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Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, April 19, 1968
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D24, folder "Tulane University, New Orleans,
LA, April 19, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
APRIL 19, 1968
"THE REPUBLICAN PARTY --
A MINORITY FOREVER?"
WHENEVER A PERSON IS CALLED UPON TO MAKE
A SPEECH, THE FIRST QUESTION THAT ENTERS HIS
MIND IS...WHAT SHALL I TALK ABOUT. AND SO HE
CASTS ABOUT IN HIS OWN MIND FOR A TOPIC, OR
MAYBE HE GETS SOME IDEAS FROM FRIENDS, OR
PERHAPS THOSE WHO HAVE SCHEDULED HIM AS A
SPEAKER INDICATE WHAT SUBJECT THEY WOULD LIKE.
&
a
New
TODAY tought I AM GOING TO BE EXPLORING A TOPIC
Aerias SUGGESTED BY OTHERS. I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO
DISCUSS THE SUBJECT: "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY --
A MINORITY FOREVER?" THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS
FOR A REPUBLICAN TO REACT TO A SPEECH TITLE
LIKE THAT. EITHER YOU'RE DEPRESSED OR YOU COME
OUT FIGHTING. I AM NOT DEPRESSED.
GERALD FORD VIBRARY
-2-
NOT LONG AFTER I BECAME REPUBLICAN
by landshide marger 273/67
LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, I WAS
ASKED THIS QUESTION: "WHAT IS THE MISSION OF
THE MINORITY?"
IT WAS ONE OF THESE "GIVE-YOUR-REPLY-
IN-TEN-WORDS-OR-LESS" SORT OF QUESTIONS, POSED
BY A REPUBLICAN PARTY NEWSLETTER EDITOR.
MY ANSWER WAS: "THE MISSION OF THE
MINORITY IS TO BECOME THE MAJORITY."
IMMEDIATELY THERE WERE OUTRAGED SCREAMS
FROM SEVERAL DEMOCRATS IN THE HOUSE. THIS,
THEY SAID, WAS A NARROWLY PARTISAN POINT OF VIEW
THIS WAS EVIDENCE THAT I WAS SO HUNGRY FOR POWER
THAT I WOULD PLACE PARTY ABOVE COUNTRY. I
PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THEY WERE SIMPLY
STARTLED TO FIND A REPUBLICAN WITH THE AUDACITY
TO THINK HIS PARTY COULD REGAIN CONTROL OF THE
construction
CONGRESS AND TO SET ABOUT TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH
THAT OBJECTIVE.
Recent history shows
R.FORDL
YOU KNOW, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS BEEN
-3-
IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTRY FOR 27 OF THE LAST 35
YEARS. YET THEY KEEP TELLING US HOW IMPERFECT
after these many years Attandrhip
AMERICA IS. TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS IS A LONG TIME
TO BE WRESTLING WITH THE SAME PROBLEMS AND TO
these cruses at home of abroad
FIND THEY HAVE RESISTED ALL THE FEDERAL BILLIONS
POURED INTO THEM. COULD IT BE THAT THE
DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO TELL US SOMETHING?
ONE OF THE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT COLLEGE
AUDIENCES IS THAT THEY LIKE YOU TO TELL IT LIKE
IT IS. THAT'S WHY I HAVE NO HESITANCY IN
tried to
REMARKING THAT THE WAY AMERICA, GOT OUT OF THE
in The 19305
BIG DEPRESSION WAS BY ELECTING NEW MEN AND
EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW POLICIES.
I THINK THAT SAYS SOMETHING TO US TODAY
WHEN WE ARE FACED WITH THREE GREAT CRISES --
VIETNAM, RACIAL TURMOIL AND THE THREAT OF
FISCAL CHAOS.
SO I THINK THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS
WHO ATTACKED ME WHEN I SAID THE MINORITY'S
MISSION WAS TO BECOME THE MAJORITY DID SO FOR
-4-
GOOD REASON: THEY WERE WORRIED.
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN JOHN BAILEY
IS WORRIED, TOO -- BUT OF COURSE HE PRETENDS
NOT TO BE. BAILEY SAYS CONCERN OVER THE
REPUBLICAN TREND IS LESSENING IN THE DEMOCRATIC
CAMP. WHAT HE MEANS IS THAT THERE ARE A LOT
FEWER DEMOCRATS TO WORRY ABOUT IT THAN THERE
officer holders today
WERE BEFORE THE LAST ELECTION in nov. 1966.
BUT, SERIOUSLY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE
PARTISAN IN THE NARROW SENSE. I CITE THE LAST
ELECTION ONLY AS RINGING PROOF OF THE FACT THAT
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING
THE MAJORITY PARTY IN THE NATION ONCE AGAIN.
YOU MAY RECALL THAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
SCORED A NET GAIN OF 47 SEATS IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES. THIS BRINGS US TO WITHIN 31
SEATS OF A HOUSE MAJORITY FOR THE FIRST TIME
SINCE 1953--54. BROOD/BROAD
IN THAT SAME ELECTION WE ADDED THREE
SEATS -- NET -- IN THE SENATE.
