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Lions of Michigan Golden Presidents Banquet, Grand Rapids, MI, May 22, 1970
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Lions of Michigan Golden Presidents Banquet, Grand Rapids, MI, May 22, 1970
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This file contains material relating to Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill.
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The original documents are located in Box D29, folder "Lions of Michigan Golden
Presidents Banquet, Grand Rapids, MI, May 22, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
LIONS OF MICHIGAN GOLDEN PRESIDENTS
BANQUET, GRAND RAPIDS, 6:30 P.M.,
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1970.
THESE SEEM TO BE DARK HOURS,
BUT I SEE THEM AS THE BEGINNING OF THE
DAWN.
THESE ARE CONFUSING DAYS, "FOR
NOW WE SEE THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY,' BUT
THE TIME WILL SOON COME WHEN WE WILL KNOW
THE SITUATION NOT ONLY IN PART BUT IN
WHOLE.
THAT IS HOW I VIEW THE EXPLOSIVE
DEVELOPMENTS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED SINCE
PRESIDENT NIXON ON THURSDAY, APRIL 30,
ORDERED THE COMMUNIST SANCTUARIES IN
CAMBODIA CLEANED OUT BY SOUTH VIETNAMESE
AND U.S. TROOPS.
THE PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENT
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
AMAZED MANY AMERICANS. IT TOOK THEM BY
-2-
SURPRISE. IT WAS ONLY 10 DAYS EARLIER
THAT MR. NIXON HAD ANNOUNCED WE WOULD BE
PULLING AN ADDITIONAL 150,000 G.I.'S OUT
OF VIETNAM OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS.
INSERT
THE RESULT HAS BEEN OVER-REACTION
ON THE PART OF THOUSANDS OF OUR PEOPLE.
EMOTION HAS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED REASON,
BOTH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
AND ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES THROUGHOUT THE
COUNTRY.
FEVERED IMAGINATIONS HAVE FUZZED
UP THE FACTS AND CREATED A SERIES OF
CONFRONTATIONS IN THIS COUNTRY.
THE CRISIS WILL COOL -- AM
CERTAIN OF IT. THE COUNTRY WILL COME OUT
ALL RIGHT IN THE END, AND THAT IS ALL THAT
MATTERS.
BUT LET ME IN THE MEANTIME GIVE
YOU MY VIEW OF THE PRESIDENT'S CAMBODIAN
DECISION.
-3-
IN HIS BOOK, "PROFILES IN
COURAGE," THE LATE PRESIDENT JOHN F.
KENNEDY SAID. "A MAN DOES WHAT HE MUST --
IN SPITE OF OBSTACLES AND DANGERS AND
PRESSURES."
THAT IS WHAT PRESIDENT NIXON
DID WHEN HE ORDERED OUR TROOPS INTO
CAMBODIA. HE DID WHAT HE FELT HE MUST
DO, WHAT HE FELT WAS RIGHT.
THIS WAS TRULY AN ACT OF COURAGE.
IT REQUIRED MORE COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP
THAN THAT DEMANDED OF PRESIDENTS WILSON
AND ROOSEVELT DURING THE DARKEST DAYS OF
WORLD WARS I AND II BECAUSE THOSE CHIEF
EXECUTIVES KNEW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE
BEHIND THEM.
PRESIDENT NIXON, ON CAMBODIA,
MADE THE LONELIEST OF DECISIONS. HE DID
WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS RIGHT EVEN THOUGH
HE KNEW IT WOULD BRING THE ANTIWAR FORCES
-4-
ON THE CAMPUSES SPRINGING TO THE
BARRICADES ONCE AGAIN AND HIS OPPONENTS IN
THE SENATE SHOUTING THAT CONSTITUTIONAL
POWER HAD BEEN ABUSED.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN ONCE SAID. "IF
THE END BRINGS ME OUT ALL RIGHT, WHAT IS
SAID AGAINST ME WON'T AMOUNT TO ANYTHING.
