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Republican Appraisal of the State of the Union, January 19, 1967
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Republican Appraisal of the State of the Union, January 19, 1967
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The original documents are located in Box D21, folder "Republican Appraisal of the State
of the Union, January 19, 1967" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
REPUBLICAN APPRAISAL OF THE STATE OF THE UNION--DOMESTIC
JANUARY 19, 1967
WE GATHER IN THIS HISTORIC CHAMBER, CONSCIOUS OF THE
INVISIBLE PRESENCE OF GREAT LEADERS OF THE PAST. WE ARE
REINFORCED BY THE VISIBLE PRESENCE OF NEW LEADERS OF THE
FUTURE. WE WELCOME ENTHUSIASTICALLY THE 64 NEW REPUBLICAN
MEMBERS OF THE 90TH CONGRESS. ----
(NEW MEMBERS RISE)
SENATOR DIRKSEN AND I ARE HERE TO GIVE A REPUBLICAN
APPRAISAL OF THE STATE OF THE UNION.
NOVEMBER 8TH, AMERICA VOTED ON THE STATE OF THE UNION
GERALDY
LIBRARY
-2-
THE MESSAGE CAME THROUGH LOUD AND CLEAR--A RINGING
VOTE FOR VIGOROUS TWO-PARTY GOVERNMENT. IT WAS A BLUNT
DEMAND FOR HONESTY AND CANDOR IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THE
CREDIBILITY GAP MUST GO!
WE REJOICE IN THE MANDATE--A NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICA.
NO ERA IN OUR HISTORY BEGAN WITH HIGHER HOPES THAN
THE 1960'S YEARS HAVE SLIPPED BY, AND NOW AMERICANS SEE
THE DECADE THAT DAWNED IN HOPE FADING INTO FRUSTRATION
AND FAILURE
THE PRESIDENT SAID THE ELECTION RETURNS DID NOT MEAN
THAT PEOPLE WANT PROGRESS TO STOP.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
WE AGREE.
WE WANT PROGRESS TO START--NOW!
-3-
IT WILL BE A DIFFERENT BALL GAME IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS!
WE WON THE FIRST ROUND IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
WITH THREE-QUARTERS OF THE DEMOCRATS FOLLOWING OUR
UNANIMOUS REPUBLICAN LEAD.
WE WILL WIN MORE-MANY MORE!
CYNICS MAY CALL EVERY REPUBLICAN VICTORY IN THIS
CONGRESS A COALITION.
LET'S MEET THAT ISSUE HEAD ON.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE BY ALMOST
2 TO 1, AND THE HOUSE BY 3 TO 2. BUT REPUBLICANS WILL
MAKE NO DEALS.
WE WILL GIVE LEADERSHIP TO THE DYNAMIC AND CONSTRUCTIVE
CENTER IN CONGRESS.
-4-
WE WELCOME EVERY DEMOCRATIC VOTE FOR POSITIVE REPUBLICAN
PROGRAMS THAT WILL GIVE NEW DIRECTION TO OUR NATION.
WHEN NEW DIRECTION DEMANDS IT, WE WILL SAY "NO" TO
THE OLD DEMOCRATIC FAILURES.
OUR "NO" WILL BE PARTICULARLY EMPHATIC IF WE ARE ASKED
TO SLOW DOWN PROGRESS TOWARD THE EQUALITY THAT IS THE
RIGHT OF EVERY AMERICAN.
FOR EVERY PROBLEM OF THE SIXTIES, THIS ADMINISTRATION
HAS REVIVED TIRED THEORIES OF THE THIRTIES.
AS WE LOOK AHEAD, REPUBLICANS SEE A PROGRAM OF SENSIBLE
SOLUTIONS FOR THE SEVENTIES.
-5-
THAT PROGRAM MUST BEGIN NOW.
FIRST PRIORITY--THE GROWTH AND PROSPERITY OF OUR ECONOMY.
THERE ARE OMINOUS SIGNS OF AN ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN. UNLESS
OUR COURSE IS REDIRECTED DECISIVELY, THE NATION MAY WELL
SLIP INTO A RECESSION WHILE PAYING HIGHER PRICES AND
HIGHER TAXES.
IN THE PRESENT ATMOSPHERE OF ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY,
THE PRESIDENT HAS NOT MADE A CONVINCING CASE FOR HIS TAX
INCREASE. UNTIL HE DOES, WE ARE AGAINST IT.
INDEED, THE SLUGGISHNESS OF THE ECONOMY DEMANDS A
STIMULANT. THE INVESTMENT TAX CREDIT MUST BE RESTORED
IMMEDIATELY
-6-
AN HONEST FEDERAL BUDGET IS IMPERATIVE.
THE ADMINISTRATION MUST NOT REPEAT ITS TRAGIC ERROR
OF PRESENTING A BUDGET OF MANIPULATION AND GIMMICKRY.
WHEN WE KNOW HOW MUCH IS NEEDED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY,
THE CONGRESS CAN THEN MAKE CERTAIN THAT ESSENTIAL DOMESTIC
PROGRAMS ARE ADEQUATELY FUNDED.
LOW-PRIORITY PROGRAMS
MUST BE POSTPONED
REPUBLICANS WILL MOVE TO CUT NON-ESSENTIAL SPENDING--
EVEN IF THE PRESIDENT DOESN'T.
BEFORD & LIBRARY GERALD
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS APPROVED BY CONGRESS IN THE PAST
REMAIN UNSPENT. WE PROPOSE A RESCISSION BILL, WITHDRAWING
THE PRESIDENT'S AUTHORITY TO SPEND THOSE FUNDS THAT CANNOT
-7-
MEET THE TEST OF ECONOMY.
REPUBLICANS DEMAND STRONG STATE AS WELL AS NATIONAL
ACTION. SEEN THROUGH THE DEMOCRATS' REAR-VIEW MIRROR
OF THE THIRTIES, EVERYTHING CAN BE CURED BY FEDERAL DICTATION
THROUGH GRANTS-IN-AID.
REPUBLICANS OFFER A NEW DIRECTION--TAX SHARING-- TO
RETURN TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS A FIXED PERCENTAGE OF
FEDERAL INCOME TAXES WITHOUT NATIONAL CONTROL. THIS WOULD
PROMOTE SWIFT IMPROVEMENT IN EDUCATION, LAW ENFORCEMENT,
POLLUTION CONTROL, MASS TRANSIT, AND HASTEN THE SOLUTION
OF OTHER LOCAL PROBLEMS.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
THE PEOPLE DEMAND THE NEW DIRECTION OF TAX CREDITS
FOR THOSE WHO BEAR THE HIGH COST OF COLLEGE EDUCATION.
-8-
THE DEMOCRATS CONTROL CONGRESS. IF THEY REFUSE TO
CONSIDER TAX SHARING LEGISLATION, REPUBLICANS WILL
SUBSTITUTE BLOCK EDUCATION GRANTS, WITHOUT FEDERAL STRINGS.
CONGRESS SHOULD REMOVE THE FEDERAL HANDCUFFS FROM
LOCAL EDUCATORS.
OLDER CITIZENS MUST BE PROTECTED FROM THE EXTORTIONS
OF GREAT SOCIETY INFLATION. THEY CANNOT WAIT WHILE WE
DEBATE
CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT, RETROACTIVE TO JANUARY FIRST,
AN 8 PERCENT INCREASE IN SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS. THIS
CAN BE DONE WITHOUT ANY INCREASE IN PAYROLL TAXES.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS WOULD RAISE THE TOTAL
GERALD
-9-
PAYROLL TAX TO MORE THAN 12 PERCENT, A HEAVY BURDEN ON
OUR YOUNGER CITIZENS.
OUR NEW DIRECTION WOULD INCREASE OUTSIDE EARNINGS
OF SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS. - -
ONE-THIRD OF THE NATION'S POOR ARE ELDERLY.
THEIR
SITUATION IS TRAGIC.
DURING TWO YEARS OF DEMOCRATIC
CONTROL, BASIC SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS HAVE FALLEN 7
PERCENTAGE POINTS BEHIND THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS RISE
AUTOMATICALLY WITH RISING PRICES. IT IS TIME WE TOOK
SOCIAL SECURITY OUT OF ELECTION-YEAR POLITICS.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
-10-
NEW DIRECTION IN THE POVERTY WAR REQUIRES:
--A TRUE OPPORTUNITY CRUSADE ENLISTING PRIVATE ENTER-
PRISE AND THE STATES.
--A HEAD START FOLLOW THROUGH IN THE EARLY GRADES.
--A HUMAN INVESTMENT ACT INDUCING EMPLOYERS TO EXPAND
JOBS FOR THE UNSKILLED.
--A HOME OWNERSHIP ACT FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES.
THE GREATEST POVERTY TODAY IS THE POVERTY OF REALISTIC
IDEAS AMONG POVERTY WAR GENERALS--AND SERGEANTS.
REPUBLICANS FAVOR SELECTING ALL POSTMASTERS ON MERIT
ALONE THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD BE TAKEN OUT FORD
OF POLITICS FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.
GERAL
LIBRARY
-11-
ISN'T IT IRONIC? WE WILL PROBABLY DELIVER A MAN TO
THE MOON BEFORE WE CAN properly QUICKLY DELIVER THE UNITED STATES
MAIL TO ITS CORRECT ADDRESS ON EARTH.