-5-
AFTER THE 1964 ELECTION THERE WERE ONLY
17 REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS. NOW THERE ARE 26,
A MAJORITY OF THE 50. ALREADY, IN THIS
POLITICAL ARENA, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS
BECOME THE MAJORITY PARTY.
A FACT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE IS THAT
A MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE today LIVE IN THE
REPUBLICAN-ADMINISTERED STATES.
ANOTHER FACT NOT GENERALLY KNOWN IS THAT
REPUBLICANS GAINED 503 SEATS IN STATE LEGIS-
LATURES IN THE 1966 ELECTIONS. AS A RESULT OF
1966 AND SUBSEQUENT BY-ELECTIONS, REPUBLICANS
CONTROL BOTH HOUSES OF LEGISLATURES IN 17 STATES
AND HAVE A MAJORITY IN ONE HOUSE IN EIGHT OTHER
STATES. THIS MEANS THAT REPUBLICANS CONTROL AT
LEAST ONE OF THE HOUSES IN 25 OF THE 48 STATES
WHICH HAVE PARTISAN LEGISLATURES.
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR AND
SENATOR ALSO RECEIVED A MAJORITY OF THE NATIONAL
VOTE -- IN THE AGGREGATE -- IN 1966.
LIBRARY
-6-
THE FACT THAT THIS REPUBLICAN RESURGENCE
IS CONTINUING WAS ATTESTED TO IN 1967 WHEN LOUIE
NUNN WAS ELECTED GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY TO BECOME
THE 26TH GOP GOVERNOR IN THE NATION AND GIVE US
A MAJORITY OF THE STATEHOUSES.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS AND LOCAL OFFICIALS
HAVE MOVED FORWARD WITH IMPRESSIVE ACCOMPLISH-
MENTS. THEY HAVE ADVANCED FRESH AND EXCITING.
They have male cons
I.DEAS AND PROGRAMS. THE VOTERS HAVE RESPONDED.
I BELIEVE THAT IN 1968 THAT RESPONSE
WILL BE NATIONWIDE. IT WILL MARK THE BEGINNING
OF A NEW ERA OF CREATIVENESS IN WASHINGTON.
WHEN THE VOTERS TURN TO THE OUT-PARTY
FOR HELP, THEY DO SO FOR TWO BASIC REASONS:
THEY HAVE LOST FAITH IN THE "IN-PARTY," AND THEY
HAVE HOPES THE OTHER PARTY CAN DO BETTER. THIS
IS THE REASON FOR POLITICAL CHANGE / MOST SIMPLY
PUT.
BOTH OF THOSE BASIC POLITICAL FACTORS
ARE AT WORK IN 1968. THEY MAY NOT PRODUCE
-7-
CATACLYSMIC CHANGE -- AN OVERWHELMING
REPUBLICAN SWEEP IN '68 -- BUT THEY MAY WELL
BRING ABOUT A REPUBLICAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATINES
AND PUT A REPUBLICAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
YOU KNOW IT'S DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
WHY BOBBY KENNEDY AND GENE McCARTHY SHOULD WANT
THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION THIS
YEAR. WITH THE COUNTRY IN THE MESS IT'S IN,
THIS IS LIKE COMPETING FOR THE JOB OF CAPTAIN
OF THE TITANIC WHEN YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO HIT
AN ICEBERG.
SERIOUSLY, THERE IS SOLID REASON TO
BELIEVE THAT THE VOTERS WILL GIVE THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY THE JOB OF RUNNING THE COUNTRY AGAIN.
PERHAPS MOST BASIC TO THAT CONCLUSION
IS A GALLUP POLL OF LAST NOVEMBER WHICH FOUND
THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE VIEW THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AS
BETTER ABLE THAN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO DEAL
WITH CRITICAL PROBLEMS.
-8-
OTHER GALLUP SURVEYS SHOW THAT WHEREAS
53 PER CENT OF THE VOTERS CONSIDERED THEM-
SELVES DEMOCRATS IN 1964 WHEN LYNDON JOHNSON
FIRST RAN FOR THE PRESIDENCY, 42 PER CENT
CONSIDER THEMSELVES DEMOCRATS TODAY. AT THE
SAME TIME THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS RISEN FROM
25 TO 31 PER CENT, AND THOSE WHO RANK THEM-
SELVES AS INDEPENDENTS NOW MAKE UP NEARLY
ONE-THIRD OF THE ELECTORATE.
SO THERE ARE MANY MORE SWING VOTERS
NOW, AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S HOLD ON THEM
HAS WEAKENED.
FORD is LIBRARY CERALD
-8A-
THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR THIS
DEMOCRATIC DECLINE, THIS REPUBLICAN RESURGENCE
AND THIS GROWING INDEPENDENCE AMONG THE
NATION'S VOTERS.
