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Model Congress, American International College, Springfield, MA, March 22, 1968

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The original documents are located in Box D24, folder "Model Congress, American International College, Springfield, MA, March 22, 1968" 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 The Council donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D24 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD "THREE CRISES" THIS IS A TIME OF GRAVE CRISIS FOR AMERICA. IT IS A TIME WHEN OUR NATION IS BESET WITH AGONIZING PROBLEMS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD, A TIME WHICH DEMANDS THE BEST THAT IS IN ALL AMERICANS. THE CHALLENGE WHICH CONFRONTS US IS IN REALITY THREE CRISES JOINED IN ONE. THERE IS THE CRISIS OF VIETNAM AND THE OVERALL ISSUE OF WAR AND PEACE NOT ONLY FOR OUR TIME BUT FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. THERE IS THE CRISIS CREATED BY POLAR- IZATION OF THE RACES INTO TWO WARRING CAMPS, THE THREAT OF A SECOND CIVIL WAR. THERE IS THE CRISIS THAT UNDERMINES OUR ECONOMIC WELL-BEING AS INFLATION WITH ALL ITS INSIDIOUS RAMIFICATIONS ERODES THE VALUE ERALD OF THE -2- DOLLAR AT HOME AND ABROAD. IF WE ARE TO SEEK THE GREAT NATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF PEACE, JUSTICE, PROSPERITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY FOR ALL, WE MUST WRESTLE WITH AND SEEK TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS GENERATED BY THESE CRISES. WE MUST TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT VIETNAM, WHERE WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE THIRD LARGEST FOREIGN WAR IN OUR HISTORY--A MASSIVE LAND WAR TO WHICH OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS COMMITTED MORE THAN 525,000 U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL, A CONFLICT WHICH HAS ALREADY TAKEN THE LIVES OF MORE THAN 23,000 AMERICANS DUE TO ENEMY ACTION AND OTHER CAUSES, A WAR WHICH IS DEVOURING AMERICAN WEALTH AT THE RATE OF MORE THAN $30 BILLION A YEAR. WE MUST EXAMINE OUR POLICIES IN VIETNAM AND ASK OURSELVES WHETHER OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS PURSUED THE PROPER COURSE IN THIS WAR. WHAT HAVE THE RESULTS BEEN IN THIS LIMITED WAR -3- FOR LIMITED OBJECTIVES? WHAT ARE THOSE OBJECTIVES AND WHAT, PROPERLY, SHOULD THEY BE IN THE LIGHT OF AMERICA'S WORLD MISSION? WHAT, INDEED, IS AMERICA'S MISSION IN THE WORLD? HAVING DEFINED HER WORLD ROLE, HOW BEST CAN WE CARRY IT OUT? AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LIVE IN PEACE. FROM THE BIRTH OF THIS NATION IN THAT CRADLE OF DEMOCRACY FASHIONED BY THE MEN OF PENNSYLVANIA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK AND THE OTHER ORIGINAL COLONIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. UNFORTUNATELY, THERE IS AN ALIEN BREED OF MEN IN THE WORLD TODAY WHO CARE NOTHING ABOUT INDIVIDUAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHO ARE DISTURBED NOT A BIT AT BLOTTING OUT THOUSANDS OF LIVES IF THEY CAN ONLY SEIZE THE REINS OF POWER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD. AMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THAT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THEY MUST GO TO WAR IF PEACE IS TO -4- BE WORTH HAVING THAT THEY MUST GO TO WAR IF FREEDOM IS TO LIVE. AND SO THEY HAVE FOUGHT-- AT CONCORD, AT BUNKER HILL, IN THE FIELDS OF FRANCE, ON THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY AND THE ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC, IN KOREA, AND NOW IN THE RICE PADDIES OF SOUTH VIETNAM. TODAY WE TALK NOT ONLY OF FREEDOM BUT THE BALANCE OF POWER IN A WORLD WHERE THE COMMUNIST NATIONS CONSTANTLY USE WAR OR THREATS OF WAR TO FURTHER THEIR DESIGNS. IT IS AN EXCEEDINGLY COMPLEX WORLD, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA IS PERHAPS THE MOST COMPLEX PART OF IT. OUR TASK IS TO EXAMINE OUR COMMITMENT THERE AND TO ASSESS OUR OPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS AND OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE. OUR ECONOMY IS IN CRISIS. THE STAGGERING COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR IS ONLY ONE OF THE FACTORS. THE COST OF LIVING IS MOVING STEADILY LIBRARY UPWARD, DESTROYING THE HOPES OF THE AMERICAN -5- WORKER FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS BY EATING UP HIS WAGE GAINS AND ERODING HIS SAVINGS. FEDERAL FINANCES ARE OUT OF CONTROL, THE RESULT OF EXCESSIVE SPENDING AND HUGE DEFICITS OVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT CONSECUTIVE YEARS. INTEREST RATES HAVE RISEN TO THE HIGHEST POINT IN A HUNDRED YEARS, ADDING HEAVILY TO MORTGAGE AND TIME PURCHASE COSTS AND EVEN PRE- VENTING SOME AMERICANS FROM BUYING A HOME. THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR IN TERMS OF PURCHASING POWER HAS DROPPED TO 87 CENTS SINCE 1960. FOREIGNERS HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE DOLLAR--PREFERRING GOLD--AND HAVE DRAINED THE UNITED STATES OF MORE THAN $2.2 BILLION WORTH OF GOLD SINCE LAST NOVEMBER TO BRING OUR OVERALL GOLD STOCKS DOWN TO A LOW OF $10.4 BILLION. THIS NATION HAS REMOVED ALL GOLD BACKING FROM OUR CURRENCY--TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS PREFERRING GOLD TO DOLLARS-- -6- SO THAT NOW WE TRULY DO HAVE PAPER MONEY. WE CANNOT NOW SUDDENLY ERASE THE TREMENDOUS SPURT IN FEDERAL SPENDING WHICH HAS FUELED THE ENGINE OF INFLATION FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS AND AT CURRENT RATES IS PROPELLING OUR ECONOMY DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD DESTRUCTION. WE CAN AND MUST APPLY THE BRAKES. A NATION, LIKE A FAMILY, MUST LIVE CLOSE TO ITS MEANS. WE MUST BEGIN MOVING TOWARD A BALANCED BUDGET. WE MUST MOVE THIS NATION AHEAD TOWARD DESIRABLE SOCIAL GOALS--BUT WE MUST BE EVER MINDFUL THAT ATTEMPTS AT TOTAL GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS HAVE FAILED DESPITE THE HUGE SUMS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TOSSED AT OUR PROBLEMS. IT IS NOT PROGRESS WHEN THE ECONOMY OF THE RICHEST NATION IN THE WORLD FALLS ILL BECAUSE THE MEN WHO MAKE ECONOMIC POLICY IN WASHINGTON LOSE CONTROL OF FEDERAL SPENDING. THAT WAY LIES DISASTER. GERAL LIBRARY -7- I URGE, THEN, THAT THE CONGRESS SET FOR ITSELF A RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE FINANCIAL PLAN AS A GOAL. WE MUST KEEP UPPERMOST IN OUR MINDS THAT IF AMERICANS ARE TO ENJOY PERSONAL SECURITY AND AMERICA IS TO MAKE REAL PROGRESS, WE MUST RESTORE STABLE PURCHASING POWER TO THE DOLLAR. HOW MANY AMERICANS FULLY REALIZE THAT IN A SINGLE YEAR--THE 12-MONTH PERIOD WHICH WILL END THIS JUNE 30--THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE PAID OUT MORE THAN $180 BILLION? HOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT FEDERAL SPENDING HAS JUMPED MORE THAN $80 BILLION IN JUST THE LAST SEVEN YEARS--A RISE OF MORE THAN 80 PER CENT? HOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S OUTLAY OF CASH FOR NON-MILITARY FUNCTIONS HAS GONE UP $51 BILLION IN THOSE SEVEN YEARS WHILE DEFENSE SPENDING, INCLUDING THE COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR, ROSE ONLY $30 BILLION? -8- HOW MANY OF OUR PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE LAST TIME THE FEDERAL BUDGET WAS BALANCED WAS IN 1960--AND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY SEVEN BALANCED BUDGETS IN THE LAST 38 YEARS? WHEN THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE UNITED STATES IT SEES A NATION WITH ITS BOOKS CONSTANTLY OUT OF BALANCE AND ITS ACCOUNTS WITH OTHER NATIONS RUNNING DEEPLY INTO DEFICIT YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR. WE ARE OVERCOMMITTED AND OVEREXTENDED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WE MUST ALTER THAT TREND. WE MUST REVISE OUR COMMITMENTS WHILE CONTINUING TO FULFILL OUR ESSENTIAL ROLE OF WORLD LEADER- SHIP. EVEN A NATION AS RICH AND POWERFUL AS THE UNITED STATES CANNOT OVERSPEND INDEFINITELY WITHOUT INVITING DISASTER. IN LOOKING AT OUR OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS, WE MUST EXAMINE NOT ONLY OUR POSITION IN VIETNAM BUT ALL OVER THE GLOBE. BESIDES THE 550,000 -9- U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL POSITIONED IN THE SOUTH- EAST ASIA BATTLE ZONE, WE HAVE 217,000 MEN ELSEWHERE IN THE FAR EAST, 352,000 IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN, 23,000 IN THE CARIBBEAN AND 400,000 ELSEWHERE ABROAD INCLUDING THOSE IN OUR NAVAL FLEETS. WE HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY CONTINUING UNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW TO USE THE MASSIVE POWER AT OUR DISPOSAL. WE MUST RESOLVE THIS BASIC POLICY QUESTION IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR NATION. AND WE MUST PERSUADE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT THE UNITED STATES is, INDEED, A PACIFIC NATION ALTHOUGH ASIA SEEMS VERY REMOTE FROM US. IT IS MUCH THE SAME PROBLEM OUR NATIONAL LEADERS HAD IN THE LATE 1930's. EUROPE, EVEN WITH HITLER'S OUTRAGES, SEEMED BEYOND OUR INTERESTS. PARTICULARLY NOW WHEN OUR OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS ARE A GIANT FACTOR IN OUR CONTINU- ING BALANCE OF PAYMENTS DEFICIT--A MASSIVELY LIBRARY -10- LARGER OUTFLOW OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR FROM THIS COUNTRY THAN THE INFLOW--WE MUST PARE OVERSEAS SPENDING TO THE BAREST POSSIBLE MINIMUM. WE MUST INSIST UPON REFORMS IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR FOREIGN AID. AND WE MUST CREATE AND EXPAND AID ARRANGEMENTS WHEREBY MANY NATIONS IN A GIVEN REGION POOL THEIR LENDING RESOURCES INSTEAD OF MAKING DEMANDS UPON THE UNITED STATES ALONE. THE STAKES IN VIETNAM GO FAR BEYOND THAT BATTLE AREA TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE OF MANY OTHER PEOPLES AS WELL--ALL THOSE WHO ARE THREATENED WITH EXTERNALLY-AIDED WARS OF LIBERATION. VIETNAM IS A TEST OF WHETHER WE AS A PEOPLE HAVE THE WISDOM, THE MATURITY AND THE PATIENCE TO PURSUE A FAR-REACHING OBJECTIVE AND TO AVOID OVER-SIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS. AMONG OUR FIGHTING MEN IN VIETNAM ARE THOUSANDS OF NEGROES. CASUALTIES AMONG OUR NEGRO Gl's ARE GREATER THAN THE RATIO OF NEGROES TO WHITES IN THE POPULATION OF THIS LIBRARY -11- COUNTRY. IN THE GHETTOES OF OUR GREAT CITIES, UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG YOUNG NEGRO MALES AVERAGES ABOUT 30 PER CENT WHILE THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE NATIONWIDE HOVERS NEAR THE 4 PER CENT MARK. LAST YEAR LARGE-SCALE RIOTS SCARRED THE FACE OF AMERICA. RACIAL EXPLOSIONS ERUPTED IN SOME 120 CITIES. JUST LAST WEEK, RIOTING BROKE OUT IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. WE HAVE WITNESSED GROWING HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE RACES, AND A BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER WHICH HAS MADE NEARLY EVERY MAJOR AMERICAN CITY THE SEEDBED FOR RACIAL RIOT AND A POTENTIAL WAR BETWEEN THE RACES. IT DOESN'T HELP TO SAY THAT RIOTS ARE UNAVOIDABLE IN THE SUMMER OF 1968. IT DOESN'T HELP FOR NEGROES AND WHITES ALIKE TO BUY GUNS BECAUSE "THEY MIGHT COME IN HERE." DOES THIS SOLVE ANYTHING? THE PROBLEM IS MOST COMPLEX. BASICALLY -12- IT IS ONE OF FOOLISH HOSTILITY AND OF MISERABLE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR WHICH THERE IS REALLY NO EXCUSE. AS FOR THE HOSTILITY, I KNOW THIS. THERE IS NO HOSTILITY BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE CHILDREN UNTIL IT IS TAUGHT TO THEM BY THEIR PARENTS OR FRIENDS. WHITE RACISTS AND THOSE WHO HAVE PLUNDERED AND LITERALLY STOLEN FROM NEGRO POOR HAVE PLANTED THE SEEDS OF BITTERNESS. I AM SURE, TOO, THAT MUCH OF THE PRESENT HOSTILITY HAS BEEN STIMULATED BY BLACK MILITANTS WHO HAVE BEEN PREACHING VIOLENCE, SEPARATISM, AND BLOODY REVOLUTION. THIS, RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, HAS DAMAGED THE CAUSE OF CIVIL RIGHTS. WITHOUT REGARD FOR THE BLACK MILITANTS AND OR THE WHITE RACISTS AND SIMPLY FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION, WE MUST GET ABOUT A TASK TOO LONG NEGLECTED--THE REBUILDING OF OUR GERALD -13- CITIES. TO REBUILD OUR CITIES, WE MUST BUILD THE PEOPLE OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES BY HELPING THEM TO HELP THEMSELVES AND TO LIVE BETTER LIVES FROM A SENSE OF PERSONAL PRIDE. THE AREAS OF NEED ARE WELL KNOWN. WE MUST MOVE VIGOROUSLY TO FILL THE DEEP GAPS IN EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND EDUCATION THAT MAKE DISADVANTAGED AREAS OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES. THE FIRST PRIORITY IS JOBS. I URGE THAT THE CONGRESS CONSIDER THE WISDOM OF PROVIDING INDUSTRY WITH TAX CREDITS TO STIMULATE A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM OF ON-THE-JOB TRAINING FOR GHETTO YOUTHS AND TO GET INDUSTRY TO BUILD INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IN THE CENTRAL CITIES. COUPLED WITH THIS I SEE A PLAN TO ENGAGE INDUSTRY IN A MASSIVE, GOVERNMENT- UNDERWRITTEN PROGRAM TO PROVIDE PRIVATE HOUSING FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND GIVE THEM THE FORD TREMENDOUS PERSONAL PRIDE THAT GOES WITH HOME LIBRARY -14- OWNERSHIP. THIS WOULD HELP TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER AND THUS STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE FABRIC OF OUR SOCIETY. WE NEED NOT ONLY A NEW SET OF NATIONAL SPENDING PRIORITIES BUT AN ENTIRELY NEW APPROACH TO AMERICA'S SOCIAL PROBLEMS--AN APPROACH WHICH DEPARTS FROM TOTAL GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS TO BRING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY INTO A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN PROBLEM--SOLVING, ALONG WITH GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS. AND WE MUST CULTIVATE A NEW MEASURE OF UNDERSTANDING AMONG OUR PEOPLE-THE FULL REALIZATION THAT, AS ONE OF OUR GREATEST PRESIDENTS EXPRESSED IT, A NATION DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND. THE WAY FOR AMERICA TO SOLVE ITS PROBLEMS IS TO GET ALL AMERICANS INVOLVED IN SOLVING THEM, TO TAP THE GREAT WELL OF COMMITMENT AND IDEALISM THAT IS JUST WAITING TO BE DRAWN UPON. -15- WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID, "GIVE US THE TOOLS, AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB." WE HAVE THE TOOLS TO DO THE JOB--YOU AND OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE WILLING AND EAGER TO GET INVOLVED. YOU HAVE THE TALENT. YOU HAVE THE BRAINS. GIVE OF YOURSELF TO AMERICA. