Gentlemen: I am most happy to be privileged to talk with you today. I feel
that I am among friends. We fought the Administration together for what was right
in 1966. We won despite overwhelming odds, and this kind of an experience builds
friendship.
During the last Congress, when the forces I led were pitifully small, I felt
pretty helpless in this city of power politics. I am sure that you who were
also
almost drowned in a new Department of Transportation felt like a small fish in a
big pond.
Your organization and the Republicans were instrumental in keeping the
Maritime Administration out of the new Transportation Department.
The position of Republicans in Congress has changed drastically. We're a
much bigger fish than we were--and I hope that the same sort of transformation will
come about for the American merchant marine in future years.
You and I know there is a desperate need for an efficient and capable Merchant
fleet to serve this Nation. Because the present Administration has been deaf and
blind to that need, it has taken the present crisis in Vietnam to focus adequate
attention on the plight of our Merchant Marine.
At the end of World War II, the United States was the most powerful commercial
maritime nation the world has ever known. Our merchant fleet numbered nearly
5,000 ships, carried more than 40 per cent of our foreign waterborne cargoes and
provided employment for some 80,000 merchant seamen, plus roughly the same number
of shipyard workers.
Today the merchant fleet is not only in the doldrums, it has been sinking fast.
The privately-owned merchant fleet includes only some 900 vessels. Two-thirds of
these are obsolete, inefficient, uncompetitive. These ships carry less than 9 per
cent of our foreign cargoes. Job opportunities for both seamen and shippard workers
have slipped to half of their postwar levels.
The Russians, the Japanese, the Scandinavians, and others are outbuilding us
and outtrading us for the cargoes of the world. This situation is not only
disgraceful but dangerous. We can no longer honestly call ourselves a maritime
nation.
Yet the Johnson Administration this year drew up a total maritime budget
19 for FORD VIBRARY
fiscal 1967 that represented a seven-year low. That was a tragic testimonial
to
the low value this Administration has placed on its merchant marine.
Page 2.
Are you surprised that the American merchant marine finds itself in dismal
straits? Are you surprised that job opportunities in the maritime industry are
shrinking under the Johnson Administration?
You may recall that several years ago Secretary of Defense McNamara decided
he could reduce the role of ships as a military supply vehicle. He said air
transport could be substituted as the primary means of military transportation.
Now, just four years after McNamara's disastrous decision, events have shown
that two out of three American soldiers had to be transported to Vietnam by ship,
and the overwhelming bulk of all supplies and cargo also had to move by water.
But you also know that in the current Vietnam crisis, the American-flag fleet
has been unable tomeet the defense and commercial needs of the nation. And the
Merchant Marine Act of 1936 demands that we meet those needs.
We have had to reactivate ancient ships from our World War II reserve fleet.
This has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, yet these de-mothballed ships
have proved inefficient and unreliable.
We have diverted many of our newer and faster ships to military service, thus
making it possible for foreign competitors to grab off our commercial cargoes.
Cargoes lost in this way may never be regained--even when we again enjoy peace.
Can you look to the Johnson Administration for help?
There we see the Maritime Administration caught in a struggle between the
Maritime Advisory Committee and the Interagency Maritime Task Force. The
Committee has called for effective Government action to restore the shipping and
shipbuilding industries to proper positions of strength. The Task Force has
urged cuts in Federal expenditures and an even smaller merchant fleet than we have
now.
What is the position of House Republicans on maritime policy?
In the last Congress we successfully fought the Administration's attempt to
place the Maritime Administration in the new Department of Transportation.
The House Republican Policy Committee endorsed the concept of an independent
Maritime Administration--with room to grow as an entity free from Commerce Depart-
ment dominance.
Every Republican on the House Merchant Marine Committee-Mailliard, Pelly,
Mosher, Grover, Morton, Keith, Edwards, Watkins and Reinecke--approved the Bonner
Bill to give the Maritime Administration new stature under independent status.
Republicans will continue to support an independent Maritime Administration
in the 90th Congress. We believe that that agency must have greater strength with
which to meet the needs of our Merchant Marine and our Nation.
Page 3.
Republicans reject policies which doom the Merchant Marine to continued
stagnation. We must rescue it from the Administrations sea of inefficiency, delay
and waste.
I pledge here and now that Republicans will continue to support policies which
will revive our merchant marine, rebuild our marine might and keep a rejuvenated
merchant fleet strong and growing. Thank you.
