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GOP Fund-Raising Dinner, Lakewood, OH, October 9, 1969
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GOP Fund-Raising Dinner, Lakewood, OH, October 9, 1969
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The original documents are located in Box D27, folder "GOP Fund-Raising Dinner,
Lakewood, OH, October 9, 1969" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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.
Distribution 20 copies Mr Ford
maffice Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
-FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. THURSDAY--
October 9, 1969
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, at a GOP Fund-Raising Dinner Thursday evening, Oct. 9, 1969,
at Lakewood, Ohio.
President Nixon took the gloves off last Jan. 20 when he entered the White
House. He had to -- be found a mess when he took over the Presidency.
Dick Nixon waded into the mess and the result is a far-ranging array of
hard-hitting reform proposals.
The President has accomplished much by Executive Order, but the bulk of his
proposed reforms require legislative implementation. Where is the cooperation we
need from the Democrats? If we wax charitable, we must say it is slow in coming.
We can only conclude that Democrats in Congress are guilty of foot-dragging.
Reform is the watchword of the Nixon Administration, but the Democrats have
been too busy trying to carve up Republicans to pay much attention to Nixon reforms.
If the great Nixon reforms -- reforms the people want -- are not forthcoming,
then the blame will lie squarely on the doorstep of the Democrats in Congress.
Those reforms are before the Congress, and the need now is to implement
them -- welfare reform which will turn all able-bodied Americans from welfare
to Workfare; draft reform which will make the selective service system as fair as
possible until we can establish a truly volunteer army; postal reform which will
create a government-owned self-supporting postal corporation in place of the present
impossible system; poverty program reform which keeps the Office of Economic
Opportunity as an innovative agency but spins off successful anti-poverty programs
to old-line Government departments; manpower training reform which consolidates
Federal manpower training programs for greater flexibility in funding and offers
the administration of manpower training centers to the states as they are ready
to handle it; tax reform which takes millions of poor citizens off the taxrolls,
reduces taxes for millions of other low-income Americans and prevents the wealthy
from escaping taxation; a New Federalism which provides a percentage slice of
Federal income tax revenue for cities and states with no strings attached.
While the Democrats in Congress have been mighty slow to take up Dick Nixon's
reform legislation, some leading Democrats have been quick to make a political
issue of the Vietnam War.
I personally never thought I would live to see the day that two dozen
congressional Democrats -- Senators and members of the House -- would closet
(more)
Digitized from Box D27 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
themselves behind closed doors to plot how they could throw their weight behind
Vietnam War protest demonstrations on Oct. 15.
Every word that I have read about the Sept. 26 meeting indicates that some
Democrats, the national chairman and others, are determined to play politics with
Vietnam.
Not only is Fred Harris quoted as saying "it's time to take the gloves off
on Vietnam, he is also reported to have said, "we (the Democrats) will hold Nixon
responsible if he turns South Vietnam over to the Communists.'
I find it utterly fantastic that leading members of the other party would
seek to make political capital out of a war in which the integrity of America is
at stake. And to think that they would even try to slice it both ways!
There once was a time when politics stopped at the water's edge. This is a
policy of which the American people heartily approve.
Today we see the unbelievable an American President having to urge his
Vietnam critics to let him make his negotiations with the enemy credible.
Those of us with an ounce of common sense know that the advocates of
immediate unilateral withdrawal or of withdrawal by a deadline date are cutting
the ground out from under our negotiators at Paris.
Why not let our program of Vietnamizing the war work while we continue to
pursue the peace negotiations in Paris? Over time, the enemy will see the wisdom
of a negotiated settlement simply because the South Vietnamese government is
becoming increasingly capable of dealing with Communist insurgency on its own.
Meantime we have leading Democrats associated with the likes of David
Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, men who have made it clear they want
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong to win the Vietnam War. Since these Hanoi-oriented
American radicals have already had dealings with North Vietnamese leaders, the
natural developemnt would be for them to appeal to Hanoi and Moscow on Oct. 15
for an end to the Vietnam War.