THERE IS THE VIETNAM WAR -- AN AMERICAN
for the last 3/2 years
DISASTER IN TERMS OF THE U.S. ROLE IN THAT
CONFLICT "1 The MASSIVE INVOLVEMENT IN A LARGE LAND
1
WAR ON THE CONTINENT OF ASIA. I DO NOT
QUARREL WITH THE BASIC DECISION AIMED AT
THWARTING COMMUNIST EXPANSION INTO SOUTH VIETNAN
BUT I ALSO AGREE WITH THE LATE GENERAL DOUGLAS
MqcARTHUR, WHO SAID: "ANYBODY WHO COMMITS THE
LAND POWER OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE CONTINENT
GERALD FORD LIBRADA
-9-
OF ASIA OUGHT TO HAVE HIS HEAD EXAMINED." AND
I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE GENERALLY FEEL THE
Errons
/
-
Increase in u.s. manyower - 400 to 14000, to
SAME WAY.
2
Mailure to use air of Ala power
540,000
3
Failure to get So Vatna other alliss
NOW THE JOHNSON-HUMPHREY ADMINISTRATION
HAS PUT A LID ON THE AMERICAN TROOP COMMITMENT
TO VIETNAM AND IS SEEKING TO INITIATE PEACE
NEGOTIATIONS THROUGH LIMITATIONS ON THE BOMBING
OF NORTH VIETNAM. THIS DOES NOT ALTER ANY OF
that I've mointly cited as
THE NUMEROUS ERRORS MADE BY THE JOHNSON-HUMPHREY
ADMINISTRATION IN VIETNAM. NOR DOES IT ERASE
THE CRUSHING THOUGHT THAT THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS
8000 mls
MAY HAVE DIED IN VAIN THERE.
THERE IS CONSIDERABLE EUPHORIA IN THE
NATION TODAY ABOUT VIETNAM. THIS MERELY
REFLECTS THE INDICATION THAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON
HAS MADE A BASIC POLICY CHANGE IN FAVOR OF
DE-ESCALATION AND OF GRADUALLY SHIFTING THE
BURDEN OF THE FIGHTING TO THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE.
THERE IS NO OTHER BASIS FOR OPTIMISM.
RECENTLY THE NATIONAL ATTENTION WAS
-10-
DIVERTED FROM VIETNAM BY THE MURDER OF
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE RIOTS WHICH
HAVE SWEPT ACROSS THE NATION. BOTH THE
ASSASSINATION AND THE RIOTS WERE SENSELESS
ACTS. THEY POINTED UP AGAIN THE STARK TRUTH
IN ABRAHAM LINCOLNS WORDS: "A HOUSE DIVIDED
AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND."
THIS GIVES NEW URGENCY TO PROGRAMS WITH
PROMISE FOR HEALING THE SICKNESS OF THE CITIES.
AND IT ATTESTS TO THE FAILURE OF THE
ADMINISTRATION NOW IN POWER, THE FAILURE OF THE
MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR FEDERAL PROGRAMS WHICH MAY
BE LIKENED TO WAVES DASHING AGAINST AN
UNYIELDING ROCK.
ALL OF THE TALK ABOUT REWARDING THE
RIOTERS IS NONSENSE. A FRUITFUL ATTACK UPON
OUR URBAN ILLS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER
PENALTIES OR REWARDS. THE LONGER THESE PROBLEMS
REMAIN UNSOLVED THE LONGER ALL AMERICA SUFFERS.
THIS IS ANOTHER REASON I BELIEVE THE
RARY
-11-
REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL BECOME THE MAJORITY
PARTY -- BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL LOOK
TO THE GOP TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF THE CITIES.
THE TRUTH IS THAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS
Recomen problems
UNABLE TO HEAL AMERICA'S SOUL.
/Easenhower
constructive attonations
1 PERSONALLY BELIEVE THE REASON FOR THIS
IS THAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS BEEN BYPASSED
BY TIME. IT IS STILL THE PARTY OF THE NEW
DEAL -- USEFUL DURING THE 1930's BUT NOW
SOMETHING OF AN ANACHRONISM. IT IS STILL THE
PARTY WITH LEADERS WHO DO NOT REALLY BELIEVE
IN THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM, AND THEREFORE IT
IS A PARTY WHICH IS OUT OF STEP WITH AN AMERICA
MADE AFFLUENT BY FREE ENTERPRISE.
I SAY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOES NOT
BELIEVE IN THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM BECAUSE
IT IGNORES THE BEST HOPE FOR CURING THE
SICKNESS OF THE CITIES -- AND IT IGNORES THAT
REMEDY BECAUSE IT IS ROOTED IN FREE ENTERPRISE.
