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The original documents are located in Box D25, folder "Boy's State Remarks, Lansing, MI,
June 13, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D25 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
BOY S STATE REMARKS -- 6-13-68
VE ALWAYS BEEN PROUD TO BE A MEMBER
OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BUT IT MAKES ME EVEN
PROUDER TO SEE THIS FINE ORGANIZATION OF MEN
WHO ONCE WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR
THEIR COUNTRY, NOW SPONSORING SUCH A PROGRAM
AS THIS, IN WHICH BOYS CAN LEARN HOW TO LIVE
THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY.
IT SEEMS TO ME THIS IS THE KIND OF
THING OUR NETWORKS OUGHT TO CARRY LIVE ON
NATIONAL TELEVISION ONCE IN A WHILE, AND
TRANSMIT ALL AROUND THE WORLD BY SATELLITE,
TO SHOW PEOPLE HERE AT HOME AND ABROAD WHAT THE
FUTURE OF AMERICA IS REALLY LIKE.
WE HEAR PEOPLE SAY THESE DAYS THAT OUR
COUNTRY IS SICK. I THINK MAYBE SOME OF THESE
SELF-ANNOINTED PSYCHIATRISTS OUGHT TO GET UP
OFF THEIR COUCHES AND GO OUT AND SEE OUR
ERALD FORD LIBRANT
COUNTRY IN TRUE PERSPECTIVE -- AND THEN MAYBE
-2-
CHECK IN FOR A CHECKUP THEMSELVES. WHO'S SICK ?
not you selected as local legders with a potential for a greater role in
1 NOT THIS BUNCH
the years ahead
"BOYS WILL BE BOYS," THE OLD SAYING
GOES. WELL, AS THE FATHER OF THREE LIVELY
BOYS, I'D D RATHER BELIEVE THAT "BOYS WILL BE
MEN." AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, YOU WILL.
I' M GLAD THIS IS THE CASE, BECAUSE THERE
ARE AN AWFUL LOT OF THINGS LEFT TO DO IN THIS
some
COUNTRY, A LOT OF WRONGS TO BE PUT RIGHT, AND
A LOT OF THINGS THAT ARE RIGHT AND HAVE TO BE
KEPT THAT WAY. 1л vividly REMEMBER THE NAVY'S FABULOUS
SEABEES WHO PERFORMED PRODIGIES OF CONSTRUCTION
WORK IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC JUNGLES DURING WORLD
WAR 11, SOMETIMES LANDING AHEAD OF THE COMBAT
TROOPS. AS SOON AS THEY HAD A SPARE MINUTE,
THEY'D ERECT LIGHT-HEARTED SIGNS AROUND THEIR
CAMPS -- LIKE "WELCOME TO THE U.S. MARINES" AND
SO FORTH. BUT THE ONE I REMEMBER BEST WAS AT
BOUGAINVILLE, AND IT SAID:
"THE DIFFICULT WE DO IMMEDIATELY"
-3-
"THE IMPOSSIBLE TAKES A LITTLE LONGER."
SO THAT'S THE PROPOSITION I WANT TO
MAKE TO YOU TONIGHT: IF MY GENERATION DOES
THE DIFFICULT -- NEXT NOVEMBER 5th IF NOT
IMMEDIATELY -- WE'LL LEAVE IT FOR YOU TO TAKE
ON THE IMPOSSIBLE.
THAT'S NOT JUST ORATORY. WHEN I WAS
ABOUT YOUR AGE, OUR HERO WAS COL. CHARLES A.
LINDBERGH, WHO HAD FLOWN SOLO ALL THE WAY FROM
9 40 hour trip, alone, in a single engine arrent
NEW YORK TO PARIS., WE SUPPOSED SOMEDAY BIG
AIRPLANES CARRYING MAYBE 20 OR MORE PASSENGERS
WOULD FLY REGULARLY TO EUROPE, BUT IF ANYBODY
HAD TOLD US ABOUT ASTRONAUTS CIRCLING THE EARTH
IN OUTER SPACE, TAKING COLOR SNAPSHOTS THAT
SHOW the ghte JUST AS ROUND AS COLUMBUS FIGURED IT
WAS, WE' D HAVE SAID THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE.