REPUBLICANS SUPPORT FAIR FARM PRICES IN THE MARKET
PLACE -NOT PRICE-DEPRESSING MANIPULATION FROM WASHINGTON.
THE MASS AND MAZE OF FEDERAL FARM LAWS MUST BE
SIMPLIFIED. ON THE FARM THERE'S ENOUGH TO DO IN A
24-HOUR DAY WITHOUT A LOAD OF FEDERAL PAPERWORK.
OUR UNSWERVING PURPOSE SHOULD BE TO STRENGTHEN FREE
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BETWEEN EQUALS--EREE FROM GOVERNMENT
MEDDLING.
A YEAR AGO THE PRESIDENT PROMISED NEW WAYS TO HANDLE
-12-
NATIONAL EMERGENCY STRIKES. EVEN THOUGH 1967 LOOMS AS
A YEAR OF LABOR-MANAGEMENT STRIFE, THE PRESIDENT HAS NOT
YET DELIVERED.
WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, CONGRESS SHOULD CHOOSE A
BALANCED COMMISSION OF EXPERTS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS
IN THIS CRITICAL AREA.
TO DO ITS JOB BETTER, CONGRESS ITSELF NEEDS NEW
DIRECTION. WE SHOULD ACT PROMPTLY ON BIPARTISAN
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONGRESSIONAL REORGANIZATION.
WE ALSO CALL FOR A STRONG HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE
PLUS AN INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE UNDER THE CONTROL OF
THE MINORITY.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-13-
WE MUST RESTORE THE PEOPLE'S CONFIDENCE IN THEIR
GOVERNMENT.
CONGRESS SHOULD RESCUE THE PRESIDENT'S YEAR-OLD
PLEDGE FOR A CLEAN ELECTIONS LAW. SUCH A LAW MUST BE
ON THE BOOKS BEFORE 1968.
LAST YEAR THE CONGRESS RUSHED THROUGH A LAW THAT
WOULD PROVIDE 60 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO POLITICAL
PARTIES FORTHE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. THIS SERIOUS
MISTAKE MUST BE REVERSED WITHOUT DELAY.
OUR ANTIQUATED ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM OF CHOOSING
THE PRESIDENT SHOULD BE CHANGED TO MAKE SURE THE PEOPLE'S
WILL PREVAILS.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-14-
WE ALSO WILL PROPOSE LEGISLATION REQUIRING TELEVISION
AND RADIO TO PROVIDE FREE AND EQUAL TREATMENT TO MAJOR
PARTY SPOKESMEN, NOT JUST IN CAMPAIGNS BUT ALL YEAR ROUND.
CRIME AND VIOLENCE, DISRESPECT FOR LAW AND AUTHORITY
ARE ON THE RISE. WE WELCOME THE PRESIDENT'S RECENT
RECOGNITION OF THIS ENLARGING CRISIS.
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE A "CITIZENS RIGHTS ACT." LET'S
MAKE IT A FEDERAL CRIME TO TRAVEL BETWEEN STATES WITH
THE INTENT TO INCITE RIOTS, AND ALSO PROTECT INDIVIDUALS
EXERCISING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
GERALE FORD LIBRARY
WIRETAPPING AND ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING WORRY ALL
AMERICANS WHO PRIZE THEIR PRIVACY. PROPERLY USED, THESE
-15-
ARE ESSENTIAL WEAPONS TO THOSE GUARDING OUR SECURITY AND
FIGHTING ORGANIZED CRIME.
THE CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT AND THE COURTS MUST
PROMPTLY DEFINE THE PERMISSIBLE LIMITS OF THEIR USE.
ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT MUST ATTACK THE SOCIAL
CAUSES OF CRIME, BUT OUR ACTIONS MUST NEVER BE BASED ON
THE THEORY THAT A CRIMINAL IS SOLELY THE PRODUCT OF HIS
ENVIRONMENT.
FEAR OF PUNISHMENT REMAINS AN IMPORTANT DETERRENT
TO CRIME.
GERALU
WE CALL UPON THE INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL BRANCH TO UPHOLD
THE RIGHTS OF THE LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN WITH THE SAME FERVOR
AS IT UPHOLDS THE RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED.
-16-
NOT AS REPUBLICANS BUT AS AMERICANS WE ARE GRAVELY
WORRIED ABOUT THE NATION'S SECURITY. THIS IS NOT A
PARTISAN ISSUE. THE CONFLICT IS PRIMARILY BETWEEN THE
ADMINISTRATION AND THE CONGRESS.
THE SHORT-RANGE MILITARY POLICIES AND THE LONG-RANGE
DEFENSE POSTURE OF THIS COUNTRY DEMAND SEARCHING
RE-EXAMINATION AND NEW DIRECTION.
WE RENEW OUR CALL FOR CONGRESS TO NAME A BLUE RIBBON
COMMISSION OF THE MOST ABLE AND INDEPENDENT AMERICANS
TO GET ON WITH THIS TASK.
CONGRESS CAN DO MORE:
--MODERNIZE OUR NAVY;
GERALO
--REBUILD THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE;
-17-
--PRODUCE LONG-DELAYED ADVANCED STRATEGIC BOMBERS AND
IMPROVED MANNED INTERCEPTORS;
-STRENGTHEN OUR RESERVE AND NATIONAL GUARD FORCES; AND
--ELIMINATE INEQUITIES IN THE DRAFT.
THE ADMINISTRATION HAS FINALLY ADMITTED TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE THAT THE SOVIET UNION HAS INCREASED ITS BALLISTIC
MISSILE CAPABILITY AND IS DEPLOYING ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILES.
ANTICIPATING A LIFE-AND-DEATH DECISION, CONGRESS LAST YEAR
VOTED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHICH THE ADMINISTRATION DID NOT
SEEK AND APPARENTLY HAS NOT USED.
BEFORE MORE PRECIOUS TIME IS LOST, THE PRESIDENT MUST
SPELL OUT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE PERILS AND PROBLEMS
FACING THE UNITED STATES IN THE NEW GLOBAL BALANCE OF
LIBRARY
STRATEGIC POWER.
-18-
suk
WE, TOO. WANT TO AVOID A COSTLY NEW ROUND IN THE
ARMS RACE. BUT THE LEAST THE NATION MUST DO NOW IS
SPEED UP ITS READINESS TO DEPLOY ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILES.
AMERICANS ARE DEVOTED TO THE CONCEPT OF CIVILIAN
CONTROL IN DEFENSE MATTERS. THIS HAS NEVER MEANT CIVILIAN
DISREGARD FOR PROFESSIONAL MILITARY JUDGMENT OR SUBSTITUTION
OF SOULLESS COMPUTERS FOR HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
THE FIRST PLACE TO CLOSE THE CREDIBILITY GAP IS AT
THE PENTAGON.
ALL AMERICANS JOIN IN THE PRESIDENT'S EARNEST HOPES
FOR AN HONORABLE PEACE AND FOOLPROOF DISARMAMENT. BUT
THEY ARE DEEPLY CONCERNED THAT THE COMMUNISTS ARE
GENALD FORD LIDRARY
INTENSIFYING BOTH THE HOT AND THE COLD WARS. WE MUST
PREVAIL IN THIS WORLDWIDE TEST OF WILLPOWER AND WEAPONRY.
-19-
NOTHING HAS HIGHER PRIORITY THAN THE SAFETY, STRENGTH
AND SURVIVAL OF THE UNITED STATES, OUR PEOPLE AND OUR
POSTERITY.
THERE WILL BE NO SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR THE SEVENTIES--
NO REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS--IF WE FAIL IN THIS SUPREME
TEST OF A NATION.
TO OUR PRESIDENT, WE OF THE LOYAL OPPOSITION SAY--IN
THE WORDS OF ANOTHER ANGUISHED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. &
"WITH FIRMNESS IN THE RIGHT, AS GOD GIVES US TO SEE
THE RIGHT, LET US STRIVE ON TO FINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN."
----END----
Collection: Ford Cong. Papers
Box: D21
Folder: Republican Appraisal of the state of the Union
Document ID: Sen. Dirksen's response
Date: January 19, 1967
Pages: 5
FOR THE SENATE:
FOR THE HOUSE
Everett M. Dirksen
THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
OF REPRESENTATIVES:
of Illinois
Gerald R. Ford
OF THE CONGRESS
of Michigan
Thomas H. Kuchel
of California
Leslie C. Arends
of Illinois
Bourke B. Hickenlooper
Press Release
Melvin R. Laird
of Iowa
of Wisconsin
Margaret Chase Smith
John J. Rhodes
of Maine
of Arizona
George Murphy
H. Allen Smith
of California
of California
Bob Wilson
PRESIDING:
of California
The National Chairman
Charles E. Goodell
Ray C. Bliss
of New York
FOR RELEASE 1:00 P.M. (EST), THURSDAY, JAN. 19, 1967
TO ALL NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, AND TV STATIONS
THE STATE OF THE UNION -- A REPUBLICAN APPRAISAL
Address of Senator Everett M. Dirksen
Minority Leader of the Senate
My Fellow-Americans:
The State of the Union -- that ie, the condition of our country -- what is
it as we stand on the threshhold of another year and another Congress? Last
week the President, as the Constitution requires, presented his view of the
State of the Union. It was an hour-and-ten-minute address. Tonight, we have
but 27 minutes for a comparable appraisal. Time, therefore, permits but the
briefest review of the matter. Mill Ford has, very effectively, assessed the
domestic State of the Union. Hence I shall speak only of our external relations
with the world.