I REFER TO FEDERAL INCOME TAX CREDITS AS AN
-12-
INCENTIVE TO GET INDUSTRY INVOLVED IN JOB
TRAINING, JOB DEVELOPMENT AND PLANT CONSTRUCTION
OR RENOVATION IN URBAN AND RURAL POVERTY AREAS.
THIS APPROACH TO SOLVING THE PROBLEMS
OF HARD-CORE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT
HAS BEEN URGED FOR YEARS BY THE REPUBLICAN
It was instrated better than Tylans age + approvation labelled The Human Investment
PARTY., NOW IT HAS RECEIVED THE ENTHUSIASTIC act
ENDORSEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION
ON CIVIL DISORDERS, HEADED BY THE DEMOCRATIC
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. YET THE
WHITE HOUSE REMAINS SILENT, AND DEMOCRATIC
LEADERS IN CONGRESS OPPOSE IT.
THE VOTERS WILL TURN TO THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY BECAUSE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY APPEARS
LOCKED INTO THE PAST, TIED TO DEPRESSION-ERA
THEORIES THAT HAVE NO RELEVANCE AS WE APPROACH
THE SEVENTIES, AFRAID OF EVEN SUPPLEMENTING
THE OLD PROGRAMS WHICH RELY ON TOTAL FEDERAL
FORD
DIRECTION, FEARFULOF EMBRACING NEW PROGRAMS
LIBRAR
WHICH DEPEND UPON NEW LEADERSHIP AND INDIVIDUAL
-13-
INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS.
THE OLD PROGRAMS ARE NOT WORKING, AND THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW THIS. THE PEOPLE KNOW,
Too, THAT IT IS RIDICULOUS TO TALK OF POURING
ADDITIONAL BILLIONS OF PRINTING PRESS DOLLARS
INTO URBAN PROBLEMS AT A TIME WHEN. EUROPEANS
the
and
HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE DOLLAR, WHEN THE
truelors
&
4/00
DOLLAR STEADILY DROPS IN VALUE AT HOME, WHEN
18441
INTEREST RATES CONTINUE TO SOAR, AND WHEN THE
Fed Res Feel TAX BURDEN CONTINUES TO MOUNT. Bur , 3 Int. Rev.
POLITICALLY SPEAKING, "FISCAL RESPONSI-
BILITY" IS NOT A VERY EXCITING PHRASE. BUT
IT'S BIG WITH THE VOTER WHO KNOWS THERE CAN BE
NEITHER SOCIAL PROGRESS NOR INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS
IN A NATION WITH UNSOUND MONEY.
I'M TOLD THAT INFLATION DOESN'T BOTHER
TODAY'S YOUNG PEOPLE. THEY HAVE NOT LIVED
THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION. THEY HAVE NOT
FORD
SEEN THE ECONOMY GO SMASH. BUT A LEADING
LIBRAR
POLLSTER REPORTS THAT 60 PER CENT OF AMERICANS
-14-
GENERALLY FEEL THAT INFLATION IS A MAJOR
CONCERN. THEY KNOW THAT INFLATION IS A FANCY
WORD FOR "HIGH PRICES," AND THAT THE DOLLAR
JUST DOESN'T BUY MUCH ANY MORE.
I HAVE CITED FOR YOU SOME OF THE REASONS
WHY I BELIEVE THIS WILL BE A REPUBLICAN YEAR
IN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE FRUSTRATED AND
UNHAPPY. THEY WILL BE VOTING AGAINST THE WAR,
AGAINST CIVIL DISORDER AND CRIME, AGAINST
RISING PRICES IN THE CITIES AND AGAINST LOW
FARM INCOME IN THE COUNTRY.
AND THEY WILL BE VOTING FOR -- FOR NEW
MEN AND NEW DIRECTION, FOR SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS
TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE CITIES AND OUR
such as these provided by John Lenday
2
IMPOVERISHED RURAL COMMUNITIES, FOR FEDERAL
REVENUE-SHARING AND THE ELIMINATION OF WASTE
3
AND OVERLAPPING IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FOR
4
JOB-ORIENTATION IN THE POVERTY PROGRAM, FOR
A
BETTER WAY OF HANDLING NATIONAL EMERGENCY
LIBRARY
-15-
5
LABOR-MANAGEMENT DISPUTES, FOR REMOVAL OF
6
POLITICS FROM THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, FOR
7
ELECTION REFORMS, FOR IMPROVED LAW ENFORCEMENT,
8
9
FOR NUCLEAR SUPERIORITY, FOR AN EFFECTIVE
FOREIGN POLICY, FOR A CHANGE WHICH WILL MAKE
THEM PROUD OF AMERICA AGAIN.
REVENUE
THIS IS WHY I WAS HAPPY TO TALK WITH YOU
TODAY ABOUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AS THE MINORITY
PARTY -- BECAUSE I FEEL CERTAIN THAT SOON THE
VOTERS WILL ENTRUST THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WITH
THE TASK OF BUILDING A NEW AND BETTER AMERICA,
AN AFFIRMATIVE AMERICA, AN AMERICA THAT LOOKS
TO THE FUTURE WITH EYES THAT ARE CLEAR AND
UNAFRAID.