WE USED TO MAKE OUR OWN CRYSTAL SET
RADIOS THEN, AND SOMETIMES ON A CLEAR NIGHT
WE'D EVEN HEAR CHICAGO, OR KANSAS CITY. BUT to
SEE THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN MEXICO ON COLOR
-4-
TELEVISION? -- WHY, EVEN DICK TRACY HADN'T
INVENTED THAT YET.
OUR FATHERS AND MOTHERS USED TO WORRY
A LOT ABOUT POLIO -- IF THEY HEARD OF SOMEBODY
GETTING IT WE COULDN'T GO SWIMMING FOR WEEKS.
NOW, THANKS TO DR. SALK AND OTHER MEDICAL
RESEARCHERS, INFANTILE PARALYSIS IS A RARE
DISEASE. SO YOU SEE MORE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED
IN MY LIFETIME, AND YOURS, TO CHANGE THE WORLD
AND THE WAY WE LIVE THAN ALL THAT HAPPENED IN
ALL THE CENTURIES BETWEEN COLUMBUS AND
LINDBERGH'S CROSSINGS OF THE ATLANTIC.
AND THINGS ARE GOING TO KEEP ON
HAPPENING, FASTER AND FASTER. SOME WILL BE
GOOD AND SOME BAD. BUT YOU ARE GOING TO BE
ANY GENERATION OF AMERICANS BEFORE YOU Better health iducated
BETTER PREPARED TO SORT THESE THINGS OUT THAN
YOU' RE HERE TO GET SOME PRACTICAL
EXPERIENCE IN POLITICS, AND I IMAGINE YOU WANT
SOME TIPS FROM SOMEBODY WHO'S BEEN WORKING AT
LIBRARY
-5-
IT AWHILE. WELL, I HAVE TO ADMIT I STARTED
EARLY. WHEN I WAS GOING TO GRAND RAPIDS SOUTH
HIGH SCHOOL I DECIDED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF
THE SENIOR CLASS.
I HAD A LOT OF FRIENDS, AND A LOT OF
GOOD IDEAS, AND I PUT ON A TERRIFIC CAMPAIGN.
I DON'T THINK THEY' VE SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT AT
GRAND RAPIDS SOUTH BEFORE OR SINCE, THOUGH SOME
OF YOU MAY CORRECT ME.
IT WAS THE MOST BRILLIANT POLITICAL RACE
I' VE EVER RUN -- EXCEPT FOR ONE THING. I LOST.
WELL, IT TOOK ME 18 YEARS TO GET UP
COURAGE TO OFFER MYSELF TO THE VOTERS AGAIN.
IT WASN'T SO MUCH THAT I WAS DISCOURAGED, BUT
I WAS BUSY. I WENT TO ANN ARBOR, PLAYED A
LITTLE FOOTBALL FOR MICHIGAN, THEN TO YALE,
WHERE I COACHED FOOTBALL WHILE STUDYING LAW,
AND THEN I SERVED IN THE NAVY AS A SHIP'S
OFFICER ON AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, AND WHEN THE WAR
ENDED FOUR YEARS LATER I CAME HOME TO PRACTICE
-6-
LAW, BUT I STILL WAS BUGGED BY THE IDEA OF A
CAREER IN PUBLIC SERVICE -- DOING THINGS FOR
PEOPLE THEY COULDN'T DO THEMSELVES, A LOT OF
PEOPLE INSTEAD OF JUST A FEW CLIENTS, MAKING
GOOD LAWS INSTEAD OF JUST ARGUING ABOUT OLD
ONES. SO THE FIRST CHANCE I HAD I RAN FOR
CONGRESS. THAT WAS IN 1948.
THIS TIME I WON, AND MY GOOD CONSTITUENTS
HAVE BEEN WITH ME EVER SINCE, AND I HOPE 1' VE
BEEN ABLE TO HELP THEM. THE REASON I TELL YOU
ALL THIS IS NOT BECAUSE I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT
MYSELF -- ALTHOUGH THEY SAY SOME CONGRESSMEN
DO -- BUT TO POINT OUT THAT THOSE 18 YEARS
BETWEEN ELECTIONS WEREN'T ALL WASTED. I
MANAGED TO LEARN A FEW THINGS, ON THE FOOTBALL
FIELD AND IN THE NAVY AND PRACTICING LAW,
WHICH PERHAPS I CAN PASS ALONG TO YOU.
