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Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, May 7, 1970
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Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, May 7, 1970
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
Speeches
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Crime
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United States-Soviet relations
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
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The original documents are located in Box D29, folder "Wichita State University, Wichita,
KS, May 7, 1970" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 D29 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY, WICHITA, KANSAS,
8.00 P.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1970.
MAY 7, 1970.
EVERY DECADE IS A MIXTURE OF
GOOD AND BAD, AND THE SIXTIES WERE NO
EXCEPTION.
BUT FOR ALL THE GOOD THAT THE
SIXTIES PRODUCED, THE TEN YEARS JUST PASSED
BROUGHT US AN OVERABUNDANCE OF MISERY AND
GRIEF.
MANY OF US LOOK BACK UPON THE
DECADE OF THE SIXTIES WITH A TREMENDOUS
SENSE OF RELIEF AT HAVING PUT IT BEHIND US.
WHAT DO WE REMEMBER MOST VIVIDLY
ABOUT THE DECADE OF THE SIXTIES?
IT WAS, OF COURSE, THE DECADE
THAT PUT AMERICANS ON THE MOON -- BUT IT
WAS ALSO AN AGE OF ASSASSINATION AND AN
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
AGE OF ANARCHY.
-2-
PEACE
PRIZE
WE SAW MAJOR AMERICAN CITIES
BEING PUT TO THE TORCH AND WITNESSED THE
OUTBREAK OF CONVULSIVE VIOLENCE IN THE
NATION'S GHETTOES AND ON ITS COLLEGE CAMPUSES.
THE SIXTIES ALSO BROUGHT THE AGONY
OF VIETNAM, WHEN AN AMERICA/VICTIMIZED BY
VIOLENCE AT HOME CREPT UNCOMPREHENDINGLY
INTO THE QUICKSAND OF A JUNGLE WAR HALFWAY
ROUND THE WORLD.
AND AS WE LIVED THROUGH THE
DECADE OF THE SIXTIES, IT BECAME APPARENT
THAT THE ERA OF THE NEW DEAL HAD COME TO
AN END -- AS CLEARLY AND AS FINALLY AS
THOUGH SOMEONE HAD DRAWN THE CURTAIN ON IT.
-3-
WITH THE DEMISE OF THE NEW DEAL
CAME THE REALIZATION THAT AMERICA MUST MOVE
IN NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE SEVENTIES, / MUST CUT
NEW PATHS THROUGH THE JUNGLE OF PROBLEMS
THAT CLOGGED THE WAY TO A QUALITY LIFE FOR
OUR PEOPLE.
THIS WAS THE CONDITION OF AMERICA
WHEN ITS PEOPLE ELECTED A NEW PRESIDENT IN
NOVEMBER 1968.
THIS WAS THE AMERICA THAT CRIED
OUT FOR NEW LEADERSHIP WHEN RICHARD NIXON
ENTERED THE WHITE HOUSE IN JANUARY 1969.
after 20yrs, in FORESAW Engress THE ADVENT OF AN AGE
th 37 3 President
OF REFORM IN AMERICA WHEN RICHARD NIXON TOOK
OFFICE.
REFORM WAS THE PATH TO BE
FOLLOWED. REFORM WAS INDEED THRUSTING
ITSELF UPON THE NEW PRESIDENT AND UPON THE
FORD
NATION. AND THUS IT WAS THAT REFORM BECAME
GERAL
LIBRARY
THE WATCHWORD OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.
-4-
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION TOOK
STOCK AND CHARTED A NEW COURSE. THIS NEW
COURSE, AS YET LARGELY UNIMPLEMENTED BY THE
CONGRESS, IS A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR
AN ATTACK ON THE MOST CRITICAL PROBLEMS
FACING THIS COUNTRY.
THE MAJOR GOALS OF THIS
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY STRIKE DIRECTLY AT
THE ROOTS OF THE UNDERLYING CRISES IN OUR
NATION.
THE STRATEGY IS AIMED AT FIVE
ENDING POVERTY
OBJECTIVES: ENDING THE WAR MAKING THE
STREETS SAFE AGAIN FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CURBING
INF
REFORMING AND ULTIMATELY
ENDING THE DRAFT: AND GIVING THE GOVERNMENT
BACK TO THE PEOPLE.
IF THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION
SUCCEEDS IN ACHIEVING THESE OBJECTIVES --
AND DRAFT REFORM HAS BEEN PARTIALLY
LEBRARA
ACHIEVED -- I BELIEVE HISTORIANS WILL GIVE
-5-
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION A HIGH ACHIEVEMENT
controlled The opportum party
SCORE. AND IF THIS CONGRESS RESPONDS WITH
ACTION DURING ITS SECOND SESSION, ITS MARK
ON HISTORY WILL BE ONE OF THE FINEST.
THE REFORMS THAT PRESIDENT NIXON
HAS PROPOSED ARE MANIFOLD. HE HAS SENT
MORE THAN 40 MESSAGES TO THE CONGRESS.
THOSE MESSAGES ARE RELATED TO THE OBJECTIVES
I HAVE JUST OUTLINED AND TO OTHERS AS WELL.
THE TOP PRIORITY IS, OF COURSE,
TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM.
PRESIDENT NIXON IS MOVING
VIGOROUSLY TO END THE AMERICAN ROLE IN
VIETNAM AND, HOPEFULLY, TO END THE WAR.
HE IS WINDING DOWN THE WAR/AND IS DOING
EVERYTHING HE REASONABLY CAN TO ACHIEVE A
BREAKTHROUGH AT THE PEACE TABLE.
WITH THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
STUCK ON DEAD CENTER BECAUSE OF ENEMY
INTRANSIGENCE "VIETNAMIZATION" HAS BECOME
-6-
THE KEY TO DISENGAGING THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE VIETNAM WAR. GRADUALLY BUT SURELY
WE ARE TURNING THE WAR OVER TO THE SOUTH
VIETNAMESE, WHERE IT BELONGS.
WE CERTAINLY CANNOT STAY IN
SOUTH VIETNAM FOREVER. IF THE SAIGON
GOVERNMENT IS TO STAND, IT MUST LEARN TO
STAND ALONE.
UNDER THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION
WE BEGAN TAKING TROOPS OUT OF VIETNAM
INSTEAD OF ADDING TO OUR NUMBERS THERE.
NOW THE PRESIDENT HAS ANNOUNCED WITHDRAWAL
OF AN ADDITIONAL 150,000 MEN AS WE MOVE
STEADILY TOWARD THE GOAL OF REMOVING ALL
OF OUR GROUND COMBAT FORCES FROM VIETNAM.
A MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE WANT A SOUND, NOT A PHONY, SETTLEMENT
OF THE VIETNAM WAR. I WANT A SETTLEMENT
THAT WILL DISCOURAGE FURTHER COMMUNIST
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
AGGRESSION, WHETHER IT IS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA,
THE MIDDLE EAST, THE PACIFIC, OR IN EUROPE.
