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Republican Dinner, Vassar, MI, October 27, 1969
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Republican Dinner, Vassar, MI, October 27, 1969
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The original documents are located in Box D28, folder "Republican Dinner, Vassar, MI,
October 27, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
Moffice Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
October 27, 1969
Excerpts from a speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader, U.S. House
of Representatives, at a Republican Dinner Monday evening, October 27, 1969
at Vassar, Mich.
The 1970 campaign is on.
In the words of an outstanding newspaper columnist, the liberal Democrats
have plunged headlong into an exercise which he labels, "The Breaking of the
President." I can tell them right now, he won't break.
In the words of National Democratic Chairman Fred Harris, "It is time we
(Democrats) took the gloves off on Vietnam." With those words, he made a partisan
issue of the Vietnam War. If they want it that way, let's get the RECORD straight.
The campaign is on, and the liberal Democrats are employing tactics which
demonstrate an amazing disregard for the facts, for cause and effect, for blame
and results, in short for history.
Let me ask you here tonight, and in fact let me pose this question to the
Nation: Did you want a continuation of what was happening in this country and to
this country in 1968?
The answer given by the people of this country at the polls last November
was clearly "no." And it is equally clear that President Nixon has moved to
change what was happening in this country -- and it is changing.
When he became President, Dick Nixon began grappling with problems that
had accumulated for eight years under Democratic administrations principally
under the immediate precedent administration. Deep involvement in a jungle war
halfway around the world. Escalating inflation, price rises that had built up
during nearly four years of inflationary pressure. A crime rate which had climbed
nearly 10 times as fast as the Nation's population. Cities being put to the
torch by black militants. Taxpayers at the point of revolt.
The liberal Democrats would have you believe that President Nixon has done
nothing, that nothing has changed in the country since he took office. But the
facts show otherwise.
Dick Nixon has cooled it. In both foreign and domestic affairs, the
fires have been dampened down.
In Vietnam, Dick Nixon is the first President in eight years to be taking
RD
troops out instead of putting more troops in, and American fatalities have dropped
LIBRARY
to the lowest point in three years.
(more)
Digitized from Box D28 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
Again, in world affairs, Dick Nixon has inaugurated a new foreign policy
based on a "do-it-yourself doctrine" for Southeast Asia, a pledge of No More
Vietnams, and an innovative policy elsewhere in the world attuned to the concept
that all countries, including Communist nations, are responsive to their own
nationalistic concerns.
Domestically, President Nixon has succeeded in getting people to lower their
voices and their arms, too.
Again in quest of domestic tranquillity, Dick Nixon has launched a strong
crackdown against organized crime and is seeking enactment by the Congress of more
major anti-crime legislation. He has sent Congress a detailed program dealing
with organized crime and reorganization of the courts. He has made the fight
against crime one of his central concerns. The Nixon Administration recognizes,
as do all of you, that the first civil right of every American -- black or white --
is the right to protection against crime and violence.
Dick Nixon has greatly expanded and improved the Nation's manpower training
programs and has made them a part of his proposal to give the country Workfare
instead of Welfare. He is building a better America on the solid American ethic
of working for a living. He knows that a man never stands so tall as when he
stands on his own two feet. Dick Nixon's way is a hand up instead of a handout.
That's the American way. That's the only way to bridge the gap between the Haves
and the Have-Nots in America.
The Nixon Administration's policies are taking hold of inflation. This is
shown by the economic indicators. What a rotten tactic it is for liberal Democrats
to point with alarm at the latest unemployment figures! They know full well it is
Democratic inflation that is forcing the Nixon administration to cool off the
economy.
We are on the edge of tax reform and tax relief because the Nixon
Administration has made it possible.
I really don't think the liberal Democrats would want to go back to the
days of LBJ, if they were to tell the truth.
We now have order in this country, because President Nixon has brought order
to the Presidency. The days of government by crisis have been replaced by crisis
prevention.
But the greatest problem remains. Vietnam remains.
We are winding down the war; we are Vietnamizing it while seeking a negotiated
settlement. And despite what the cut-and-run boys say, the biggest obstacles to
peace lie not in Saigon but in Hanoi. I wish the cut-and-run boys and the American
radicals who want the Communists to take over South Vietnam would get Hanoi to
negotiate in a meaningful way at Paris.