THE FIRST THING IS THAT RULES ARE
IMPORTANT.
THE SECOND THING IS THAT TEAMWORK IS
IMPORTANT.
-7-
THE THIRD THING IS THAT DEDICATION
IS ALL-IMPORTANT.
THERE ARE RULES THAT GOVERN EVERYTHING
WE DO. THEY RANGE ALL THE WAY FROM THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS AND THE GOLDEN RULE TO THE RULES
OF POKER NOT THAT 19 M RECOMMENDING POKER, BUT
DON'T EVERY PLAY IT WITHOUT RULES OR CHESS.
PRIVATE MORALITY HAS ITS OWN RULES, AND SO DOES
PUBLIC LAW. EVEN NATURE HAS ITS ORDER, BUT
MAN ALONE HAS THE POWER TO MAKE AND BREAK HIS
OWN LAWS.
AMERICANS ARE WORRIED -- I NEEDN'T TELL
YOU -- ABOUT CRIME AND LAWLESSNESS IN OUR
COUNTRY. CONGRESS IS WORRIED. IN SPITE OF
MUCH YOU READ AND HEAR WE' RE STILL A LONG WAY
FROM ANARCHY -- THE HEART OF AMERICA IS STILL
SOUND -- BUT WE HAVE FALLEN BACKWARD. NOBODY
CAN DECIDE WHICH LAWS HE LIKES AND WILL OBEY
AND WHICH LAWS HE DOESN LIKE AND WON' OBEY --
ANY MORE THAN ANY PLAYER IN A FOOTBALL GAME CAN
-8-
MAKE UP HIS OWN RULES. WE HAVE TO DO MORE THAN
RESPECT THE LAW AND OBEY IT, HOWEVER, WE HAVE
TO INSIST THAT EVERYBODY ELSE DOES THE SAME.
AND WE HAVE TO RESTRAIN AND, IF POSSIBLE,
RETRAIN THOSE WHO REFUSE TO PLAY BY THE RULES.
OF COURSE, SOME RULES SEEM TO US
BURDENSOME, OR SILLY, OR OUT OF DATE. AND
SOME OF THEM ARE. BUT WE HAVE A WONDERFULLY
FLEXIBLE AND RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT IN THIS
COUNTRY, THROUGH WHICH ORDERLY CHANGE IS ALWAYS
POSSIBLE -- INDEED IT CANNOT BE STOPPED --
WHENEVER MOST AMERICANS REALLY WANT IT. THESE
ARE THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES OF A REPRESENTATIVE
REPUBLIC -- FREE ELECTIONS, PUBLIC PERSUASION,
PETITIONING THE LEGISLATURE, PROCEDURE IN THE
COURTS, THAT YOU RE HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
AND HOW TO USE. THERE MAY BE COUNTRIES WHERE
FREEDOM IS SO RESTRICTED THAT MASS DEMONSTRATIONS
AND STUDENT UPRISINGS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO BRING
ABOUT REFORM. THIS ISN'T SO IN THE UNITED
Behind Irm Centain /FRANCIE
-9-
STATES, AND ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU IT is, IS
EITHER IGNORANT OR DELIBERATELY MISLEADING.
EACH GENERATION IN AMERICA HAS TAKEN
THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS INHERITED FROM
THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND SHAPED THEM TO MEET
NEW PROBLEMS AND MORE COMPLEX NEEDS. THIS IS
A CONTINUOUS PROCESS AND BY USING IT, WE HAVE
SEEN SUCH PROGRESS AS NO OTHER NATION HAS KNOWN.
LEARN HOW TO MAKE THE RULES WORK FOR YOU AND
FOR ALL OTHER AMERICANS -- EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER
LAW -- AND I GUARANTEEE YOU THAT PROGRESS WILL
GO ON AND ON.