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE YOU, WE CANNOT FAIL. -END- ADDRESS BEFORE THE MODEL CONGRESS SPONSORED BY AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, SPRINGFIELD MASS. AT N A.M., M FRIDAY MARCH MADOH 22, 1968. an Address by Rep. ferald ford "THREE CRISES" MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THIS MODEL CONGRESS. THIS IS A TIME OF GRAVE CRISIS IT I 15 FOR AMERICA. WE ARE MET AT A TIME WHEN OUR NATION IS BESET WITH AGONIZING PROBLEMS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD WE ARE LET at A TIME WHICH DEMANDS THE BEST THAT IS IN ALL AMERICANS. THE CHALLENGE WHICH CONFRONTS US IS IN REALITY THREE CRISES JOINED IN ONE. THERE IS THE CRISIS OF VIETNAM AND THE OVERALL ISSUE OF WAR AND PEACE NOT ONLY FOR OUR TIME BUT FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. THERE IS THE CRISIS CREATED BY POLAR- IZATION OF THE RACES INTO TWO WARRING CAMPS, THE THREAT OF A SECOND CIVIL WAR. THERE IS THE CRISIS THAT UNDERMINES OUR 817 1817 FORD -2- with all ECONOMIC WELL-BEING AS INFLATION, ERODES THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR AT HOME AND ABROAD. THIS MODEL CONGRESS ANY CONGRESS WHICH IF WE ARE PURPORTS TO SPEAK FOR THE PEOPLE AND TO SEEK THE GREAT NATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF PEACE, JUSTICE, PROSPERITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY FOR ALL WE MUST WRESTLE WITH AND SEEK TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS GENERATED BY THESE CRISES. WE MUST TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT VIETNAM, WHERE WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE THIRD LARGEST FOREIGN WAR IN OUR HISTORY--A MASSIVE LAND WAR TO WHICH OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS COMMITTED MORE THAN 525,000 U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL, A CONFLICT WHICH HAS ALREADY TAKEN THE LIVES OF MORE THAN 23,000 AMERICANS DUE TO ENEMY ACTION AND OTHER CAUSES, A WAR WHICH IS DEVOURING AMERICAN WEALTH AT THE RATE OF MORE THAN $30 BILLION A YEAR. WE MUST AND EXAMINE OUR POLICIES IN VIETNAM ASK EVERIT OURSELVES WHETHER OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS -3- PURSUED THE PROPER COURSE IN THIS WAR. WHAT HAVE THE RESULTS BEEN IN THIS LIMITED WAR FOR LIMITED OBJECTIVES? WHAT ARE THOSE OBJECTIVES AND WHAT, PROPERLY, SHOULD THEY BE IN THE LIGHT OF AMERICA'S WORLD MISSION? WHAT, INDEED, IS AMERICA'S MISSION IN THE WORLD? HAVING DEFINED HER WORLD ROLE, HOW BEST CAN WE CARRY IT OUT? AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LIVE IN PEACE FROM THE BIRTH OF THIS NATION IN THAT CRADLE OF DEMOCRACY FASHIONED BY THE MEN OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1 MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK AND THE OTHER ORIG- INAL COLONIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. UNFORTUNATELY, THERE IS AN ALIEN BREED OF MEN IN THE WORLD TODAY WHO CARE NOTHING ABOUT INDIVIDUAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHO ARE DISTURBED NOT A BIT AT BLOTTING OUT THOUSANDS OF LIVES IF THEY CAN ONLY SEIZE THE REINS OF POWER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD. GERALD LISAARY -4- AMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THAT THERE ARE Go To TIMES WHEN THEY MUST WAR IF PEACE IS TO GoTo BE WORTH HAVING THAT THEY MUST ,MM WAR IF FREEDOM IS TO LIVE. AND SO THEY HAVE FOUGHT-- AT CONCORD, AT BUNKER HILL, IN THE FIELDS OF FRANCE, ON THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY AND THE IN KOREA, ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC, AND NOW IN THE RICE PADDIES OF SOUTH VIETNAM. TODAY WE TALK NOT ONLY OF FREEDOM BUT OF THE BALANCE OF POWER IN A WORLD WHERE THE COMMUNIST NATIONS CONSTANTLY USE WAR OR THREATS OF WAR TO FURTHER THEIR DESIGNS. IT IS AN EXCEEDINGLY COMPLEX WORLD, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA IS PERHAPS THE MOST COMPLEX PART OF IT. OUR TASK IS TO EXAMINE OUR COMMITMENT THERE AND TO ASSESS OUR OPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS AND OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE. OUR ECONOMY IS IN CRISIS. THE STAGGERING COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR IS ONLY ONE OF THE FACTORS. -5- THE COST OF LIVING IS MOVING STEADILY UPWARD, DESTROYING THE HOPES OF THE AMERICAN WORKER FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS BY EATING UP HIS WAGE GAINS AND ERODING HIS SAVINGS. FEDERAL FINANCES ARE OUT OF CONTROL, THE RESULT OF EXCESSIVE SPENDING AND HUGE DEFICITS OVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT CONSECUTIVE YEARS. INTEREST RATES HAVE RISEN TO THE HIGHEST POINT IN A HUNDRED YEARS, ADDING HEAVILY TO MORTGAGE AND TIME PURCHASE COSTS AND EVEN PRE- VENTING SOME AMERICANS FROM BUYING A HOME. THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR IN TERMS OF PURCHASING POWER HAS DROPPED TO 87 CENTS SINCE 1960. FOREIGNERS HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE DOLLAR--PREFERRING GOLD--AND HAVE DRAINED THE UNITED STATES OF MORE THAN $2.2 BILLION WORTH OF GOLD SINCE LAST NOVEMBER TO BRING OUR OVERALL GOLD STOCKS DOWN TO A LOW OF $10.4 BILLION. THIS NATION HAS REMOVED ALL GOLD BACKING -6- FROM OUR CURRENCY--TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS PREFERRING GOLD TO DOLLARS-- SO THAT NOW WE TRULY DO HAVE PAPER MONEY. WE CANNOT NOW SUDDENLY ERASE THE TREMENDOUS SPURT IN FEDERAL SPENDING WHICH HAS FUELED THE ENGINE OF INFLATION FOR, THE LAST at current nates is propelling SEVERAL YEARS AND EVEN_NOW PROPELS OUR ECONOMY DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD DESTRUCTION. BST. WE CAN AND MUST APPLY THE BRAKES. A NATION, LIKE A FAMILY, MUST LIVE CLOSE TO ITS MEANS. WE MUST BEGIN MOVING TOWARD A BALANCED BUDGET. WE MUST MOVE THIS NATION AHEAD TOWARD DESIRABLE SOCIAL GOALS--BUT WE MUST BE EVER MINDFUL THAT ATTEMPTS AT TOTAL GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS HAVE FAILED DESPITE THE HUGE SUMS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TOSSED AT OUR PROBLEMS. IT IS NOT PROGRESS WHEN THE ECONOMY OF THE RICH- EST NATION IN THE WORLD FALLS ILL BECAUSE THE MEN WHO MAKE ECONOMIC POLICY IN WASHINGTON LOSE CONTROL OF FEDERAL SPENDING. THAT WAY LIES ABRARY DISASTER. -7- the I URGE THEN, THAT TIIIS CONGRESS SET FOR a responsible of nesponsive financial plan asa ITSELF A BALANCED BUDGE AS A LONGTERM GOAL. WE MUST KEEP UPPERMOST IN OUR MINDS THAT IF AMERICANS ARE TO ENJOY PERSONAL SECURITY AND AMERICA IS TO MAKE REAL PROGRESS, WE MUST RESTORE STABLE PURCHASING POWER TO THE DOLLAR. HOW MANY AMERICANS FULLY REALIZE THAT IN A SINGLE YEAR--THE 12-MONTH PERIOD WHICH WILL END THIS JUNE 30--THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE PAID OUT MORE THAN $180 BILLION? HOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT FEDERAL SPENDING HAS JUMPED MORE THAN $80 BILLION IN JUST THE LAST SEVEN YEARS--A RISE OF MORE THAN 80 PER CENT? HOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S OUTLAY OF CASH FOR NON-MILITARY FUNCTIONS HAS GONE UP $51 BILLION IN THOSE SEVEN YEARS WHILE DEFENSE SPENDING, INCLUDING THE COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR, ROSE ONLY $30 FORD BILLION? -8- HOW MANY OF OUR PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE LAST TIME THE FEDERAL BUDGET WAS BALANCED WAS IN 1960--AND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY SEVEN BALANCED BUDGETS IN THE LAST 38 YEARS: WHEN THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE UNITED STATES IT SEES A NATION WITH ITS BOOKS CONSTANTLY OUT OF BALANCE AND ITS ACCOUNTS WITH OTHER NATIONS RUNNING DEEPLY INTO DEFICIT YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR. WE ARE OVERCOMMITTED AND OVEREXTENDED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WE MUST ALTER THAT THE TREND. WE MUST REVISE OUR COMMIT- MENTS WHILE CONTINUING TO FULFILL OUR ESSENTIAL ROLE OF WORLD LEADERSHIP. EVEN A NATION AS RICH AND POWERFUL AS THE UNITED STATES CANNOT OVERSPEND INDEFINITELY WITHOUT INVITING DISASTER. IN LOOKING AT OUR OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS, WE MUST EXAMINE NOT ONLY OUR POSITION IN ERALD VIETNAM BUT ALL OVER THE GLOBE. BESIDES THE 550,000 BRARY -9- U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL POSITIONED IN THE SOUTH- EAST ASIA BATTLE ZONE, WE HAVE 217,000 MEN ELSEWHERE IN THE FAR EAST, 352,000 IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN, 23,000 IN THE CARIBBEAN AND 400,000 ELSEWHERE ABROAD INCLUDING THOSE IN OUR NAVAL FLEETS. WE HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY CONTINUING UNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW TO USE THE MASSIVE POWER AT OUR DISPOSAL. WE MUST RESOLVE THIS BASIC POLICY QUESTION IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR NATION. AND WE MUST PERSUADE THE AMERI CAN PEOPLE THAT THE UNITED STATES is, INDEED, A PACIFIC NATION ALTHOUGH ASIA SEEMS VERY REMOTE had in the late 1930s. Curpl, wen with Hitter's outrages, seemed beyond FROM US. 2t Rs much the same problem our national leaders PARTICULARLY NOW WHEN OUR OVERSEAS Mr interest COMMITMENTS ARE A GIANT FACTOR IN OUR CONTINU- ING BALANCE OF PAYMENTS DEFICIT--A MASSIVELY LARGER OUTFLOW OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR FROM THIS COUNTRY THAN THE INLOW--WE MUST PARE OVERSEAS SPENDING TO THE BAREST POSSIBLE MINIMUM. WE LIBRARY -10- MUST INSIST UPON REFORMS IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR FOREIGN AID. AND WE MUST CREATE AND EXPAND AID ARRANGEMENTS WHEREBY MANY NATIONS IN A GIVEN REGION POOL THEIR LENDING RESOURCES INSTEAD OF MAKING DEMANDS UPON THE UNITED STATES ALONE. THE STAKES IN VIETNAM GO FAR BEYOND THAT BATTLE AREA TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE OF MANY OTHER PEOPLES AS WELL-ALL THOSE WHO ARE THREATENED WITH EXTERNALLY-AIDED WARS OF LIBERATION. VIETNAM IS A TEST OF WHETHER WE AS A PEOPLE HAVE THE WISDOM, THE MATURITY AND THE PATIENCE TO PURSUE A FAR-REACHING OBJECTIVE AND TO AVOID OVER-SIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS. AMONG OUR FIGHTING MEN IN VIETNAM ARE THOUSANDS OF NEGROES. CASUALTIES AMONG OUR OF NEGROES TO WHITES NEGRO GI'S ARE GREATER THAN THE RATIONIN THE POPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY. IN THE GHETTOES OF OUR GREAT CITIES, UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG YOUNG NEGRO MALES AVERAGES ABOUT 30 PER CENT WHILE THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE -11- NATIONWIDE HOVERS NEAR THE 4 PER CENT MARK. LAST YEAR LARGE-SCALE RIOTS SCARRED THE FACE OF AMERICA. RACIAL EXPLOSIONS ERUPTED IN JUST LAST WEEK, RIOTING BROKE OUT IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. SOME 120 CITIES./ WE HAVE WITNESSED GROWING HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE RACES, AND A BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER WHICH HAS MADE NEARLY EVERY MAJOR AMERICAN CITY THE SEEDBED FOR RACIAL RIOT AND A POTENTIAL WAR BETWEEN THE RACES. IT DOESN'T HELP TO SAY THAT RIOTS ARE UNAVOIDABLE IN THE SUMMER OF 1968. IT DOESN'T HELP FOR NEGROES AND WHITES ALIKE TO BUY GUNS BECAUSE "THEY MIGHT COME IN HERE." DOES THIS SOLVE ANYTHING? THE PROBLEM IS MOST COMPLEX. BASICALLY IT IS ONE OF FOOLISH HOSTILITY AND OF MISERABLE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR WHICH THERE IS REALLY NO EXCUSE. AS FOR THE HOSTILITY, I KNOW THIS. THERE IS NO HOSTILITY BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE CHILDREN UNTIL IT IS TAUGHT TO THEM BY THEIR PARENTS OR FRIENDS. danted The seeds 1 l'itterness While Racrots & those who have-planding and negro poor have Interally stolen from AM SURE, TOO, THAT MUCH OF THE PRESENT HOSTILITY HAS BEEN STIMULATED BY BLACK MILITANTS WHO HAVE BEEN PREACHING VIOLENCE SEPARATISM. rightly or wrongly, AND BLOODY REVOLUTION. THIS, HAS DAMAGED THE CAUSE OF CIVIL RIGHTS. WITHOUT REGARD FOR THE BLACK MILITANTS AND SIMPLY FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION, WE MUST GET ABOUT A TASK TOO LONG NEGLECTED--THE REBUILDING OF OUR CITIES. TO REBUILD OUR CITIES, WE MUST BUILD THE PEOPLE OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES BY HELPING THEM TO HELP THEMSELVES AND TO LIVE BETTER LIVES FROM A SENSE OF PERSONAL PRIDE. THE AREAS OF NEED ARE WELL KNOWN. WE MUST MOVE VIGOROUSLY TO FILL THE DEEP GAPS IN EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND EDUCATION THAT MAKE DISADVANTAGED AREAS OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES. THE FIRST PRIORITY IS JOBS. URGE THAT THE I ASK THIS MODEL CONGRESS CONSIDER THE WISDOM OF PROVIDING INDUSTRY WITH TAX -13- CREDITS TO STIMULATE A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM OF ON-THE-JOB TRAINING FOR GHETTO YOUTHS AND TO GET INDUSTRY TO BUILD INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IN THE CENTRAL CITIES. COUPLED WITH THIS I SEE A PLAN TO ENGAGE INDUSTRY IN A MASSIVE, GOVERNMENT-UNDERWRITTEN PROGRAM TO PROVIDE PRIVATE HOUSING FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND GIVE THEM THE TREMENDOUS PERSONAL PRIDE THAT GOES WITH HOME OWNERSHIP. THIS WOULD HELP TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER AND THUS STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE FABRIC OF OUR SOCIETY. WE NEED NOT ONLY A NEW SET OF NATIONAL SPENDING PRIORITIES BUT AN ENTIRELY NEW APPROACH TO AMERICA'S SOCIAL PROBLEMS--AN APPROACH WHICH DEPARTS FROM TOTAL GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS TO BRING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY INTO A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN PROBLEM--SOLVING_ALONG WITH GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS. Tigury