-7-
TO INVITE A COMMUNIST TAKEOVER
OF SOUTH VIETNAM THROUGH A PRECIPITOUS
WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. TROOPS MIGHT LEAD TO A
REOPENING OF THE KOREAN WAR AND CREATE
ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR US AND OUR ALLIES
IN EUROPE. ONE COULD HONESTLY SPECULATE AS
TO THE VOLCANIC IMPACT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
OF AN AMERICAN DEFEAT IN VIETNAM.
DESPITE THE STUBBORNESS OF THE
COMMUNISTS IN VIETNAM, I AM FULLY CONVINCED
PRESIDENT NIXON WILL SUCCEED IN INAUGURATING
AN ERA OF NEGOTIATION IN PLACE OF AN ERA OF
CONFRONTATION.
PRESIDENT NIXON HAS TAKEN MANY
STEPS TOWARD WORLD PEACE. HE HAS TAKEN THE
UNITED STATES OUT OF THE FIELD OF GERM
WARFARE AND THE FIRST USE OF GASES. HE HAS
MADE THE UNITED STATES A SIGNATORY TO THE
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY. HE HAS
INITIATED RENEWED TALKS IN WARSAW WITH
7-A
COMMUNIST CHINA. HE HAS FORMULATED
JUDICIOUS POLICIES GOVERNING ARMS SUPPORT
AND POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS IN THE MIDDLE
EAST CRISIS.
HE HAS CAREFULLY EVALUATED
THE EXPRESSED INTENTIONS VERSUS
DEMONSTRATED ACTIONS OF THE SOVIET UNION
IN MUTUAL ARMS REDUCTIONS AGREEMENTS.
HE HAS LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR POSSIBLE
RESULTS IN THE SALT TALKS.
WE HAVE NOW ENTERED UPON
STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION TALKS WITH THE
RUSSIANS, AND PRESIDENT NIXON HAS SET
FORTH A NEW FOREIGN POLICY. THAT
NEW FOREIGN POLICY IS INNOVATIVE, FLEXIBLE
AND ADAPTABLE. BASICALLY, IT IS ATTUNED TO
THE NATIONALISTIC AND REGIONAL INTERESTS OF
-8-
FREE WORLD AND COMMUNIST COUNTRIES.
PRESIDENT NIXON NO LONGER SEES
THE COMMUNIST WORLD AS A MONOLITHIC ENEMY
ALLIANCE BUT AS A GROUP OF NATIONS WHOSE
COMMON IDEOLOGY IS TRANSCENDED BY POWERFUL
NATIONALISTIC ASPIRATIONS. IN LINE WITH
THAT VIEW, THE PRESIDENT IS ADAPTING UNITED
STATES POLICY TO THOSE NATIONALISTIC INTERESTS.
THIS NEW CONCEPT OF U.S. FOREIGN
POLICY ALSO IS REFLECTED IN THE NEW NIXON
DOCTRINE FOR ASIA -- THE "DO-IT-YOURSELF
POLICY" WHICH MR. NIXON HAS LAID DOWN FOR THE
NATIONS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA. THIS IS A POLICY
WHICH DECLARES TO AMERICANS AND TO ALL THE
more 91.5. commettment to a land was
WORLD THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE VIETNAMS. on they
marrland
UNDER PRESIDENT NIXON, WE HAVE Jasin
SEIZED THE INITIATIVE IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EVEN IN THE FACE OF COMMUNIST AGGRESSION.
WE HAVE PROCLAIMED AND PROMOTED DOCTRINES
OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JUSTICE WHICH HAVE
GIVEN THE UNITED STATES A NEW AND LOFTY
GERAL
LIBRARY
-9-
STANDING IN THE COURT OF WORLD OPINION.
DOMESTICALLY
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION HAS
LAUNCHED A STRONG CRACKDOWN AGAINST
ORGANIZED CRIME. THE NEW JERSEY INDICTMENTS
ARE ONLY A BEGINNING. THE PRESIDENT ALSO
HAS SENT CONGRESS LEGISLATION WHICH WOULD
DEAL HEAVIER BLOWS AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME
AND WOULD IMPROVE THE NATION'S COURT SYSTEM.
THERE HAS BEEN SPECIAL EMPHASIS
ON LAW ENFORCEMENT IN EACH OF THE
ADMINISTRATIONS ANTICRIME MEASURES. THE
PRESIDENT WANTS CRIMINALS OFF THE STREETS
son penalties for The more mehalition
for
The
HE KNOWS THERE IS NO SURER WAY TO GET THEM
frost
OFF THE STREETS THAN TO HELP BUILD UP LAW
Spends
ENFORCEMENT IN THIS COUNTRY.
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION HAS
-10-
MADE THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME ONE OF ITS
CENTRAL CONCERNS. WHILE OTHER DEPARTMENTAL
BUDGETS HAVE BEEN CUT IN A HOLD-DOWN ON
FEDERAL SPENDING, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
BUDGET HAS BEEN INCREASED. THE LEVEL OF
LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY AND NARCOTICS
CONTROL HAS BEEN STEPPED UP.
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 FROM
CRIME AND VIOLENCE.
I WISH MORE OF OUR NEGRO LEADERS
THROUGHOUT AMERICA WOULD RECOGNIZE THAT.
IT IS AN UNFORTUNATE FACT THAT IT IS
PRIMARILY THE POOR BLACKS WHO ARE THE
VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME IN OUR COUNTRY.
ALL OF OUR NEGRO LEADERS MIGHT WELL EMULATE
STERLING TUCKER, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE
WASHINGTON, D.C., CITY COUNCIL, WHO HAS
-11-
SPOKEN OUT IN SUPPORT OF VIGOROUS LAW
ENFORCEMENT AND HAS CONDEMNED THOSE WHO
TACITLY CONDONE VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW.
IT IS SAID THERE CAN BE NO
PROGRESS WITHOUT ORDER. I SUBSCRIBE TO THAT.
I WOULD ADD THAT THERE CANNOT
LONG BE ORDER WITHOUT PROGRESS. I BELIEVE
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION IS PROMOTING THE
KIND OF ORDER AND THE KIND OF PROGRESS WHICH
WILL OPERATE TOGETHER TO MOVE THIS COUNTRY
FORWARD.
WE NEED A RESPONSIBLE COMMON-
ENDING POVERTY IN AMERICA.
SENSE APPROACH TO
POVERTY AND
THE PRIMARY NIXON ANSWER TO THE
URBAN CRISIS IS JOBS AND JOB TRAINING. THE
ACCENT IS ON THE SOLID AMERICAN ETHIC OF
WORKING FOR A LIVING. THE PRESIDENT'S
APPROACH IS BASED ON THE IDEA THAT A MAN
NEVER STANDS SO TALL AS WHEN HE STANDS ON
HIS OWN TWO FEET.