RULES ARE IMPORTANT, AND SO IS
TEAMWORK. YOU ALL KNOW THAT FROM FOOTBALL OR
BASEBALL OR BASKETBALL -- OR EVEN FROM
DANCING LESSONS. I SUPPOSE THE MOST SPECTACULAR
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK
IS A MODERN AIRCRAFT CARRIER. OF COURSE THEY' VE
CHANGED A LOT SINCE MY DAY -- NUCLEAR POWER AND
JETS THAT FLY SO FAST YOU ONLY HEAR THEM AFTER
LIBRARY
-10-
THE VE GONE -- BUT THE PRINCIPLE IS THE SAME.
SOON SOME OF YOU WILL BE SERVING IN THE MILITARY
AND, WHILE I PRAY OUR COUNTRY WILL BE AT PEACE,
DON'T LOOK ON THESE AS LOST YEARS. YOU CAN
LEARN MORE ABOUT LIVING AND WORKING WITH OTHER
MEN, YOU CAN MASTER MORE OF THE MEANING OF
EXECUTIVE DECISION AND RESPONSIBILITY, IF YOU
UNDERTAKE THIS OBLIGATION INTELLIGENTLY, THAN
YOU WOULD IN CIVILIAN LIFE FOR ANOTHER 10 YEARS.
THE ADMIRAL IN HIS CABIN AND THE CAPTAIN
ON THE BRIDGE ARE IMPORTANT, AND SO ARE THE
PILOTS IN THEIR PLANES. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT
TEAMWORK MEANS WHEN YOU REALIZE WHAT ONE MISSING
PART IN AN ENGINE MEANS, WHAT HAPPENS IF A
RADIOMAN GOOFS AN URGENT MESSAGE, HOW SWIFTLY
SOME TRAINED HAND MUST TURN THE HELM OR FIND A
BAD FUSE OR CLOSE AN OPEN VALVE OR PRESS THE
RIGHT BUTTON. TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE ALONE
MAKE POSSIBLE THE SPLIT-SECOND TEAMWORK OF A
CARRIER LAUNCHING OR LANDING, EVERY MAN DOING
-11-
HIS JOB WITH NO ROOM FOR MISTAKES. TEAMWORK
ENABLES EACH OF US TO REACH BEYOND OUR ARM'S
LENGTH, TO ACCOMPLISH TASKS WE COULD NEVER DO
ALONE, AND IT IMPARTS A SPECIAL SATISFACTION
WHICH THE SOLITARY SOUL CAN NEVER KNOW. YES,
TEAMWORK IS IMPORTANT.
THE LAST OF THE THREE THINGS I WANT YOU
TO REMEMBER AS YOU PRACTICE POLITICS AND
GOVERNMENT -- AND THEY WILL PROVE JUST AS
ESSENTIAL IN ANY OTHER ENDEAVOR -- IS DEDICATION.
THIS IS A LITTLE HARD TO DEFINE, BUT I SUPPOSE
YOU COULD CALL IT LIVING AND WORKING FOR SOME-
THING LARGER THAN YOURSELF.
IN ITS MOST FUNDAMENTAL FORM THIS IS
LIVING AND WORKING FOR YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR
FRIENDS, FOR THE TEAM OF WHICH YOU ARE A PART.
IN ITS NOBLEST DEVELOPMENT IT MEANS LIVING AND
WORKING AND, IF NEED BE, SACRIFICING FOR YOUR
COUNTRY AND YOUR GOD.
DON'T LET ANYBODY SNEER AT SUCH
-12-
DEDICATION -- IT IS ALL THAT SEPARATES US FROM
THE SAVAGE BEASTS. SOME PEOPLE THINK POLITICS
IS A CYNICAL BUSINESS -- BUT CONGRESS OPENS
EVERY DAY WITH A PRAYER, WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU
CAN SAY FOR SOME PROFESSIONS.
