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1968 Election, Austin, TX, August 26, 1968
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4526149
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1968 Election, Austin, TX, August 26, 1968
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
Speeches
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Republican National Committee (U.S.)
U.S. House of Representatives. 3/4/1789-
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1968
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The original documents are located in Box D25, folder "1968 Election, Austin, TX, August
26, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Destribution: 50 Capies 10 tustin Tex.
air mail, aug. 22, 1968
M Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
August 26, 1968
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader of the
U.S. House of Representatives, August 26, 1968, at Austin, Texas.
We are in a pretty pickle in this country, and that is why we need new hands
on the reins in Washington.
We need much more than just a change of leadership. We need leadership
that will lift the American people out of the fog and frustration of failure--the
policy blunders which have bogged us down in a no-win war in Vietnam, a no-win
war against poverty, and a potential war between the races. The American people
deserve better.
What have our people done to deserve what has happened to them more than
30,000 American dead in Vietnam, a national crime rate rising nearly nine times as
fast as the population, taxes and a cost of living that go up faster than their
income, 238 riots resulting in more than 200 deaths and more than $800 million in
property damage. It is not the American people who have failed, it is their
leaders.
That is why I think the voters will clean house, from top to bottom, in
November. They will sweep out all the incompetents and those derelict in their
duty. They will demand and get good, clean, efficient government. They will send
to the Congress capable young men like Ray Gabler.
Americans have always been dedicated to progress. Progress can only be
built on a foundation of order. That foundation must be fashioned with the building
blocks of justice.
Order and justice go hand in hand--but the law must be upheld. There can be
no peace, no safety, no progress in a land where the law is scoffed at and law
enforcement officials are attacked in the exercise of their duties.
A good place to start is for public officials to say what they mean and to
mean what they say.
The leading candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination had
a few words to say the other day about crime in this country. He told members of
two Chicago labor unions that if elected President he would direct a nationwide
mobilization against violence, looting and crime.
This is the same man who on August 14, 1966, told the National Association
FORD LIBRARY
(more)
-2-
of County Officials in New Orleans that if he had to live in a slum "you would have
had a little more trouble than you have had already, because I have enough spark
left in me to lead a mighty good revolt under those conditions." Since those words
were spoken, the American people have suffered through more than 225 riots.
There is no excuse for slum conditions. But neither is there any excuse for
violence. And, furthermore, there is no excuse for the Vice-President of the United
States inviting violence by condoning it.
Look at what is happening in Chicago. The party that has led this country
into stalemate in Vietnam and bloodshed and destruction in our cities is engaged in
internecine warfare. The Democratic Party is divided; the country is divided.
There is a desperate need in this country for unity--unity that only the Republican
Party can provide.
All Americans are concerned about the direction in which this country is
heading. We can change that direction; we must change that direction. It will take
a Republican President and a Republican House of Representatives to do it.
What will a Republican majority in the House mean to the country?
In 1966 Republicans made a net gain of 47 seats in the House. We were still
a minority but we had with us such dynamic new congressmen as George Bush and Bob
Price, men who have proved themselves most valuable additions to our forces.
And we produced. All House Republicans produced. We rewrote the
Administration's weak anti-crime bill and made possible a sweeping anti-crime
crusade. We wrote anti-riot provisions into federal law. We cracked down on loan-
sharking. We barred from the 90th Congress a former House member guilty of flagrant
misuse of public funds. We forced the Johnson-Humphrey Administration to go ahead
with an anti-ballistic missile system for the protection of the American people. We
fashioned a program of home ownership for low-income families. We moved to revital-
ize state and local government by taking the strings off federal funds to fight
crime, combat juvenile deliquency, improve the health of the nation and the quality
of our schools.
Think what we could do with just 31 more Republican congressmen--a majority
in the House--with fine young men like Ray Gabler working in tandem with George
Bush, Bob Price and others under Republican committee chairmen.
I think the American people are going to elect that kind of a Congress in
November--a Congress that will tell the American people the hard truth about their
problems and work with the people back home to solve them. I feel sure that with
your support outstanding young men like Ray Gabler will be sitting in the House of
Representatives
a Republican House
when the 91st Congress convenes next January.
