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United Republican Fund of Illinois Dinner (in honor of the Illinois GOP delegation in Congress), Chicago, IL, October 20, 1967
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United Republican Fund of Illinois Dinner (in honor of the Illinois GOP delegation in Congress), Chicago, IL, October 20, 1967
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This file contains material relating to Everett Dirksen.
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
Speeches
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Illinois
Republican National Committee (U.S.)
U.S. House of Representatives. 3/4/1789-
U.S. Congress. 1789-
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The original documents are located in Box D22, folder "United Republican Fund of Illinois
Dinner (in honor of the Illinois GOP delegation in Congress), Chicago, IL, October 20,
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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D22 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 p.m.
Friday, October 20, 1967
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
UNITED REPUBLICAN FUND OF ILLINOIS DINNER
Hou. Virgen gole
OCTOBER 20, AT THE CONRAD HILTON HOTEL, CHICAGO
IN HONOR OF ILLINOIS GOP DELEGATION IN CONGRESS
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, colleagues, honored guests, ladies and
gentlemen:
Tonight I have a most welcome assignment. I do not use the words, "chore"
or "task," because my assignment is most pleasurable. When you
It's is really to talk monderful with
W
order
about one of the most prestigious state delegations in the Congress the members
from Dryan your own state of Illinois.
also
This is a welcome assignment, too, because it gives me an opportunity to
come out of the shadows and into the light to talk about the other half of the
Temple.,
"Ev and Jerry Show" that dedicated, wonderfully talented, multi-faceted
Shudy
gentleman who is now in his fourth term as Republican leader of the Senate.
There are some people who tell me I make an excellent TV partner for Ev. After
all, where else could he get so willing and cooperative a straight man?
Believe me, nobody could compete with Ev when he talks about his days as
a, horse soldier in World War I and mustard gas and rotten hay.
That's one of the reasons we love him, this most articulate of Americans,
speaking
this grand Thespian, this statesman who gives glamour to Capitol Hill.
may
What other state can beast a horse soldier who leads the Republican troops
Charloth addition we Reid
in the Senate
and among them horse candidate for the Republican presi-
Chuch ang an able dark
dential nomination?
Er
The people of Illinois can indeed be proud of their delegation in the
Congress, and there is no one of whom they should be more proud than the
gentleman who cracks the Republican whip in the House, my good friend Les Arends.
The real test of a man is the number of friends he has. Nobody measures
higher on that score than does Les Arends. This and tremendous natural ability
as a lawmaker have made Les the most valuable whip a leader in the House could
have.
I've learned they just don't come with any higher degree of loyalty. He
is always there when you need him. He always comes through in the clutch. He
ORD
has an unerring instinct for sensing what the mood of the country is and what
LIBRARY
(more)
-2-
the people want. I am deeply grateful for his invaluable assistance.
Your entire delegation is a bulwark of strength in the House. You have
representation on a number of important committees--Armed Services, Appropri-
ations, Ways and Means, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Education and Labor,
Judiciary, Rules, Science andVAstronautics. If the Republicans in the House
Joint atomic Every It. Georamic
Indepredence IntiRn.
"had 218 like the Illinois G.O.P. delegation the country would be in good hands.
Yours is a delegation which gives the Republican leadership in the House
overwhelming support on crucial issues. Your members were solid, for instance,
on votes to block a continuing appropriation of funds for Great Society pro-
grams at existing levels and force a cutback of $5 billion in Johnson
been
Administration spending this fiscal year.
This is the kind of voting this country needs in the Congress--the kind of
Debt 570 into w
voting which will help pull this Nation out of the fiscal mess into which Lyndon
Johnson has plunged it.
We can find that road to fiscal sanity only with a Republican victory in
1968. Your party is grateful to you for helping us gear up for that victory.
The Regultion Leadership
How important is it to you people in Illinois that Republicans take over
the House of Representatives after the next election?
Let me point out that your delegation in the Congress would grow in power
and prestige. For instance, Bill Springer would become chairman of the
Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. Others would be on the majority
side in their various committees where each would be in a position to implement
affirmatively Republican policies and philosophy, in contrast to the tired,
threadbare New Deal and superficial Great Society programs.