GERALE FORD LIBRARY
-12-
your
IS WHY PRESIDENT NIXON HAS
PROPOSED THE FIRST MAJOR REFORM OF THIS
COUNTRY'S WELFARE SYSTEM SINCE IT FIRST
WAS ESTABLISHED. THIS IS WHY THE PRESIDENT
URGES WORKFARE INSTEAD OF WELFARE. THIS
IS THE WAY OF DIGNITY AND DECENCY. THIS
IS THE AMERICAN WAY. A HAND UP INSTEAD OF
A HANDOUT. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO BRIDGE
THE GAP BETWEEN THE HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS IN
AMERICA.
the
+ THINK PRESIDENT NIXON HAS MANAGED
TO BRING ORDER TO THIS COUNTRY. HE HAS
MANAGED TO DO SO BECAUSE HE HAS BROUGHT ORDER
TO THE PRESIDENCY. WE NOW FIND THAT THE DAYS
OF GOVERNMENT BY CRISIS HAVE GIVEN WAY TO
CRISIS PREVENTION. THE SCATTER-GUN APPROACH
IS YIELDING TO AN ASSEMBLING OF NEW
PRIORITIES.
LIBRARY
-13-
WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED DRAFT REFORM
BY INSTITUTING A LOTTERY SYSTEM AND I THINK
WE ARE HEADED TOWARD AN END TO THE DRAFT.
HAS PASSED THE HOUSE.
WELFARE REFORM
BUT THESE
ARE JUST TWO AMONG THE GREAT ARRAY OF
REFORMS PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT NIXON--
REFORMS WHICH I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
HAVE LONG WANTED.
WE URGENTLY NEED POSTAL REFORM --
THE CREATION OF A POSTAL AUTHORITY TO
MODERNIZE OUR POSTAL DELIVERY SYSTEM AND
RUN IT EFFICIENTLY AND TO REMOVE THE STICKY
STAIN OF POLITICS FROM OUR POSTAL OPERATIONS.
ACTION ON POSTAL REFORM APPEARS IMMINENT,
THANKS TO DILIGENT NEGOTIATIONS BY THE
ADMINISTRATION WITH THE POSTAL UNIONS.
THERE ARE MANY OTHER ADMINISTRATION
REFORMS THAT CRY OUT FOR CONGRESSIONAL
ACTION: A STRENGTHENED AND BROADENED
-14-
ANTI-CRIME PROGRAM; A CONSOLIDATION OF
MANPOWER TRAINING PROGRAMS, TO BE TURNED
OVER TO THE STATES AND CITIES AS. THEY
BECOME EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THEM A
REEXAMINATION OF FEDERAL AID TO SCHOOLS
TO ACHIEVE QUALITY EDUCATION; REVAMPING OF
OUR LABOR LAWS FOR IMPROVED HANDLING OF
NATIONAL EMERGENCY LABOR DISPUTES IN
TRANSPORTATION; THE PRESIDENT'S 37-POINT
PROGRAM DIRECTED AT AIR AND WATER POLLUTION
AND THE NEED TO EXPAND RECREATIONAL LAND
USE; A NEW FEDERALISM WHICH PROVIDES AN
INCREASING SLICE OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX
REVENUE TO CITIES AND STATES ON A PERCENTAGE,
NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED BASIS; A DECENTRALIZATION
OF GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY WHICH PLACES GREATER
RELIANCE ON LOCAL OFFICIALS AND GREATER
POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE.
DECENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT
FORD
GERAL
LIBRARY
AUTHORITY -- FLOW OF POWER BACK TO THE
-15-
CITIES AND STATES, BACK TO THE PEOPLE.
THIS IS A CENTRAL THEME OF THE NIXON
ADMINISTRATION.
POWER CONCENTRATED IN WASHINGTON
IS NOT ALWAYS EFFECTIVE POWER. IT IS
SOMETIMES SELF-DEFEATING. THE FEDERAL
BUREAUCRACY IS MOST COMPLEX, AND IT FEEDS
UPON ITSELF. AS IT GROWS LARGER, THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ABILITY TO HELP SOLVE
LOCAL PROBLEMS OFTEN GROWS LESS. THAT IS
WHY WE WANT TO EXPAND THE CITY AND STATE
ROLE IN PROBLEM-SOLVING APART FROM
PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
THAT IS WHY THE ADMINISTRATION
PROPOSES REVERSING THE FLOW OF POWER --
TURNING IT BACK TO THE CITIES AND STATES.
THAT IS WHY PRESIDENT NIXON WANTS TO SHARE
FEDERAL INCOME TAX REVENUE WITH THE STATES
AND CITIES. HE WANTS TO IMPLEMENT A BASIC
CHANGE WHICH I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
-16-
FERVENTLY DESIRE.
PRESIDENT NIXON HAS MADE HIS
THEME
REFORM
CLEAR. HE HAS SAID: "THE
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM OF THIS ADMINISTRATION
DIFFERS FUNDAMENTALLY FROM PREVIOUS
ADMINISTRATIONS. WE DO NOT SEEK MORE AND
MORE OF THE SAME. WE WERE NOT ELECTED TO
PILE NEW RESOURCES AND MANPOWER ON TOP OF
OLD PROGRAMS. WE WERE ELECTED TO INITIATE
AN ERA OF CHANGE."
MUCH CHANGE HAS ALREADY COME ABOUT.
WE HAVE ACTED TO REORDER OUR PRIORITIES.
DEFENSE SPENDING HAS BEEN REDUCED IN THE
PRESIDENT'S FISCAL 1971 BUDGET TO 36.7
PER CENT. AT THE SAME TIME THE PRESIDENT
HAS INCREASED HUMAN RESOURCE OUTLAYS TO
41 PER CENT. AS THE PRESIDENT NOTED IN HIS
BUDGET MESSAGE, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN
20 YEARS -- THE FIRST TIME IN TWO WHOLE
DECADES -- THAT A FEDERAL BUDGET HAS
-17-
PROVIDED MORE FUNDS FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
THAN FOR DEFENSE.
THAT IS WHY I SEE AMERICA MOVING
IN NEW DIRECTIONS, MOVING ALONG PATHS THAT
WILL MAKE THE SEVENTIES
A
DECADE THAT WILL BRING NEW QUALITY TO
AMERICAN LIFE.
I SEE THE SEVENTIES AS A DECADE
DEVOTED TO HUMAN BETTERMENT.
I SEE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ADOPTING
GOALS MORE DIFFICULT TO REACH THAN THE
MOON: REBUILDING OUR CITIES; CLEANING UP
THE NATION'S WATER AND AIR; BUILDING
SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS ADEQUATE TO SERVE
A GREATLY EXPANDING POPULATION; RETRAINING
THE UNSKILLED SO THAT EVERY AMERICAN WILLING
AND ABLE TO MASTER A SKILL IS PERMITTED TO
DO so, BUILDING VAST MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS,
LIBRARY
MAKING OUR AIRWAYS SAFE AND EQUIPPING OUR
-18-
AIRPORTS TO HANDLE THE JUMBO JETS NOW TAKING
TO THE SKIES, ELIMINATING POVERTY BY 1980 --
LITERALLY ERASING IT INSTEAD OF JUST TALKING
ABOUT IT; ENDING HUNGER IN AMERICA -- AND
SOON.