-END-
Office Copy
An Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich.
Delivered april 19, 1968
Friday, 8:00 p.m.
Julane Hawersity
new Orleans, Louisiana
"THE REPUBLICAN PARTY -- A MINORITY FOREVER?
Whenever a person is called upon to make a speech, the first question that
enters his mind is what shall I talk about. And so he casts about in his own
mind for a topic, or maybe he gets some ideas from friends, or perhaps those who
have scheduled him as a speaker indicate what subject they would like.
Today I am going to be exploring a topic suggested by others. I have been
asked to discuss the subject: "The Republican Party--A Minority Forever?"
There are only two ways for a Republican to react to a speech title like that.
Either you're depressed or you come out fighting. I am not depressed.
Nor long after I became Republican leader of the House of Representatives, I
was asked this question: "What is the mission of the minority?"
It was one of these "give-your-reply-in-ten-words-or-les" sort of
questions, posed by a Republican Party newsletter editor.
My answer was: "The mission of the minority is to become the majority."
Immediately there were outraged screams from several Democrats in the House.
This, they said, was a narrowly partisan point of view. This was evidence that
I was so hungry for power that I would place party above country. I personally
believe that they were simply startled to find a Republican with the audacity
to think his party could regain control of the Congress and to set about trying
to accomplish that objective.
You know, the Democratic Party has been in charge of the country for
27 of the last 35 years. Yet they keep telling us how imperfect America is.
Twenty-seven years is a long time to be wrestling with the same problems and
to find they have resisted all the federal billions poured into them. Could it
be that the Democrats are trying to tell us something?
An election year is accounting time in America. That is when the American
people ask the party in power for an account of its stewardship. It follows
that the party in power is held responsible for all of its mistakes and failures.
I think that says something to us today when we are faced with three great
crises-Vietnam, racial turmoil and the threat of fiscal chaos.
So I think the Democrats in Congress who attacked me when I said the
minority's mission was to become the majority did so for a good reason: They
were worried.
(more)
BERALD FORD JERARY
-2-
Democratic National Chairman John Bailey is worried, too--but of course he
pretends not to be. Bailey says concern over the Republican trend is lessening
in the Democratic camp. What he means is that there are a lot fewer Democrats
to worry about it than there were before the last election.
But, seriously, this is no time to be partisan in the narrow sense. I
cite the last election only as ringing proof of the fact that the Republican Party
is on its way to becoming the majority party in the Nation once again.
You may recall that the Republican Party scored a net gain of 47 seats in
the House of Representatives. This brings us to within 31 seats of a House
majority for the first time since 1953-54.
In that same election we added three seats--net--in the Senate.
After the 1964 election there were only 17 Republican governors. Now there
are 26, a majority of the 50. Already, in this political arena, the Republican
Party has become the majority party.
A fact many people do not realize is that a majority of the American people
live in the Republican-administered states.
Another fact not generally known is that Republicans gained 503 seats in
State legislatures in the 1966 elections. As a result of 1966 and subsequent
by-elections, Republicans control both Houses of legislatures in 17 States and
have a majority in one House in eight other States. This means that Republicans
control at least one of the Houses in 25 of the 48 states which have partisan
legislatures.
Republican candidates for governor and senator also received a majority
of the national vote--in the aggregate--in 1966.
The fact that this Republican resurgence is continuing was attested to in
1967 when Louie Nunn was elected governor of Kentucky to become the 26th GOP
governor in the Nation and give us a majority of the statehouses.
Republican governors and local officials have moved forward with impressive
accomplishments. They have advanced fresh and exciting ideas and programs. The
voters have responded.
I believe that in 1968 that response will be nationwide. It will mark the
beginning of a new era of creativeness in Washington.
When the voters turn to the out-party for help, they do so for two basic
reasons: They have lost faith in the in-party, and they have hopes the other
party can do better. This is the reason for political change, most simply put.
Both of those basic political factors are at work in 1968. They may not
(more)
-3-
produce cataclysmic change--an overwhelming Republican sweep in '68--but they
may well bring about a Republican House of Representatives and put a Republican
in the White House.
You know it's difficult to understand why Bobby Kennedy and Gene McCarthy
should want the Democratic presidential nomination this year. With the country
in the mess it's in, this is like competing for the job of Captain of the Titanic
when you know it's going to hit an iceberg.
Seriously, there is solid reason to believe that the voters will give the
Republican Party the job of running the country again.
Perhaps most basic to that conclusion is a Gallup Poll of last November
which found that for the first time in 10 years the American people view the
Republican Party as better able than the Democratic Party to deal with critical
problems.
Other Gallup surveys show that whereas 53 per cent of the voters considered
themselves Democrats in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson first ran for the Presidency,
42 per cent consider themselves Democrats today. At the same time the Republican
Party has risen from 25 to 31 per cent, and those who rank themselves as
Independents now make up nearly one-third of the electorate.