I want to congratulate you. In the last election you sent us Tom Railsback
and achieved a standoff with the Democrats on the makeup of the Illinois
delegation--12 Republicans and 12 Democrats. So you're batting 500. But you
Tames brad.
can do better.
I ask you to bear this in mind. There is a distinct possibility that the
now
1968 presidential election could be thrown into the House of Representatives for
INVESTMENTS
final decision. Each state would have one vote--except that those states with
delegations evenly split between the two major parties would have no voice in
the outcome. This makes it all the more vital that Illinois Republicans achieve
a net gain in the 1968 congressional elections. Your state should have a vote,
and it must be a Republican vote for it could be all-important in selecting
the next President of the United States.
FORD
(more)
LIBRARY
-3-
and for
You do want a Republican as the next President of the United States, don't
good
neason
you? I was sure you would agree with me that there's a better way than LBJ.
You have a wealth of opportunities to send a Republican majority to the
U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois. I urge you to zero in on the
four or five districts now held by Democrats, where an attractive, articulate,
able Republican candidate can win. Make those your target districts and you'll
hit pay dirt. The goal line is not far away.
Republicans in the Congress need your help. The country needs your help.
Oddly enough, we constantly have to remind the people that the Democrats
still are in control of both houses of the Congress. After all, we have won a
few battles on the House floor and we have the Administration in a box on
spending.
The Johnson Administration is in trouble. It's in trouble because the
political
truth is finally catching up with it, and even the most clever attempt to twist
1
the truth will fail to fool the people.
The truth that has turned each day into a nightmare for the Johnson
Administration is just this--the / President has so badly mismanaged the economy
that only a change of administrations can straighten it out.
The truth is that our economy is in trouble solely because a Democratic
1
President and a Democratic 89th Congress launched this country on a reckless
spending spree which threatens to bankrupt the Nation.
The truth is that the blame for the galloping inflation of 1966 and the
Mike
highest interest rates in 40 years lies squarely on the Johnson Administration
and the Democratic majority in the Congress and so, too, does the blame for
the inflationary tide now rising in this country.
What does a public figure do when he is trapped by his own mistakes in
office? He looks for a scapegoat.
President Johnson is faced with a $25 to $30 billion deficit generated by
his refusal to set priorities. So he has asked Congress to impose a 10 per
cent income tax surcharge on the American people the same people who are
paying the price of Johnson inflation precipitated when the Administration
ignored Republican economy pleas in early 1966.
Republicans in Congress have responded by demanding a $5 billion cutback
in Johnson Administration spending this fiscal year.
Has the President acted responsibly to meet the challenge of inflation?
Not Harthy at all. Instead he is playing the game of switch and practicing the most
(more)
-4-
devious kind of deception on the American people.
It is the game of switch--an attempt to switch the blame--when the
President and his cabinet officers seize every opportunity to talk about
inflation and seek to blame the Congress for it in advance.
It is deception--deception of the rankest kind--when the President proposes
a 50 per cent cutback in highway spending out of the Highway Trust Fund despite
the fact such a reduction would have no impact whatsoever on the projected
$29 billion General Fund deficit.
It is the game of switch--an attempt to shift responsibility--when the
President pretends he cannot cut federal spending by $5 billion this fiscal
year and challenges Congress to do SO.
The truth is that while Congress appropriates the funds it is the President
who spends them.
The truth is that if a Democratic Congress insists on appropriating far
too much and a Democratic President insists on spending it, Republicans still
in the minority in the House and Senate are powerless to put a stop to it.
Republicans owe the President a debt of gratitude, for he is making it
plain to the American people that only by turning this Nation's government over
to the Republican Party can the people regain control of federal spending.
The real issue in the current fight in our Nation's capital over the pro-
posed 10 per cent surtax is just this: Will the American people regain control
over federal spending?