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
GERALD R. FORD, (R-MICH.) BEFORE THE MARITIME TRADES
AFL-CIO LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE, TUESDAY DEC. 20. (FOR PM'S RELEASE.)
Gentlemen: I am most happy to be privileged to talk with you today. I feel
that I am among friends. We fought the Administration together for what was right
in 1966. We won despite overwhelming odds, and this kind of an experience builds
friendship.
During the last Congress, when the forces I led were pitifilly small, I felt
pretty helpless in this city of power politics. I am sure that you who were
almost drowned in a new Department of Transportation felt like a small fish in a
big pond.
Your organization and the Republicans were instrumental in keeping the
Maritime Administration out of the new Transportation Department.
The position of Republicans in Congress has changed drastically. We're a
much bigger fish than we were--and I hope that the same sort of transformation will
come about for the American merchant marine in future years.
You and I know there is a desperate need for an efficient and capable Merchant
fleet to serve this Nation. Because the present Administration has been deaf and
blind to that need, it has taken the present crisis in Vietnam to focus adequate
attention on the plight of our Merchant Marine.
At the end of World War II, the United States was the most powerful commercial
maritime nation the world has ever known. Our merchant fleet numbered nearly
5,000 ships, carried more than 40 per cent of our foreign waterborne cargoes and
provided employment for some 80,000 merchant seamen, plus roughly the same number
of shipyard workers.
Today the merchant fleet is not only in the doldrums, it has been sinking fast.
The privately-owned merchant fleet includes only some 900 vessels. Two-thirds of
these are obsolete, inefficient, uncompetitive. These ships carry less than 9 per
cent of our foreign cargoes. Job opportunities for both seamen and shipyard worker,
have slipped to half of their postwar levels.
The Russians, the Japanese, the Scandinavians, and others are outbuilding us
and outtrading us for the cargoes of the world. This situation is not only
disgraceful but dangerous. We can no longer honestly call ourselves a maritime
nation.
Yet the Johnson Administration this year drew up a total maritime budget for
fiscal 1967 that represented a seven-year low. That was a tragic testimonial to
the low value this Administration has placed on its merchant marine.
Page 2.
Are you surprised that the American merchant marine finds itself in dismal
straits? Are you surprised that job opportunities in the maritime industry are
shrinking under the Johnson Administration?
You may recall that several years ago Secretary of Defense McNamara decided
he could reduce the role of ships as a military supply vehicle. He said air
transport could be substituted as the primary means of military transportation.
Now, just four years after McNamara's disastrous decision, events have shown
that two out of three American soldiers had to be transported to Vietnam by ship,
and the overwhelming bulk of all supplies and cargo also had to move by water.
But you also know that in the current Vietnam crisis, the American-flag fleet
has been unable tomeet the defense and commercial needs of the nation. And the
Merchant Marine Act of 1936 demands that we meet those needs.
We have had to reactivate ancient ships from our World War II reserve fleet.
This has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, yet these de-mothballed ships
have proved inefficient and unreliable.
We have diverted many of our newer and faster ships to military service, thus
making it possible for foreign competitors to grab off our commercial cargoes.
Cargoes lost in this way may never be regained--even when we again enjoy peace.
Can you look to the Johnson Administration for help?
There we see the Maritime Administration caught in a struggle between the
Maritime Advisory Committee and the Interagency Maritime Task Force. The
Committee has called for effective Government action to restore the shipping and
shipbuilding industries to proper positions of strength. The Task Force has
urged cuts in Federal expenditures and an even smaller merchant fleet than we have
now.
What is the position of House Republicans on maritime policy?
In the last Congress we successfully fought the Administration's attempt to
place the Maritime Administration in the new Department of Transportation.
The House Republican Policy Committee endorsed the concept of an independent
Maritime Administration--with room to grow as an entity free from Commerce Depart-
ment dominance.
Every Republican on the House Merchant Marine Committee-Mailliard, Pelly,
Mosher, Grover, Morton, Keith, Edwards, Watkins and Reinecke--approved the Bonner
Bill to give the Maritime Administration new stature under independent status.
Republicans will continue to support an independent Maritime Administration
in the 90th Congress. We believe that that agency must have greater strength with
which to meet the needs of our Merchant Marine and our Nation.
Page 3.
Republicans reject policies which doom the Merchant Marine to continued
stagnation. We must rescue it from the Administrations sea of inefficiency, delay
and waste.
I pledge here and now that Republicans will continue to support policies which
will revive our merchant marine, rebuild our marine might and keep a rejuvenated
merchant fleet strong and growing. Thank you.