So there are many more swing voters now, and the Democratic Party's hold
on them has weakened.
There are many reasons for this Democratic decline, this Republican
resurgence and this growing independence among the Nation's voters.
There is the Vietnam War--an American disaster in terms of the U.S. role in
that conflict, massive involvement in a large land war on the continent of Asia.
I do not quarrel with the basic decision aimed at thwarting Communist expansion
into South Vietnam. But I also agree with the late General Douglas MacArthur,
who said: "Anybody who commits the land power of the United States on the
continent of Asia ought to have his head examined." And I think the American
people generally feel the same way.
Now the Johnson-Humphrey Administration has put a lid on the American troop
commitment to Vietnam and is seeking to initiate peace negotiations through
limitations on the bombing of North Vietnam. This does not alter any of the
numerous errors made by the Johnson-Humphrey Administration in Vietnam. Nor
does it erase the crushing thought that thousands of Americans may have died in
vain there.
(more)
-4-
There is considerable euphoria in the Nation today about Vietnam. This
merely reflects the indication that President Johnson has made a basic policy
change in favor of de-escalation and of gradually shifting the burden of the
fighting to the South Vietnamese. There is no other basis for optimism.
Recently the national attention was diverted from Vietnam by the murder of
Dr. Martin Luther King and the riots which have swept across the Nation. Both
the assassination and the riots were senseless acts. They pointed up again the
stark truth in Abraham Lincoln's words: "A House divided against itself cannot
stand.'
This gives new urgency to programs with promise for healing the sickness of
the cities. And it attests to the failure of the Administration now in power,
the failure of the multi-billion-dollar federal programs which may be likened to
waves dashing against an unyielding rock.
All of the talk about rewarding the rioters is nonsense. A fruitful attack
upon our urban ills has nothing to do with either penalties or rewards. The
longer these problems remain unsolved the longer all America suffers.
This is another reason I believe the Republican Party will become the
majority party--because the American people will look to the GOP to solve the
problems of the cities. The truth is that the Democratic Party is unable to heal
America's soul.
I personally believe the reason for this is that the Democratic Party has
been bypassed by time. It is still the party of the New Deal--useful during the
1930s but now something of an anachronism. It is still the party with leaders
who do not really believe in the free enterprise system, and therefore it is a
party which is out of step with an America made affluent by free enterprise.
I say the Democratic Party does not believe in the free enterprise system
because it ignores the best hope for curing the sickness of the cities--and it
ignores that remedy because it is rooted in free enterprise. I refer to federal
income tax credits as an incentive to get industry involved in job training, job
development and plant construction or renovation in urban and rural poverty areas.
This approach to solving the problems of hard-core unemployment and under-
employment has been urged for years by the Republican Party. Now it has received
the enthusiastic endorsement of the National Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders, headed by the Democratic governor of the State of Illinois. Yet the
White House remains silent, and Democratic leaders in the Congress oppose it.
(more)
-5-
The voters will turn to the Republican Party because the Democratic Party
appears locked into the past, tied to Depression-era theories that have no
relevance as we approach the Seventies, afraid of even supplementing the old
programs which rely on total federal direction, fearful of embracing new programs
which depend upon new leadership and individual initiative for success.
The old programs are not working, and the American people know this. The
people know, too, that it is ridiculous to talk of pouring additional billions of
printing press dollars into urban problems at a time when Europeans have lost
confidence in the dollar, when the dollar steadily drops in value at home, when
interest rates continue to soar, and when the tax burden continues to mount.
Politically speaking, "fiscal responsibility" is not a very exciting phrase.
But it's big with the voter who knows there can be neither social progress nor
individual progress in a Nation with unsound money.
I'm told that inflation doesn't bother today's young people. They have not
lived through the Great Depression. They have not seen the economy go smash. But
a leading pollster reports that 60 per cent of Americans generally feel that
inflation is a major concern. They know that inflation is a fancy word for
"high prices," and that the dollar just doesn't buy much any more.
I have cited for you some of the reasons why I believe this will be a
Republican year in American political history.
The American people are frustrated and unhappy. They will be voting against
the war, against civil disorder and crime, against rising prices in the cities
and against low farm income in the country.
And they will be voting for--for new men and new direction, for sensible
solutions to the problems of the cities and our impoverished rural communities,
for federal revenue-sharing and the elimination of waste and overlapping in the
federal government, for job-orientation in the poverty program, for a better
way of handling national emergency labor-management disputes, for removal of
politics from the Post Office Department, for election reforms, for improved law
enforcement, for nuclear superiority in the interests of our national security
and the deterrence of Soviet aggression, for an effective foreign policy, for a
change which will make them proud of America again.
This is why I was happy to talk with you today about the Republican Party
as the minority party--because I feel certain that soon the voters will entrust
the Republican Party with the task of building a new and better America, an
affirmative America, an America that looks to the future with eyes that are clear
and unafraid.