IF THE END BRINGS ME OUT WRONG, TEN ANGELS
SWEARING I WAS RIGHT WOULD MAKE NO
DIFFERENCE."
IT WAS IN THAT LIGHT THAT
PRESIDENT NIXON ORDERED U.S. FORCES TO
JOIN IN THE CAMBODIAN OPERATION.
HE KNEW VERY WELL HE WAS
DESTROYING THE CALM HE HAD CREATED IN THE
NATION WITH HIS STEADY TROOP WITHDRAWALS
FROM VIETNAM AND HIS ANNOUNCEMENT THAT
150,000 MORE MEN WOULD BE WITHDRAWN. HE
REALIZED FULLY THAT HE WOULD BE TRIGGERING
A NEW ROUND OF ANTIWAR DEMONSTRATIONS.
-5-
BUT HE DID WHAT HE HAD TO DO.
/NSERT
I THINK THE END WILL BRING
PRESIDENT NIXON AND THE NATION OUT ALL
RIGHT THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT
THE CAMBODIAN DECISION HAS DEALT THE ENEMY
A HARD IF NOT STAGGERING BLOW IN THE
VIETNAM CONFLICT. THE CAMBODIAN ACTION
MIGHT WELL MARK A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR
IT COULD PROVE TO BE A MASTERSTROKE.
FEEL SURE IT WILL SHORTEN THE WAR.
AS FOR THE PUBLIC REACTION TO
THE PRESIDENT'S MOVE, LET US KEEP IT IN
PERSPECTIVE.
THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HAS FIRMLY REJECTED ALL ATTEMPTS BY THOSE
WHO OPPOSE THE CAMBODIAN DECISION TO
EMASCULATE THE PRESIDENT'S POWERS AS
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF OUR ARMED FORCES.
GERALO FORD LIBRARY
AND, SPEAKING ONLY FOR MY OWN
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IN MICHIGAN, I CAN
-6-
TELL YOU THAT THE SENTIMENT OF MANY
OLDER AMERICANS IS RUNNING STRONGLY
AGAINST THE SOMETIMES OBSCENE AND SOMETIMES
VIOLENT WAYS IN WHICH SOME COLLEGE
STUDENTS ARE EXPRESSING THEIR REACTION
TO THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION.
THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AGE GROUPS. THE
SPLIT WE ARE WITNESSING TODAY IS
PROBABLY MORE SEVERE THAN WE HAVE EVER
SEEN. BUT I AM CONVINCED THAT THE KIND
OF DISSENT WE HAVE SEEN AT KENT STATE
UNIVERSITY AND JACKSON (MISS.) STATE COLLEGE --
DISSENT THAT ERUPTS INTO BLOODSHED AND
KILLING -- WILL NOT BECOME A PART OF THE
AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE
PRESIDENT NIXON HAS MADE A
LISTENING
SPECIAL EFFORT TO OPEN UP LINES OF
COMMUNICATION WITH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. HIS
LIBRARY
EARLY DAWN VISIT TO TALK WITH A GROUP OF
-7-
COLLEGE STUDENTS AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL
IN WASHINGTON IS EVIDENCE OF THAT.
HE ALSO
INSTRUCTED MEMBERS OF HIS WHITE HOUSE
STAFF TO ENGAGE IN DIALOGUES WITH COLLEGE
STUDENTS
OUR YOUNG PEOPLE MUST BE MADE
TO REALIZE THAT VIOLENCE IS NOT THE WAY
TO RESOLVE ISSUES IN AMERICA. THEY MUST
REALIZE THAT THROWING ROCKS AT NATIONAL
GUARDSMEN IS NOT THE ANSWER, EITHER.
AND THEY SHOULD REALIZE THEY ARE BEING
MISLED BY MILITANT RADICALS WHEN THEY ARE
URGED TO KILL OR TO DESTROY BUILDINGS AND
OTHER PROPERTY.