AND WE MUST CULTIVATE A NEW MEASURE OF GERAL LIBRARY UNDERSTANDING AMONG OUR PEOPLE-THE FULL -14- REALIZATION THAT, AS ONE OF OUR GREATEST PRESIDENTS EXPRESSED IT, A NATION DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND. SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE FOUND MY COMMENTS TODAY RATHER HEAVY GOING. I COULD HAVE TALKED WITH YOU ABOUT SCHOOL, THE PROBLEMS OF DATING AND EARLY MARRIAGE, CAREERS AND JOB PROSPECTS. BUT I HAVE FOUND THAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF AMERICA WANT TO THINK--AND THEY WANT TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES. IN FACT, THEY THEY FEEL THAT THE ADULT INFLUENCE IS DAMAGING TO TEENAGERS. I DON'T T BELIEVE ADULTS INTERFERE WITH THE ABILITY OF TEENAGERS TO THINK FOR THEM- 2 haven't noticed that in her family SELVES., YOU DO PLENTY OF THAT, FROM MY OBSERVATIONS, AND THAT IS WHY I HAVE NOT HESITATED TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT VIETNAM, INFLATION, THE GOLD DRAIN, AMERICAN COMMITMENTS ABROAD, RACE RELATIONS AND THE BROADER PROBLEMS OF THE CITIES. YOU ARE FULLY COMPETENT TO EXAMINE THE SE AND OTHER PROBLEMS THAT FACE AMERICA IN 1968 YOU WOULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE AND YOU CAN HELP TO CURE -15- THE SICKNESS THAT INFECTS AMERICA TODAY IF YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT EVERY OTHER AMERICAN WANTS TO BE LOVED AND RESPECTED. I COULD LIST MANY MORE PROBLEMS FOR YOUR STUDY THAN I ALREADY HAVE BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY Take Eric & Tobe Michy ARE--AIR AND WATER POLLUTION CRIME THAT HAS GONE UP 83 PER CENT IN THE PAST SEVEN YEARS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN THE SUBURBS, DISHONESTY IN HIGH PLACES, DRUG ADDICTION, FAMILY BREAKDOWN PERSONAL RRESPONSIBILITY IN ALL ITS FORMS. YOU KNOW THE PROBLEMS. NOW BRING YOUR THINK-POWER TO BEAR ON THEM. INSERT THE WAY FOR AMERICA TO SOLVE ITS PROBLEMS IS TO GET ALL AMERICANS INVOLVED IN SOLVING THEM TO TAP THE GREAT WELL OF COMMITMENT AND IDEALISM THAT IS JUST WAITING TO BE DRAWN UPON. WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID, "GIVE US THE TOOLS, AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB." YOU HAVE THE TOOLS TO DO THE JOB--YOU -16- AND OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE WILLING AND EAGER TO GET INVOLVED. YOU HAVE THE TALENT. YOU HAVE THE BRAINS. GIVE OF YOURSELF TO AMERICA. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE YOU, WE CANNOT FAIL. -END- FORD VIDRARY M Copy CONGRESSMAN NEWS GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER RELEASE --FOR RELEASE IN FRIDAY PM's-- March 22, 1968 An Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Model Congress sponsored by American International College, Springfield, Mass., at 10 a.m. Friday. Mr. Chairman and members of this Model Congress: We are met in a time of grave crisis for America. We are met at a time when our Nation is beset with agonizing problems both at home and abroad. We are met at a time which demands the best that is in all Americans. The challenge which confronts us is in reality three crises joined in one. There is the crisis of Vietnam and the overall issue of war and peace not only for our time but for generations to come. There is the crisis created by polarization of the races into two warring camps, the threat of a second civil war. There is the crisis that undermines our economic well-being as inflation erodes the value of the dollar at home and abroad. This Model Congress--any Congress which purports to speak for the people and to seek the great national objectives of peace, justice, prosperity and human dignity for all--must wrestle with and seek to develop solutions to the problems generated by these crises. We must take a fresh look at Vietnam, where we are involved in the third largest foreign war in our history--a massive land war to which our commander- in-chief has committed more than 525,000 U.S. military personnel, a conflict which has already taken the lives of more than 23,000 Americans due to enemy action and other causes, a war which is devouring American wealth at a rate of more than $32 billion a year. Examine our policies in Vietnam. Ask yourselves whether our commander-in- chief has pursued the proper course in this war. What have the results been in this limited war for limited objectives? What are those objectives and what, properly, should they be in the light of America's world mission? What, indeed, is America's mission in the world? Having defined her world role, how best can we carry it out? Americans have always wanted to live in peace from the birth of this Nation in that cradle of democracy fashioned by the men of Massachusetts and (more) GERALD FORD LIBRARY -2- New York and the other original colonies to the present time. Unfortunately, there is an alien breed of men in the world today who care nothing about individual human rights and who are disturbed not a bit at blotting out thousands of lives if they can only seize the reins of power in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the world. Americans have learned that there are times when they must make war if peace is to be worth having that they must make war if freedom is to live. And so they have fought at Concord, at Bunker Hill, in the fields of France, on the beaches of Normandy and the islands in the Pacific, and now in the rice paddies of South Vietnam. Today we talk not only of freedom but of the balance of power in a world where the communist nations constantly use war or threats of war to further their designs. It is an exceedingly complex world, and Southeast Asia is perhaps the most complex part of it. Your task is to examine our commitment there and to assess our options in the light of current developments and our prospects for the future. Our economy is in crisis. The staggering cost of the Vietnam War is only one of the factors. The cost of living is moving steadily upward, destroying the hopes of the American worker for economic progress by eating up his wage gains and eroding his savings. Federal finances are out of control, the result of excessive spending and huge deficits over a period of eight consecutive years. Interest rates have risen to the highest point in a hundred years, adding heavily to mortgage and time purchase costs and even preventing some Americans from buying a home. The value of the dollar in terms of purchasing power has dropped to 87 cents since 1960. Foreigners have lost confidence in the dollar--preferring gold--and have drained the United States of more than $2.2 billion worth of gold since last November to bring our overall gold stocks down to a low of $10.4 billion. This Nation has removed all gold backing from our currency--to meet the demands of foreign governments preferring gold to dollars--so that now we truly do have paper money. We cannot now suddenly erase the tremendous spurt in federal spending which has fueled the engine of inflation for the last several years and even now (more) -3- propels our economy down the road toward destruction. But we can and must apply the brakes. A nation, like a family, must live close to its means. We must begin moving toward a balanced budget. We must move this Nation ahead toward desirable social goals--but we must be ever mindful that attempts at total government solutions have failed despite the huge sums of taxpayer dollars tossed at our problems. It is not progress when the economy of the richest nation in the world falls ill because the men who make economic policy in Washington lose control of federal spending. That way lies disaster. I urge, then, that this Congress set for itself a balanced budget as a long- term goal. We must keep uppermost in our minds that if Americans are to enjoy personal security and America is to make real progress, we must restore stable purchasing power to the dollar. How many Americans fully realize that in a single year--the 12-month period which will end this June 30--the Federal Government will have paid out more than $180 billion? How many Americans know that the Federal Government's outlay of cash for non-military functions has gone up $51 billion in those seven years while defense spending, including the cost of the Vietnam War, rose only $30 billion? How many of our people realize that the last time the Federal budget was balanced was in 1960--and that there have been only seven balanced budgets in the last 38 years? When the world looks at the United States it sees a nation with its books constantly out of balance and its accounts with other nations running deeply into deficit year after year after year. We are overcommitted and overextended at home and throughout the world. We must reverse the trend. We must revise our commitments while continuing to fulfill our essential role of world leadership. Even a nation as rich and powerful as the United States cannot overspend indefinitely without inviting disaster. In looking at our overseas commitments, we must examine not only our position in Vietnam but all over the globe. Besides the 550,000 U.S. military personnel positioned in the Southeast Asia battle zone, we have 217,000 men elsewhere in the Far East, 352,000 in Europe and the Mediterranean, 23,000 in the Caribbean and 400,000 elsewhere abroad including those in our naval fleets. We have been plagued by continuing uncertainty as to how to use the massive (more) -4- power at our disposal. We must resolve this basic policy question in the best interests of our Nation. And we must persuade the American people that the United States is, indeed, a Pacific nation although Asia seems very remote from us. Particularly now when our overseas commitments are a giant factor in our continuing balance of payments deficit--a massively larger outflow of dollars each year from this country than the inflow--we must pare overseas spending to the barest possible minimum. We must insist upon reforms in exchange for our foreign aid, and we must create and expand aid arrangements whereby many nations in a given region pool their lending resources instead of making demands upon the United States alone. The stakes in Vietnam go far beyond that battle area to embrace the future of many other peoples as well--all those who are threatened with externally-aided wars of liberation. Vietnam is a test of whether we as a people have the wisdom, the maturity and the patience to pursue a far-reaching objective and to avoid over-simplified solutions. Among our fighting men in Vietnam are thousands of Negroes. Casualties among our Negro GI's are greater than their ratio in the population of this country. In the ghettoes of our great cities, unemployment among young Negro males averages about 30 per cent while the unemployment rate nationwide hovers near the 4 per cent mark. Last year large-scale riots scarred the face of America. Racial explosions erupted in some 120 cities. We have witnessed growing hostility between the races, and a breakdown of law and order which has made nearly every major American city the seedbed for racial riot and a potential war between the races. It doesn't help to say that riots are unavoidable in the summer of 1968. It doesn't help for Negroes and whites alike to buy guns because "THEY might come in here." Does this solve anything? The problem is most complex. Basically it is one of foolish hostility and of miserable living conditions for which there is really no excuse. As for the hostility, I know this. There is no hostility between black and white children until it is taught to them by their parents or friends. I am sure, too, that much of the present hostility has been stimula ted by black militants who have been preaching violence, separatism, and bloody revolution. This, I believe, has damaged the cause of civil rights. Without regard for the black militants and simply for the good of the Nation, -5- we must get about a task too long neglected--the rebuilding of our cities. To rebuild our cities, we mus t build the people of our central cities by helping them to help themselves and to live better lives from a sense of personal pride. The areas of need are well known. We must move vigorously to fill the deep gaps in employment, housing and education that make disadvantaged areas of our central cities. The first priority is jobs. I ask this Model Congress to consider the wisdom of providing industry with tax credits to stimulate a nationwide program of on-the-job training for ghetto youths and to get industry to build industria 1 plants in the central cities. Coupled with this I see a plan to engage industry in a massive, government- underwritten program to provide private housing for low-income families and give them the tremendous personal pride that goes with home ownership. This would help to keep families together and thus strengthen the entire fabirc of our society. We need not only a new set of national spending priorities but an entirely new approach to America's social problems--an approach which departs from total government solutions to bring business and industry into a leadership role in problem-solving along with government at all levels. And we must cultivate a new measure of understanding among our people--the full realization that, as one of our greatest Presidents expressed it, a Nation divided against itself cannot stand. Some of you may have found my comments today rather heavy going. I could have talked with you about school, the problems of dating and early marriage, careers and job prospects. But I have found that the young people of America want to think--and they want to think for themselves. In fact, they feel that the adult influence is damaging to teenagers. I don't believe adults interfere with the ability of teenagers to think for themselves. You do plenty of that, from my observations. And that is why I have not hesitated to talk with you about Vietnam, inflation, the gold drain, American commitments abroad, race