# # #
Distribution: 20 copies Mr. Ford
Delivered april 19,1968
An Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich.
Friday, 8.00 p.m.
New Orleane, La.
Julane University
"THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A MINORITY FOREVER?"
Whenever a person is called upon to make a speech,
m the first Office question that Copy
enters his mind is...what shall I talk about. And so he casts about in his own
mind for a topic, or maybe he gets some ideas from friends, or perhaps those who
have scheduled him as a speaker indicate what subject they would like.
Today I am going to be exploring a topic suggested by others. I have been
asked to discuss the subject: "The Republican Party--A Minority Forever?"
There are only two ways for a Republican to react to a speech title like that.
Either you're depressed or you come out fighting. I am not depressed.
Not long after I became Republican leader of the House of Representatives, I
was asked this question: "What is the mission of the minority?"
It was one of these "give-your-reply-in-ten-words-or-les" sort of
questions, posed by a Republican Party newsletter editor.
My answer was: "The mission of the minority is to become the majority."
Immediately there were outraged screams from several Democrats in the House.
This, they said, was a narrowly partisan point of view. This was evidence that
I was so hungry for power that I would place party above country. I personally
believe that they were simply startled to find a Republican with the audacity
to think his party could regain control of the Congress and to set about trying
to accomplish that objective.
You know, the Democratic Party has been in charge of the country for
27 of the last 35 years. Yet they keep telling us how imperfect America is.
Twenty-seven years is a long time to be wrestling with the same problems and
to find they have resisted all the federal billions poured into them. Could it
be that the Democrats are trying to tell us something?
An election year is accounting time in America. That is when the American
people ask the party in power for an account of its stewardship. It follows
that the party in power is held responsible for all of its mistakes and failures.
I think that says something to us today when we are faced with three great
crises-Vietnam, racial turmoil and the threat of fiscal chaos.
So I think the Democrats in Congress who attacked me when I said the
minority's mission was to become the majority did so for a good reason: They
were worried.
(more) FORD LIBRAR,
-2-
Democratic National Chairman John Bailey is worried, too--but of course he
pretends not to be. Bailey says concern over the Republican trend is lessening
in the Democratic camp. What he means is that there are a lot fewer Democrats
to worry about it than there were before the last election.
But, seriously, this is no time to be partisan in the narrow sense. I
cite the last election only as ringing proof of the fact that the Republican Party
is on its way to becoming the majority party in the Nation once again.
You may recall that the Republican Party scored a net gain of 47 seats in
the House of Representatives. This brings us to within 31 seats of a House
majority for the first time since 1953-54.
In that same election we added three seats--net--in the Senate.
After the 1964 election there were only 17 Republican governors. Now there
are 26, a majority of the 50. Already, in this political arena, the Republican
Party has become the majority party.
A fact many people do not realize is that a majority of the American people
live in the Republican-administered states.
Another fact not generally known is that Republicans gained 503 seats in
State legislatures in the 1966 elections. As a result of 1966 and subsequent
by-elections, Republicans control both Houses of legislatures in 17 States and
have a majority in one House in eight other States. This means that Republicans
control at least one of the Houses in 25 of the 48 states which have partisan
legislatures.
Republican candidates for governor and senator also received a majority
of the national vote--in the aggregate--i 1966.
The fact that this Republican resurgence is continuing was attested to in
1967 when Louie Nunn was elected governor of Kentucky to become the 26th GOP
governor in the Nation and give us a majority of the statehouses.
Republican governors and local officials have moved forward with impressive
accomplishments. They have advanced fresh and exciting ideas and programs. The
voters have responded.
I believe that in 1968 that response will be nationwide. It will mark the
beginning of a new era of creativeness in Washington.
When the voters turn to the out-party for help, they do so for two basic
reasons: They have lost faith in the in-party, and they have hopes the other
party can do better. This is the reason for political change, most simply put.
Both of those basic political factors are at work in 1968. They may not
(more)
-3-
produce cataclysmic change--an overwhelming Republican sweep in '68--but they
may well bring about a Republican House of Representatives and put a Republican
in the White House.
You know it's difficult to understand why Bobby Kennedy and Gene McCarthy
should want the Democratic presidential nomination this year. With the country
in the mess it's in, this is like competing for the job of Captain of the Titanic
when you know it's going to hit an iceberg.
Seriously, there is solid reason to believe that the voters will give the
Republican Party the job of running the country again.
Perhaps most basic to that conclusion is a Gallup Poll of last November
which found that for the first time in 10 years the American people view the
Republican Party as better able than the Democratic Party to deal with critical
problems.
Other Gallup surveys show that whereas 53 per cent of the voters considered
themselves Democrats in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson first ran for the Presidency,
42 per cent consider themselves Democrats today. At the same time the Republican
Party has risen from 25 to 31 per cent, and those who rank themselves as
Independents now make up nearly one-third of the electorate.