And let me say now to the people of the 10th Congressional District of Texas
that Ray Gabler will get a House committee assignment of direct benefit to his
constituents. I say, "Go with Gabler." You'll be glad you did.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
August 26, 1968
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader of the
U.S. House of Representatives, August 26, 1968, at Austin, Texas.
We are in a pretty pickle in this country, and that is why we need new hands
on the reins in Washington.
We need much more than just a change of leadership. We need leadership
that will lift the American people out of the fog and frustration of failure--the
policy blunders which have bogged us down in a no-win war in Vietnam, a no-win
war against poverty, and a potential war between the races. The American people
deserve better.
What have our people done to deserve what has happened to them more than
30,000 American dead in Vietnam, a national crime rate rising nearly nine times as
fast as the population, taxes and a cost of living that go up faster than their
income, 238 riots resulting in more than 200 deaths and more than $800 million in
property damage. It is not the American people who have failed, it is their
leaders.
That is why I think the voters will clean house, from top to bottom, in
November. They will sweep out all the incompetents and those derelict in their
duty. They will demand and get good, clean, efficient government. They will send
to the Congress capable young men like Ray Gabler.
Americans have always been dedicated to progress. Progress can only be
built on a foundation of order. That foundation must be fashioned with the building
blocks of justice.
Order and justice go hand in hand--but the law must be upheld. There can be
no peace, no safety, no progress in a land where the law is scoffed at and law
enforcement officials are attacked in the exercise of their duties.
A good place to start is for public officials to say what they mean and to
mean what they say.
The leading candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination had
a few words to say the other day about crime in this country. He told members of
two Chicago labor unions that if elected President he would direct a nationwide
mobilization against violence, looting and crime.
This is the same man who on August 14, 1966, told the National Association
(more)
-2-
of County Officials in New Orleans that if he had to live in a slum "you would have
had a little more trouble than you have had already, because I have enough spark
left in me to lead a mighty good revolt under those conditions." Since those words
were spoken, the American people have suffered through more than 225 riots.
There is no excuse for slum conditions. But neither is there any excuse for
violence. And, furthermore, there is no excuse for the Vice-President of the United
States inviting violence by condoning it.
Look at what is happening in Chicago. The party that has led this country
into stalemate in Vietnam and bloodshed and destruction in our cities is engaged in
internecine warfare. The Democratic Party is divided; the country is divided.
There is a desperate need in this country for unity--unity that only the Republican
Party can provide.
All Americans are concerned about the direction in which this country is
heading. We can change that direction; we must change that direction. It will take
a Republican President and a Republican House of Representatives to do it.
What will a Republican majority in the House mean to the country?
In 1966 Republicans made a net gain of 47 seats in the House. We were still
a minority but we had with us such dynamic new congressmen as George Bush and Bob
Price, men who have proved themselves most valuable additions to our forces.
And we produced. All House Republicans produced. We rewrote the
Administration's weak anti-crime bill and made possible a sweeping anti-crime
crusade. We wrote anti-riot provisions into federal law. We cracked down on loan-
sharking. We barred from the 90th Congress a former House member guilty of flagrant
misuse of public funds. We forced the Johnson-Humphrey Administration to go ahead
with an anti-ballistic missile system for the protection of the American people. We
fashioned a program of home ownership for low-income families. We moved to revital-
ize state and local government by taking the strings off federal funds to fight
crime, combat juvenile deliquency, improve the health of the nation and the quality
of our schools.
Think what we could do with just 31 more Republican congressmen--a majority
in the House--with fine young men like Ray Gabler working in tandem with George
Bush, Bob Price and others under Republican committee chairmen.
I think the American people are going to elect that kind of a Congress in
November--a Congress that will tell the American people the hard truth about their
problems and work with the people back home to solve them. I feel sure that with
your support outstanding young men like Ray Gabler will be sitting in the House of
Representatives
a
Republican House
when the 91st Congress convenes next January.
And let me say now to the people of the 10th Congressional District of Texas
that Ray Gabler will get a House committee assignment of direct benefit to his
constituents. I say, "Go with Gabler." You'll be glad you did.
# # #