relations and the broader problems of the cities. You are fully competent to examine these and other problems that face America in 1968 or you would not be present here today. And you can help to cure the sickness that infects America today if you will always remember that every other American wants to be loved and respected. I could list many more problems for your study than I already have but you (more) -6- know what they are--air and water pollution, crime that has gone up 83 per cent in the past seven years, juvenile deliquency in the suburbs, dishonesty in high places, drug addiction, family breakdown, personal irresponsibility in all its forms. You know the problems. Now bring your think-power to bear on them. The way for America to solve its problems is to get all Americans involved in solving them, to tap the great well of commitment and idealism that is just waiting to be drawn upon. Winston Churchill once said: "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job." You have the tools to do the job--you and other Americans who are willing and eager to get involved. You have the talent. You have the brains. Give of yourself to America. With young people like you, we cannot fail. # # # CONGRESSMAN NEWS GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER RELEASE --FOR RELEASE IN FRIDAY PM's-- March 22, 1968 An Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Model Congress sponsored by American International College, Springfield, Mass., at 10 a.m. Friday. Mr. Chairman and members of this Model Congress: We are met in a time of grave crisis for America. We are met at a time when our Nation is beset with agonizing problems both at home and abroad We are met at a time which demands the best that is in all Americans. The challenge which confronts us is in reality three crises joined in one. There is the crisis of Vietnam and the overall issue of war and peace not only for our time but for generations to come. There is the crisis created by polarization of the races into two warring camps, the threat of a second civil war. There is the crisis that undermines our economic well-being as inflation erodes the value of the dollar at home and abroad. This Model Congress--any Congress which purports to speak for the people and to seek the great national objectives of peace, justice, prosperity and human dignity for all--must wrestle with and seek to develop solutions to the problems generated by these crises. We must take a fresh look at Vietnam, where we are involved in the third largest foreign war in our history--a massive land war to which our commander- in-chief has committed more than 525,000 U.S. military personnel, a conflict which has already taken the lives of more than 23,000 Americans due to enemy action and other causes, a wat which is devouring American wealth at a rate of more than $32 billion a year. Examine our policies in Vietnam, Ask yourselves whether our commander-in- chief has pursued the proper course in this war. What have the results been in this limited war for limited objectives? What are those objectives and what, properly, should they be in the light of America's world mission? What, indeed, is America's mission in the world? Having defined her world role, how best can we carry it out? Americans have always wanted to live in peace...from the birth of this Nation in that cradle of democracy fashioned by the men of Massachusetts and (more) FORD is LIBRARY GERALD -2- New York and the other original colonies to the present time. Unfortunately, there is an alien breed of men in the world today who care nothing about individual human rights and who are disturbed not a bit at blotting out thousands of lives if they can only seize the reins of power in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the world. Americans have learned that there are times when they must make war if peace is to be worth having that they must make war if freedom is to live. And so they have fought--at Concord, at Bunker Hill, in the fields of France, on the beaches of Normandy and the islands in the Pacific, and now in the rice paddies of South Vietnam. Today we talk not only of freedom but of the balance of power in a world where the communist nations constantly use war or threats of war to further their designs. It is an exceedingly complex world, and Southeast Asia is perhaps the most complex part of it. Your task is to examine our commitment there and to assess our options in the light of current developments and our prospects for the future. Our economy is in crisis. The staggering cost of the Vietnam War is only one of the factors. The cost of living is moving steadily upward, destroying the hopes of the American worker for economic progress by eating up his wage gains and eroding his savings. Federal finances are out of control, the result of excessive spending and huge deficits over a period of eight consecutive years. Interest rates have risen to the highest point in a hundred years, adding heavily to mortgage and time purchase costs and even preventing some Americans from buying a home. The value of the dollar in terms of purchasing power has dropped to 87 cents since 1960. Foreigners have lost confidence in the dollar--preferring gold--and have drained the United States of more than $2.2 billion worth of gold since last November to bring our overall gold stocks down to a low of $10.4 billion. This Nation has removed all gold backing from our currency--to meet the demands of foreign governments preferring gold to dollars--so that now we truly do have paper money. We cannot now suddenly erase the tremendous spurt in federal spending which has fueled the engine of inflation for the last several years and even now (more) -3- propels our economy down the road toward destruction. But we can and must apply the brakes. A nation, like a family, must live close to its means. We must begin moving toward a balanced budget. We must move this Nation ahead toward desirable social goals--but we must be ever mindful that attempts at total government solutions have failed despite the huge sums of taxpayer dollars tossed at our problems. It is not progress when the economy of the richest nation in the world falls ill because the men who make economic policy in Washington lose control of federal spending. That way lies disaster. I urge, then, that this Congress set for itself a balanced budget as a long- term goal. We must keep uppermost in our minds that if Americans are to enjoy personal security and America is to make real progress, we must restore stable purchasing power to the dollar. How many Americans fully realize that in a single year--the 12-month period which will end this June 30--the Federal Government will have paid out more than $180 billion? How many Americans know that the Federal Government's outlay of cash for non-military functions has gone up $51 billion in those seven years while defense spending, including the cost of the Vietnam War, rose only $30 billion? How many of our people realize that the last time the Federal budget was balanced was in 1960--and that there have been only seven balanced budgets in the last 38 years? When the world looks at the United States it sees a nation with its books constantly out of balance and its accounts with other nations running deeply into deficit year after year after year. We are overcommitted and overextended at home and throughout the world. We must reverse the trend. We must revise our commitments while continuing to fulfill our essential role of world leadership. Even a nation as rich and powerful as the United States cannot overspend indefinitely without inviting disaster. In looking at our overseas commitments, we must examine not only our position in Vietnam but all over the globe. Besides the 550,000 U.S. military personnel positioned in the Southeast Asia battle zone, we have 217,000 men elsewhere in the Far East, 352,000 in Europe and the Mediterranean, 23,000 in the Caribbean and 400,000 elsewhere abroad including those in our naval fleets. We have been plagued by continuing uncertainty as to how to use the massive (more) -4- power at our disposal. We must resolve this basic policy question in the best interests of our Nation. And we must persuade the American people that the United States is, indeed, a Pacific nation although Asia seems very remote from us. Particularly now when our overseas commitments are a giant factor in our continuing balance of payments deficit--a massively larger outflow of dollars each year from this country than the inflow--we must pare overseas spending to the barest possible minimum. We must insist upon reforms in exchange for our foreign aid, and we must create and expand aid arrangements whereby many nations in a given region pool their lending resources instead of making demands upon the United States alone. The stakes in Vietnam go far beyond that battle area to embrace the future of many other peoples as well--all those who are threatened with externally-aided wars of liberation. Vietnam is a test of whether we as a people have the wisdom, the maturity and the patience to pursue a far-reaching objective and to avoid over-simplified solutions. Among our fighting men in Vietnam are thousands of Negroes. Casualties among our Negro GI's are greater than their ratio in the population of this country. In the ghettoes of our great cities, unemployment among young Negro males averages about 30 per cent while the unemployment rate nationwide hovers near the 4 per cent mark. Last year large-scale riots scarred the face of America. Racial explosions erupted in some 120 cities. We have witnessed growing hostility between the races, and a breakdown of law and order which has made nearly every major American city the seedbed for racial riot and a potential war between the races. It doesn't help to say that riots are unavoidable in the summer of 1968. It doesn't help for Negroes and whites alike to buy guns because "THEY might come in here." Does this solve anything? The problem is most complex. Basically it is one of foolish hostility and of miserable living conditions for which there is really no excuse. As for the hostility, I know this. There is no hostility between black and white children until it is taught to them by their parents or friends. I am sure, too, that much of the present hostility has been stimula ted by black militants who have been preaching violence, separatism, and bloody revolution. This, I believe, has damaged the cause of civil rights. Without regard for the black militants and simply for the good of the Nation, -5- we must get about a task too long neglected--the rebuilding of our cities. To rebuild our cities, we mus t build the people of our central cities by helping them to help themselves and to live better lives from a sense of personal pride. The areas of need are well known. We must move vigorously to fill the deep gaps in employment, housing and education that make disadvantaged areas of our central cities. The first priority is jobs. I ask this Model Congress to consider the wisdom of providing industry with tax credits to stimulate a nationwide program of on-the-job training for ghetto youths and to get industry to build industria 1 plants in the central cities. Coupled with this I see a plan to engage industry in a massive, government- underwritten program to provide private housing fcr low-income families and give them the tremendous personal pride that goes with home ownership. This would help to keep families together and thus strengthen the entire fabirc of our society. We need not only a new set of national spending priorities but an entirely new approach to America's social problems--an approach which departs from total government solutions to bring business and industry into a leadership role in problem-solving along with government at all levels. And we must cultivate a new measure of understanding among our people--the full realization that, as one of our greatest Presidents expressed it, a Nation divided against itself cannot stand. Some of you may have found my comments today rather heavy going. I could have talked with you about school, the problems of dating and early marriage, careers and job prospects. But I have found that the young people of America want to think--and they want to think for themselves. In fact, they feel that the adult influence is damaging to teenagers. I don't believe adults interfere with the ability of teenagers to think for themselves. You do plenty of that, from my observations. And that is why I have not hesitated to talk with you about Vietnam, inflation, the gold drain, American commitments abroad, race relations and the broader problems of the cities. You are fully competent to examine these and other problems that face America in 1968 or you would not be present here today. And you can help to cure the sickness that infects America today if you will always remember that every other American wants to be loved and respected. I could list many more problems for your study than I already have but you (more) -6- know what they are--air and water pollution, crime that has gone up 83 per cent in the past seven years, juvenile deliquency in the suburbs, dishonesty in high places, drug addiction, family breakdown, personal irresponsibility in all its forms. You know the problems. Now bring your think-power to bear on them. The way for America to solve its problems is to get all Americans involved in solving them, to tap the great well of commitment and idealism that is just waiting to be drawn upon. Winston Churchill once said: "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job." You have the tools to do the job--you and other Americans who are willing and eager to get involved. You have the talent. You have the brains. Give of yourself to America. With young people like you, we cannot fail. # # #