Perhaps Shakespeare said it all with the words he placed in the mouth of
Macbeth. I paraphrase them slightly:
"We are in blood, stepp'd in so deep,
That should we wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go oe'r."
Our operations in Southeast Asia have provoked entreaties, demands, and
demonstrations to draw back, to retreat, to leave our commitments unfulfilled.
That would be an unthinkable course.
We promised to heed the Macedonian cry of a small weak nation against the
Red aggressors and their threats to her freedom and independence. That cry for
help came. We responded. At first our response was of a token nature. But it
has grown to become a vast, full-scale military and pacification operation. One
way or another, about 500,000 Americans are engaged. The cost in blood and
treasure has been enormous. Vietnam has become our third-largest war.
Room S-124 U.S. Capitol-(202) 225-3700
Consultant to the Leadership-John B. Fisher
2
The President was both realistic and candid in his comment in this regard
last week. He emphasized the probability of "more cost, more loss, more agony."
The General commanding our forces in Vietnam seeks more troops. That would
also mean more supplies, more weapons, more planes, and more of everything be-
fore the aggressor withdraws or the offer of negotiations is accepted. None of
these seem probable at the moment and the grim Four Horsemen continue to stalk
the land.
Is there an answer to this vexing problem other than the classical one of
enough troops, enough weapons, enough firepower to render the aggressor unable
to continue his nefarious intent and design? I wonder.
Have self-inspired fears of Soviet or Red China intervention dissuaded us
from a more vigorous effort on land, sea and in the air to bring this conflict
to an end, including stern measures to stop the inflow of supplies, food and
weapons from supposedly neutral nations? Let us make plain to the world that
we mean business! We are in this war to carry out our commitments To do less
would be to break our pledge. In this grim undertaking, a teaspoonful of gospel
is not enough. We must do all that is necessary until the freedom and inde-
pendence of Vietnam are assured.
I hope that in the weeks and months anead the dilemma of Vietnam will
stimulate the most thoughtful discussion possible among our people of all
political faiths As we search together for a solution to Vietnam let us demon-
strate to the world our unity of purpose in full, free and orderly discussion of
the best ways and means to achieve it.
War spawns many evils: swollen budgets, the dislocation of young manpower,
inflation, surly attitudes of other nations, restrictions on investment abroad, a
perishable prosperity, and the brooding danger that our economy may be forced
into the straitjacket of wage-and-price controls and perhaps higher taxes. And
the evils rising from the crucible of conflict will multiply. Small wonders that
the spirit of the nation is vexed and troubled!
We in the loyal opposition, with a primary accent on "loyal," while sup-
porting to the fullest our fighting forces in Vietnam, ask -- in fact, demand --
that this Administration not only reinforce its determination to bring this con-
flict to an end in the shortest possible time but that it also look beyond the
bombing and other violence of the conflict to where we shall stand and with whom
we shall sit when the conflict ceases. What thought has been given thus far,
3
not only to the exercise of far stronger military and diplomatic muscles as the
war goes on, but, to the making of an eventual peace? What policy will we be
asked then to support? Do we sit down at the conference table and bargain with
elements other than representatives of the duly constituted government in Hanoi?
To do so might mean that any agreements reached would disintegrate overnight and
no line of defense would any longer exist from Saigon to Singapore if such a peace
table surrender should occur. Foresight is the essence of leadership. We stand
in need of it as never before.
But Vietnam is not our only migraine. Elsewhere in the world, American
foreign policy and its conduct are coming, increasingly, into serious question.
In Latin America, the Alliance for Progress causes us now to wonder: Where is
the Alliance? Where is the Progress? The failures of economic and social reform
required, under Alliance agreement, of those Latin American nations receiving our
financial aid are all too visible.
In Africa, there is scarcely a country which has accepted our largess and
is eager to accept more that has not become embroiled in internal or unneighborly
conflicts that have resulted in a steady retreat from democracy and toward
dictatorship or Red-tinted rule.
In Europe, the Common Market holds neither hope nor promise for us. NATO
is withering on the vine. Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Forces has been
ordered out of France and has had to find refuge in Belgium. Aritain, because of
pressure on the pound sterling, has foreshortened her lines of defense, diminished
her troop strength and leaned ever more heavily upon us. West Germany is eying
the Communist markets in eastern Europe but does wish to retain our troops -- at
our expense. What strange bedfellows have developed in Europe -- after we have
taxed our people to keep them afloat!
To all this one can add the explosiveness of the Middle East; the discourage-
ment of American capital investment in India -- unless Hindus or the Indian
Government hold the controlling stock; the unpredictable attitudes of Laos,
Cambodia, Indonesia; the constant, and unrelenting attacks by Soviet leaders upon
our alleged imperialism.
There is virtue in the ancient admonition to "Be not weary in well-doing"
but it is an aggravating experience to have the recipients of our aid and
assistance bite the hand that seeks to help them.
4
Very pertinent now, because it will expire in June, is the Trade Expansion
Act of 1962, intended, as its name suggests, to enlarge our trade abroad. It
threatens, however, to do exactly the opposite. Well aware of the delicacy of
our international economic position, finance ministers and trade negotiators of
countless nations abroad have, for some months now, been horse-trading us out of
the protection our industry and agriculture must have and have been enticing us
down what begins to look like a rutted one-way street, especially as regards our
farm products. It will be for the Congress, before June, to take a hard look at
these proceedings, in the interest of American enterprise, the preservation of
American jobs, and the continuation of the European markets for our farm products.
The current Trade Negotiations in Geneva are very important to all segments
of our economy. Farmers should not be sold down the river in these Trade Nego-
tiations. We will look with disfavor on any agricultural commodity agreement or
arrangement that would limit our ability to export agricultural commodities as
a substitute for a truly reciprocal trade agreement program.
When to these alarms there is added the critical problem of our endangered
gold supply and the doubt now being expressed so often abroad as to the fiscal
and monetary stability of the United States -- never, for decades, hitherto
questioned! -- a clear, thorough and courageous evaluation of our foreign policy,
our trade policies, and our international fiscal and monetary policies is clearly
required. We call upon this Administration to agree to a bipartisan scrutiny
and study -- to begin now -- conducted jointly with participants from industry,
finance and agriculture.
As a point and base of beginning for such a study, let me now propose,
specifically, that a detailed examination be made of the possibility of forming
what I choose to call the Western Economic Union -- a Common Market of the nations
of the Western Hemisphere -- a structure for trade and mutual aid designed to
stimulate the production and exchange of industrial products and those of ag-
riculture in which protective barriers will not take the form of prohibitive and
self-defeating tariff walls but of economic policies of insurance against de-
pression and want and despair from Attu to Patagonia.
As regards the Middle East, let me also add the proposal that the United
States take the initiative in reconvening the conference of the Tripartite
Guarantee Powers, and that these Powers -- the United States, the United Kingdom,
and France -- use this new conference to reaffirm their "unalterable opposition
5
to the use of force or threat of force" in the Arab-Israel area and revive their
pledge to preserve the frontiers and armistice lines in the Middle East.
Of the President's plea and proposals for the "building of bridges" to the
East, it can be fairly asked whether it is truly intended that this East-West
trade bridge be a double-decker, capable of moving traffic in each direction or
whether it will, as has been so true in the past, become a structure for the con-
veying of our bounty and treasure to the unfriendly and uncooperative nations
without any value whatsoever received in return.
What justification can be cited for the Administration's persistent effort
to liberalize and extend terms tantamount to aid to the Soviet Union and com-
munist governments of Eastern Europe, while these nations are supplying most of
the guns and missiles that are killing American soldiers and shooting down Ameri-
can planes in Southeast Asia?
The answer to all of this is a clear one: more attention to the conservatic
of our own strength and resources and less to those nations of the world who re-
gard us as an amiable, vulnerable, jolly Santa Claus who can be slurred at will
and cuffed with impunity. The international bank of good-will shows a mounting
deficit where our external relations are concerned.
How truly "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." As our problems multiply
and our worries increase, the responsibility of the Executive Leadership becomes
ever the greater. So, too, the responsibility of the Republicans in loyal op-
position becomes ever more meaningful. As we Republicans assess the present
State of the Union and appraise the progress that we know can be ours, we refuse,
despite the heat and burden which world affairs impose, to be dismayed or to
despair. We refuse, indeed, as we look to the Seventies, to be weary in "well-
doing". but we are determined that our well-doing shall, to a greater degree, be
directed toward the well-being of the American family and the American nation.
We realize full well that we are not only in this world but of it. For the
beneficences we have :howered on this world we deserve something more than the
ungrateful cry of "Yanqui, go home".
To this necessary end -- with positive proposals we shall offer the nation
-- and to this high purpose the Republican Leadership and the Republican Party
now commit themselves with a whole heart.