WE WILL BE FIGHTING NOT ONLY THE
PROBLEMS OF THE CITIES BUT THE PROBLEMS OF
ALL AMERICANS. IT WON'T BE EASY. BUT WE
WILL WIN MORE BATTLES THAN WE WILL LOSE.
WE WILL SEE THE FORWARD MARCH OF
POSITIVE PROGRAMS AIMED AT PROVIDING JOBS,
HOUSING, QUALITY EDUCATION AND FIRST-RATE
MEDICAL CARE.
THE NATION WILL MARSHAL A
CONCERTED ATTACK UPON CRIME -- PARTICULARLY
THE DRUG AND NARCOTICS TRAFFIC, ORGANIZED
CRIME AND JUVENILE DELIQUENCY.
I SEE THE FIGHT FOR CLEAN WATER
SWELLING INTO A CRUSADE -- A CRUSADE JOINED
IN BY YOUNG AND OLDER AMERICANS ALIKE. THE
-19-
ASSAULT WEAPON MAY WELL BE PRESIDENT
NIXON'S $10 BILLION DO-IT-NOW, PAY-LATER
BONDING PROGRAM. THIS IS A CRUSADE THAT
WILL GATHER GREAT FORCE.
WE ARE GENERATING THE COMMITMENT
AND THE CLIMATE FOR ACTION NOW.
PEACE IS PART OF THAT CLIMATE.
PEACE WILL COME. IT WILL COME AS A PRODUCT
OF THE PRESIDENT'S DO-IT-YOURSELF FOREIGN
POLICY. IT WILL COME BECAUSE OUR COURSE
IS UNSELFISHLY RIGHT.
THE SEVENTIES WILL SEE BREATHTAKING
PROGRESS IN AMERICA AND, HOPEFULLY, THE
STEPS NEEDED TO CLEANSE OUR NATION BOTH IN
BODY AND IN SOUL.
-- END --
Distribution 20 capies Mr. Ford
m Office Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
WICHITA, KANSAS
8:00 P.M. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Every decade is a mixture of good and bad, and the Sixties were no
exception.
But for all the good that the Sixties produced, the ten years just passed
brought us an overabundance of misery and grief.
Many of us look back upon the decade of the Sixties with a tremendous sense
of relief at having put it behind us.
What do we remember most vividly about the decade of the Sixties?
It was, of course, the decade that put Americans on the moon-but it was
also an Age of Assassination and an Age of Anarchy.
We watched horrified as an American President and his senator brother were
killed and we were shocked by the murders of two Negro leaders, one of them a
Nobel Peace Prize winner.
We saw major American cities being put to the torch and witnessed the
outbreak of convulsive violence in the Nation's ghettoes and on its college
campuses.
The Sixties also brought the agony of Vietnam, when an America victimized
by violence at home crept uncomprehendingly into the quicksand of a jungle war
halfway 'round the world.
And as we lived through the decade of the Sixties, it became apparent that
the era of the New Deal had come to an end--as clearly and as finally as though
someone had drawn the curtain on it.
With the demise of the New Deal came the realization that America must move
in New Directions in the Seventies, must cut new paths through the jungle of
problems that clogged the way to a quality life for our people.
This was the condition of America when its people elected a new President
in November 1968.
This was the America that cried out for new leadership when Richard Nixon
entered the White House in January 1969.
I foresaw the advent of an age of reform in America when Richard Nixon took
office.
(more)
-2-
Reform was the path to be followed. Reform was indeed thrusting itself upon
the new President and upon the Nation. And thus it was that reform became the
watchword of the new Administration.
The new Administration took stock and charted a new course. This new
course, as yet largely unimplemented by the Congress, is a comprehensive strategy
for an attack on the most critical problems facing this country.
The major goals of this comprehensive strategy strike directly at the roots
of the underlying crises in our Nation.
The strategy is aimed at five objectives: Ending the war; ending poverty;
making the streets safe again for the American people; reforming and ultimately
ending the draft; and giving the government back to the people.
If the Nixon Administration succeeds in achieving these objectives--and
draft reform has been partially achieved--I believe historians will give the Nixon
Administration a high achievement score. And if this Congress responds with
action during its second session, its mark on history will be one of the finest.
The reforms that President Nixon has proposed are manifold. He has sent
more than 40 messages to the Congress. Those messages are related to the
objectives I have just outlined and to others as well.
The top priority is, of course, to end the war in Vietnam.
President Nixon is moving vigorously to end the American role in Vietnam
and, hopefully, to end the war. He is winding down the war and is doing every-
thing he reasonably can to achieve a breakthrough at the peace table.
With the peace negotiations stuck on dead center because of enemy
intransigence, "Vietnamization" has become the key to disengaging the United
States from the Vietnam War. Gradually but surely we are turning the war over
to the South Vietnamese, where it belongs.
We certainly cannot stay in South Vietnam forever. If the Saigon government
is to stand, it must learn to stand alone.
Under the present Administration we began taking troops out of Vietnam
instead of adding to our numbers there. Now the President has announced withdrawal
of an additional 150,000 men as we move steadily toward the goal of removing all
of our ground combat forces from Vietnam.
A majority of the American people want a sound, not a phony, settlement of
the Vietnam War. I want a settlement that will discourage further Communist
aggression, whether it is in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, or in
Europe.
(more)
-3-
To invite a Communist takeover of South Vietnam through a precipitous
withdrawal of U.S. troops might lead to a reopening of the Korean War and create
additional problems for us and our allies in Europe. One could honestly speculate
as to the volcanic impact in the Middle East of an American defeat in Vietnam.
Despite the stubbornness of the Communists in Vietnam, I am fully convinced
President Nixon will succeed in inaugurating an era of negotiation in place of an
era of confrontation.
President Nixon has taken many steps toward world peace. He has taken the
United States out of the field of germ warfare and the first use of gases. He has
made the United States a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. He has
initiated renewed talks in Warsaw with Communist China. He has formulated judicious
policies governing arms support and political constraints in the Middle East crisis.
He has carefully evaluated the expressed intentions versus demonstrated actions of
the Soviet Union in mutual arms reductions agreements. He has laid the groundwork
for possible results in the SALT talks.
We have now entered upon strategic arms limitation talks with the Russians,
and President Nixon has set forth a new foreign policy. That new foreign policy
is innovative, flexible and adaptable. Basically, it is attuned to the national-
istic and regional interests of Free World and Communist countries.
President Nixon no longer sees the Communist world as a monolithic enemy
alliance but as a group of nations whose common ideology is transcended by powerful
nationalistic aspirations. In line with that view, the President is adapting
United States policy to those nationalistic interests.
This new concept of U.S. foreign policy also is reflected in the new Nixon
Doctrine for Asia--the "do-it-yourself policy" which Mr. Nixon has laid down for
the nations of Southeast Asia. This is a policy which declares to Americans and
to all the world that there will be no more Vietnams.