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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D24, folder \"Model Congress, American\nInternational College, Springfield, MA, March 22, 1968\" of the Ford Congressional\nPapers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nDigitized from Box D24 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nAN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD\n\"THREE CRISES\"\nTHIS IS A TIME OF GRAVE CRISIS FOR\nAMERICA. IT IS A TIME WHEN OUR NATION IS\nBESET WITH AGONIZING PROBLEMS BOTH AT HOME AND\nABROAD, A TIME WHICH DEMANDS THE BEST THAT IS\nIN ALL AMERICANS.\nTHE CHALLENGE WHICH CONFRONTS US IS IN\nREALITY THREE CRISES JOINED IN ONE.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS OF VIETNAM AND THE\nOVERALL ISSUE OF WAR AND PEACE NOT ONLY FOR OUR\nTIME BUT FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS CREATED BY POLAR-\nIZATION OF THE RACES INTO TWO WARRING CAMPS,\nTHE THREAT OF A SECOND CIVIL WAR.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS THAT UNDERMINES OUR\nECONOMIC WELL-BEING AS INFLATION WITH ALL ITS\nINSIDIOUS RAMIFICATIONS ERODES THE VALUE ERALD OF THE\n-2-\nDOLLAR AT HOME AND ABROAD.\nIF WE ARE TO SEEK THE GREAT NATIONAL\nOBJECTIVES OF PEACE, JUSTICE, PROSPERITY AND\nHUMAN DIGNITY FOR ALL, WE MUST WRESTLE WITH\nAND SEEK TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS\nGENERATED BY THESE CRISES.\nWE MUST TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT VIETNAM,\nWHERE WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE THIRD LARGEST\nFOREIGN WAR IN OUR HISTORY--A MASSIVE LAND WAR\nTO WHICH OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS COMMITTED\nMORE THAN 525,000 U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL, A\nCONFLICT WHICH HAS ALREADY TAKEN THE LIVES OF\nMORE THAN 23,000 AMERICANS DUE TO ENEMY ACTION\nAND OTHER CAUSES, A WAR WHICH IS DEVOURING\nAMERICAN WEALTH AT THE RATE OF MORE THAN\n$30 BILLION A YEAR.\nWE MUST EXAMINE OUR POLICIES IN VIETNAM\nAND ASK OURSELVES WHETHER OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF\nHAS PURSUED THE PROPER COURSE IN THIS WAR.\nWHAT HAVE THE RESULTS BEEN IN THIS LIMITED WAR\n-3-\nFOR LIMITED OBJECTIVES? WHAT ARE THOSE\nOBJECTIVES AND WHAT, PROPERLY, SHOULD THEY BE\nIN THE LIGHT OF AMERICA'S WORLD MISSION? WHAT,\nINDEED, IS AMERICA'S MISSION IN THE WORLD?\nHAVING DEFINED HER WORLD ROLE, HOW BEST CAN WE\nCARRY IT OUT?\nAMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LIVE IN\nPEACE.\nFROM THE BIRTH OF THIS NATION IN THAT\nCRADLE OF DEMOCRACY FASHIONED BY THE MEN OF\nPENNSYLVANIA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK AND THE\nOTHER ORIGINAL COLONIES TO THE PRESENT TIME.\nUNFORTUNATELY, THERE IS AN ALIEN BREED\nOF MEN IN THE WORLD TODAY WHO CARE NOTHING\nABOUT INDIVIDUAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHO ARE\nDISTURBED NOT A BIT AT BLOTTING OUT THOUSANDS\nOF LIVES IF THEY CAN ONLY SEIZE THE REINS OF\nPOWER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE\nWORLD.\nAMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THAT THERE ARE\nTIMES WHEN THEY MUST GO TO WAR IF PEACE IS TO\n-4-\nBE WORTH HAVING\nTHAT THEY MUST GO TO WAR IF\nFREEDOM IS TO LIVE. AND SO THEY HAVE FOUGHT--\nAT CONCORD, AT BUNKER HILL, IN THE FIELDS OF\nFRANCE, ON THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY AND THE\nISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC, IN KOREA, AND NOW IN\nTHE RICE PADDIES OF SOUTH VIETNAM.\nTODAY WE TALK NOT ONLY OF FREEDOM BUT\nTHE BALANCE OF POWER IN A WORLD WHERE THE\nCOMMUNIST NATIONS CONSTANTLY USE WAR OR THREATS\nOF WAR TO FURTHER THEIR DESIGNS. IT IS AN\nEXCEEDINGLY COMPLEX WORLD, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA\nIS PERHAPS THE MOST COMPLEX PART OF IT. OUR\nTASK IS TO EXAMINE OUR COMMITMENT THERE AND TO\nASSESS OUR OPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT\nDEVELOPMENTS AND OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE.\nOUR ECONOMY IS IN CRISIS. THE\nSTAGGERING COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR IS ONLY ONE\nOF THE FACTORS.\nTHE COST OF LIVING IS MOVING STEADILY\nLIBRARY\nUPWARD, DESTROYING THE HOPES OF THE AMERICAN\n-5-\nWORKER FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS BY EATING UP HIS\nWAGE GAINS AND ERODING HIS SAVINGS.\nFEDERAL FINANCES ARE OUT OF CONTROL, THE\nRESULT OF EXCESSIVE SPENDING AND HUGE DEFICITS\nOVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT CONSECUTIVE YEARS.\nINTEREST RATES HAVE RISEN TO THE HIGHEST\nPOINT IN A HUNDRED YEARS, ADDING HEAVILY TO\nMORTGAGE AND TIME PURCHASE COSTS AND EVEN PRE-\nVENTING SOME AMERICANS FROM BUYING A HOME.\nTHE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR IN TERMS OF\nPURCHASING POWER HAS DROPPED TO 87 CENTS SINCE\n1960.\nFOREIGNERS HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE\nDOLLAR--PREFERRING GOLD--AND HAVE DRAINED THE\nUNITED STATES OF MORE THAN $2.2 BILLION WORTH\nOF GOLD SINCE LAST NOVEMBER TO BRING OUR OVERALL\nGOLD STOCKS DOWN TO A LOW OF $10.4 BILLION.\nTHIS NATION HAS REMOVED ALL GOLD BACKING\nFROM OUR CURRENCY--TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF\nFOREIGN GOVERNMENTS PREFERRING GOLD TO DOLLARS--\n-6-\nSO THAT NOW WE TRULY DO HAVE PAPER MONEY.\nWE CANNOT NOW SUDDENLY ERASE THE\nTREMENDOUS SPURT IN FEDERAL SPENDING WHICH HAS\nFUELED THE ENGINE OF INFLATION FOR THE LAST\nSEVERAL YEARS AND AT CURRENT RATES IS\nPROPELLING OUR ECONOMY DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD\nDESTRUCTION. WE CAN AND MUST APPLY THE BRAKES.\nA NATION, LIKE A FAMILY, MUST LIVE CLOSE TO ITS\nMEANS. WE MUST BEGIN MOVING TOWARD A BALANCED\nBUDGET.\nWE MUST MOVE THIS NATION AHEAD TOWARD\nDESIRABLE SOCIAL GOALS--BUT WE MUST BE EVER\nMINDFUL THAT ATTEMPTS AT TOTAL GOVERNMENT\nSOLUTIONS HAVE FAILED DESPITE THE HUGE SUMS\nOF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TOSSED AT OUR PROBLEMS.\nIT IS NOT PROGRESS WHEN THE ECONOMY OF THE\nRICHEST NATION IN THE WORLD FALLS ILL BECAUSE\nTHE MEN WHO MAKE ECONOMIC POLICY IN WASHINGTON\nLOSE CONTROL OF FEDERAL SPENDING. THAT WAY\nLIES DISASTER.\nGERAL\nLIBRARY\n-7-\nI URGE, THEN, THAT THE CONGRESS SET FOR\nITSELF A RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE FINANCIAL\nPLAN AS A GOAL. WE MUST KEEP UPPERMOST IN OUR\nMINDS THAT IF AMERICANS ARE TO ENJOY PERSONAL\nSECURITY AND AMERICA IS TO MAKE REAL PROGRESS,\nWE MUST RESTORE STABLE PURCHASING POWER TO THE\nDOLLAR.\nHOW MANY AMERICANS FULLY REALIZE THAT IN\nA SINGLE YEAR--THE 12-MONTH PERIOD WHICH WILL\nEND THIS JUNE 30--THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL\nHAVE PAID OUT MORE THAN $180 BILLION?\nHOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT FEDERAL\nSPENDING HAS JUMPED MORE THAN $80 BILLION IN\nJUST THE LAST SEVEN YEARS--A RISE OF MORE THAN\n80 PER CENT?\nHOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT THE FEDERAL\nGOVERNMENT'S OUTLAY OF CASH FOR NON-MILITARY\nFUNCTIONS HAS GONE UP $51 BILLION IN THOSE\nSEVEN YEARS WHILE DEFENSE SPENDING, INCLUDING\nTHE COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR, ROSE ONLY $30\nBILLION?\n-8-\nHOW MANY OF OUR PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE\nLAST TIME THE FEDERAL BUDGET WAS BALANCED WAS\nIN 1960--AND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY SEVEN\nBALANCED BUDGETS IN THE LAST 38 YEARS?\nWHEN THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE UNITED STATES\nIT SEES A NATION WITH ITS BOOKS CONSTANTLY OUT\nOF BALANCE AND ITS ACCOUNTS WITH OTHER NATIONS\nRUNNING DEEPLY INTO DEFICIT YEAR AFTER YEAR\nAFTER YEAR.\nWE ARE OVERCOMMITTED AND OVEREXTENDED\nTHROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WE MUST ALTER THAT TREND.\nWE MUST REVISE OUR COMMITMENTS WHILE CONTINUING\nTO FULFILL OUR ESSENTIAL ROLE OF WORLD LEADER-\nSHIP.\nEVEN A NATION AS RICH AND POWERFUL AS\nTHE UNITED STATES CANNOT OVERSPEND INDEFINITELY\nWITHOUT INVITING DISASTER.\nIN LOOKING AT OUR OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS,\nWE MUST EXAMINE NOT ONLY OUR POSITION IN VIETNAM\nBUT ALL OVER THE GLOBE. BESIDES THE 550,000\n-9-\nU.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL POSITIONED IN THE SOUTH-\nEAST ASIA BATTLE ZONE, WE HAVE 217,000 MEN\nELSEWHERE IN THE FAR EAST, 352,000 IN EUROPE\nAND THE MEDITERRANEAN, 23,000 IN THE CARIBBEAN\nAND 400,000 ELSEWHERE ABROAD INCLUDING THOSE\nIN OUR NAVAL FLEETS.\nWE HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY CONTINUING\nUNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW TO USE THE MASSIVE POWER\nAT OUR DISPOSAL. WE MUST RESOLVE THIS BASIC\nPOLICY QUESTION IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR\nNATION. AND WE MUST PERSUADE THE AMERICAN\nPEOPLE THAT THE UNITED STATES is, INDEED, A\nPACIFIC NATION ALTHOUGH ASIA SEEMS VERY REMOTE\nFROM US. IT IS MUCH THE SAME PROBLEM OUR\nNATIONAL LEADERS HAD IN THE LATE 1930's.\nEUROPE, EVEN WITH HITLER'S OUTRAGES, SEEMED\nBEYOND OUR INTERESTS.\nPARTICULARLY NOW WHEN OUR OVERSEAS\nCOMMITMENTS ARE A GIANT FACTOR IN OUR CONTINU-\nING BALANCE OF PAYMENTS DEFICIT--A MASSIVELY\nLIBRARY\n-10-\nLARGER OUTFLOW OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR FROM THIS\nCOUNTRY THAN THE INFLOW--WE MUST PARE OVERSEAS\nSPENDING TO THE BAREST POSSIBLE MINIMUM. WE\nMUST INSIST UPON REFORMS IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR\nFOREIGN AID. AND WE MUST CREATE AND EXPAND AID\nARRANGEMENTS WHEREBY MANY NATIONS IN A GIVEN\nREGION POOL THEIR LENDING RESOURCES INSTEAD OF\nMAKING DEMANDS UPON THE UNITED STATES ALONE.\nTHE STAKES IN VIETNAM GO FAR BEYOND THAT\nBATTLE AREA TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE OF MANY OTHER\nPEOPLES AS WELL--ALL THOSE WHO ARE THREATENED\nWITH EXTERNALLY-AIDED WARS OF LIBERATION.\nVIETNAM IS A TEST OF WHETHER WE AS A PEOPLE\nHAVE THE WISDOM, THE MATURITY AND THE PATIENCE\nTO PURSUE A FAR-REACHING OBJECTIVE AND TO AVOID\nOVER-SIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS.\nAMONG OUR FIGHTING MEN IN VIETNAM ARE\nTHOUSANDS OF NEGROES. CASUALTIES AMONG OUR\nNEGRO Gl's ARE GREATER THAN THE RATIO OF\nNEGROES TO WHITES IN THE POPULATION OF THIS\nLIBRARY\n-11-\nCOUNTRY.\nIN THE GHETTOES OF OUR GREAT CITIES,\nUNEMPLOYMENT AMONG YOUNG NEGRO MALES AVERAGES\nABOUT 30 PER CENT WHILE THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE\nNATIONWIDE HOVERS NEAR THE 4 PER CENT MARK.\nLAST YEAR LARGE-SCALE RIOTS SCARRED THE\nFACE OF AMERICA. RACIAL EXPLOSIONS ERUPTED IN\nSOME 120 CITIES. JUST LAST WEEK, RIOTING\nBROKE OUT IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. WE HAVE\nWITNESSED GROWING HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE RACES,\nAND A BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER WHICH HAS\nMADE NEARLY EVERY MAJOR AMERICAN CITY THE\nSEEDBED FOR RACIAL RIOT AND A POTENTIAL WAR\nBETWEEN THE RACES.\nIT DOESN'T HELP TO SAY THAT RIOTS ARE\nUNAVOIDABLE IN THE SUMMER OF 1968. IT DOESN'T\nHELP FOR NEGROES AND WHITES ALIKE TO BUY GUNS\nBECAUSE \"THEY MIGHT COME IN HERE.\" DOES THIS\nSOLVE ANYTHING?\nTHE PROBLEM IS MOST COMPLEX. BASICALLY\n-12-\nIT IS ONE OF FOOLISH HOSTILITY AND OF MISERABLE\nLIVING CONDITIONS FOR WHICH THERE IS REALLY NO\nEXCUSE.\nAS FOR THE HOSTILITY, I KNOW THIS.\nTHERE IS NO HOSTILITY BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE\nCHILDREN UNTIL IT IS TAUGHT TO THEM BY THEIR\nPARENTS OR FRIENDS.\nWHITE RACISTS AND THOSE WHO HAVE PLUNDERED\nAND LITERALLY STOLEN FROM NEGRO POOR HAVE\nPLANTED THE SEEDS OF BITTERNESS.\nI AM SURE, TOO, THAT MUCH OF THE PRESENT\nHOSTILITY HAS BEEN STIMULATED BY BLACK\nMILITANTS WHO HAVE BEEN PREACHING VIOLENCE,\nSEPARATISM, AND BLOODY REVOLUTION. THIS,\nRIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, HAS DAMAGED THE CAUSE OF\nCIVIL RIGHTS.\nWITHOUT REGARD FOR THE BLACK MILITANTS\nAND OR THE WHITE RACISTS AND SIMPLY FOR THE\nGOOD OF THE NATION, WE MUST GET ABOUT A TASK\nTOO LONG NEGLECTED--THE REBUILDING OF OUR\nGERALD\n-13-\nCITIES.\nTO REBUILD OUR CITIES, WE MUST BUILD\nTHE PEOPLE OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES BY HELPING\nTHEM TO HELP THEMSELVES AND TO LIVE BETTER\nLIVES FROM A SENSE OF PERSONAL PRIDE.\nTHE AREAS OF NEED ARE WELL KNOWN. WE\nMUST MOVE VIGOROUSLY TO FILL THE DEEP GAPS IN\nEMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND EDUCATION THAT MAKE\nDISADVANTAGED AREAS OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES. THE\nFIRST PRIORITY IS JOBS.\nI URGE THAT THE CONGRESS CONSIDER THE\nWISDOM OF PROVIDING INDUSTRY WITH TAX CREDITS\nTO STIMULATE A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM OF ON-THE-JOB\nTRAINING FOR GHETTO YOUTHS AND TO GET INDUSTRY\nTO BUILD INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IN THE CENTRAL\nCITIES. COUPLED WITH THIS I SEE A PLAN TO\nENGAGE INDUSTRY IN A MASSIVE, GOVERNMENT-\nUNDERWRITTEN PROGRAM TO PROVIDE PRIVATE HOUSING\nFOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND GIVE THEM THE\nFORD\nTREMENDOUS PERSONAL PRIDE THAT GOES WITH HOME\nLIBRARY\n-14-\nOWNERSHIP. THIS WOULD HELP TO KEEP FAMILIES\nTOGETHER AND THUS STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE FABRIC\nOF OUR SOCIETY.\nWE NEED NOT ONLY A NEW SET OF NATIONAL\nSPENDING PRIORITIES BUT AN ENTIRELY NEW\nAPPROACH TO AMERICA'S SOCIAL PROBLEMS--AN\nAPPROACH WHICH DEPARTS FROM TOTAL GOVERNMENT\nSOLUTIONS TO BRING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY INTO\nA LEADERSHIP ROLE IN PROBLEM--SOLVING, ALONG\nWITH GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS.\nAND WE MUST CULTIVATE A NEW MEASURE OF\nUNDERSTANDING AMONG OUR PEOPLE-THE FULL\nREALIZATION THAT, AS ONE OF OUR GREATEST\nPRESIDENTS EXPRESSED IT, A NATION DIVIDED\nAGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND.\nTHE WAY FOR AMERICA TO SOLVE ITS\nPROBLEMS IS TO GET ALL AMERICANS INVOLVED IN\nSOLVING THEM, TO TAP THE GREAT WELL OF\nCOMMITMENT AND IDEALISM THAT IS JUST WAITING TO\nBE DRAWN UPON.\n-15-\nWINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID, \"GIVE US\nTHE TOOLS, AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB.\"\nWE HAVE THE TOOLS TO DO THE JOB--YOU\nAND OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE WILLING AND EAGER\nTO GET INVOLVED.\nYOU HAVE THE TALENT. YOU HAVE THE\nBRAINS. GIVE OF YOURSELF TO AMERICA.\nWITH YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE YOU, WE CANNOT\nFAIL.\n-END-\nADDRESS BEFORE THE MODEL CONGRESS SPONSORED\nBY AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, SPRINGFIELD\nMASS. AT N A.M., M FRIDAY MARCH MADOH 22, 1968.\nan Address by Rep. ferald ford\n\"THREE CRISES\"\nMR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THIS MODEL\nCONGRESS.\nTHIS IS\nA TIME OF GRAVE CRISIS\nIT I 15\nFOR AMERICA.\nWE ARE MET AT A TIME WHEN OUR\nNATION IS BESET WITH AGONIZING PROBLEMS BOTH\nAT HOME AND ABROAD\nWE ARE LET at A TIME\nWHICH DEMANDS THE BEST THAT IS IN ALL AMERICANS.\nTHE CHALLENGE WHICH CONFRONTS US IS IN\nREALITY THREE CRISES JOINED IN ONE.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS OF VIETNAM AND THE\nOVERALL ISSUE OF WAR AND PEACE NOT ONLY FOR OUR\nTIME BUT FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS CREATED BY POLAR-\nIZATION OF THE RACES INTO TWO WARRING CAMPS,\nTHE THREAT OF A SECOND CIVIL WAR.\nTHERE IS THE CRISIS THAT UNDERMINES OUR\n817 1817 FORD\n-2-\nwith\nall\nECONOMIC WELL-BEING AS INFLATION, ERODES THE\nVALUE OF THE DOLLAR AT HOME AND ABROAD.\nTHIS MODEL CONGRESS ANY CONGRESS WHICH\nIF WE ARE\nPURPORTS TO SPEAK FOR THE PEOPLE AND TO SEEK THE\nGREAT NATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF PEACE, JUSTICE,\nPROSPERITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY FOR ALL WE MUST\nWRESTLE WITH AND SEEK TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO\nTHE PROBLEMS GENERATED BY THESE CRISES.\nWE MUST TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT VIETNAM,\nWHERE WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE THIRD LARGEST\nFOREIGN WAR IN OUR HISTORY--A MASSIVE LAND WAR\nTO WHICH OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS COMMITTED\nMORE THAN 525,000 U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL, A\nCONFLICT WHICH HAS ALREADY TAKEN THE LIVES OF\nMORE THAN 23,000 AMERICANS DUE TO ENEMY ACTION\nAND OTHER CAUSES, A WAR WHICH IS DEVOURING\nAMERICAN WEALTH AT THE RATE OF MORE THAN\n$30 BILLION A YEAR.\nWE MUST\nAND\nEXAMINE OUR POLICIES IN VIETNAM\nASK\nEVERIT\nOURSELVES WHETHER OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HAS\n-3-\nPURSUED THE PROPER COURSE IN THIS WAR. WHAT\nHAVE THE RESULTS BEEN IN THIS LIMITED WAR FOR\nLIMITED OBJECTIVES? WHAT ARE THOSE OBJECTIVES\nAND WHAT, PROPERLY, SHOULD THEY BE IN THE\nLIGHT OF AMERICA'S WORLD MISSION? WHAT, INDEED,\nIS AMERICA'S MISSION IN THE WORLD? HAVING\nDEFINED HER WORLD ROLE, HOW BEST CAN WE CARRY\nIT OUT?\nAMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LIVE\nIN PEACE FROM THE BIRTH OF THIS NATION IN THAT\nCRADLE OF DEMOCRACY FASHIONED BY THE MEN OF\nPENNSYLVANIA,\n1 MASSACHUSETTS,\nNEW YORK AND THE OTHER ORIG-\nINAL COLONIES TO THE PRESENT TIME.\nUNFORTUNATELY, THERE IS AN ALIEN BREED\nOF MEN IN THE WORLD TODAY WHO CARE NOTHING\nABOUT INDIVIDUAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHO ARE\nDISTURBED NOT A BIT AT BLOTTING OUT THOUSANDS\nOF LIVES IF THEY CAN ONLY SEIZE THE REINS OF\nPOWER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE\nWORLD.\nGERALD LISAARY\n-4-\nAMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THAT THERE ARE\nGo To\nTIMES WHEN THEY MUST WAR IF PEACE IS TO\nGoTo\nBE WORTH HAVING\nTHAT THEY MUST\n,MM\nWAR IF\nFREEDOM IS TO LIVE. AND SO THEY HAVE FOUGHT--\nAT CONCORD, AT BUNKER HILL, IN THE FIELDS OF\nFRANCE, ON THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY AND THE\nIN KOREA,\nISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC, AND NOW IN THE RICE\nPADDIES OF SOUTH VIETNAM.\nTODAY WE TALK NOT ONLY OF FREEDOM BUT OF\nTHE BALANCE OF POWER IN A WORLD WHERE THE\nCOMMUNIST NATIONS CONSTANTLY USE WAR OR THREATS\nOF WAR TO FURTHER THEIR DESIGNS. IT IS AN\nEXCEEDINGLY COMPLEX WORLD, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA\nIS PERHAPS THE MOST COMPLEX PART OF IT.\nOUR\nTASK IS TO EXAMINE OUR COMMITMENT THERE AND TO\nASSESS OUR OPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT\nDEVELOPMENTS AND OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE.\nOUR ECONOMY IS IN CRISIS. THE\nSTAGGERING COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR IS ONLY ONE\nOF THE FACTORS.\n-5-\nTHE COST OF LIVING IS MOVING STEADILY\nUPWARD, DESTROYING THE HOPES OF THE AMERICAN\nWORKER FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS BY EATING UP HIS\nWAGE GAINS AND ERODING HIS SAVINGS.\nFEDERAL FINANCES ARE OUT OF CONTROL, THE\nRESULT OF EXCESSIVE SPENDING AND HUGE DEFICITS\nOVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT CONSECUTIVE YEARS.\nINTEREST RATES HAVE RISEN TO THE HIGHEST\nPOINT IN A HUNDRED YEARS, ADDING HEAVILY TO\nMORTGAGE AND TIME PURCHASE COSTS AND EVEN PRE-\nVENTING SOME AMERICANS FROM BUYING A HOME.\nTHE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR IN TERMS OF\nPURCHASING POWER HAS DROPPED TO 87 CENTS SINCE\n1960.\nFOREIGNERS HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE\nDOLLAR--PREFERRING GOLD--AND HAVE DRAINED THE\nUNITED STATES OF MORE THAN $2.2 BILLION WORTH\nOF GOLD SINCE LAST NOVEMBER TO BRING OUR OVERALL\nGOLD STOCKS DOWN TO A LOW OF $10.4 BILLION.\nTHIS NATION HAS REMOVED ALL GOLD BACKING\n-6-\nFROM OUR CURRENCY--TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF\nFOREIGN GOVERNMENTS PREFERRING GOLD TO DOLLARS--\nSO THAT NOW WE TRULY DO HAVE PAPER MONEY.\nWE CANNOT NOW SUDDENLY ERASE THE\nTREMENDOUS SPURT IN FEDERAL SPENDING WHICH HAS\nFUELED THE ENGINE OF INFLATION FOR, THE LAST\nat current nates is propelling\nSEVERAL YEARS AND EVEN_NOW PROPELS OUR ECONOMY\nDOWN THE ROAD TOWARD DESTRUCTION. BST. WE CAN\nAND MUST APPLY THE BRAKES. A NATION, LIKE A\nFAMILY, MUST LIVE CLOSE TO ITS MEANS. WE MUST\nBEGIN MOVING TOWARD A BALANCED BUDGET.\nWE MUST MOVE THIS NATION AHEAD TOWARD\nDESIRABLE SOCIAL GOALS--BUT WE MUST BE EVER\nMINDFUL THAT ATTEMPTS AT TOTAL GOVERNMENT\nSOLUTIONS HAVE FAILED DESPITE THE HUGE SUMS\nOF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TOSSED AT OUR PROBLEMS.\nIT IS NOT PROGRESS WHEN THE ECONOMY OF THE RICH-\nEST NATION IN THE WORLD FALLS ILL BECAUSE THE\nMEN WHO MAKE ECONOMIC POLICY IN WASHINGTON LOSE\nCONTROL OF FEDERAL SPENDING. THAT WAY LIES\nABRARY\nDISASTER.\n-7-\nthe\nI URGE THEN, THAT TIIIS CONGRESS SET FOR\na responsible of nesponsive financial plan asa\nITSELF A BALANCED BUDGE AS A LONGTERM GOAL.\nWE MUST KEEP UPPERMOST IN OUR MINDS THAT IF\nAMERICANS ARE TO ENJOY PERSONAL SECURITY AND\nAMERICA IS TO MAKE REAL PROGRESS, WE MUST\nRESTORE STABLE PURCHASING POWER TO THE DOLLAR.\nHOW MANY AMERICANS FULLY REALIZE THAT IN\nA SINGLE YEAR--THE 12-MONTH PERIOD WHICH WILL\nEND THIS JUNE 30--THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL\nHAVE PAID OUT MORE THAN $180 BILLION?\nHOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT FEDERAL\nSPENDING HAS JUMPED MORE THAN $80 BILLION IN\nJUST THE LAST SEVEN YEARS--A RISE OF MORE THAN\n80 PER CENT?\nHOW MANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT THE FEDERAL\nGOVERNMENT'S OUTLAY OF CASH FOR NON-MILITARY\nFUNCTIONS HAS GONE UP $51 BILLION IN THOSE\nSEVEN YEARS WHILE DEFENSE SPENDING, INCLUDING\nTHE COST OF THE VIETNAM WAR, ROSE ONLY $30\nFORD\nBILLION?\n-8-\nHOW MANY OF OUR PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE\nLAST TIME THE FEDERAL BUDGET WAS BALANCED WAS\nIN 1960--AND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY SEVEN\nBALANCED BUDGETS IN THE LAST 38 YEARS:\nWHEN THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE UNITED STATES\nIT SEES A NATION WITH ITS BOOKS CONSTANTLY OUT\nOF BALANCE AND ITS ACCOUNTS WITH OTHER NATIONS\nRUNNING DEEPLY INTO DEFICIT YEAR AFTER YEAR\nAFTER YEAR.\nWE ARE OVERCOMMITTED AND OVEREXTENDED\nTHROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WE MUST\nALTER THAT\nTHE TREND. WE MUST REVISE OUR COMMIT-\nMENTS WHILE CONTINUING TO FULFILL OUR ESSENTIAL\nROLE OF WORLD LEADERSHIP.\nEVEN A NATION AS RICH AND POWERFUL AS\nTHE UNITED STATES CANNOT OVERSPEND INDEFINITELY\nWITHOUT INVITING DISASTER.\nIN LOOKING AT OUR OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS,\nWE MUST EXAMINE NOT ONLY OUR POSITION IN ERALD VIETNAM\nBUT ALL OVER THE GLOBE. BESIDES THE 550,000\nBRARY\n-9-\nU.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL POSITIONED IN THE SOUTH-\nEAST ASIA BATTLE ZONE, WE HAVE 217,000 MEN\nELSEWHERE IN THE FAR EAST, 352,000 IN EUROPE\nAND THE MEDITERRANEAN, 23,000 IN THE CARIBBEAN\nAND 400,000 ELSEWHERE ABROAD INCLUDING THOSE\nIN OUR NAVAL FLEETS.\nWE HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY CONTINUING\nUNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW TO USE THE MASSIVE POWER\nAT OUR DISPOSAL. WE MUST RESOLVE THIS BASIC\nPOLICY QUESTION IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR\nNATION. AND WE MUST PERSUADE THE AMERI CAN\nPEOPLE THAT THE UNITED STATES is, INDEED, A\nPACIFIC NATION ALTHOUGH ASIA SEEMS VERY REMOTE\nhad in the late 1930s. Curpl, wen with Hitter's outrages, seemed beyond\nFROM US. 2t Rs much the same problem our national leaders\nPARTICULARLY NOW WHEN OUR OVERSEAS Mr interest\nCOMMITMENTS ARE A GIANT FACTOR IN OUR CONTINU-\nING BALANCE OF PAYMENTS DEFICIT--A MASSIVELY\nLARGER OUTFLOW OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR FROM THIS\nCOUNTRY THAN THE INLOW--WE MUST PARE OVERSEAS\nSPENDING TO THE BAREST POSSIBLE MINIMUM.\nWE\nLIBRARY\n-10-\nMUST INSIST UPON REFORMS IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR\nFOREIGN AID. AND WE MUST CREATE AND EXPAND AID\nARRANGEMENTS WHEREBY MANY NATIONS IN A GIVEN\nREGION POOL THEIR LENDING RESOURCES INSTEAD OF\nMAKING DEMANDS UPON THE UNITED STATES ALONE.\nTHE STAKES IN VIETNAM GO FAR BEYOND THAT\nBATTLE AREA TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE OF MANY OTHER\nPEOPLES AS WELL-ALL THOSE WHO ARE THREATENED\nWITH EXTERNALLY-AIDED WARS OF LIBERATION.\nVIETNAM IS A TEST OF WHETHER WE AS A PEOPLE HAVE\nTHE WISDOM, THE MATURITY AND THE PATIENCE TO\nPURSUE A FAR-REACHING OBJECTIVE AND TO AVOID\nOVER-SIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS.\nAMONG OUR FIGHTING MEN IN VIETNAM ARE\nTHOUSANDS OF NEGROES. CASUALTIES AMONG OUR\nOF NEGROES TO WHITES\nNEGRO GI'S ARE GREATER THAN THE RATIONIN THE\nPOPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY.\nIN THE GHETTOES OF OUR GREAT CITIES,\nUNEMPLOYMENT AMONG YOUNG NEGRO MALES AVERAGES\nABOUT 30 PER CENT WHILE THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE\n-11-\nNATIONWIDE HOVERS NEAR THE 4 PER CENT MARK.\nLAST YEAR LARGE-SCALE RIOTS SCARRED THE\nFACE OF AMERICA. RACIAL EXPLOSIONS ERUPTED IN\nJUST LAST WEEK, RIOTING BROKE OUT IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.\nSOME 120 CITIES./ WE HAVE WITNESSED GROWING\nHOSTILITY BETWEEN THE RACES, AND A BREAKDOWN OF\nLAW AND ORDER WHICH HAS MADE NEARLY EVERY MAJOR\nAMERICAN CITY THE SEEDBED FOR RACIAL RIOT AND\nA POTENTIAL WAR BETWEEN THE RACES.\nIT DOESN'T HELP TO SAY THAT RIOTS ARE\nUNAVOIDABLE IN THE SUMMER OF 1968. IT DOESN'T\nHELP FOR NEGROES AND WHITES ALIKE TO BUY GUNS\nBECAUSE \"THEY MIGHT COME IN HERE.\" DOES THIS\nSOLVE ANYTHING?\nTHE PROBLEM IS MOST COMPLEX. BASICALLY\nIT IS ONE OF FOOLISH HOSTILITY AND OF MISERABLE\nLIVING CONDITIONS FOR WHICH THERE IS REALLY NO\nEXCUSE.\nAS FOR THE HOSTILITY, I KNOW THIS. THERE\nIS NO HOSTILITY BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE CHILDREN\nUNTIL IT IS TAUGHT TO THEM BY THEIR PARENTS OR\nFRIENDS.\ndanted The seeds 1 l'itterness\nWhile Racrots & those who have-planding and negro poor have\nInterally stolen from\nAM SURE, TOO, THAT MUCH OF THE PRESENT\nHOSTILITY HAS BEEN STIMULATED BY BLACK MILITANTS\nWHO HAVE BEEN PREACHING VIOLENCE SEPARATISM.\nrightly or wrongly,\nAND BLOODY REVOLUTION. THIS,\nHAS\nDAMAGED THE CAUSE OF CIVIL RIGHTS.\nWITHOUT REGARD FOR THE BLACK MILITANTS\nAND SIMPLY FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION, WE MUST\nGET ABOUT A TASK TOO LONG NEGLECTED--THE\nREBUILDING OF OUR CITIES.\nTO REBUILD OUR CITIES, WE MUST BUILD\nTHE PEOPLE OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES BY HELPING\nTHEM TO HELP THEMSELVES AND TO LIVE BETTER\nLIVES FROM A SENSE OF PERSONAL PRIDE.\nTHE AREAS OF NEED ARE WELL KNOWN. WE\nMUST MOVE VIGOROUSLY TO FILL THE DEEP GAPS IN\nEMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND EDUCATION THAT MAKE\nDISADVANTAGED AREAS OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES. THE\nFIRST PRIORITY IS JOBS.\nURGE THAT THE\nI ASK THIS MODEL CONGRESS CONSIDER\nTHE WISDOM OF PROVIDING INDUSTRY WITH TAX\n-13-\nCREDITS TO STIMULATE A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM OF\nON-THE-JOB TRAINING FOR GHETTO YOUTHS AND TO\nGET INDUSTRY TO BUILD INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IN THE\nCENTRAL CITIES. COUPLED WITH THIS I SEE A\nPLAN TO ENGAGE INDUSTRY IN A MASSIVE,\nGOVERNMENT-UNDERWRITTEN PROGRAM TO PROVIDE\nPRIVATE HOUSING FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND\nGIVE THEM THE TREMENDOUS PERSONAL PRIDE THAT\nGOES WITH HOME OWNERSHIP. THIS WOULD HELP TO\nKEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER AND THUS STRENGTHEN THE\nENTIRE FABRIC OF OUR SOCIETY.\nWE NEED NOT ONLY A NEW SET OF NATIONAL\nSPENDING PRIORITIES BUT AN ENTIRELY NEW\nAPPROACH TO AMERICA'S SOCIAL PROBLEMS--AN\nAPPROACH WHICH DEPARTS FROM TOTAL GOVERNMENT\nSOLUTIONS TO BRING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY INTO\nA LEADERSHIP ROLE IN PROBLEM--SOLVING_ALONG\nWITH GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS.\nTigury\nAND WE MUST CULTIVATE A NEW MEASURE OF\nGERAL\nLIBRARY\nUNDERSTANDING AMONG OUR PEOPLE-THE FULL\n-14-\nREALIZATION THAT, AS ONE OF OUR GREATEST\nPRESIDENTS EXPRESSED IT, A NATION DIVIDED\nAGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND.\nSOME OF YOU MAY HAVE FOUND MY COMMENTS\nTODAY RATHER HEAVY GOING. I COULD HAVE TALKED\nWITH YOU ABOUT SCHOOL, THE PROBLEMS OF DATING\nAND EARLY MARRIAGE, CAREERS AND JOB PROSPECTS.