FOR THE SENATE:
FOR THE HOUSE
THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Everett M. Dirksen
of Illinois
OF THE CONGRESS
Gerald R. Ford
of Michigan
Thomas H. Kuchel
of California
Leslie C. Arends
of Illinois
Bourke B. Hickenlooper
of Iowa
Press Release
Melvin R. Laird
of Wisconsin
Margaret Chase Smith
of Maine
John J. Rhodes
of Arizona
George Murphy
of California
H. Allen Smith
of California
Bob Wilson
PRESIDING:
of California
The National Chairman
Charles E. Goodell
Ray C. Bliss
of New York
FOR RELEASE 1:00 P.M. (EST), THURSDAY, JAN. 19, 1967
TO ALL NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, AND TV STATIONS
THE STATE OF THE UNION -- A REPUBLICAN APPRAISAL
Address of Senator Everett M. Dirksen
Minority Leader of the Senate
My Fellow-Americans:
The State of the Union -- that is, the condition of our country -- what is
it as we stand on the threshhold of another year and another Congress? Last
week the President, as the Constitution requires, presented his view of the
State of the Union. It was an hour-and-ten-minute address. Tonight, we have
but 27 minutes for a comparable appraisal. Time, therefore, permits but the
briefest review of the matter. Mr. Ford has, very effectively, assessed the
domestic State of the Union. Hence I shall speak only of our external relations
with the world.
Perhaps Shakespeare said it all with the words he placed in the mouth of
Macbeth. I paraphrase them slightly:
"We are in blood, stepp'd in SO deep,
That should we wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go oe'r."
Our operations in Southeast Asia have provoked entreaties, demands, and
demonstrations to draw back, to retreat, to leave our commitments unfulfilled.
That would be an unthinkable course.
We promised to heed the Macedonian cry of a small weak nation against the
Red aggressors and their threats to her freedom and independence. That cry for
help came. We responded. At first our response was of a token nature. But it
has grown to become a vast, full-scale military and pacification operation. One
way or another, about 500,000 Americans are engaged. The cost in blood and
treasure has been enormous. Vietnam has become our third-largest war.
Room S-124 U.S. Capitol-(202) 225-3700
Consultant to the Leadership-John B. Fisher
2
The President was both realistic and candid in his comment in this regard
last week. He emphasized the probability of "more cost, more loss, more agony."
The General commanding our forces in Vietnam seeks more troops. That would
also mean more supplies, more weapons, more planes, and more of everything be-
fore the aggressor withdraws or the offer of negotiations is accepted. None of
these seem probable at the moment and the grim Four Horsemen continue to stalk
the land.
Is there an answer to this vexing problem other than the casssical one of
enough troops, enough weapons, enough firepower to render the aggressor unable
to continue his nefarious intent and design? I wonder.
Have self-inspired fears of Soviet or Red China intervention dissuaded us
from a more vigorous effort on land, sea and in the air to bring this conflict
to an end, including stern measures to stop the inflow of supplies, food and
weapons from supposedly neutral nations? Let us male plain to the world that
we mean business! We are in this war to carry out our commitments To do less
would be to break our pledge. In this grim undertaking, a teaspoonful of gospel
is not enough. We must do all that is necessary until the freedom and inde-
pendence of Vietnam are assured.
I hope that in the weeks and months anead the dilemma of Vietnam will
stimulate the most thoughtful discussion possible among our people of all
political faiths As we search together for a solution to Vietnam let us demon-
strate to the world our unity of purpose in full, free and orderly discussion of
the best ways and means to achieve it.
War spawns many evils: swollen budgets, the dislocation of young manpower,
inflation, surly attitudes of other nations, restrictions on investment abroad, a
perishable prosperity, and the brooding danger that our economy may be forced
into the straitjacket of wage-and-price controls and perhaps higher taxes. And
the evils rising from the crucible of conflict will multiply. Small wonders that
the spirit of the nation is vexed and troubled!
We in the loyal opposition, with a primary accent on "loyal," while sup-
porting to the fullest our fighting forces in Vietnam, ask -- in fact, demand --
that this Administration not only reinforce its determination to bring this con-
flict to an end in the shortest possible time but that it also look beyond the
bombing and other violence of the conflict to where we shall stand and with whom
we shall sit when the conflict ceases. What thought has been given thus far,
3
not only to the exercise of far stronger military and diplomatic muscles as the
war goes on, but, to the making of an eventual peace? What policy will we be
asked then to support? Do we sit down at the conference table and bargain with
elements other than representatives of the duly constituted government in Hanoi?
To do so might mean that any agreements reached would disintegrate overnight and
no line of defense would any longer exist from Saigon to Singapore if such a peace
table surrender should occur. Foresight is the essence of leadership. We stand
in need of it as never before.
But Vietnam is not our only migraine. Elsewhere in the world, American
foreign policy and its conduct are coming, increasingly, into serious question.
In Latin America, the Alliance for Progress causes us now to wonder: Where is
the Alliance? Where is the Progress? The failures of economic and social reform
required, under Alliance agreement, of those Latin American nations receiving our
financial aid are all too visible.
In Africa, there is scarcely a country which has accepted our largess and
is eager to accept more that has not become embroiled in internal or unneighborly
conflicts that have resulted in a steady retreat from democracy and toward
dictatorship or Red-tinted rule.
In Europe, the Common Market holds neither hope nor promise for us. NATO
is withering on the vine. Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Forces has been
ordered out of France and has had to find refuge in Belgium. Aritain, because of
pressure on the pound sterling, has foreshortened her lines of defense, diminished
her troop strength and leaned ever more heavily upon us. West Germany is eying
the Communist markets in eastern Europe but does wish to retain our troops -- at
our expense. What strange bedfellows have developed in Europe -- after we have
taxed our people to keep them afloat!
To all this one can add the explosiveness of the Middle East; the discourage-
ment of American capital investment in India -- unless Hindus or the Indian
Government hold the controlling stock; the unpredictable attitudes of Laos,
Cambodia, Indonesia; the constant, and unrelenting attacks by Soviet leaders upon
our alleged imperialism.
There is virtue in the ancient admonition to "Be not weary in well-doing"
but it is an aggravating experience to have the recipients of our aid and
assistance bite the hand that seeks to help them.
4
Very pertinent now, because it will expire in June, is the Trade Expansion
Act of 1962, intended, as its name suggests, to enlarge our trade abroad. It
threatens, however, to do exactly the opposite. Well aware of the delicacy of
our international economic position, finance ministers and trade negotiators of
countless nations abroad have, for some months now, been horse-trading us out of
the protection our industry and agriculture must have and have been enticing us
down what begins to look like a rutted one-way street, especially as regards our
farm products. It will be for the Congress, before June, to take a hard look at
these proceedings, in the interest of American enterprise, the preservation of
American jobs, and the continuation of the European markets for our farm products.
The current Trade Negotiations in Geneva are very important to all segments
of our economy. Farmers should not be sold down the river in these Trade Nego-
tiations. We will look with disfavor on any agricultural commodity agreement or
arrangement that would limit our ability to export agricultural commodities as
a substitute for a truly reciprocal trade agreement program.
When to these alarms there is added the critical problem of our endangered
gold supply and the doubt now being expressed so often abroad as to the fiscal
and monetary stability of the United States -- never, for decades, hitherto
questioned! -- a clear, thorough and courageous evaluation of our foreign policy,
our trade policies, and our international fiscal and monetary policies is clearly
required. We call upon this Administration to agree to a bipartisan scrutiny
and study -- to begin now -- conducted jointly with participants from industry,
finance and agriculture.
As a point and base of beginning for such a study, let me now propose,
specifically, that a detailed examination be made of the possibility of forming
what I choose to call the Western Economic Union -- a Common Market of the nations
of the Western Hemisphere -- a structure for trade and mutual aid designed to
stimulate the production and exchange of industrial products and those of ag-
riculture in which protective barriers will not take the form of prohibitive and
self-defeating tariff walls but of economic policies of insurance against de-
pression and want and despair from Attu to Patagonia.
As regards the Middle East, let me also add the proposal that the United
States take the initiative in reconvening the conference of the Tripartite
Guarantee Powers, and that these Powers -- the United States, the United Kingdom,
and France -- use this new conference to reaffirm their "unalterable opposition
5
to the use of force or threat of force" in the Arab-Israel area and revive their
pledge to preserve the frontiers and armistice lines in the Middle East.
Of the President's plea and proposals for the "building of bridges" to the
East, it can be fairly asked whether it is truly intended that this East-West
trade bridge be a double-decker, capable of moving traffic in each direction or
whether it will, as has been so true in the past, become a structure for the con-
veying of our bounty and treasure to the unfriendly and uncooperative nations
without any value whatsoever received in return.
What justification can be cited for the Administration's persistent effort
to liberalize and extend terms tantamount to aid to the Soviet Union and com-
munist governments of Eastern Europe, while these nations are supplying most of
the guns and missiles that are killing American soldiers and shooting down. Ameri-
can planes in Southeast Asia?
The answer to all of this is a clear one: more attention to the conservation
of our own strength and resources and less to those nations of the world who re-
gard us as an amiable, vulnerable, jolly Santa Claus who can be slurred at will
and cuffed with impunity. The international bank of good-will shows a mounting
deficit where our external relations are concerned.
How truly "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." As our problems multiply
and our worries increase, the responsibility of the Executive Leadership becomes
ever the greater. So, too, the responsibility of the Republicans in loyal op-
position becomes ever more meaningful. As we Republicans assess the present
State of the Union and appraise the progress that we know can be ours, we refuse
despite the heat and burden which world affairs impose, to be dismayed or to
despair. We refuse, indeed, as we look to the Seventies, to be weary in "well-
doing". but we are determined that our well-doing shall, to a greater degree, be
directed toward the well-being of the American family and the American nation.