The President is stubbornly refusing to cut federal General Fund spending
in this fiscal year. Instead he is simply offering vague promises of a
temporary freeze in areas such as highway construction where life and limb are
involved while going full steam ahead with highway beautification. That's a
cock-eyed view of priorities!
Than story
Is there any reason to believe the President's promises of economy? The
American people know better. Tha That's why there is a nationwide taxpayer revolt
against the wild spending policies of the Johnson Administration.
The American people have awakened to the fact that the cost of the Federal
Government is going up 10 times faster than the rate of population growth in
this country. They know that the Johnson Administration is not serving their
needs but the needs of the bureaucrats and social experimenters.
They know that the Johnson Administration held back for over two years on
effective bombing of significant military targets in North Vietnam but has
FORD
(more)
GERA
LIBRARY
-5-
bombed the people's pocketbook full of holes.
They know that the cost of living is up 8.3 per cent since 1963, the year
Lyndon B. Johnson took office. They know that living costs have soared because
the Johnson Administration has taken this Nation down the road of wild federal
spending that has cheapened and almost destroyed the dollar. They know that
non-defense spending has jumped 97 per cent since 1960. They know that the
federal payroll has been fattened by 276,000 just in 1966 alone. They know
8 yrs
there is waste and fat in the Federal budget--a $136 billion administrative
budget that Lyndon Johnson insists he cannot cut.
President Johnson and his cabinet officers are shouting that more inflation
and higher interest charges will follow if Congress does not approve his
Curbon
toposal to raise income taxes.
He is just looking for an "out," because the facts are that prices are
going to go up with or without a tax increase, and interest rates are going to
syohin
rise with or without a tax increase.
The American people know this, and they are unwilling to accept a Johnson
tax increase on top of Johnson inflation. They know, too, that a dollar
reduction in federal spending has nearly twice as much anti-inflation bite as
a dollar increase in taxes. That's why Republicans are fighting to cut federal
spending.
It's not the Republicans who are making the Johnson income tax increase a
political issue; it's the people. But let's not let Mr. Johnson get off the
hot seat which is of his own making.
The American people are demanding new representation in the Congress and
in the White House. It can be done.
We are witnessing the spectacle of an American President who is seeking
either to override the will of the people or to mislead them into thinking the
90th Congress is responsible for this country's fiscal woes.
There is only one remedy--rid this country of the Johnson Administration,
an administration of confusion and deception.
You have made a commitment here tonight--to do just that and to help the
Republican Party lead this country back to fiscal sanity.
You should be proud of that commitment as well as of the outstanding
congressional delegation we honor here. It means you are willing to stand up
for America, to move it along the paths of greater growth and glory for the
sake of all our people. Thank you.
###
GERALD FORD
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 p.m.
Friday, October 20, 1967
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
UNITED REPUBLICAN FUND OF ILLINOIS DINNER
OCTOBER 20, AT THE CONRAD HILTON HOTEL, CHICAGO
IN HONOR OF ILLINOIS GOP DELEGATION IN CONGRESS
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, colleagues, honored guests, ladies and
gentlemen:
Tonight I have a most welcome assignment. I do not use the words, "chore"
or "task," because my assignment is most pleasurable. It is to talk with you
about one of the most prestigious state delegations in the Congress--the members
from your own state of Illinois.
This is a welcome assignment, too, because it gives me an opportunity to
come out of the shadows and into the light to talk about the other half of the
"Ev and Jerry Show" that dedicated, wonderfully talented, multi-faceted
gentleman who is now in his fourth term as Republican leader of the Senate.
There are people who tell me I make an excellent TV partner for Ev. After
all, where else could he get so willing and cooperative a straight man?
Believe me, nobody could compete with Ev when he talks about his days as
a horse soldier in World War I and mustard gas and rotten hay.
That's one of the reasons we love him, this most articulate of Americans,
this grand Thespian, this statesman who gives glamour to Capitol Hill.
What other state can boast a horse soldier who leads the Republican troops
in the Senate
and among them a dark horse candidate for the Republican presi-
dential nomination?