\nBUT I HAVE FOUND THAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF\nAMERICA WANT TO THINK--AND THEY WANT TO THINK\nFOR THEMSELVES. IN FACT, THEY THEY FEEL THAT THE\nADULT INFLUENCE IS DAMAGING TO TEENAGERS.\nI DON'T T BELIEVE ADULTS INTERFERE WITH\nTHE ABILITY OF TEENAGERS TO THINK FOR THEM-\n2 haven't noticed that in her family\nSELVES., YOU DO PLENTY OF THAT, FROM MY\nOBSERVATIONS, AND THAT IS WHY I HAVE NOT\nHESITATED TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT VIETNAM,\nINFLATION, THE GOLD DRAIN, AMERICAN COMMITMENTS\nABROAD, RACE RELATIONS AND THE BROADER PROBLEMS\nOF THE CITIES. YOU ARE FULLY COMPETENT TO EXAMINE THE SE AND OTHER PROBLEMS\nTHAT FACE AMERICA IN 1968\nYOU WOULD NOT BE\nPRESENT HERE\nAND YOU CAN HELP TO CURE\n-15-\nTHE SICKNESS THAT INFECTS AMERICA TODAY IF YOU\nWILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT EVERY OTHER AMERICAN\nWANTS TO BE LOVED AND RESPECTED.\nI COULD LIST MANY MORE PROBLEMS FOR YOUR\nSTUDY THAN I ALREADY HAVE BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY\nTake Eric & Tobe Michy\nARE--AIR AND WATER POLLUTION CRIME THAT HAS\nGONE UP 83 PER CENT IN THE PAST SEVEN YEARS\nJUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN THE SUBURBS, DISHONESTY\nIN HIGH PLACES, DRUG ADDICTION, FAMILY BREAKDOWN\nPERSONAL RRESPONSIBILITY IN ALL ITS FORMS.\nYOU KNOW THE PROBLEMS. NOW BRING YOUR\nTHINK-POWER TO BEAR ON THEM.\nINSERT\nTHE WAY FOR AMERICA TO SOLVE ITS\nPROBLEMS IS TO GET ALL AMERICANS INVOLVED IN\nSOLVING THEM TO TAP THE GREAT WELL OF\nCOMMITMENT AND IDEALISM THAT IS JUST WAITING TO\nBE DRAWN UPON.\nWINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID, \"GIVE US\nTHE TOOLS, AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB.\"\nYOU HAVE THE TOOLS TO DO THE JOB--YOU\n-16-\nAND OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE WILLING AND EAGER\nTO GET INVOLVED.\nYOU HAVE THE TALENT. YOU HAVE THE\nBRAINS. GIVE OF YOURSELF TO AMERICA.\nWITH YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE YOU, WE CANNOT\nFAIL.\n-END-\nFORD VIDRARY\nM Copy\nCONGRESSMAN\nNEWS\nGERALD R. FORD\nHOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER\nRELEASE\n--FOR RELEASE IN FRIDAY PM's--\nMarch 22, 1968\nAn Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Model Congress sponsored by\nAmerican International College, Springfield, Mass., at 10 a.m. Friday.\nMr. Chairman and members of this Model Congress:\nWe are met in a time of grave crisis for America. We are met at a time\nwhen our Nation is beset with agonizing problems both at home and abroad. We\nare met at a time which demands the best that is in all Americans.\nThe challenge which confronts us is in reality three crises joined in one.\nThere is the crisis of Vietnam and the overall issue of war and peace not\nonly for our time but for generations to come.\nThere is the crisis created by polarization of the races into two warring\ncamps, the threat of a second civil war.\nThere is the crisis that undermines our economic well-being as inflation\nerodes the value of the dollar at home and abroad.\nThis Model Congress--any Congress which purports to speak for the people and\nto seek the great national objectives of peace, justice, prosperity and human\ndignity for all--must wrestle with and seek to develop solutions to the problems\ngenerated by these crises.\nWe must take a fresh look at Vietnam, where we are involved in the third\nlargest foreign war in our history--a massive land war to which our commander-\nin-chief has committed more than 525,000 U.S. military personnel, a conflict\nwhich has already taken the lives of more than 23,000 Americans due to enemy\naction and other causes, a war which is devouring American wealth at a rate of\nmore than $32 billion a year.\nExamine our policies in Vietnam. Ask yourselves whether our commander-in-\nchief has pursued the proper course in this war. What have the results been in\nthis limited war for limited objectives? What are those objectives and what,\nproperly, should they be in the light of America's world mission? What, indeed,\nis America's mission in the world? Having defined her world role, how best can\nwe carry it out?\nAmericans have always wanted to live in peace from the birth of this\nNation in that cradle of democracy fashioned by the men of Massachusetts and\n(more)\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n-2-\nNew York and the other original colonies to the present time.\nUnfortunately, there is an alien breed of men in the world today who care\nnothing about individual human rights and who are disturbed not a bit at blotting\nout thousands of lives if they can only seize the reins of power in Southeast\nAsia and elsewhere in the world.\nAmericans have learned that there are times when they must make war if peace\nis to be worth having that they must make war if freedom is to live. And so\nthey have fought at Concord, at Bunker Hill, in the fields of France, on the\nbeaches of Normandy and the islands in the Pacific, and now in the rice paddies\nof South Vietnam.\nToday we talk not only of freedom but of the balance of power in a world\nwhere the communist nations constantly use war or threats of war to further their\ndesigns. It is an exceedingly complex world, and Southeast Asia is perhaps the\nmost complex part of it. Your task is to examine our commitment there and to\nassess our options in the light of current developments and our prospects for\nthe future.\nOur economy is in crisis. The staggering cost of the Vietnam War is only\none of the factors.\nThe cost of living is moving steadily upward, destroying the hopes of the\nAmerican worker for economic progress by eating up his wage gains and eroding\nhis savings.\nFederal finances are out of control, the result of excessive spending and\nhuge deficits over a period of eight consecutive years.\nInterest rates have risen to the highest point in a hundred years, adding\nheavily to mortgage and time purchase costs and even preventing some Americans\nfrom buying a home.\nThe value of the dollar in terms of purchasing power has dropped to 87 cents\nsince 1960.\nForeigners have lost confidence in the dollar--preferring gold--and have\ndrained the United States of more than $2.2 billion worth of gold since last\nNovember to bring our overall gold stocks down to a low of $10.4 billion.\nThis Nation has removed all gold backing from our currency--to meet the\ndemands of foreign governments preferring gold to dollars--so that now we truly\ndo have paper money.\nWe cannot now suddenly erase the tremendous spurt in federal spending which\nhas fueled the engine of inflation for the last several years and even now\n(more)\n-3-\npropels our economy down the road toward destruction. But we can and must apply\nthe brakes. A nation, like a family, must live close to its means. We must\nbegin moving toward a balanced budget.\nWe must move this Nation ahead toward desirable social goals--but we must\nbe ever mindful that attempts at total government solutions have failed despite\nthe huge sums of taxpayer dollars tossed at our problems. It is not progress\nwhen the economy of the richest nation in the world falls ill because the men\nwho make economic policy in Washington lose control of federal spending. That\nway lies disaster.\nI urge, then, that this Congress set for itself a balanced budget as a long-\nterm goal. We must keep uppermost in our minds that if Americans are to enjoy\npersonal security and America is to make real progress, we must restore stable\npurchasing power to the dollar.\nHow many Americans fully realize that in a single year--the 12-month period\nwhich will end this June 30--the Federal Government will have paid out more\nthan $180 billion?\nHow many Americans know that the Federal Government's outlay of cash for\nnon-military functions has gone up $51 billion in those seven years while defense\nspending, including the cost of the Vietnam War, rose only $30 billion?\nHow many of our people realize that the last time the Federal budget was\nbalanced was in 1960--and that there have been only seven balanced budgets in\nthe last 38 years?\nWhen the world looks at the United States it sees a nation with its books\nconstantly out of balance and its accounts with other nations running deeply into\ndeficit year after year after year.\nWe are overcommitted and overextended at home and throughout the world. We\nmust reverse the trend. We must revise our commitments while continuing to\nfulfill our essential role of world leadership.\nEven a nation as rich and powerful as the United States cannot overspend\nindefinitely without inviting disaster.\nIn looking at our overseas commitments, we must examine not only our position\nin Vietnam but all over the globe. Besides the 550,000 U.S. military personnel\npositioned in the Southeast Asia battle zone, we have 217,000 men elsewhere in\nthe Far East, 352,000 in Europe and the Mediterranean, 23,000 in the Caribbean\nand 400,000 elsewhere abroad including those in our naval fleets.\nWe have been plagued by continuing uncertainty as to how to use the massive\n(more)\n-4-\npower at our disposal. We must resolve this basic policy question in the best\ninterests of our Nation. And we must persuade the American people that the\nUnited States is, indeed, a Pacific nation although Asia seems very remote from us.\nParticularly now when our overseas commitments are a giant factor in our\ncontinuing balance of payments deficit--a massively larger outflow of dollars\neach year from this country than the inflow--we must pare overseas spending to the\nbarest possible minimum. We must insist upon reforms in exchange for our foreign\naid, and we must create and expand aid arrangements whereby many nations in a\ngiven region pool their lending resources instead of making demands upon the\nUnited States alone.\nThe stakes in Vietnam go far beyond that battle area to embrace the future\nof many other peoples as well--all those who are threatened with externally-aided\nwars of liberation. Vietnam is a test of whether we as a people have the wisdom,\nthe maturity and the patience to pursue a far-reaching objective and to avoid\nover-simplified solutions.\nAmong our fighting men in Vietnam are thousands of Negroes. Casualties\namong our Negro GI's are greater than their ratio in the population of this\ncountry.\nIn the ghettoes of our great cities, unemployment among young Negro males\naverages about 30 per cent while the unemployment rate nationwide hovers near\nthe 4 per cent mark.\nLast year large-scale riots scarred the face of America. Racial explosions\nerupted in some 120 cities. We have witnessed growing hostility between the\nraces, and a breakdown of law and order which has made nearly every major\nAmerican city the seedbed for racial riot and a potential war between the races.\nIt doesn't help to say that riots are unavoidable in the summer of 1968. It\ndoesn't help for Negroes and whites alike to buy guns because \"THEY might come\nin here.\" Does this solve anything?\nThe problem is most complex. Basically it is one of foolish hostility and of\nmiserable living conditions for which there is really no excuse.\nAs for the hostility, I know this. There is no hostility between black and\nwhite children until it is taught to them by their parents or friends.\nI am sure, too, that much of the present hostility has been stimula ted by\nblack militants who have been preaching violence, separatism, and bloody revolution.\nThis, I believe, has damaged the cause of civil rights.\nWithout regard for the black militants and simply for the good of the Nation,\n-5-\nwe must get about a task too long neglected--the rebuilding of our cities.\nTo rebuild our cities, we mus t build the people of our central cities by\nhelping them to help themselves and to live better lives from a sense of personal\npride.\nThe areas of need are well known. We must move vigorously to fill the deep\ngaps in employment, housing and education that make disadvantaged areas of our\ncentral cities. The first priority is jobs.\nI ask this Model Congress to consider the wisdom of providing industry with\ntax credits to stimulate a nationwide program of on-the-job training for ghetto\nyouths and to get industry to build industria 1 plants in the central cities.\nCoupled with this I see a plan to engage industry in a massive, government-\nunderwritten program to provide private housing for low-income families and give\nthem the tremendous personal pride that goes with home ownership. This would help\nto keep families together and thus strengthen the entire fabirc of our society.\nWe need not only a new set of national spending priorities but an entirely\nnew approach to America's social problems--an approach which departs from total\ngovernment solutions to bring business and industry into a leadership role in\nproblem-solving along with government at all levels.\nAnd we must cultivate a new measure of understanding among our people--the\nfull realization that, as one of our greatest Presidents expressed it, a Nation\ndivided against itself cannot stand.\nSome of you may have found my comments today rather heavy going. I could\nhave talked with you about school, the problems of dating and early marriage,\ncareers and job prospects. But I have found that the young people of America\nwant to think--and they want to think for themselves. In fact, they feel that\nthe adult influence is damaging to teenagers.\nI don't believe adults interfere with the ability of teenagers to think for\nthemselves. You do plenty of that, from my observations. And that is why I\nhave not hesitated to talk with you about Vietnam, inflation, the gold drain,\nAmerican commitments abroad, race relations and the broader problems of the\ncities.