We realize full well that we are not only in this world but of it. For the
beneficences we have showered on this world we deserve something more than the
ungrateful cry of "Yanqui, go home".
To this necessary end -- with positive proposals we shall offer the nation
-- and to this high purpose the Republican Leadership and the Republican Party
now commit themselves with a whole heart.
Collection: Ford Cong. Papers
Box: D21
Folder: Republican Appraisal of the State of the Union
Document ID: Cong. Ford's response
Date: January 19, 1967
Pages: 10
FOR THE SENATE:
FOR THE HOUSE
Everett M. Dirksen
THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
OF REPRESENTATIVES:
of Illinois
Gerald R. Ford
OF THE CONGRESS
of Michigan
Thomas H. Kuchel
of California
Leslie C. Arends
of Illinois
Bourke B. Hickenlooper
of Iowa
Press Release
Melvin R. Laird
of Wisconsin
Margaret Chase Smith
of Maine
John J. Rhodes
of Arizona
George Murphy
of California
H. Allen Smith
of California
Bob Wilson
PRESIDING:
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY, EXPECTED
of California
The National Chairman
ABOUT 9:30 P.M. (EST), THURSDAY, JAN. 19, 1967
Charles E. Goodell
Ray C. Bliss
TO ALL NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, AND TV STATIONS
of New York
CAUTION: There should be no premature release of this Message by the
Republican Leaders of the Congress, nor should its contents be paraphrased,
alluded to or hinted at in earlier stories. There is a total embargo on
this Message until released, which includes any and all reference to any
material in this message.
THE STATE OF THE UNION - A REPUBLICAN APPRAISAL
Address of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.)
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
Again we gather in this historic chamber, conscious of the invisible
presence of great leaders of the past. This year we are reinforced by the
visible presence of new leaders of the future. We welcome enthusiastically the
64 new Republican Senators and Representatives of the 90th Congress.
(NEW MEMBERS RISE)
Senator Dirksen and I are here to give a Republican Appraisal of the
State of the Union
November 8. the citizens of America voted on the State of the Union.
Their message came through loud and clear--a ringing vote for vigorous
two-party government. It was a blunt demand for honesty and candor in public
affairs. The Credibility Gap must
We rejoice in the mandate-- a New Direction for America.
No era in our history began with higher hopes than the 1960's. We had
bound up the Nation's wounds. We were blessed with eight years of strength,
peace and progress under President Eisenhower.
As the decade dawned, all Americans were stirred by the words, "Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
The years have slipped by and now Americans in 1967 see the decade that
dawned in hope fading into frustration and failure, bafflement and boredom.
The President said that the election returns did not mean that people
want progress to stop.
We agree.
They want progress to START--now!
Room S-124 U.S. Capitol-(202) 225-3700
Consultant to the Leadership-John B. Fisher
For every problem of the Sixties, this Administration has revived tired
theories of the Thirties.
For the past two years, positive and practical Republican programs have
been largely ignored.
Things will be different in the next two years!
We won the first round in the House of Representatives, 364 to 64, with
three-quarters of the Democrats following our unanimous Republican lead.
We will win more--many more!
NEW DIRECTION, NOT COALITION
Cynics may call every Republican victory in this Congress a coalition.
Let's meet that issue head-on, right now.
By definition, coalition requires advance consultation and ultimate
compromise of conviction to win a legislative victory.
Republicans will make no such deals.
Republicans will give leadership to the dynamic and Constructive Center
in Congress.
We welcome every Democratic vote for positive Republican programs that will
give New Direction to our Nation.
We will press for creative Republican action. When New Direction demands
it, we will say "No" to the old Democratic failures.
Our "No" will be particularly emphatic if we are asked to slow down
progress toward the equality that is the right of every American.
Never forget, the Republican Party came into being to make real the belief
that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable
rights. It is disheartening to see evidence that the Administration is lowering
the priority given to these matters in the 90th Conress.
SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR THE SEVENTIES
As we look to the years ahead, Republicans see a program of Sensible
Solutions for the Seventies.
That program must begin in 1967.
First priority-the growth and prosperity of our economy.
There are ominous signs of an economic slowdown this year. Unless our
course is redirected decisively, we may well face the paradox of a recession
with both increased inflation and increased taxation.
The Investment Tax Credit must be restored immediately.
FORD
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An honest federal budget is imperative. If the Congress is to assess the
needs of our economy intelligently, the Administration must not repeat its tragic
error of presenting a budget of evasion, manipulation and gimmickry. This budget
underestimated expenditures by at least $14 billion, over $4 billion of which was
non-military.
Congress should immediately repeal the Participation Sales Act, which
conceals and distorts the true budgetary situation.
When we know how much is needed for national security, the Congress can
then make certain that essential domestic programs are adequately funded. Low-
priority programs, desirable as they may be, must be postponed. We assure the
President tenight that Republicans will move to cut non-essential spending--even
if he doesn't.
In addition, billions of dollars approved by Congress in the past remain
unspent. This Congress must take a hard look at those funds. We propose a
Reseission Bill, withdrawing the President's authority to obligate and spend
such funds that cannot meet the test of prudence of the new Congress.
The President belatedly promised to cut $3 billien from expenditures by
the end of June. He should spell out for the American people where these
reductions have been made--if they have been made.
With such uncertainties, the President has not made a convincing case
for his tax increase.
STATE AND LOCAL RESPONSIBILITIES -- TAX SHARING
One of the most significant results of the 1966 elections was the people's
choice of 23 new Republican governors, and more than 700 new state legislators.
This reflects not only confidence in our party and its fine candidates
but also faith in state government itself.
Republicans have faith in the constitutional concept of Federalism, which
requires strong and vigorous state as well as national action on a variety of
problems. Yet, seen through the Democrats' rear-view mirror of the Thirties,
everything can be cured by Federal dictation and Federal funds, doled out through
grants-in-aid which keep Washington as the manipulator of all strings.
There are now over 400 Federal aid appropriations for 170 separate aid
programs, administered by a total of 21 Federal Departments and agencies, 150
Washington bureaus and 400 regional offices, each with its own way of passing
out Federal tax dollars.
Federal aid to states and municipalities through this tangled thicket
increased from $1 billion in 1946 to about $15 billion this year.
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Republicans reiterate their support for a system of tax sharing to return
to the states and local governments a fixed percentage of personal income taxes
without Federal control. This system would promote a swift improvement in
education, law enforcement, community development, mass transit, and other
essentially local problems.
Smog is replacing the weather as the No. 1 topic of conversation, but
no two cities have identical problems. Cities are far more diversified than
states. They have one common denominator--their problems multiply as people
move to the suburbs. This exodus leaves less revenue to meet more problems.
Tax sharing would restore the needed vitality and diversity to our Federal
system. Revenue sharing could also be accomplished with tax credits.
Many effective measures to improve agriculture originated with the National
Commission on Rural Life, established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Republicans propose a National Committee on Urban Living be created without delay.
An exaggerated example of urban problems is our own national capital. Yet
a swarm of Federal experts is telling the cities how to cure their ills while the
only Federal city in our Nation is a disgrace.
Republicans believe Washington, D. C., should be made a "model city" for
demonstration projects and new initiatives in urban progress.
EDUCATION
Higher education and vocational education acts bear strong Republican
imprints.
We will continue our efforts to provide assistance to those who bear
the rising cost of higher education through tax credits.
The Elementary and Secondary Act, however, at minimum requires substantial
revision to simplify forms, reduce excessive paperwork and eliminate the heavy-
handed Federal intrusions. All pre-school and early-school problems should be
consolidated in the Office of Education. Republicans trust local school boards
to formulate policy and set priorities far more than we trust bureaucrats in
Washington.
Congress should take the Federal handcuffs off our local educators. The
best way to do this is by tax sharing and tax credits. If the Democrats, who
control Congress, refuse to consider tax sharing legislation, Republicans will
seek to substitute block education grants, without Federal earmarking or controls.
We will propose new approaches to reinforce the vitality and diversity
that is the genius of our educational system. It is in the school that the
doors of opportunity open to all American children. We shall not deny them the
best that can be given.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
President Johnson proposed Social Security changes that it is estimated
would cost the equivalent of a 1.6 percent Social Security payroll tax increase.
At the present tax base, this would ultimately raise the total Social
Security payroll tax to 12.15 percent. The Social Security trust fund must be kept
sound. Greater benefits normally involve greater taxes, particularly burdensome
to our younger citizens.
As in the past, Republicans now favor an increase in permitted earnings
by Social Security recipients. Present earning limitations reflect the
depression mentality of the Thirties and make no sense for the Seventies.
Widows benefits and minimum benefits must be brought into line with today's
inflated living costs. Those still uncovered should, as soon as possible, be
blanketed into the Social Security system at least by age 72.
Our older citizens must be protected from the extortions of Great Society
inflation. They can't wait while we debate.
Congress should enact, retroactive to January 1, an 8 percent increase
in Social Security benefits. These increased benefits can be achieved without
any tax increase.
About 1/3 of the nation's poor are elderly citizens. Their situation is
tragic and desperate. The Poverty War has passed them by.