The people of Illinois can indeed be proud of their delegation in the
Congress, and there is no one of whom they should be more proud than the
gentleman who cracks the Republican whip in the House, my good friend Les Arends.
The real test of a man is the number of friends he has. Nobody measures
higher on that score than does Les Arends. This and tremendous natural ability
as a lawmaker have made Les the most valuable whip a leader in the House could
have.
I've learned they just don't come with any higher degree of loyalty. He
is always there when you need him. He always comes through in the clutch. He
has an unerring instinct for sensing what the mood of the country is and what
(more)
-2-
the people want. I am deeply grateful for his invaluable assistance.
Your entire delegation is a bulwark of strength in the House. You have
representation on a number of important committees--Armed Services, Appropri-
ations, Ways and Means, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Education and Labor,
Judiciary, Rules, Science and Astronautics. If the Republicans in the House
had 218 like the Illinois G.O.P. delegation the country would be in good hands.
Yours is a delegation which gives the Republican leadership in the House
overwhelming support on crucial issues. Your members were solid, for instance,
on votes to block a continuing appropriation of funds for Great Society pro-
grams at existing levels and force a cutback of $5 billion in Johnson
Administration spending this fiscal year.
This is the kind of voting this country needs in the Congress--the kind of
voting which will help pull this Nation out of the fiscal mess into which Lyndon
Johnson has plunged it.
We can find that road to fiscal sanity only with a Republican victory in
1968. Your party is grateful to you for helping us gear up for that victory.
How important is it to you people in Illinois that Republicans take over
the House of Representatives after the next election?
Let me point out that your delegation in the Congress would grow in power
and prestige. For instance, Bill Springer would become chairman of the
Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. Others would be on the majority
side in their various committees where each would be in a position to implement
affirmatively Republican policies and philosophy, in contrast to the tired,
threadbare New Deal and superficial Great Society programs.
I want to congratulate you. In the last election you sent us Tom Railsback
and achieved a standoff with the Democrats on the makeup of the Illinois
delegation--12 Republicans and 12 Democrats. So you're batting 500. But you
can do better.
I ask you to bear this in mind. There is a distinct possibility that the
1968 presidential election could be thrown into the House of Representatives for
final decision. Each state would have one vote--except that those states with
delegations evenly split between the two major parties would have no voice in
the outcome. This makes it all the more vital that Illinois Republicans achieve
a net gain in the 1968 congressional elections. Your state should have a vote,
and it must be a Republican vote...for it could be all-important in selecting
the next President of the United States.
(more)
-3-
You do want a Republican as the next President of the United States, don't
you? I was sure you would agree with me that there's a better way than LBJ.
You have a wealth of opportunities to send a Republican majority to the
U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois. I urge you to zero in on the
four or five districts now held by Democrats, where an attractive, articulate,
able Republican candidate can win. Make those your target districts and you'll
hit pay dirt. The goal line is not far away.
Republicans in the Congress need your help. The country needs your help.
Oddly enough, we constantly have to remind the people that the Democrats
still are in control of both houses of the Congress. After all, we have won a
few battles on the House floor and we have the Administration in a box on
spending.
The Johnson Administration is in trouble. It's in trouble because the
truth is finally catching up with it, and even the most clever attempt to twist
the truth will fail to fool the people.
The truth that has turned each day into a nightmare for the Johnson
Administration is just this--the President has so badly mismanaged the economy
that only a change of administrations can straighten it out.
The truth is that our economy is in trouble solely because a Democratic
President and a Democratic 89th Congress launched this country on a reckless
spending spree which threatens to bankrupt the Nation.
The truth is that the blame for the galloping inflation of 1966 and the
highest interest rates in 40 years lies squarely on the Johnson Administration
and the Democratic majority in the Congress and so, too, does the blame for
the inflationary tide now rising in this country.
What does a public figure do when he is trapped by his own mistakes in
office? He looks for a scapegoat.
President Johnson is faced with a $25 to $30 billion deficit generated by
his refusal to set priorities. So he has asked Congress to impose a 10 per
cent income tax surcharge on the American people the same people who are
paying the price of Johnson inflation precipitated when the Administration
ignored Republican economy pleas in early 1966.