Under President Nixon, we have seized the initiative in foreign affairs
even in the face of Communist aggression. We have proclaimed and promoted
doctrines of international law and justice which have given the United States a
new and lofty standing in the court of world opinion.
Domestically, the Nixon Administration has launched a strong crackdown
against organized crime. The New Jersey indictments are only a beginning. The
President also has sent Congress legislation which would deal heavier blows against
(more)
-4-
organized crime and would improve the Nation's court system.
There has been special emphasis on law enforcement in each of the
Administration's anticrime measures. The President wants criminals off the streets.
He knows there is no surer way to get them off the streets than to help build up
law enforcement in this country.
The Nixon Administration has made the fight against crime one of its
central concerns. While some departmental budgets have been cut in a hold-down
on Federal spending, the Justice Department budget has been increased. The level
of law enforcement activity and narcotics control has been stepped up.
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 from
crime and violence.
I wish more of our Negro leaders throughout America would recognize that.
It is an unfortunate fact that it is primarily the poor blacks who are the victims
of violent crime in our country. All of our Negro leaders might well emulate
Sterling Tucker, vice-chairman of the Washington, D.C., City Council, who has
spoken out in support of vigorous law enforcement and has condemned those who
tacitly condone violations of the law.
It is said there can be no progress without order. I subscribe to that.
I would add that there cannot long be order without progress. I believe
the Nixon Administration is promoting the kind of order and the kind of progress
which will operate together to move this country forward.
We need a responsible common-sense approach to ending poverty in America.
The primary Nixon answer to poverty and the urban crisis is jobs and job
training. The accent is on the solid American ethic of working for a living. The
President's approach is based on the idea that a man never stands so tall as when
he stands on his own two feet.
This is why President Nixon has proposed the first major reform of this
country's welfare system since it first was established. This is why the President
urges Workfare instead of Welfare. This is the way of dignity and decency. This
is the American way. A hand up instead of a handout. That's the only way to
bridge the gap between the Haves and Have-Nots in America.
I think President Nixon has managed to bring order to this country. He has
managed to do so because he has brought order to the Presidency. We now find
that the days of government by crisis have given way to crisis prevention. The
(more)
-5-
scatter-gun approach is yielding to an assembling of new priorities.
We have accomplished draft reform by instituting a lottery system and I
think we are headed toward an end to the draft. Welfare reform has passed the
House. But these are just two among the great array of reforms proposed by President
Nixon--reforms which I believe the American people have long wanted.
We urgently need postal reform--the creation of a postal authority to
modernize our postal delivery system and run it efficiently and to remove the sticky
stain of politics from our postal operations. Action on postal reform appears
imminent, thanks to diligent negotiations by the Administration with the postal
unions.
There are many other Administration reforms that cry out for congressional
action: A strengthened and broadened anti-crime program; a consolidation of
manpower training programs, to be turned over to the states and cities as they
become equipped to handle them; a reexamination of Federal aid to schools to
achieve quality education; revamping our labor laws for improved handling of
national emergency labor disputes in transportation; the President's 37-point
program directed at air and water pollution and the need to expand recreational
land use; a New Federalism which provides an increasing slice of Federal income
tax revenue to cities and states on a percentage, no-strings-attached basis; a
decentralization of government authority which places greater reliance on local
officials and greater power in the hands of the people.
Decentralization of government authority--flow of power back to the cities
and states, back to the people. This is a central theme of the Nixon Administration.
Power concentrated in Washington is not always effective power. It is some-
times self-defeating. The Federal bureaucracy is most complex, and it feeds upon
itself. As it grows larger, the Federal Government's ability to help solve local
problems often grows less. That is why we want to expand the city and state role
in problem-solving, apart from philosophical considerations.
That is why the Administration proposes reversing the flow of power--turning
it back to the cities and states. That is why President Nixon wants to share
Federal income tax revenue with the states and cities. He wants to implement a
basic change which I believe the American people fervently desire.
President Nixon has made his reform theme clear. He has said: "The
legislative program of this Administration differs fundamentally from previous
administrations. We do not seek more and more of the same. We were not elected
to pile new resources and manpower on top of old programs. We were elected to
initiate an era of change."
(more)
-6-
Much change has already come about. We have acted to reorder our priorities.
Defense spending has been reduced in the President's fiscal 1971 budget to 36.7 per
cent. At the same time the President has increased human resource outlays to 41 per
cent. As the President noted in his budget message, this is the first time in
20 years--the first time in two whole decades--that a Federal budget has provided
more funds for human resources than for defense.
That is why I see America moving in New Directions, moving along paths that
will make the Seventies a decade that will bring new quality to American life.
I see the Seventies as a decade devoted to human betterment.
I see the American people adopting goals more difficult to reach than the
moon: Rebuilding our cities. Cleaning up the Nation's water and air. Building
schools and hospitals adequate to serve a greatly expanding population. Retraining
the unskilled so that every American willing and able to master a skill is permitted
to do SO. Building vast mass transit systems. Making our airways safe and equip-
ping our airports to handle the jumbo jets now taking to the skies. Eliminating
poverty by 1980--literally erasing it instead of just talking about it. Ending
hunger in America--and soon.
We will be fighting not only the problems of the cities but the problems of
all Americans. It won't be easy. But we will win more battles than we will lose.
We will see the forward march of positive programs aimed at providing jobs,
housing, quality education and first-rate medical care.
The Nation will marshal a concerted attack upon crime--particularly the
drug and narcotics traffic, organized crime and juvenile deliquency.
I see the fight for clean water swelling into a crusade--a crusade joined in
by young and older Americans alike. The assault weapon may well be President
Nixon's $10 billion do-it-now, pay-later bonding program. This is a crusade that
will gather great force.
We are generating the commitment and the climate for action now.
Peace is part of that climate. Peace will come. It will come as a product
of the President's do-it-yourself foreign policy. It will come because our course
is unselfishly right.
The Seventies will see breathtaking progress in America and, hopefully, the
steps needed to cleanse our Nation both in body and in soul.
# # #
Distribution 20 copies to mr. Ford only a Office Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
WICHITA, KANSAS
8:00 P.M. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Every decade is a mixture of good and bad, and the Sixties were no
exception.
But for all the good that the Sixties produced, the ten years just passed
brought us an overabundance of misery and grief.
Many of us look back upon the decade of the Sixties with a tremendous sense
of relief at having put it behind us.
What do we remember most vividly about the decade of the Sixties?
It was, of course, the decade that put Americans on the moon--but it was
also an Age of Assassination and an Age of Anarchy.
We watched horrified as an American President and his senator brother were
killed and we were shocked by the murders of two Negro leaders, one of them a
Nobel Peace Prize winner.
We saw major American cities being put to the torch and witnessed the
outbreak of convulsive violence in the Nation's ghettoes and on its college
campuses.
The Sixties also brought the agony of Vietnam, when an America victimized
by violence at home crept uncomprehendingly into the quicksand of a jungle war
halfway 'round the world.