TO BE BART OF SOMETHING LARGER THAN
YOURSELF, TO GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT AND
THEN A LITTLE BIT MORE, THIS IS THE GREATEST
SATISFACTION OF LIFE AND THE MOST REDEEMING
GRACE OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. AS THE HIPPIES SAY,
EVERYBODY HAS TO DO HIS OWN THING. BUT THE
THING THAT YOU DO -- DO IT BY THE RULES, DO IT
IN TEAMWORK WITH OTHERS, AND ABOVE ALL DO IT WITH
DEDICATION.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR DELIBERATIONS AND
DEBATES, IN YOUR WARMUP AND WORKOUT FOR THE
FUTURE POLITICAL ARENA. REMEMBER, WE' RE
COUNTING ON YOU FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE -- AND WE LL
KEEP WORKING ON THE DIFFICULT.
THIS IS A GREAT COUNTRY -- LET'S MAKE IT
EVEN GREATER!
###
Maffice Copy
BOY'S STATE
June 13, 1968
Lansing, Michigan
I've always been proud to be a member of the American Legion but it makes
me even prouder to see this fine organization of men who once were willing to give
their lives for their country, now sponsøring such a program as this, in which boys
can learn how to live their lives for their country.
It seems to me this is the kind of thing our networks ought to carry live
on national television once in awhile, and transmit all around the world by satellite,
to show people here at home and abroad what the future of America is really like.
We hear people say these days that our country is sick. I think maybe some
of these self-annointed psychiatrists ought to get up off their couches and go out
and see our country in true perspective and then maybe check in for a checkup
themselves. Who's sick? Not this bunch!
"Boys will be boys," the old saying goes. Well, as the father of three
lively boys, I'd rather believe that "Boys will be men." And before you know it,
you will.
I'm glad this is the case, because there are an awful lot of things left to
do in this country, a lot of wrongs to be put right, and a lot of things that are
right and have to be kept that way. I remember the Navy's fabulous Seabees who
performed prodigies of construction work in the South Pacific jungles during World
War II, sometimes landing ahead of the combat troops. As soon as they had a spare
minute, they'd erect light-hearted signs around their camps like "Welcome to the
U.S. Marines" and so forth. But the one I remember was at Bougainville, and it said:
"The difficult we do immediately"
"The impossible takes a little longer."
So that's the proposition I want to make to you tonight: if my generation
does the difficult next November 5th if not immediately we'll leave it for
you to take on the impossible.
That's not just oratory. When I was about your age, our hero was Col.
Charles A. Lindbergh, who had flown solo all the way from New York to Paris. We
supposed someday big airplanes carrying maybe 20 or more passengers would fly
regularly to Europe, but if anybody had told us about astronauts circling the
Earth in outer space, taking color snapshots that show it just as round as Columbus
figured it was, we'd have said that's impossible.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-2-
We used to make our own crystal set radios then, and sometimes on a clear
night we'd even hear Chicago, or Kansas City. But see the Olympic Games in Mexico
on color television? why, even Dick Tracy hadn't invented that yet.
Our fathers and mothers used to worry a lot about polio if they heard
of somebody getting it we couldn't go swimming for weeks. Now, thanks to Dr. Salk
and other medical researchers, infantile paralysis is a rare disease. So you see
more things have happened in my lifetime, and yours, to change the world and the
way we live than all that happened in all the centuries between olumbus and
Lindbergh's crossings of the Atlantic.
And things are going to keep on happening, faster and faster. Some will be
good and some bad. But you are going to be better prepared to sort these things
out than any generation of Ameri cans before you.
You're here to get some practical experience in politics, and I imagine you
want some tips from somebody who's been working at it awhile. Well, I have to admit
I started early. When I was going to Grand Rapids South High School I decided to
run for President of the Senior Class.
I had a lot of friends, and a lot of good ideas, and I put on a terrific
campaign. I don't think they've seen anything like it at Grand Rapids South before
or since, though some of you may correct me.
It was the most brilliant political race I've ever run except for one
thing. I lost.
Well, it took me 18 years to get up courage to offer myself to the voters
again. It wasn't so much that I was discouraged, but I was busy. I went to Ann
Arbor, played a little football for Michigan, then to Yale, where I coached football
while studying law, and then I served in the Navy as a ship's officer on an aircraft
carrier, and when the war ended four years later I came home to practice law, but
I still was bugged by the idea of a career in public service doing things for
people they couldn't do themselves, a lot of people instead of just a few clients,
making good laws instead of just arguing about old ones. So the first chance I had
I ran for Congress. That was in 1948.