I BELIEVE THAT FOR THOSE WHO
ENGAGE IN VIOLENCE ON THE CAMPUS, THE ONLY
REDRESS IS FOR THE COLLEGE AUTHORITIES
TO ADMINISTER STERN DISCIPLINE. WE MUST
NOT, WE CANNOT, TOLERATE VIOLENCE AND
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
EXPECT OUR SOCIETY TO BEAR THE STRAIN.
-8-
BLOODSHED STEMMING FROM THE
ACTIONS OF AN IRRATIONAL FEW MUST BE
AVOIDED ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND CITY
STREETS.
I AM PLEASED THAT THE MASSIVE
ANTIWAR GATHERING IN THE NATION S CAPITAL
ON SATURDAY, MAY 9, WAS PEACEFUL FOR THE
MOST PART. I THINK THIS WAS A TRIBUTE
BOTH TO A MAJORITY OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE
WHO JOURNEYED TO WASHINGTON FOR THE
DEMONSTRATION AND ALSO TO THE WASHINGTON
METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT WHICH
EXHIBITED GREAT RESTRAINT IN HANDLING THE
MAMMOTH CROWD.
THE DEMONSTRATION IN WASHINGTON
OFFERED A SHARP CONTRAST TO WHAT HAPPENED
AT KENT STATE AND JACKSON STATE. WHAT
TRANSPIRED AT KENT AND JACKSON, WHERE
STUDENTS WERE SHOT AND KILLED, CAN ONLY
BE DESCRIBED AS SENSELESS TRAGEDY.
-9-
WE MUST, AND I PRAY THAT WE
WILL, FIND A BALANCE OF REASON AND
MODERATION IN THE DAYS AHEAD. IT IS MY
DEEP HOPE THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL FIND
IT POSSIBLE TO JOIN IN SUPPORT OF THE
PRESIDENT AS TEMPERS COOL AND PASSIONS
FADE.
I ASK THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH
THE PRESIDENT TO GIVE PEACE A CHANCE BY
GIVING HIM A CHANCE.
HE HAS SAID ALL OF OUR TROOPS
WILL BE OUT OF CAMBODIA BY THE END OF
NEXT MONTH. I DO NOT THINK THAT IS TOO
LONG A TIME TO ALLOW FOR A PUBLIC DECISION
ON THE RIGHTNESS OF THE PRESIDENT S
ACTION.
AS FOR ME, I THINK THE PRESIDENT
IS PROFOUNDLY RIGHT IN WHAT HE HAS DONE.
AND I AM MOST DISTURBED BY WHAT
I FEEL IS AN IRRATIONAL WAVE OF
-10-
NEO-ISOLATIONISM IN THIS COUNTRY -- NOT
ONLY ON OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES BUT IN THE
UNITED STATES SENATE.
THERE ARE STRANGE PARALLELS -- BUT
I THINK UNMISTAKEN PARALLELS -- BETWEEN
THE ANTI-MILITARISTS AND NEO-ISOLATIONISTS
OF TODAY AND THE PACIFISTS AND
ISOLATIONISTS OF THE 1930's.
MANY OF YOU REMEMBER THE 1930'S.
YOU RECALL WHEN HITLER'S BOOK, "MEIN KAMPF,"
WAS FIRST PUBLISHED. FEW PEOPLE IN THIS
COUNTRY TOOK THAT BOOK SERIOUSLY.
THE UNITED STATES HAD ENGAGED IN
UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT AFTER WORLD WAR I,
IN THE PERIOD LEADING INTO THE THIRTIES.