Heckling and harassing the President, whether for political gain or other
reasons, will not bring the Vietnam War to an end any sooner. Instead it will
delay an end to the war by encouraging the other side to believe they can win
just by hanging on and refusing to negotiate.
Let us all, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans, close ranks
behind our President and help him bring us peace with honor in Vietnam.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
-FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. THURSDAY--
October 9, 1969
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, at a GOP Fund-Raising Dinner Thursday evening, Oct. 9, 1969,
at Lakewood, Ohio.
President Nixon took the gloves off last Jan. 20 when he entered the White
House. He had to -- found a mess when he took over the Presidency.
Dick Nixon waded into the mess and the result is a far-ranging array of
hard-hitting reform proposals.
The President has accomplished much by Executive Order, but the bulk of his
proposed reforms require legislative implementation. Where is the cooperation we
need from the Democrats? If we wax charitable, we must say it is slow in coming.
We can only conclude that Democrats in Congress are guilty of foot-dragging.
Reform is the watchword of the Nixon Administration, but the Democrats have
been too busy trying to carve up Republicans to pay much attention to Nixon reforms.
If the great Nixon reforms -- reforms the people want -- are not forthcoming,
then the blame will lie squarely on the doorstep of the Democrats in Congress.
Those reforms are before the Congress, and the need now is to implement
them - welfare reform which will turn all able-bodied Americans from welfare
to Workfare; draft reform which will make the selective service system as fair as
possible until we can establish a truly volunteer army; postal reform which will
create a government-owned self-supporting postal corporation in place of the present
impossible system; poverty program reform which keeps the Office of Economic
Opportunity as an innovative agency but spins off successful anti-poverty programs
to old-line Government departments; manpower training reform which consolidates
Federal manpower training programs for greater flexibility in funding and offers
the administration of manpower training centers to the states as they are ready
to handle it; tax reform which takes millions of poor citizens off the taxrolls,
reduces taxes for millions of other low-income Americans and prevents the wealthy
from escaping taxation; a New Federalism which provides a percentage slice of
Federal income tax revenue for cities and states with no strings attached.
While the Democrats in Congress have been mighty slow to take up Dick Nixon's
reform legislation, some leading Democrats have been quick to make a political
issue of the Vietnam War.
I personally never thought I would live to see the day that two dozen
congressional Democrats -- Senators and members of the House --- would closet
(more)
-2-
themselves behind closed doors to plot how they could throw their weight behind
Vietnam War protest demonstrations on Oct. 15.
Every word that I have read about the Sept. 26 meeting indicates that some
Democrats, the national chairman and others, are determined to play politics with
Vietnam.
Not only is Fred Harris quoted as saying "it's time to take the gloves off
on Vietnam, he is also reported to have said, "we (the Democrats) will hold Nixon
responsible if he turns South Vietnam over to the Communists."
I find it utterly fantastic that leading members of the other party would
seek to make political capital out of a war in which the integrity of America is
at stake. And to think that they would even try to slice it both ways!
There once was a time when politics stopped at the water's edge. This is a
policy of which the American people heartily approve.
Today we see the unbelievable an American President having to urge his
Vietnam critics to let him make his negotiations with the enemy credible.
Those of us with an ounce of common sense know that the advocates of
immediate unilateral withdrawal or of withdrawal by a deadline date are cutting
the ground out from under our negotiators at Paris.
Why not let our program of Vietnamizing the war work while we continue to
pursue the peace negotiations in Paris? Over time, the enemy will see the wisdom
of a negotiated settlement simply because the South Vietnamese government is
becoming increasingly capable of dealing with Communist insurgency on its own.
Meantime we have leading Democrats associated with the likes of David
Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, men who have made it clear they want
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong to win the Vietnam War. Since these Hanoi-oriented
American radicals have already had dealings with North Vietnamese leaders, the
natural developemnt would be for them to appeal to Hanoi and Moscow on Oct. 15
for an end to the Vietnam War.
Heckling and harassing the President, whether for political gain or other
reasons, will not bring the Vietnam War to an end any sooner. Instead it will
delay an end to the war by encouraging the other side to believe they can win
just by hanging on and refusing to negotiate.