And as we lived through the decade of the Sixties, it became apparent that
the era of the New Deal had come to an end--as clearly and as finally as though
someone had drawn the curtain on it.
With the demise of the New Deal came the realization that America must move
in New Directions in the Seventies, must cut new paths through the jungle of
problems that clogged the way to a quality life for our people.
This was the condition of America when its people elected a new President
in November 1968.
This was the America that cried out for new leadership when Richard Nixon
entered the White House in January 1969.
I foresaw the advent of an age of reform in America when Richard Nixon took
office.
(more)
-2-
Reform was the path to be followed. Reform was indeed thrusting itself upon
the new President and upon the Nation. And thus it was that reform became the
watchword of the new Administration.
The new Administration took stock and charted a new course. This new
course, as yet largely unimplemented by the Congress, is a comprehensive strategy
for an attack on the most critical problems facing this country.
The major goals of this comprehensive strategy strike directly at the roots
of the underlying crises in our Nation.
The strategy is aimed at five objectives: Ending the war; ending poverty;
making the streets safe again for the American people; reforming and ultimately
ending the draft; and giving the government back to the people.
If the Nixon Administration succeeds in achieving these objectives--and
draft reform has been partially achieved--I believe historians will give the Nixon
Administration a high achievement score. And if this Congress responds with
action during its second session, its mark on history will be one of the finest.
The reforms that President Nixon has proposed are manifold. He has sent
more than 40 messages to the Congress. Those messages are related to the
objectives I have just outlined and to others as well.
The top priority is, of course, to end the war in Vietnam.
President Nixon is moving vigorously to end the American role in Vietnam
and, hopefully, to end the war. He is winding down the war and is doing every-
thing he reasonably can to achieve a breakthrough at the peace table.
With the peace negotiations stuck on dead center because of enemy
intransigence, "Vietnamization" has become the key to disengaging the United
States from the Vietnam War. Gradually but surely we are turning the war over
to the South Vietnamese, where it belongs.
We certainly cannot stay in South Vietnam forever. If the Saigon government
is to stand, it must learn to stand alone.
Under the present Administration we began taking troops out of Vietnam
instead of adding to our numbers there. Now the President has announced withdrawal
of an additional 150,000 men as we move steadily toward the goal of removing all
of our ground combat forces from Vietnam.
A majority of the American people want a sound, not a phony, settlement of
the Vietnam War. I want a settlement that will discourage further Communist
aggression, whether it is in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, or in
Europe.
(more)
-3-
To invite a Communist takeover of South Vietnam through a precipitous
withdrawal of U.S. troops might lead to a reopening of the Korean War and create
additional problems for us and our allies in Europe. One could honestly speculate
as to the volcanic impact in the Middle East of an American defeat in Vietnam.
Despite the stubbornness of the Communists in Vietnam, I am fully convinced
President Nixon will succeed in inaugurating an era of negotiation in place of an
era of confrontation.
President Nixon has taken many steps toward world peace. He has taken the
United States out of the field of germ warfare and the first use of gases. He has
made the United States a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. He has
initiated renewed talks in Warsaw with Communist China. He has formulated judicious
policies governing arms support and political constraints in the Middle East crisis.
He has carefully evaluated the expressed intentions versus demonstrated actions of
the Soviet Union in mutual arms reductions agreements. He has laid the groundwork
for possible results in the SALT talks.
We have now entered upon strategic arms limitation talks with the Russians,
and President Nixon has set forth a new foreign policy. That new foreign policy
is innovative, flexible and adaptable. Basically, it is attuned to the national-
istic and regional interests of Free World and Communist countries.
President Nixon no longer sees the Communist world as a monolithic enemy
alliance but as a group of nations whose common ideology is transcended by powerful
nationalistic aspirations. In line with that view, the President is adapting
United States policy to those nationalistic interests.
This new concept of U.S. foreign policy also is reflected in the new Nixon
Doctrine for Asia--the "do-it-yourself policy" which Mr. Nixon has laid down for
the nations of Southeast Asia. This is a policy which declares to Americans and
to all the world that there will be no more Vietnams.
Under President Nixon, we have seized the initiative in foreign affairs
even in the face of Communist aggression. We have proclaimed and promoted
doctrines of international law and justice which have given the United States a
new and lofty standing in the court of world opinion.
Domestically, the Nixon Administration has launched a strong crackdown
against organized crime. The New Jersey indictments are only a beginning. The
President also has sent Congress legislation which would deal heavier blows against
(more)
--4--
organized crime and would improve the Nation's court system.
There has been special emphasis on law enforcement in each of the
Administration's anticrime measures. The President wants criminals off the streets.
He knows there is no surer way to get them off the streets than to help build up
law enforcement in this country.
The Nixon Administration has made the fight against crime one of its
central concerns. While some departmental budgets have been cut in a hold-down
on Federal spending, the Justice Department budget has been increased. The level
of law enforcement activity and narcotics control has been stepped up.
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 from
crime and violence.
I wish more of our Negro leaders throughout America would recognize that.
It is an unfortunate fact that it is primarily the poor blacks who are the victims
of violent crime in our country. All of our Negro leaders might well emulate
Sterling Tucker, vice-chairman of the Washington, D.C., City Council, who has
spoken out in support of vigorous law enforcement and has condemned those who
tacitly condone violations of the law.
It is said there can be no progress without order. I subscribe to that.
I would add that there cannot long be order without progress. I believe
the Nixon Administration is promoting the kind of order and the kind of progress
which will operate together to move this country forward.
We need a responsible common-sense approach to ending poverty in America.
The primary Nixon answer to poverty and the urban crisis is jobs and job
training. The accent is on the solid American ethic of working for a living. The
President's approach is based on the idea that a man never stands so tall as when
he stands on his own two feet.
This is why President Nixon has proposed the first major reform of this
country's welfare system since it first was established. This is why the President
urges Workfare instead of Welfare. This is the way of dignity and decency. This
is the American way. A hand up instead of a handout. That's the only way to
bridge the gap between the Haves and Have-Nots in America.
I think President Nixon has managed to bring order to this country. He has
managed to do so because he has brought order to the Presidency. We now find
that the days of government by crisis have given way to crisis prevention. The
(more)
-5-
scatter-gun approach is yielding to an assembling of new priorities.
We have accomplished draft reform by instituting a lottery system and I
think we are headed toward an end to the draft. Welfare reform has passed the
House. But these are just two among the great array of reforms proposed by President
Nixon--reforms which I believe the American people have long wanted.
We urgently need postal reform-the creation of a postal authority to
modernize our postal delivery system and run it efficiently and to remove the sticky
stain of politics from our postal operations. Action on postal reform appears
imminent, thanks to diligent negotiations by the Administration with the postal
unions.
There are many other Administration reforms that cry out for congressional
action: A strengthened and broadened anti-crime program; a consolidation of
manpower training programs, to be turned over to the states and cities as they
become equipped to handle them; a reexamination of Federal aid to schools to
achieve quality education; revamping our labor laws for improved handling of
national emergency labor disputes in transportation; the President's 37-point
program directed at air and water pollution and the need to expand recreational
land use; a New Federalism which provides an increasing slice of Federal income
tax revenue to cities and states on a percentage, no-strings-attached basis; a
decentralization of government authority which places greater reliance on local
officials and greater power in the hands of the people.