\nYou are fully competent to examine these and other problems that face\nAmerica in 1968 or you would not be present here today. And you can help to\ncure the sickness that infects America today if you will always remember that\nevery other American wants to be loved and respected.\nI could list many more problems for your study than I already have but you\n(more)\n-6-\nknow what they are--air and water pollution, crime that has gone up 83 per cent\nin the past seven years, juvenile deliquency in the suburbs, dishonesty in high\nplaces, drug addiction, family breakdown, personal irresponsibility in all its\nforms.\nYou know the problems. Now bring your think-power to bear on them.\nThe way for America to solve its problems is to get all Americans involved\nin solving them, to tap the great well of commitment and idealism that is just\nwaiting to be drawn upon.\nWinston Churchill once said: \"Give us the tools, and we will finish the\njob.\"\nYou have the tools to do the job--you and other Americans who are willing\nand eager to get involved.\nYou have the talent. You have the brains. Give of yourself to America.\nWith young people like you, we cannot fail.\n# # #\nCONGRESSMAN\nNEWS\nGERALD R. FORD\nHOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER\nRELEASE\n--FOR RELEASE IN FRIDAY PM's--\nMarch 22, 1968\nAn Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Model Congress sponsored by\nAmerican International College, Springfield, Mass., at 10 a.m. Friday.\nMr. Chairman and members of this Model Congress:\nWe are met in a time of grave crisis for America. We are met at a time\nwhen our Nation is beset with agonizing problems both at home and abroad We\nare met at a time which demands the best that is in all Americans.\nThe challenge which confronts us is in reality three crises joined in one.\nThere is the crisis of Vietnam and the overall issue of war and peace not\nonly for our time but for generations to come.\nThere is the crisis created by polarization of the races into two warring\ncamps, the threat of a second civil war.\nThere is the crisis that undermines our economic well-being as inflation\nerodes the value of the dollar at home and abroad.\nThis Model Congress--any Congress which purports to speak for the people and\nto seek the great national objectives of peace, justice, prosperity and human\ndignity for all--must wrestle with and seek to develop solutions to the problems\ngenerated by these crises.\nWe must take a fresh look at Vietnam, where we are involved in the third\nlargest foreign war in our history--a massive land war to which our commander-\nin-chief has committed more than 525,000 U.S. military personnel, a conflict\nwhich has already taken the lives of more than 23,000 Americans due to enemy\naction and other causes, a wat which is devouring American wealth at a rate of\nmore than $32 billion a year.\nExamine our policies in Vietnam, Ask yourselves whether our commander-in-\nchief has pursued the proper course in this war. What have the results been in\nthis limited war for limited objectives? What are those objectives and what,\nproperly, should they be in the light of America's world mission? What, indeed,\nis America's mission in the world? Having defined her world role, how best can\nwe carry it out?\nAmericans have always wanted to live in peace...from the birth of this\nNation in that cradle of democracy fashioned by the men of Massachusetts and\n(more)\nFORD is LIBRARY GERALD\n-2-\nNew York and the other original colonies to the present time.\nUnfortunately, there is an alien breed of men in the world today who care\nnothing about individual human rights and who are disturbed not a bit at blotting\nout thousands of lives if they can only seize the reins of power in Southeast\nAsia and elsewhere in the world.\nAmericans have learned that there are times when they must make war if peace\nis to be worth having that they must make war if freedom is to live. And so\nthey have fought--at Concord, at Bunker Hill, in the fields of France, on the\nbeaches of Normandy and the islands in the Pacific, and now in the rice paddies\nof South Vietnam.\nToday we talk not only of freedom but of the balance of power in a world\nwhere the communist nations constantly use war or threats of war to further their\ndesigns. It is an exceedingly complex world, and Southeast Asia is perhaps the\nmost complex part of it. Your task is to examine our commitment there and to\nassess our options in the light of current developments and our prospects for\nthe future.\nOur economy is in crisis. The staggering cost of the Vietnam War is only\none of the factors.\nThe cost of living is moving steadily upward, destroying the hopes of the\nAmerican worker for economic progress by eating up his wage gains and eroding\nhis savings.\nFederal finances are out of control, the result of excessive spending and\nhuge deficits over a period of eight consecutive years.\nInterest rates have risen to the highest point in a hundred years, adding\nheavily to mortgage and time purchase costs and even preventing some Americans\nfrom buying a home.\nThe value of the dollar in terms of purchasing power has dropped to 87 cents\nsince 1960.\nForeigners have lost confidence in the dollar--preferring gold--and have\ndrained the United States of more than $2.2 billion worth of gold since last\nNovember to bring our overall gold stocks down to a low of $10.4 billion.\nThis Nation has removed all gold backing from our currency--to meet the\ndemands of foreign governments preferring gold to dollars--so that now we truly\ndo have paper money.\nWe cannot now suddenly erase the tremendous spurt in federal spending which\nhas fueled the engine of inflation for the last several years and even now\n(more)\n-3-\npropels our economy down the road toward destruction. But we can and must apply\nthe brakes. A nation, like a family, must live close to its means. We must\nbegin moving toward a balanced budget.\nWe must move this Nation ahead toward desirable social goals--but we must\nbe ever mindful that attempts at total government solutions have failed despite\nthe huge sums of taxpayer dollars tossed at our problems. It is not progress\nwhen the economy of the richest nation in the world falls ill because the men\nwho make economic policy in Washington lose control of federal spending. That\nway lies disaster.\nI urge, then, that this Congress set for itself a balanced budget as a long-\nterm goal. We must keep uppermost in our minds that if Americans are to enjoy\npersonal security and America is to make real progress, we must restore stable\npurchasing power to the dollar.\nHow many Americans fully realize that in a single year--the 12-month period\nwhich will end this June 30--the Federal Government will have paid out more\nthan $180 billion?\nHow many Americans know that the Federal Government's outlay of cash for\nnon-military functions has gone up $51 billion in those seven years while defense\nspending, including the cost of the Vietnam War, rose only $30 billion?\nHow many of our people realize that the last time the Federal budget was\nbalanced was in 1960--and that there have been only seven balanced budgets in\nthe last 38 years?\nWhen the world looks at the United States it sees a nation with its books\nconstantly out of balance and its accounts with other nations running deeply into\ndeficit year after year after year.\nWe are overcommitted and overextended at home and throughout the world. We\nmust reverse the trend. We must revise our commitments while continuing to\nfulfill our essential role of world leadership.\nEven a nation as rich and powerful as the United States cannot overspend\nindefinitely without inviting disaster.\nIn looking at our overseas commitments, we must examine not only our position\nin Vietnam but all over the globe. Besides the 550,000 U.S. military personnel\npositioned in the Southeast Asia battle zone, we have 217,000 men elsewhere in\nthe Far East, 352,000 in Europe and the Mediterranean, 23,000 in the Caribbean\nand 400,000 elsewhere abroad including those in our naval fleets.\nWe have been plagued by continuing uncertainty as to how to use the massive\n(more)\n-4-\npower at our disposal. We must resolve this basic policy question in the best\ninterests of our Nation. And we must persuade the American people that the\nUnited States is, indeed, a Pacific nation although Asia seems very remote from us.\nParticularly now when our overseas commitments are a giant factor in our\ncontinuing balance of payments deficit--a massively larger outflow of dollars\neach year from this country than the inflow--we must pare overseas spending to the\nbarest possible minimum. We must insist upon reforms in exchange for our foreign\naid, and we must create and expand aid arrangements whereby many nations in a\ngiven region pool their lending resources instead of making demands upon the\nUnited States alone.\nThe stakes in Vietnam go far beyond that battle area to embrace the future\nof many other peoples as well--all those who are threatened with externally-aided\nwars of liberation. Vietnam is a test of whether we as a people have the wisdom,\nthe maturity and the patience to pursue a far-reaching objective and to avoid\nover-simplified solutions.\nAmong our fighting men in Vietnam are thousands of Negroes. Casualties\namong our Negro GI's are greater than their ratio in the population of this\ncountry.\nIn the ghettoes of our great cities, unemployment among young Negro males\naverages about 30 per cent while the unemployment rate nationwide hovers near\nthe 4 per cent mark.\nLast year large-scale riots scarred the face of America. Racial explosions\nerupted in some 120 cities. We have witnessed growing hostility between the\nraces, and a breakdown of law and order which has made nearly every major\nAmerican city the seedbed for racial riot and a potential war between the races.\nIt doesn't help to say that riots are unavoidable in the summer of 1968. It\ndoesn't help for Negroes and whites alike to buy guns because \"THEY might come\nin here.\" Does this solve anything?\nThe problem is most complex. Basically it is one of foolish hostility and of\nmiserable living conditions for which there is really no excuse.\nAs for the hostility, I know this. There is no hostility between black and\nwhite children until it is taught to them by their parents or friends.\nI am sure, too, that much of the present hostility has been stimula ted by\nblack militants who have been preaching violence, separatism, and bloody revolution.\nThis, I believe, has damaged the cause of civil rights.\nWithout regard for the black militants and simply for the good of the Nation,\n-5-\nwe must get about a task too long neglected--the rebuilding of our cities.\nTo rebuild our cities, we mus t build the people of our central cities by\nhelping them to help themselves and to live better lives from a sense of personal\npride.\nThe areas of need are well known. We must move vigorously to fill the deep\ngaps in employment, housing and education that make disadvantaged areas of our\ncentral cities. The first priority is jobs.\nI ask this Model Congress to consider the wisdom of providing industry with\ntax credits to stimulate a nationwide program of on-the-job training for ghetto\nyouths and to get industry to build industria 1 plants in the central cities.\nCoupled with this I see a plan to engage industry in a massive, government-\nunderwritten program to provide private housing fcr low-income families and give\nthem the tremendous personal pride that goes with home ownership. This would help\nto keep families together and thus strengthen the entire fabirc of our society.\nWe need not only a new set of national spending priorities but an entirely\nnew approach to America's social problems--an approach which departs from total\ngovernment solutions to bring business and industry into a leadership role in\nproblem-solving along with government at all levels.\nAnd we must cultivate a new measure of understanding among our people--the\nfull realization that, as one of our greatest Presidents expressed it, a Nation\ndivided against itself cannot stand.\nSome of you may have found my comments today rather heavy going. I could\nhave talked with you about school, the problems of dating and early marriage,\ncareers and job prospects. But I have found that the young people of America\nwant to think--and they want to think for themselves. In fact, they feel that\nthe adult influence is damaging to teenagers.\nI don't believe adults interfere with the ability of teenagers to think for\nthemselves. You do plenty of that, from my observations. And that is why I\nhave not hesitated to talk with you about Vietnam, inflation, the gold drain,\nAmerican commitments abroad, race relations and the broader problems of the\ncities.\nYou are fully competent to examine these and other problems that face\nAmerica in 1968 or you would not be present here today. And you can help to\ncure the sickness that infects America today if you will always remember that\nevery other American wants to be loved and respected.\nI could list many more problems for your study than I already have but you\n(more)\n-6-\nknow what they are--air and water pollution, crime that has gone up 83 per cent\nin the past seven years, juvenile deliquency in the suburbs, dishonesty in high\nplaces, drug addiction, family breakdown, personal irresponsibility in all its\nforms.\nYou know the problems. Now bring your think-power to bear on them.\nThe way for America to solve its problems is to get all Americans involved\nin solving them, to tap the great well of commitment and idealism that is just\nwaiting to be drawn upon.\nWinston Churchill once said: \"Give us the tools, and we will finish the\njob.\"\nYou have the tools to do the job--you and other Americans who are willing\nand eager to get involved.\nYou have the talent. You have the brains. Give of yourself to America.\nWith young people like you, we cannot fail.\n# # #"
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