Let us all, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans, close ranks
behind our President and help him bring us peace with honor in Vietnam.
# # #
O Office
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. THURSDAY--
October 9, 1969
Excerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican Leader, U.S. House of
Representatives, at a GOP Fund-Raising Dinner Thursday evening, Oct. 9, 1969,
at Lakewood, Ohio.
President Nixon took the gloves off last Jan. 20 when he entered the White
House. He had to -- be found a mess when he took over the Presidency.
Dick Nixon waded into the mess and the result is a far-ranging array of
hard-hitting reform proposals.
The President has accomplished much by Executive Order, but the bulk of his
proposed reforms require legislative implementation. Where is the cooperation we
need from the Democrats? If we wax charitable, we must say it is slow in coming.
We can only conclude that Democrats in Congress are guilty of foot-dragging.
Reform is the watchword of the Nixon Administration, but the Democrats have
been too busy trying to carve up Republicans to pay much attention to Nixon reforms.
If the great Nixon reforms -- reforms the people want -- are not forthcoming,
then the blame will lie squarely on the doorstep of the Democrats in Congress.
Those reforms are before the Congress, and the need now is to implement
them -- welfare reform which will turn all able-bodied Americans from welfare
to Workfare; draft reform which will make the selective service system as fair as
possible until we can establish a truly volunteer army; postal reform which will
create a government-owned self-supporting postal corporation in place of the present
impossible system; poverty program reform which keeps the Office of Economic
Opportunity as an innovative agency but spins off successful anti-poverty programs
to old-line Government departments; manpower training reform which consolidates
Federal manpower training programs for greater flexibility in funding and offers
the administration of manpower training centers to the states as they are ready
to handle it; tax reform which takes millions of poor citizens off the taxrolls,
reduces taxes for millions of other low-income Americans and prevents the wealthy
from escaping taxation; a New Federalism which provides a percentage slice of
Federal income tax revenue for cities and states with no strings attached.
While the Democrats in Congress have been mighty slow to take up Dick Nixon's
reform legislation, some leading Democrats have been quick to make a political
issue of the Vietnam War.
I personally never thought I would live to see the day that two dozen
congressional Democrats -- Senators and members of the House --- would closet
(more)
-2-
themselves behind closed doors to plot how they could throw their weight behind
Vietnam War protest demonstrations on Oct. 15.
Every word that I have read about the Sept. 26 meeting indicates that some
Democrats, the national chairman and others, are determined to play politics with
Vietnam.
Not only is Fred Harris quoted as saying "it's time to take the gloves off
on Vietnam," he is also reported to have said, "we (the Democrats) will hold Nixon
responsible if he turns South Vietnam over to the Communists."
I find it utterly fantastic that leading members of the other party would
seek to make political capital out of a war in which the integrity of America is
at stake. And to think that they would even try to slice it both ways!
There once was a time when politics stopped at the water's edge. This is a
policy of which the American people heartily approve.
Today we see the unbelievable an American President having to urge his
Vietnam critics to let him make his negotiations with the enemy credible.
Those of us with an ounce of common sense know that the advocates of
immediate unilateral withdrawal or of withdrawal by a deadline date are cutting
the ground out from under our negotiators at Paris.
Why not let our program of Vietnamizing the war work while we continue to
pursue the peace negotiations in Paris? Over time, the enemy will see the wisdom
of a negotiated settlement simply because the South Vietnamese government is
becoming increasingly capable of dealing with Communist insurgency on its own.
Meantime we have leading Democrats associated with the likes of David
Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, men who have made it clear they want
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong to win the Vietnam War. Since these Hanoi-oriented
American radicals have already had dealings with North Vietnamese leaders, the
natural developemnt would be for them to appeal to Hanoi and Moscow on Oct. 15
for an end to the Vietnam War.
Heckling and harassing the President, whether for political gain or other
reasons, will not bring the Vietnam War to an end any sooner. Instead it will
delay an end to the war by encouraging the other side to believe they can win
just by hanging on and refusing to negotiate.
Let us all, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans, close ranks
behind our President and help him bring us peace with honor in Vietnam.
# # #