In the past two years of Democratic control, basic Social Security
benefits have fallen 7 percentage points behind the consumer price index.
Republicans propose Social Security benefits rise automatically with
rising prices. It is time we took Social Security out of election-year politics.
VETERANS
Republicans believe those called upon to sacrifice in Southeast Asia
should be treated equally with other veterans. All veterans, war widows and their
dependents should be protected from skyrocketing inflation by increased benefits.
POVERTY
The greatest poverty in this country today is the poverty of realistic
ideas among Poverty War generals--and sergeants. Sensible Republican proposals
have been rejected arbitrarily.
Republicans will continue to press for total revamping and redirection
of the Poverty War. We want an Opportunity Crusade that will enlist private
enterprise and the states as effective partners of the Federal Government in
this fight. We would give the children of poverty the very highest priority they
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deserve. As Republicans have urged for two years, Head Start requires follow-
through in the early grades.
We propose a new Industry Youth Corps to provide private, productive
employment and training on the job.
We propose the Republican Human Investment Act to induce employers to
expand job opportunities for the unskilled.
We propose to enlarge the opportunities of low-income Americans for
private home ownership.
All Americans demand a thorough airing of poverty administration, poverty
publicity and poverty politics.
GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
The need for streamlining the national government has become even more
urgent since we recommended a new Hoover-type commission a year ago. The
President's only specific proposal for reorganization--to combine the Departments
of Labor and Commerce--merely scratches the surface.
We believe the Post Office Department should be taken out of politics
from top to bottom. Republicans favor selecting all Postmasters on merit alone.
What irony--we will probably deliver a man to the Moon before we can
consistently deliver the United States Mail to its correct address on Earth.
The colossal Department of Agriculture is another executive agency that
needs reform. Republicans will continue to support the concept of fair farm
prices in the market place, without price-depressing manipulation by bureaucrats.
The mass and maze of federal farm laws, rules, regulations and forms must be
simplified. Every farmer knows there's enough to do in every 24-hour day on the
farm without a load of federal paperwork. We applaud efforts to create more parks
and seashores and will give special emphasis to the preservation of jobs and
community stability.
LABOR-MANAGEMENT LAWS
A year ago President Johnson promised Congress he would soon propose new
ways to handle national emergency strikes. In the interval he has made no
proposals whatsoever. Incredibly, he never mentioned it in his latest State of
the Union Message.
Without waiting further, Congress should choose a balanced commission of
experts to make recommendations in this complex and sensitive area.
Our unswerving purpose should be to strengthen free collective bargaining
between equals, without unnecessary government meddling. Congress should under-
take, without delay, a full review of labor-management laws and the operations
of the National Labor Relations Board.
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It is unfair to both labor and management for Congress to legislate
blindly in an atmosphere of crisis.
CONGRESSIONAL, CAMPAIGN, AND ELECTION REFORMS
To do our job better, Congress should act promptly on the bipartisan
recommendations for congressional reorganization endorsed last session by our
House Republican Policy Committee, but pigeon-holed by the Democratic majority.
We call for a strong House Ethics Committee and an investigating committee
under the control of the minority.
Such reforms would restore the people's confidence in Congress and their
Government.
Congress must also move ahead on the President's year-old pledge for a
Clean Elections Law. Such a law must be in force before 1968.
This Clean Elections Law should guarantee full and accurate reporting of
political contributions and expenditures in support of national candidates and
put an end to abuses in campaign finance. Legislation also is needed to
encourage an increased flow of small contributions. Republicans are proud that
69 percent of our contributions in the last Presidential campaign were in sums
of less than $100.
Last year the Congress unwisely rushed through a bill which would provide
as much as 60 million taxpayers' dollars to political parties for the 1968
campaign. This serious mistake should be reversed without delay.
Instead, the Congress would be wise to permit contributors an income tax
deduction for political contributions up to $100.
Our antiquated Electoral College system of choosing the President should
be changed to make sure the people's will prevails.
In planning for the 1968 Presidential campaign and elections, the
Congress must come to grips with the foremost factor in political competition
today--a factor unknown when present laws were written--television.
The biggest single campaign expense for any national candidate today is
television time. Television brings the national political debate into every
American home. Yet no really thorough study has been made of the public's
interest in television as a political medium. Television channels, of
necessity limited in number, really belong to all the people.
They should not be at the service of the highest bidder or the party
in power. They cannot be regulated solely by the conscience or convictions of
network executives and their most popular television faces.
An illogical federal law now operates to prevent television and radio
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stations from granting time without charge to major party candidates without
making equal time available to a host of minor party candidates. We
unequivocally favor nationally televised debates between future Presidential
contenders.
We propose legislation requiring television and radio to provide
free and equal treatment to major parties and their spokesmen not only in
future campaigns, but also for the presentation of divergent political
views throughout the periods between formal campaigning.
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
Crime and violence, disregard of law and disrespect for authority,
immorality and irresponsibility are on the rise. We welcome the President's
recent recognition of this enlarging crisis.
Republicans in the last Congress authored legislation which created a
National Commission for the Revision and Reform of Criminal Laws, a major step
forward.
The House also adopted last year, although it died in the Senate, a
proposal which Republicans will renew this session in a "Citizens Rights Act of
1967." The Act would make it a crime to travel from one state to another with
an intent to incite riots. It would also protect individuals in the exercise
of their constitutional rights.
Wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping worry all Americans who prize
their privacy. Properly used, these are essential weapons to those who guard
our Nation's security and wage ceaseless war against organized crime.
The Congress, the President and the Courts must promptly spell out the
permissible limits of their use.
At all levels of government a massive effort should be made to reduce
crime by attacking some of its basic causes: poverty, slums, inadequate educa-
tion and discrimination. However, our laws and actions should never be based
on the theory that a criminal is solely the product of his environment.
Fear of punishment remains an important deterrent to crime.
We call upon the independent Judicial Branch of our Government to uphold
the rights of the law-abiding citizen with the same fervor as it upholds the
rights of the accused.
Most Americans will resist any trend toward the establishment of a
national police force or the unwarranted intrusion of Federal power into local
law enforcement. Yet, there is a proper place for Federal assistance and
leadership.
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Within the Federal correctional system, the Work Release Program and other
enlightened prisoner rehabilitation projects must be designed and expanded to
reduce the number of second-time offenders.
The primary responsibility for law enforcement must remain with the states
and local authorities. In the last analysis, public safety depends upon the
courage and character of the policeman patrolling his beat. The Federal Govern-
ment can properly help in making law enforcement a more attractive and
professional career.
A National Law Enforcement Institute, similar to the successful National
Institutes of Health, should be established for research and training and for
the dissemination of the latest techniques in police science.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Not as Republicans but as Americans we are gravely worried about the
Nation's security. This is not a partisan issue. The conflict is primarily
between the Administration and the Congress.
The short-range military policies and the long-range defense posture of
this country urgently demand searching re-examination and New Direction.
Nothing in the President's State of the Union Message lessened our deep concern
in this all-important area.
Our strategic thinking of the 1970's and beyond, the timely planning and
production of advanced weapons systems, and the prudent management of our total
national defense capabilities have become stalled on a dead-end street.
Republicans renew, with even greater urgency, our call for a Blue Ribbon
Commission of the most able and independent Americans Congress can choose to
get on with this job.
Within its Constitutional responsibility, Congress can do more.
We must take prompt action to modernize our Navy, increase our superiority
in nuclear propulsion, and counter the growing threat of missile-carrying
enemy submarines.
We must take prompt steps to rebuild the American Merchant Marine, already
shrunken to one-fifth its former size, and regain our lost lead over the Soviet
Union in modern shipbuilding. Shockingly, the U.S. is no longer a major maritime
power. The Maritime Administration must be upgraded as an independent agency.
We must proceed at top speed with the development of long-delayed Advanced
Manned Strategic Bombers and Improved Manned Interceptors.
We must strengthen our Reserve and National Guard forces and eliminate
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inequities in the Draft. Our defense posture should be tailored to our global
commi tments.
The Administration has finally admitted to the American people that the
Soviet Union has increased its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capability and
is deploying an Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System. In anticipation of a
life-and-death decision on just such a development, Congress has voted millions
of dollars which the Administration did not seek and apparently has not used.
The Congress did its duty and gave the President a clear expression of
its will and the means to carry it out.
Before more precious time is lost, Congress and the American people are
now entitled to a clear explanation from the President of the perils and problems
facing the United States in the new global balance of strategic power.
We, too, seek to avoid a costly new round in the nuclear arms race. But
the least the Nation must do now is speed up its readiness to deploy Anti-
Ballistic Missiles in a hurry if our survival requires it.
Americans are properly devoted to the concept of civilian control in
defense matters. This civilian control never before has meant consistent civilian
disregard for professional military judgment, intimidation of dissenters and
substitution of soulless computers for human experience.
The first place to close the Credibility Gap is at the Pentagon.
All Americans join in the President's earnest hopes for an honorable peace
and foolproof disarmament. But they are deeply concerned that the Communists
even now are intensifying both the hot and the cold wars. We must prevail in
this worldwide test of willpower and weaponry.
Nothing has higher priority, in our judgment, than the safety, strength
and survival of the United States of America, our people and our posterity.
There will be no Sensible Solutions for the Seventies, no Republicans or
Democrats, if we fail in this supreme test of a nation.