Decentralization of government authority--flow of power back to the cities
and states, back to the people. This is a central theme of the Nixon Administration.
Power concentrated in Washington is not always effective power. It is some-
times self-defeating. The Federal bureaucracy is most complex, and it feeds upon
itself. As it grows larger, the Federal Government's ability to help solve local
problems often grows less. That is why we want to expand the city and state role
in problem-solving, apart from philosophical considerations.
That is why the Administration proposes reversing the flow of power--turning
it back to the cities and states. That is why President Nixon wants to share
Federal income tax revenue with the states and cities. He wants to implement a
basic change which I believe the American people fervently desire.
President Nixon has made his reform theme clear. He has said: "The
legislative program of this Administration differs fundamentally from previous
administrations. We do not seek more and more of the same. We were not elected
to pile new resources and manpower on top of old programs. We were elected to
initiate an era of change.'
(more)
-6-
Much change has already come about. We have acted to reorder our priorities.
Defense spending has been reduced in the President's fiscal 1971 budget to 36.7 per
cent. At the same time the President has increased human resource outlays to 41 per
cent. As the President noted in his budget message, this is the first time in
20 years--the first time in two whole decades--that a Federal budget has provided
more funds for human resources than for defense.
That is why I see America moving in New Directions, moving along paths that
will make the Seventies a decade that will bring new quality to American life.
I see the Seventies as a decade devoted to human betterment.
I see the American people adopting goals more difficult to reach than the
moon: Rebuilding our cities. Cleaning up the Nation's water and air. Building
schools and hospitals adequate to serve a greatly expanding population. Retraining
the unskilled so that every American willing and able to master a skill is permitted
to do SO. Building vast mass transit systems. Making our airways safe and equip-
ping our airports to handle the jumbo jets now taking to the skies. Eliminating
poverty by 1980--literally erasing it instead of just talking about it. Ending
hunger in America--and soon.
We will be fighting not only the problems of the cities but the problems of
all Americans. It won't be easy. But we will win more battles than we will lose.
We will see the forward march of positive programs aimed at providing jobs,
housing, quality education and first-rate medical care.
The Nation will marshal a concerted attack upon crime--particularly the
drug and narcotics traffic, organized crime and juvenile deliquency.
I see the fight for clean water swelling into a crusade--a crusade joined in
by young and older Americans alike. The assault weapon may well be President
Nixon's $10 billion do-it-now, pay-later bonding program. This is a crusade that
will gather great force.
We are generating the commitment and the climate for action now.
Peace is part of that climate. Peace will come. It will come as a product
of the President's do-it-yourself foreign policy. It will come because our course
is unselfishly right.
The Seventies will see breathtaking progress in America and, hopefully, the
steps needed to cleanse our Nation both in body and in soul.
# # #
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
WICHITA, KANSAS
8:00 P.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Every decade is a mixture of good and bad, and the Sixties were no
exception.
But for all the good that the Sixties produced, the ten years just passed
brought us an overabundance of misery and grief.
Many of us look back upon the decade of the Sixties with a tremendous sense
of relief at having put it behind us.
What do we remember most vividly about the decade of the Sixties?
It was, of course, the decade that put Americans on the moon--but it was
also an Age of Assassination and an Age of Anarchy.
We watched horrified as an American President and his senator brother were
killed and we were shocked by the murders of two Negro leaders, one of them a
Nobel Peace Prize winner.
We saw major American cities being put to the torch and witnessed the
outbreak of convulsive violence in the Nation's ghettoes and on its college
campuses.
The Sixties also brought the agony of Vietnam, when an America victimized
by violence at home crept uncomprehendingly into the quicksand of a jungle war
halfway 'round the world.
And as we lived through the decade of the Sixties, it became apparent that
the era of the New Deal had come to an end--as clearly and as finally as though
someone had drawn the curtain on it.
With the demise of the New Deal came the realization that America must move
in New Directions in the Seventies, must cut new paths through the jungle of
problems that clogged the way to a quality life for our people.
This was the condition of America when its people elected a new President
in November 1968.
This was the America that cried out for new leadership when Richard Nixon
entered the White House in January 1969.
I foresaw the advent of an age of reform in America when Richard Nixon took
office.
(more)
-2-
Reform was the path to be followed. Reform was indeed thrusting itself upon
the new President and upon the Nation. And thus it was that reform became the
watchword of the new Administration.
The new Administration took stock and charted a new course. This new
course, as yet largely unimplemented by the Congress, is a comprehensive strategy
for an attack on the most critical problems facing this country.
The major goals of this comprehensive strategy strike directly at the roots
of the underlying crises in our Nation.
The strategy is aimed at five objectives: Ending the war; ending poverty;
making the streets safe again for the American people; reforming and ultimately
ending the draft; and giving the government back to the people.
If the Nixon Administration succeeds in achieving these objectives--and
draft reform has been partially achieved--I believe historians will give the Nixon
Administration a high achievement score. And if this Congress responds with
action during its second session, its mark on history will be one of the finest.
The reforms that President Nixon has proposed are manifold. He has sent
more than 40 messages to the Congress. Those messages are related to the
objectives I have just outlined and to others as well.
The top priority is, of course, to end the war in Vietnam.
President Nixon is moving vigorously to end the American role in Vietnam
and, hopefully, to end the war. He is winding down the war and is doing every-
thing he reasonably can to achieve a breakthrough at the peace table.
With the peace negotiations stuck on dead center because of enemy
intransigence, "Vietnamization" has become the key to disengaging the United
States from the Vietnam War. Gradually but surely we are turning the war over
to the South Vietnamese, where it belongs.
We certainly cannot stay in South Vietnam forever. If the Saigon government
is to stand, it must learn to stand alone.
Under the present Administration we began taking troops out of Vietnam
instead of adding to our numbers there. Now the President has announced withdrawal
of an additional 150,000 men as we move steadily toward the goal of removing all
of our ground combat forces from Vietnam.
A majority of the American people want a sound, not a phony, settlement of
the Vietnam War. I want a settlement that will discourage further Communist
aggression, whether it is in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, or in
Europe.
(more)
-3-
To invite a Communist takeover of South Vietnam through a precipitous
withdrawal of U.S. troops might lead to a reopening of the Korean War and create
additional problems for us and our allies in Europe. One could honestly speculate
as to the volcanic impact in the Middle East of an American defeat in Vietnam.
Despite the stubbornness of the Communists in Vietnam, I am fully convinced
President Nixon will succeed in inaugurating an era of negotiation in place of an
era of confrontation.
President Nixon has taken many steps toward world peace. He has taken the
United States out of the field of germ warfare and the first use of gases. He has
made the United States a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. He has
initiated renewed talks in Warsaw with Communist China. He has formulated judicious
policies governing arms support and political constraints in the Middle East crisis.