I hope that all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, will join ranks
behind our President and help him achieve peace with honor in Vietnam.
# # #
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
October 27, 1969
Excerpts from a speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., Minority Leader, U.S. House
of Representatives, at a Republican Dinner Monday evening, October 27, 1969
at Vassar, Mich.
The 1970 campaign is on.
In the words of an outstanding newspaper columnist, the liberal Democrats
have plunged headlong into an exercise which he labels, "The Breaking of the
President.' I can tell them right now, he won't break.
In the words of National Democratic Chairman Fred Harris, "It is time we
(Democrats) took the gloves off on Vietnam." With those words, he made a partisan
issue of the Vietnam War. If they want it that way, let's get the RECORD straight.
The campaign is on, and the liberal Democrats are employing tactics which
demonstrate an amazing disregard for the facts, for cause and effect, for blame
and results, in short for history.
Let me ask you here tonight, and in fact let me pose this question to the
Nation: Did you want a continuation of what was happening in this country and to
this country in 1968?
The answer given by the people of this country at the polls last November
was clearly "no." And it is equally clear that President Nixon has moved to
change what was happening in this country. -- and it is changing.
When he became President, Dick Nixon began grappling with problems that
had accumulated for eight years under Democratic administrations principally
under the immediate precedent administration. Deep involvement in a jungle war
halfway around the world. Escalating inflation, price rises that had built up
during nearly four years of inflationary pressure. A crime rate which had climbed
nearly 10 times as fast as the Nation's population. Cities being put to the
torch by black militants. Taxpayers at the point of revolt.
The liberal Democrats would have you believe that President Nixon has done
nothing, that nothing has changed in the country since he took office. But the
facts show otherwise.
Dick Nixon has cooled it. In both foreign and domestic affairs, the
fires have been dampened down.
In Vietnam, Dick Nixon is the first President in eight years to be taking
FORD
to the lowest point in three years.
troops out instead of putting more troops in, and American fatalities have dropped GERA
(more)
LIBRARY
-2-
Again, in world affairs, Dick Nixon has inaugurated a new foreign policy
based on a "do-it-yourself doctrine" for Southeast Asia, a pledge of No More
Vietnams, and an innovative policy elsewhere in the world attuned to the concept
that all countries, including Communist nations, are responsive to their own
nationalistic concerns.
Domestically, President Nixon has succeeded in getting people to lower their
voices...and their arms, too.
Again in quest of domestic tranquillity, Dick Nixon has launched a strong
crackdown against organized crime and is seeking enactment by the Congress of more
major anti-crime legislation. He has sent Congress a detailed program dealing
with organized crime and reorganization of the courts. He has made the fight
against crime one of his central concerns. The Nixon Administration recognizes,
as do all of you, that the first civil right of every American -- black or white --
is the right to protection against crime and violence.
Dick Nixon has greatly expanded and improved the Nation's manpower training
programs and has made them a part of his proposal to give the country Workfare
instead of Welfare. He is building a better America on the solid American ethic
of working for a living. He knows that a man never stands so tall as when he
stands on his own two feet. Dick Nixon's way is a hand up instead of a handout.
That's the American way. That's the only way to bridge the gap between the Haves
and the Have-Nots in America.
The Nixon Administration's policies are taking hold of inflation. This is
shown by the economic indicators. What a rotten tactic it is for liberal Democrats
to point with alarm at the latest unemployment figures! They know full well it is
Democratic inflation that is forcing the Nixon administration to cool off the
economy.
We are on the edge of tax reform and tax relief because the Nixon
Administration has made it possible.
I really don't think the liberal Democrats would want to go back to the
days of LBJ, if they were to tell the truth.
We now have order in this country, because President Nixon has brought order
to the Presidency. The days of government by crisis have been replaced by crisis
prevention.
But the greatest problem remains. Vietnam remains.
We are winding down the war; we are Vietnamizing it while seeking a negotiated
settlement. And despite what the cut-and-run boys say, the biggest obstacles to
peace lie not in Saigon but in Hanoi. I wish the cut-and-run boys and the American
radicals who want the Communists to take over South Vietnam would get Hanoi to
negotiate in a meaningful way at Paris.
I hope that all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, will join ranks
behind our President and help him achieve peace with honor in Vietnam.
###