To our President, we of the Loyal Oppostion say--in the words of another
anguished commander-in-chief. *
"With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us
strive on to finish the work we are in."
# # #
*
Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address
.notisxej bns noticital besessont distod djiw
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935
FOR THE SENATE:
FOR THE HOUSE
Everett M. Dirksen
THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
vists themat 09701891 teum there XET 1090 OF REPRESENTATIVES:
of Illinois
Gerald R. Ford
OF THE CONGRESS
of Michigan
Thomas H. Kuchel
(MAN)
of California
Leslie C. Arends
of Illinois
Bourke B. Hickenlooper
Press Release
Melvin R. Laird
of Iowa
of Wisconsin
Margaret Chase Smith
John Rhodes
of Maine
of Arizona
George Murphy
H. Allen Smith
of California
of California
Bob Wilson
PRESIDING:
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY, EXPECTED
of California
ABOUT 9:30 P.M. (EST) , THURSDAY JAN. 19, 1967
The National Chairman
Charles E. Goodell
Ray C. Bliss
TO ALL NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, AND TV STATIONS
of New York
CAUTION: There should be no premature release of this Message by the
Republican Leaders of the Congress, nor should its contents be paraphrased,
alluded to or hinted at in earlier stories. There is a total embargo on
this Message until released, which includes any and all reference to any
material in this message.
THE STATE OF THE UNION -- A REPUBLICAN APPRAISAL
Address of Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.) such
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
Again we gather in this histeric chamber, conscious of the invisible
presence of great leaders of the past. This year we are reinforced by the
visible presence of new leaders of the future We welcome enthusiastically the
64 new Republican Senators and Representatives of the 90th Congress.
(NEW MEMBERS RISE)
Senator Dirksen and I are here to give a Republican Appraisal of the
State of the Union
November 8, the citizens of America voted on the State of the Union
Their message came through loud and clear: a ringing vote for vigorous
two-party government. It was a blunt demand for honesty and candor in public
affairs.
The Credibility Gap must go!
We rejoice in the mandate a New Direction for America.
No era in our history began with higher hopes than the 1960 S. We had
bound up the Nation's wounds. We were blessed with eight years of strength,
peace and progress under President Eisenhower.
As the decade dawned, all Americans were stirred by the words, "Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
The years have slipped by and now Americans in 1967 see the decade that
dawned in hope fading into frustration and failure, bafflement and boredom.
The President said that the election returns did not mean that people
936
want progress to stop.
We agree.
They want progress to START--now!
ad
Room S-124 U.S. Capitol-(202) 225-3700
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Consultant to the Leadership-John B. Fisher
(ЗЯОМ)
For every problem of the Sixties, this Administration has revived tired
theories of the Thirties.
For the past two years, positive and practical Republican programs have
been largely ignored.
Things will be different in the next two years!
We won the first round in the House of Representatives, 364 to 64, with
or
three-quarters of the Democrats following our unanimous Republican lead.
We
will
win
more
many
more!
Ilano
NEW DIRECTION, NOT COALITION
Cynics may call every Republican victory in this Congress a coalition.
Let's meet that issue head-on, right now.
By definition, coalition requires advance consultation and ultimate
compromise of conviction to win a legislative victory.
Republicans will make no such deals, Administration
Republicans will give leadership to the dynamic and Constructive Center
in
Congress
the
been We welcome every Democratic vote for positive Republican programs that will
give New Direction to our Nation
We will press for creative Republican tactions When New Direction demands
it, we will say 'No! to the old Democratic luresto
Our will be particularly emphatic if we are asked to slow down
progress toward the equality that is the right of every American.
NOT
Never forget, the Republican Party came into being to make real the belief
that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable
rights. It is disheartening to see evidence that the Administration is lowering
the priority given to these matters in the 90th Conress. simate based
of
conviction
to
SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR THE SEVENTIES
Jon
As we look to the years ahead, Republicans see a program of Sensible
the
dynam
Solutions for the Seventies.
In
That program must begin in 1967.
First priority-the growth and prosperity of our economy.
to
There are ominous signs of an economic slowdown this year. Unless our
will
course is redirected decisively, we may well face the paradox of a recession
Democratic
with both increased inflation and increased taxation.
Our
No
The Investment Tax Credit must be restored immediately.
progress toward the equality that is the right of American.
Never forget, the (MORE) to the belief
that 59
-3-
An honest federal budget is imperative. If the Congress is to assess the
needs of our economy intelligently, the Administration must not repeat its tragic
error of presenting a budget of evasion, manipulation and gimmickry. This budget
underestimated expenditures by at least $14 billion, over $4 billion of which was
non-military.
Congress should immediately repeal the Participation Sales Act, which
conceals and distorts the true budgetary situation.
When we know how much is needed for national security, the Congress can
then make certain that essential domestic programs are adequately funded. Low-
priority programs, desirable as they may be, must be postponed. We assure the
President tonight that Republicans will move to cut non-essential spending--even
if he doesn't.
In addition, billions of dollars approved by Congress in the past remain
unspent. This Congress must take a hard look at those funds. We propose a
Rescission Bill, withdrawing the President's authority to obligate and spend
such funds that cannot meet the test of prudence of the new Congress.
The President belatedly promised to cut $3 billion from expenditures by
the end of June. He should spell out for the American people where these
reductions have been made--if they have been made.
With such uncertainties, the President has not made a convincing case
for his tax increase.
STATE AND LOCAL RESPONSIBILITIES -- TAX SHARING
One of the most significant results of the 1966 elections was the people's
choice of 23 new Republican governors, and more than 700 new state legislators.
This reflects not only confidence in our party and its fine candidates
but also faith in state government itself.
Republicans have faith in the constitutional concept of Federalism, which
requires strong and vigorous state as well as national action on a variety of
problems. Yet, seen through the Democrats' rear-view mirror of the Thirties,
everything can be cured by Federal dictation and Federal funds, doled out through
grants-in-aid which keep Washington as the manipulator of all strings.
There are now over 400 Federal aid appropriations for 170 separate aid
programs, administered by a total of 21 Federal Departments and agencies, 150
Washington bureaus and 400 regional offices, each with its own way of passing
out Federal tax dollars.
Federal aid to states and municipalities through this tangled thicket
increased from $1 billion in 1946 to about $15 billion this year.
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Republicans reiterate their support for a system of tax sharing to return
to the states and local governments a fixed percentage of personal income taxes
without Federal control. This system would promote a swift improvement in
education, law enforcement, community development, mass transit, and other
essentially local problems.
Smog is replacing the weather as the No. 1 topic of conversation, but
no two cities have identical problems. Cities are far more diversified than
states. They have one common denominator--their problems multiply as people
move to the suburbs. This exodus leaves less revenue to meet more problems.
Tax sharing would restore the needed vitality and diversity to our Federal
system. Revenue sharing could also be accomplished with tax credits.
Many effective measures to improve agriculture originated with the National
Commission on Rural Life, established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Republicans propose a National Committee on Urban Living be created without delay.
An exaggerated example of urban problems is our own national capital. Yet
a swarm of Federal experts is telling the cities how to cure their ills while the
only Federal city in our Nation is a disgrace.
Republicans believe Washington, D. C., should be made a "model city" for
demonstration projects and new initiatives in urban progress.
EDUCATION
Higher education and vocational education acts bear strong Republican
imprints.
We will continue our efforts to provide assistance to those who bear
the rising cost of higher education through tax credits.
The Elementary and Secondary Act, however, at minimum requires substantial
revision to simplify forms, reduce excessive paperwork and eliminate the heavy-
handed Federal intrusions. All pre-school and early-school problems should be
consolidated in the Office of Education. Republicans trust local school boards
to formulate policy and set priorities far more than we trust bureaucrats in
Washington.
Congress should take the Federal handcuffs off our local educators. The
best way to do this is by tax sharing and tax credits. If the Democrats, who
control Congress, refuse to consider tax sharing legislation, Republicans will
seek to substitute block education grants, without Federal earmarking or controls.
We will propose new approaches to reinforce the vitality and diversity
that is the genius of our educational system. It is in the school that the
doors of opportunity open to all American children. We shall not deny them the
best that can be given.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
President Johnson proposed Social Security changes that it is estimated
would cost the equivalent of a 1.6 percent Social Security payroll tax increase.
At the present tax base, this would ultimately raise the total Social
Security payroll tax to 12.15 percent. The Social Security trust fund must be kept
sound. Greater benefits normally involve greater taxes, particularly burdensome
to our younger citizens.
As in the past, Republicans now favor an increase in permitted earnings
by Social Security recipients. Present earning limitations reflect the
depression mentality of the Thirties and make no sense for the Seventies.
Widows benefits and minimum benefits must be brought into line with today's
inflated living costs. Those still uncovered should, as soon as possible, be
blanketed into the Social Security system at least by age 72.
Our older citizens must be protected from the extortions of Great Society
inflation. They can't wait while we debate.
Congress should enact, retroactive to January 1, an 8 percent increase
in Social Security benefits. These increased benefits can be achieved without
any tax increase.
About 1/3 of the nation's poor are elderly citizens. Their situation is
tragic and desperate. The Poverty War has passed them by.
In the past two years of Democratic control, basic Social Security
benefits have fallen 7 percentage points behind the consumer price index.
Republicans propose Social Security benefits rise automatically with
rising prices. It is time we took Social Security out of election-year politics.