This time I won, and my good constituents have been with me ever since, and
I hope I've been able to help them. The reason I tell you all this is not because
I like to talk about myself although they say some Congressmen do -- but to point
out that those 18 years between elections weren't all wasted. I managed to learn a
few things, on the football field and in the Navy and practicing law, which perhaps
I can pass along to you.
LIBRARY
-3-
The first thing is that rules are important.
The second thing is that teamwork is important.
The third thing is that dedication is all-important.
There are rules that govern everything we do. They range all the way from the
Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule to the rules of poker (not that I'm recommending
poker, but don't ever play it without rules!) or chess. Private morality has its
own rules, and so does public law. Even nature has its order, but man alone has the
power to make and break his own laws.
Americans are worried . I needn't tell you about crime and lawlessness
in our country. Congress is worried. In spite of much you read and hear we're still
a long way from anarchy -- the heart of America is still sound but we have fallen
backward. Nobody can decide which laws he likes and will obey and which laws he
doesn't like and won't obey any more than any player in a football game can make
up his own rules. We have to do more than respect the law and obey it, however.
We have to insist that everybody else does the same. And we have to restrain and,
if possible, retrain those who refuse to play by the rules.
Of course, some rules seem to us burdensome, or silly, or out of date. And
some of them are. But we have a wonderfully flexible and responsive government in th is
country, through which orderly change is always possible - indeed it cannot be
stopped - whenever most Americans really want it. These are the demo cratic processes
of a representative republic -- free elections, public persuasion, petitioning the
legislature, procedure in the courts, that you're here to learn more about and how
to use. There may be countries where freedom is so restricted that mass demon-
strations and student uprisings are the only way to bring about reform. This isn't
so in the United States, and anyone who tells you it is,is either ignorant or
deliberately misleading.
Each generation in America has taken the Constitution and the laws inherited
from the Founding Fathers and shaped them to meet new problems and more complex needs.
This is a continuous process and by using it, we have seen such progress as no other
nation has known. Learn how to make the rules work for you and for all other
Americans - equal justice under law -- and I guarantee you that progress will go
on and on.
Rules are important, and so is teamwork. You all know that from football or
baseball or basketball or even from dancing lessons. I suppose the most
spectacular practical example of the importance of teamwork is a modern aircraft
carrier. Of course they've changed a lot since my day - nuclear power and jets
that fly so fast you only hear them after they've gone -- but the principle is
-4-
the same. Soon some of you will be serving in the military and, while I pray our
country will be at peace, don't look on these as lost years. You can learn more
about living and working with other men, you can master more of the meaning of
executive decision and responsibility, if you undertake this obligation intelligently,
than you would in civilian life for another 10 years.
The admiral in his cabin and the captain on the bridge are important, and so
are the pilots in their planes. But you know what teamwork means when you realize
what one missing part in an engine means, what happens if a radioman goofs an urgent
message, how swiftly some trained hand must turn the helm or find a bad fuse or
close an open valve or press the right button. Training and discipline alone make
possible the split-second teamwork of a carrier launching or landing, every man
doing his job with no room for mistakes. Teamwork enables each of us to reach
beyond our arm's length, to accomplish tasks we could never do alone, and it
imparts a special satisfaction which the solitary soul can never know. Yes, team-
work is important.
The last of the three things I want you to remember as you practice politics
and government and they will prove just as essential in any other endeavor -- is
dedication. This is a little hard to define, but I suppose you could call it living
and working for something larger than yourself.
In its most fundamental form this is living and working for your family and
your friends, for the team of which you are a part. In its noblest development it
means living and working and, if need be, sacrificing for your country and your God.
Don't let anybody sneer at such dedication it is all that separates us
from the savage beasts. Some people think politics is a cynical business -- but
Congress opens every day with a prayer, which is more than you can say for some
professions.
To be part of something larger than yourself, to give it everything you've
got and then a little bit more, this is the greatest satisfaction of life and the most
redeeming grace of the human species. As the hippies say, everybody has to do his
own thing. But the thing that you do -- do it by the rules, do it in teamwork with
others, and above all do it with dedication.