So there are many more swing voters now, and the Democratic Party's hold
on them has weakened.
There are many reasons for this Democratic decline, this Republican
resurgence and this growing independence among the Nation's voters.
There is the Vietnam War--an American disaster in terms of the U.S. role in
that conflict, massive involvement in a large land war on the continent of Asia.
I do not quarrel with the basic decision aimed at thwarting Communist expansion
into South Vietnam. But I also agree with the late General Douglas MacArthur,
who said: "Anybody who commits the land power of the United States on the
continent of Asia ought to have his head examined." And I think the American
people generally feel the same way.
Now the Johnson-Humphrey Administration has put a lid on the American troop
commitment to Vietnam and is seeking to initiate peace negotiations through
limitations on the bombing of North Vietnam. This does not alter any of the
numerous errors made by the Johnson-Humphrey Administration in Vietnam. Nor
does it erase the crushing thought that thousands of Americans may have died in
vain there.
(more)
-4-
There is considerable euphoria in the Nation today about Vietnam. This
merely reflects the indication that President Johnson has made a basic policy
change in favor of de-escalation and of gradually shifting the burden of the
fighting to the South Vietnamese. There is no other basis for optimism.
Recently the national attention was diverted from Vietnam by the murder of
Dr. Martin Luther King and the riots which have swept across the Nation. Both
the assassination and the riots were senseless acts. They pointed up again the
stark truth in Abraham Lincoln's words: "A House divided against itself cannot
stand."
This gives new urgency to programs with promise for healing the sickness of
the cities. And it attests to the failure of the Administration now in power,
the failure of the multi-billion-dollar federal programs which may be likened to
waves dashing against an unyielding rock.
All of the talk about rewarding the rioters is nonsense. A fruitful attack
upon our urban ills has nothing to do with either penalties or rewards. The
longer these problems remain unsolved the longer all America suffers.
This is another reason I believe the Republican Party will become the
majority party--because the American people will look to the GOP to solve the
problems of the cities. The truth is that the Democratic Party is unable to heal
America's soul.
I personally believe the reason for this is that the Democratic Party has
been bypassed by time. It is still the party of the New Deal--useful during the
1930s but now something of an anachronism. It is still the party with leaders
who do not really believe in the free enterprise system, and therefore it is a
party which is out of step with an America made affluent by free enterprise.
I say the Democratic Party does not believe in the free enterprise system
because it ignores the best hope for curing the sickness of the cities--and it
ignores that remedy because it is rooted in free enterprise. I refer to federal
income tax credits as an incentive to get industry involved in job training, job
development and plant construction or renovation in urban and rural poverty areas.
This approach to solving the problems of hard-core unemployment and under-
employment has been urged for years by the Republican Party. Now it has received
the enthusiastic endorsement of the National Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders, headed by the Democratic governor of the State of Illinois. Yet the
White House remains silent, and Democratic leaders in the Congress oppose it.
(more)
-5-
The voters will turn to the Republican Party because the Democratic Party
appears locked into the past, tied to Depression-era theories that have no
relevance as we approach the Seventies, afraid of even supplementing the old
programs which rely on total federal direction, fearful of embracing new programs
which depend upon new leadership and individual initiative for success.
The old programs are not working, and the American people know this. The
people know, too, that it is ridiculous to talk of pouring additional billions of
printing press dollars into urban problems at a time when Europeans have lost
confidence in the dollar, when the dollar steadily drops in value at home, when
interest rates continue to soar, and when the tax burden continues to mount.
Politically speaking, "fiscal responsibility" is not a very exciting phrase.
But it's big with the voter who knows there can be neither social progress nor
individual progress in a Nation with unsound money.
I'm told that inflation doesn't bother today's young people. They have not
lived through the Great Depression. They have not seen the economy go smash. But
a leading pollster reports that 60 per cent of Americans generally feel that
inflation is a major concern. They know that inflation is a fancy word for
"high prices," and that the dollar just doesn't buy much any more.
I have cited for you some of the reasons why I believe this will be a
Republican year in American political history.
The American people are frustrated and unhappy. They will be voting against
the war, against civil disorder and crime, against rising prices in the cities
and against low farm income in the country.
And they will be voting for--for new men and new direction, for sensible
solutions to the problems of the cities and our impoverished rural communities,
for federal revenue-sharing and the elimination of waste and overlapping in the
federal government, for job-orientation in the poverty program, for a better
way of handling national emergency labor-management disputes, for removal of
politics from the Post Office Department, for election reforms, for improved law
enforcement, for nuclear superiority in the interests of our national security
and the deterrence of Soviet aggression, for an effective foreign policy, for a
change which will make them proud of America again.
This is why I was happy to talk with you today about the Republican Party
as the minority party--because I feel certain that soon the voters will entrust
the Republican Party with the task of building a new and better America, an
affirmative America, an America that looks to the future with eyes that are clear
and unafraid.
###