VETERANS
Republicans believe those called upon to sacrifice in Southeast Asia
should be treated equally with other veterans. All veterans, war widows and their
dependents should be protected from skyrocketing inflation by increased benefits.
POVERTY
The greatest poverty in this country today is the poverty of realistic
ideas among Poverty War generals--and sergeants. Sensible Republican proposals
have been rejected arbitrarily.
Republicans will continue to press for total revamping and redirection
of the Poverty War. We want an Opportunity Crusade that will enlist private
enterprise and the states as effective partners of the Federal Government in
this fight. We would give the children of poverty the very highest priority they
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deserve. As Republicans have urged for two years, Head Start requires follow-
through in the early grades.
We propose a new Industry Youth Corps to provide private, productive
employment and training on the job.
We propose the Republican Human Investment Act to induce employers to
expand job opportunities for the unskilled.
We propose to enlarge the opportunities of low-income Americans for
private home ownership.
All Americans demand a thorough airing of poverty administration, poverty
publicity and poverty politics.
GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
The need for streamlining the national government has become even more
urgent since we recommended a new Hoover-type commission a year ago. The
President's only specific proposal for reorganization--to combine the Departments
of Labor and Commerce--merely scratches the surface.
We believe the Post Office Department should be taken out of politics
from top to bottom. Republicans favor selecting all Postmasters on merit alone.
What irony--we will probably deliver a man to the Moon before we can
consistently deliver the United States Mail to its correct address on Earth.
The colossal Department of Agriculture is another executive agency that
needs reform. Republicans will continue to support the concept of fair farm
prices in the market place, without price-depressing manipulation by bureaucrats.
The mass and maze of federal farm laws, rules, regulations and forms must be
simplified. Every farmer knows there's enough to do in every 24-hour day on the
farm without a load of federal paperwork. We applaud efforts to create more parks
and seashores and will give special emphasis to the preservation of jobs and
community stability.
LABOR-MANAGEMENT LAWS
A year ago President Johnson promised Congress he would soon propose new
ways to handle national emergency strikes. In the interval he has made no
proposals whatsoever. Incredibly, he never mentioned it in his latest State of
the Union Message.
Without waiting further, Congress should choose a balanced commission of
experts to make recommendations in this complex and sensitive area.
Our unswerving purpose should be to strengthen free collective bargaining
between equals, without unnecessary government meddling. Congress should under-
take, without delay, a full review of labor-management laws and the operations
of the National Labor Relations Board.
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It is unfair to both labor and management for Congress to legislate
blindly in an atmosphere of crisis.
CONGRESSIONAL, CAMPAIGN, AND ELECTION REFORMS
To do our job better, Congress should act promptly on the bipartisan
recommendations for congressional reorganization endorsed last session by our
House Republican Policy Committee, but pigeon-holed by the Democratic majority.
We call for a strong House Ethics Committee and an investigating committee
under the control of the minority.
Such reforms would restore the people's confidence in Congress and their
Government.
Congress must also move ahead on the President's year-old pledge for a
Clean Elections Law. Such a law must be in force before 1968.
This Clean Elections Law should guarantee full and accurate reporting of
political contributions and expenditures in support of national candidates and
put an end to abuses in campaign finance. Legislation also is needed to
encourage an increased flow of small contributions. Republicans are proud that
69 percent of our contributions in the last Presidential campaign were in sums
of less than $100.
Last year the Congress unwisely rushed through a bill which would provide
as much as 60 million taxpayers' dollars to political parties for the 1968
campaign. This serious mistake should be reversed without delay.
Instead, the Congress would be wise to permit contributors an income tax
deduction for political contributions up to $100.
Our antiquated Electoral College system of choosing the President should
be changed to make sure the people's will prevails.
In planning for the 1968 Presidential campaign and elections, the
Congress must come to grips with the foremost factor in political competition
today--a factor unknown when present laws were written--television.
The biggest single campaign expense for any national candidate today is
television time. Television brings the national political debate into every
American home. Yet no really thorough study has been made of the public's
interest in television as a political medium. Television channels, of
necessity limited in number, really belong to all the people.
They should not be at the service of the highest bidder or the party
in power. They cannot be regulated solely by the conscience or convictions of
network executives and their most popular television faces.
An illogical federal law now operates to prevent television and radio
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stations from granting time without charge to major party candidates without
making equal time available to a host of minor party candidates. We
unequivocally favor nationally televised debates between future Presidential
contenders.
We propose legislation requiring television and radio to provide
free and equal treatment to major parties and their spokesmen not only in
future campaigns, but also for the presentation of divergent political
views throughout the periods between formal campaigning.
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
Crime and violence, disregard of law and disrespect for authority,
immorality and irresponsibility are on the rise. We welcome the President's
recent recognition of this enlarging crisis.
Republicans in the last Congress authored legislation which created a
National Commission for the Revision and Reform of Criminal Laws, a major step
forward.
The House also adopted last year, although it died in the Senate, a
proposal which Republicans will renew this session in a "Citizens Rights Act of
1967.' The Act would make it a crime to travel from one state to another with
an intent to incite riots. It would also protect individuals in the exercise
of their constitutional rights.
Wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping worry all Americans who prize
their privacy. Properly used, these are essential weapons to those who guard
our Nation's security and wage ceaseless war against organized crime.
The Congress, the President and the Courts must promptly spell out the
permissible limits of their use.
At all levels of government a massive effort should be made to reduce
crime by attacking some of its basic causes: poverty, slums, inadequate educa-
tion and discrimination. However, our laws and actions should never be based
on the theory that a criminal is solely the product of his environment.
Fear of punishment remains an important deterrent to crime.
We call upon the independent Judicial Branch of our Government to uphold
the rights of the law-abiding citizen with the same fervor as it upholds the
rights of the accused.
Most Americans will resist any trend toward the establishment of a
national police force or the unwarranted intrusion of Federal power into local
law enforcement. Yet, there is a proper place for Federal assistance and
leadership.
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Within the Federal correctional system, the Work Release Program and other
enlightened prisoner rehabilitation projects must be designed and expanded to
reduce the number of second-time offenders.
The primary responsibility for law enforcement must remain with the states
and local authorities. In the last analysis, public safety depends upon the
courage and character of the policeman patrolling his beat. The Federal Govern-
ment can properly help in making law enforcement a more attractive and
professional career.
A National Law Enforcement Institute, similar to the successful National
Institutes of Health, should be established for research and training and for
the dissemination of the latest techniques in police science.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Not as Republicans but as Americans we are gravely worried about the
Nation's security. This is not a partisan issue. The conflict is primarily
between the Administration and the Congress.
The short-range military policies and the long-range defense posture of
this country urgently demand searching re-examination and New Direction.
Nothing in the President's State of the Union Message lessened our deep concern
in this all-important area.
Our strategic thinking of the 1970's and beyond, the timely planning and
production of advanced weapons systems, and the prudent management of our total
national defense capabilities have become stalled on a dead-end street.
Republicans renew, with even greater urgency, our call for a Blue Ribbon
Commission of the most able and independent Americans Congress can choose to
get on with this job.
Within its Constitutional responsibility, Congress can do more.
We must take prompt action to modernize our Navy, increase our superiority
in nuclear propulsion, and counter the growing threat of missile-carrying
enemy submarines.
We must take prompt steps to rebuild the American Merchant Marine, already
shrunken to one-fifth its former size, and regain our lost lead over the Soviet
Union in modern shipbuilding. Shockingly, the U.S. is no longer a major maritime
power. The Maritime Administration must be upgraded as an independent agency.
We must proceed at top speed with the development of long-delayed Advanced
Manned Strategic Bombers and Improved Manned Interceptors.
We must strengthen our Reserve and National Guard forces and eliminate
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inequities in the Draft. Our defense posture should be tailored to our global
commi tments.
The Administration has finally admitted to the American people that the
Soviet Union has increased its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capability and
is deploying an Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System. In anticipation of a
life-and-death decision on just such a development, Congress has voted millions
of dollars which the Administration did not seek and apparently has not used.
The Congress did its duty and gave the President a clear expression of
its will and the means to carry it out.
Before more precious time is lost, Congress and the American people are
now entitled to a clear explanation from the President of the perils and problems
facing the United States in the new global balance of strategic power.
We, too, seek to avoid a costly new round in the nuclear arms race. But
the least the Nation must do now is speed up its readiness to deploy Anti-
Ballistic Missiles in a hurry if our survival requires it.
Americans are properly devoted to the concept of civilian control in
defense matters. This civilian control never before has meant consistent civilian
disregard for professional military judgment, intimidation of dissenters and
substitution of soulless computers for human experience.
The first place to close the Credibility Gap is at the Pentagon.
All Americans join in the President's earnest hopes for an honorable peace
and foolproof disarmament. But they are deeply concerned that the Communists
even now are intensifying both the hot and the cold wars. We must prevail in
this worldwide test of willpower and weaponry.
Nothing has higher priority, in our judgment, than the safety, strength
and survival of the United States of America, our people and our posterity.
There will be no Sensible Solutions for the Seventies, no Republicans or
Democrats, if we fail in this supreme test of a nation.
To our President, we of the Loyal Oppostion say--in the words of another
anguished commander-in-chief. *
"With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us
strive on to finish the work we are in."
# # #
*
Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address