Good luck in your deliberations and debates, in your warmup and workout for
the future political arena. Remember, we're counting on you for the impossible --
and we'll keep working on the difficult.
This is a great country let's make it even greater!
Officilapy
BOY'S STATE
June 13, 1968
Lansing, Michigan
I've always been proud to be a member of the American Legion but it makes
me even prouder to see this fine organization of men who once were willing to give
their lives for their country, now sponso ring such a program as this, in which boys
can learn how to live their lives for their country.
It seems to me this is the kind of thing our networks ought to carry live
on national television once in awhile, and transmit all around the world by satellite,
to show people here at home and abroad what the future of America is really like.
We hear people say these days that our country is sick. I think maybe some
of these self-annointed psychiatrists ought to get up off their couches and go out
and see our country in true perspective and then maybe check in for a checkup
themselves. Who's sick? Not this bunch!
"Boys will be boys," the old saying goes. Well, as the father of three
lively boys, I'd rather believe that "Boys will be men." And before you know it,
you will.
I'm glad this is the case, because there are an awful lot of things left to
do in this country, a lot of wrongs to be put right, and a lot of things that are
right and have to be kept that way. I remember the Navy's fabulous Seabees who
performed prodigies of construction work in the South Pacific jungles during World
War II, sometimes landing ahead of the combat troops. As soon as they had a spare
minute, they'd erect light-hearted signs around their camps like "Welcome to the
U.S. Marines" and so forth. But the one I remember was at Bougainville, and it said:
"The difficult we do immediately"
"The impossible takes a little longer."
So that's the proposition I want to make to you tonight: if my generation
does the difficult -- next November 5th if not immediately we'll leave it for
you to take on the impossible.
That's not just oratory. When I was about your age, our hero was Col.
Charles A. Lindbergh, who had flown solo all the way from New York to Paris. We
supposed someday big airplanes carrying maybe 20 or more passengers would fly
regularly to Europe, but if anybody had told us about astronauts circling the
Earth in outer space, taking color anapshots that show it just as round as Columbus
figured it was, we'd have said that's impossible.
GERALD LIBRARY CERALDR FORD
-2-
We used to make our own crystal set radios then, and sometimes on a clear
night we'd even hear Chicago, or Kansas City. But see the Olympic Games in Mexico
on color television? -- why, even Dick Tracy hadn't invented that yet.
Our fathers and mothers used to worry a lot about polio if they heard
of somebody getting it we couldn't go swimming for weeks. Now, thanks to Dr. Salk
and other medical researchers, infantile paralysis is a rare disease. So you see
more things have happened in my lifetime, and yours, to change the world and the
way we live than all that happened in all the centuries between ᶜ₀lumbus and
Lindbergh's crossings of the Atlantic.
And things are going to keep on happening, faster and faster. Some will be
good and some bad. But you are going to be better prepared to sort these things
out than any generation of Ameri cans before you.
You're here to get some practical experience in politics, and I imagine you
want some tips from somebody who's been working at it awhile. Well, I have to admit
I started early. When I was going to Grand Rapids South High School I decided to
run for President of the Senior Class.
I had a lot of friends, and a lot of good ideas, and I put on a terrific
campaign. I don't think they've seen anything like it at Grand Rapids South before
or since, though some of you may correct me.
It was the most brilliant political race I've ever run -- except for one
thing. I lost.
Well, it took me 18 years to get up courage to offer myself to the voters
again. It wasn't so much that I was discouraged, but I was busy. I went to Ann
Arbor, played a little football for Michigan, then to Yale, where I coached football
while studying law, and then I served in the Navy as a ship's officer on an aircraft
carrier, and when the war ended four years later I came home to practice law, but
I still was bugged by the idea of a career in public service doing things for
people they couldn't do themselves, a lot of people instead of just a few clients,
making good laws instead of just arguing about old ones. So the first chance I had
I ran for Congress. That was in 1948.