Republicans in Congress have responded by demanding a $5 billion cutback
in Johnson Administration spending this fiscal year.
Has the President acted responsibly to meet the challenge of inflation?
Not at all. Instead he is playing the game of switch and practicing the most
(more)
-4-
devious kind of deception on the American people.
It is the game of switch--an attempt to switch the blame--when the
President and his cabinet officers seize every opportunity to talk about
inflation and seek to blame the Congress for it in advance.
It is deception--deception of the rankest kind--when the President proposes
a 50 per cent cutback in highway spending out of the Highway Trust Fund despite
the fact such a reduction would have no impact whatsoever on the projected
$29 billion General Fund deficit.
It is the game of switch--an attempt to shift responsibility--when the
President pretends he cannot cut federal spending by $5 billion this fiscal
year and challenges Congress to do SO.
The truth is that while Congress appropriates the funds it is the President
who spends them.
The truth is that if a Democratic Congress insists on appropriating far
too much and a Democratic President insists on spending it, Republicans still
in the minority in the House and Senate are powerless to put a stop to it.
Republicans owe the President a debt of gratitude, for he is making it
plain to the American people that only by turning this Nation's government over
to the Republican Party can the people regain control of federal spending.
The real issue in the current fight in our Nation's capital over the pro-
posed 10 per cent surtax is just this: Will the American people regain control
over federal spending?
The President is stubbornly refusing to cut federal General Fund spending
in this fiscal year. Instead he is simply offering vague promises of a
temporary freeze in areas such as highway construction where life and limb are
involved while going full steam ahead with highway beautification. That's a
cock-eyed view of priorities!
Is there any reason to believe the President's promises of economy? The
American people know better. That's why there is a nationwide taxpayer revolt
against the wild spending policies of the Johnson Administration.
The American people have awakened to the fact that the cost of the Federal
Government is going up 10 times faster than the rate of population growth in
this country. They know that the Johnson Administration is not serving their
needs but the needs of the bureaucrats and social experimenters.
They know that the Johnson Administration held back for over two years on
effective bombing of significant military targets in North Vietnam but has
(more)
-5-
bombed the people's pocketbook full of holes.
They know that the cost of living is up 8.3 per cent since 1963, the year
Lyndon B. Johnson took office. They know that living costs have soared because
the Johnson Administration has taken this Nation down the road of wild federal
spending that has cheapened and almost destroyed the dollar. They know that
non-defense spending has jumped 97 per cent since 1960. They know that the
federal payroll has been fattened by 276,000 just in 1966 alone. They know
there is waste and fat in the Federal budget--a $136 billion administrative
budget that Lyndon Johnson insists he cannot cut.
President Johnson and his cabinet officers are shouting that more inflation
and higher interest charges will follow if Congress does not approve his
proposal to raise income taxes.
He is just looking for an "out," because the facts are that prices are
going to go up with or without a tax increase, and interest rates are going to
rise with or without a tax increase.
The American people know this, and they are unwilling to accept a Johnson
tax increase on top of Johnson inflation. They know, too, that a dollar
reduction in federal spending has nearly twice as much anti-inflation bite as
a dollar increase in taxes. That's why Republicans are fighting to cut federal
spending.
It's not the Republicans who are making the Johnson income tax increase a
political issue; it's the people. But let's not let Mr. Johnson get off the
hot seat which is of his own making.
The American people are demanding new representation in the Congress and
in the White House. It can be done.
We are witnessing the spectacle of an American President who is seeking
either to override the will of the people or to mislead them into thinking the
90th Congress is responsible for this country's fiscal woes.
There is only one remedy--rid this country of the Johnson Administration,
an administration of confusion and deception.
You have made a commitment here tonight--to do just that and to help the
Republican Party lead this country back to fiscal sanity.
You should be proud of that commitment as well as of the outstanding
congressional delegation we honor here. It means you are willing to stand up
for America, to move it along the paths of greater growth and glory for the
sake of all our people. Thank you.
###