He has made it clear we will not commit ground troops to the conflict in Cambodia.
He has carefully evaluated the expressed intentions versus demonstrated actions of
the Soviet Union in mutual arms reductions agreements. He has laid the groundwork
for possible results in the SALT talks.
We have now entered upon strategic arms limitation talks with the Russians,
and President Nixon has set forth a new foreign policy. That new foreign policy
is innovative, flexible and adaptable. Basically, it is attuned to the national-
istic and regional interests of Free World and Communist countries.
President Nixon no longer sees the Communist world as a monolithic enemy
alliance but as a group of nations whose common ideology is transcended by powerful
nationalistic aspirations. In line with that view, the President is adapting
United States policy to those nationalistic interests.
This new concept of U.S. foreign policy also is reflected in the new Nixon
Doctrine for Asia--the "do-it-yourself policy" which Mr. Nixon has laid down for
the nations of Southeast Asia. This is a policy which declares to Americans and
to all the world that there will be no more Vietnams.
Under President Nixon, we have seized the initiative in foreign affairs
even in the face of Communist aggression. We have proclaimed and promoted
doctrines of international law and justice which have given the United States a
new and lofty standing in the court of world opinion.
Domestically, the Nixon Administration has launched a strong crackdown
against organized crime. The New Jersey indictments are only a beginning. The
President also has sent Congress legislation which would deal heavier blows against
(more)
-4-
organized crime and would improve the Nation's court system.
There has been special emphasis on law enforcement in each of the
Administration's anticrime measures. The President wants criminals off the streets.
He knows there is no surer way to get them off the streets than to help build up
law enforcement in this country.
The Nixon Administration has made the fight against crime one of its
central concerns. While some departmental budgets have been cut in a hold-down
on Federal spending, the Justice Department budget has been increased. The level
of law enforcement activity and narcotics control has been stepped up.
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 from
crime and violence.
I wish more of our Negro leaders throughout America would recognize that.
It is an unfortunate fact that it is primarily the poor blacks who are the victims
of violent crime in our country. All of our Negro leaders might well emulate
Sterling Tucker, vice-chairman of the Washington, D.C., City Council, who has
spoken out in support of vigorous law enforcement and has condemned those who
tacitly condone violations of the law.
It is said there can be no progress without order. I subscribe to that.
I would add that there cannot long be order without progress. I believe
the Nixon Administration is promoting the kind of order and the kind of progress
which will operate together to move this country forward.
We need a responsible common-sense approach to ending poverty in America.
The primary Nixon answer to poverty and the urban crisis is jobs and job
training. The accent is on the solid American ethic of working for a living. The
President's approach is based on the idea that a man never stands so tall as when
he stands on his own two feet.
This is why President Nixon has proposed the first major reform of this
country's welfare system since it first was established. This is why the President
urges Workfare instead of Welfare. This is the way of dignity and decency. This
is the American way. A hand up instead of a handout. That's the only way to
bridge the gap between the Haves and Have-Nots in America.
I think President Nixon has managed to bring order to this country. He has
managed to do so because he has brought order to the Presidency. We now find
that the days of government by crisis have given way to crisis prevention. The
(more)
-5-
scatter-gun approach is yielding to an assembling of new priorities.
We have accomplished draft reform by instituting a lottery system and I
think we are headed toward an end to the draft. Welfare reform has passed the
House. But these are just two among the great array of reforms proposed by President
Nixon--reforms which I believe the American people have long wanted.
We urgently need postal reform--the creation of a postal authority to
modernize our postal delivery system and run it efficiently and to remove the sticky
stain of politics from our postal operations. Action on postal reform appears
imminent, thanks to diligent negotiations by the Administration with the postal
unions.
There are many other Administration reforms that cry out for congressional
action: A strengthened and broadened anti-crime program; a consolidation of
manpower training programs, to be turned over to the states and cities as they
become equipped to handle them; a reexamination of Federal aid to schools to
achieve quality education; revamping our labor laws for improved handling of
national emergency labor disputes in transportation; the President's 37-point
program directed at air and water pollution and the need to expand recreational
land use; a New Federalism which provides an increasing slice of Federal income
tax revenue to cities and states on a percentage, no-strings-attached basis; a
decentralization of government authority which places greater reliance on local
officials and greater power in the hands of the people.
Decentralization of government authority--flow of power back to the cities
and states, back to the people. This is a central theme of the Nixon Administration.
Power concentrated in Washington is not always effective power. It is some-
times self-defeating. The Federal bureaucracy is most complex, and it feeds upon
itself. As it grows larger, the Federal Government's ability to help solve local
problems often grows less. That is why we want to expand the city and state role
in problem-solving, apart from philosophical considerations.
That is why the Administration proposes reversing the flow of power--turning
it back to the cities and states. That is why President Nixon wants to share
Federal income tax revenue with the states and cities. He wants to implement a
basic change which I believe the American people fervently desire.
President Nixon has made his reform theme clear. He has said: "The
legislative program of this Administration differs fundamentally from previous
administrations. We do not seek more and more of the same. We were not elected
to pile new resources and manpower on top of old programs. We were elected to
initiate an era of change."
(more)
-6-
Much change has already come about. We have acted to reorder our priorities.
Defense spending has been reduced in the President's fiscal 1971 budget to 36.7 per
cent. At the same time the President has increased human resource outlays to 41 per
cent. As the President noted in his budget message, this is the first time in
20 years- the first time in two whole decades--that a Federal budget has provided
more funds for human resources than for defense.
That is why I see America moving in New Directions, moving along paths that
will make the Seventies a decade that will bring new quality to American life.
I see the Seventies as a decade devoted to human betterment.
I see the American people adopting goals more difficult to reach than the
moon: Rebuilding our cities. Cleaning up the Nation's water and air. Building
schools and hospitals adequate to serve a greatly expanding population. Retraining
the unskilled so that every American willing and able to master a skill is permitted
to do SO. Building vast mass transit systems. Making our airways safe and equip-
ping our airports to handle the jumbo jets now taking to the skies. Eliminating
poverty by 1980--literally erasing it instead of just talking about it. Ending
hunger in America--and soon.
We will be fighting not only the problems of the cities but the problems of
all Americans. It won't be easy. But we will win more battles than we will lose.
We will see the forward march of positive programs aimed at providing jobs,
housing, quality education and first-rate medical care.
The Nation will marshal a concerted attack upon crime--particularly the
drug and narcotics traffic, organized crime and juvenile deliquency.
I see the fight for clean water swelling into a crusade--a crusade joined in
by young and older Americans alike. The assault weapon may well be President
Nixon's $10 billion do-it-now, pay-later bonding program. This is a crusade that
will gather great force.
We are generating the commitment and the climate for action now.
Peace is part of that climate. Peace will come. It will come as a product
of the President's do-it-yourself foreign policy. It will come because our course
is unselfishly right.
The Seventies will see breathtaking progress in America and, hopefully, the
steps needed to cleanse our Nation both in body and in soul.
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