This time I won, and my good constituents have been with me ever since, and
I hope I've been able to help them. The reason I tell you all this is not because
I like to talk about myself although they say some Congressmen do -- but to point
out that those 18 years between elections weren't all wasted. I managed to learn a
few things, on the football field and in the Navy and practicing law, which perhaps
I can pass along to you.
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The first thing is that rules are important.
The second thing is that teamwork is important.
The third thing is that dedication is all-important.
There are rules that govern everything we do. They range all the way from the
Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule to the rules of poker (not that I'm recommending
poker, but don't ever play it without rules!) or chess. Private morality has its
own rules, and so does public law. Even nature has its order, but man alone has the
power to make and break his own laws.
Americans are worried - I needn't tell you about crime and lawlessness
in our country. Congress is worried. In spite of much you read and hear we're still
a long way from anarchy -- the heart of America is still sound but we have fallen
backward. Nobody can decide which laws he likes and will obey and which laws he
doesn't like and won't obey . any more than any player in a football game can make
up his own rules. We have to do more than respect the law and obey it, however.
We have to insist that everybody else does the same. And we have to restrain and,
if possible, retrain those who refuse to play by the rules.
Of course, some rules seem to us burdensome, or silly, or out of date. And
some of them are. But we have a wonderfully flexible and responsive government in this
country, through which orderly change is always possible indeed it cannot be
stopped - whenever most Americans really want it. These are the demo cratic processes
of a representative republic - free elections, public persuasion, petitioning the
legislature, procedure in the courts, that you're here to learn more about and how
to use. There may be countries where freedom is so restricted that mass demon-
strations and student uprisings are the only way to bring about reform. This isn't
so in the United States, and anyone who tells you it is,is either ignorant or
deliberately misleading.
Each generation in America has taken the Constitution and the laws inherited
from the Founding Fathers and shaped them to meet new problems and more complex needs.
This is a continuous process and by using it, we have seen such progress as no other
nation has known. Learn how to make the rules work for you and for all other
Americans - equal justice under law and I guarantee you that progress will go
on and on.
Rules are important, and so is teamwork. You all know that from football or
baseball or basketball - or even from dancing lessons. I suppose the most
spectacular practical example of the importance of teamwork is a modern aircraft
carrier. Of course they've changed a lot since my day - nuclear power and jets
that fly so fast you only hear them after they've gone but the principle is
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the same. Soon some of you will be serving in the military and, while I pray our
country will be at peace, don't look on these as lost years. You can learn more
about living and working with other men, you can master more of the meaning of
executive decision and responsibility, if you undertake this obligation intelligently,
than you would in civilian life for another 10 years.
The admiral in his cabin and the captain on the bridge are important, and so
are the pilots in their planes. But you know what teamwork means when you realize
what one missing part in an engine means, what happens if a radioman goofs an urgent
message, how swiftly some trained hand must turn the helm or find a bad fuse or
close an open valve or press the right button. Training and discipline alone make
possible the split-second teamwork of a carrier launching or landing, every man
doing his job with no room for mistakes. Teamwork enables each of us to reach
beyond our arm's length, to accomplish tasks we could never do alone, and it
imparts a special satisfaction which the solitary soul can never know. Yes, team-
work is important.
The last of the three things I want you to remember as you practice politics
and government and they will prove just as essential in any other endeavor -- is
dedication. This is a little hard to define, but I suppose you could call it living
and working for something larger than yourself.
In its most fundamental form this is living and working for your family and
your friends, for the team of which you are a part. In its noblest development it
means living and working and, if need sacrificing for your country and your God.
Don't let anybody sneer at such dedication -- it is all that separates us
from the savage beasts. Some people think politics is a cynical business -- but
Congress opens every day with a prayer, which is more than you can say for some
professions.
To be part of something larger than yourself, to give it everything you've
got and then a little bit more, this is the greatest satisfaction of life and the most
redeeming grace of the human species. As the hippies say, everybody has to do his
own thing. But the thing that you do -- do it by the rules, do it in teamwork with
others, and above all do it with dedication.
Good luck in your deliberations and debates, in your warmup and workout for
the future political arena. Remember, we're counting on you for the impossible --
and we'll keep working on the difficult.
This is a great country let's make it even greater!