WE WERE LIVING IN A DREAM WORLD. WE SAID
WAR JUST COULDN'T HAPPEN. AND IF IT DID
HAPPEN TO SOMEBODY ELSE WE WOULD JUST NOT
BECOME INVOLVED. THE MENTALITY OF THE
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
ENTIRE COUNTRY WAS ATTUNED TO WHAT BECAME
-11-
KNOWN AS THE "FORTRESS AMERICA" CONCEPT
IT WAS A REPUBLICAN, SENATOR
GERALD P. NYE OF NORTH DAKOTA, WHO LED THE
FORTRESS AMERICA FORCES IN THE 30's. TODAY
ISOLATIONISM IS BEING PREACHED BY LEADING
DEMOCRATS IN THE SENATE, TOGETHER WITH A
FEW REPUBLICANS.
NYE BLAMED WAR ON THE INTERNATIONAL
BAKERS AND THE ARMS MANUFACTURERS.
TODAY WE SEE MILITANT YOUTHS
BURNING DOWN OR DAMAGING BANK BUILDINGS,
LOOTING THE FILES OF A NAPALM MANUFACTURER,
PREVENTING COLLEGE CAMPUS APPEARANCES BY
RECRUITERS FOR DEFENSE INDUSTRIES,
FIGHTING ANY AND ALL MILITARY RESEARCH AND
NEW WEAPONS DEVELOPMENTS.
THERE WERE PROTESTS IN THE 30's
AGAINST COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING, AND
SO A NUMBER OF LAND GRANT COLLEGES MADE
LIBRARY
MILITARY DRILL OPTIONAL. TODAY WE FIND
-12-
STUDENTS BURNING DOWN ROTC BUILDINGS OR
FORCING COLLEGE ADMINISTRATIONS TO DROP
ROTC FROM THE CURRICULUM. AND TODAY, TOO,
WE HAVE DRAFT CARD BURNING AND THE
POURING OF BLOOD ON DRAFT CARD FILES.
AS A RESULT OF ANTIWAR HEARINGS
IN THE EARLY 30's BY A COMMITTEE SENATOR NYE
HEADED, THE CONGRESS IN 1935 APPROVED WHAT
BECAME KNOWN AS THE NEUTRALITY ACT. THAT
LEGISLATION WAS SIMILAR TO A RECENTLY-ENACTED
SENATE RESOLUTION LIMITING THE USE OF U.S.
GROUND TROOPS IN LAOS, AND IT WAS SIMILAR
TO THE AMENDMENTS AIMED AT CUTTING OFF THE
USE OF U.S. TROOPS IN CAMBODIA.
THROUGHOUT THE THIRTIES THE
ANTIWAR SENTIMENT WAXED STRONG, AND IT IS
GROWING TODAY.
IN THE THIRTIES HITLER BUILT A
TREMENDOUS WAR MACHINE AND GRABBED OFF
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
LARGER AND LARGER PIECES OF TERRITORY
-13-
ADJOINING GERMANY.
TODAY THE SOVIET UNION FEEDS
THE COMMUNIST WAR EFFORT IN VIETNAM,
FUELS THE ARAB MILITARY FORCES IN THE
MIDDLE EAST EVEN TO THE POINT OF SENDING
SOVIET PILOTS THERE, AND CONTINUES
AMASSING THE MOST HORRIBLE AND THREATENING
ARRAY OF ARMAMENTS.
IN THE 30's AMERICA SLEPT. AND
SO DID ENGLAND. THOSE OF YOU OF MY
GENERATION REMEMBER A GAUNT-LOOKING
BRITISHER WHO JOURNEYED TO MUNICH TO MEET
WITH ADOLF HITLER AND AGREED THAT PART
OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA SHOULD GO TO NAZI GERMANY.
IT WAS NEARLY 32 YEARS AGO THAT
THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WITH THE WING
COLLAR, MOUSTACHE AND UMBRELLA RETURNED
FORD
TO ENGLAND DECLARING HE HAD ACHIEVED
LIBRARY
"PEACE WITH HONOR. PEACE FOR OUR TIME."
YOU REMEMBER. HE STEPPED OFF A PLANE
-14-
AT HESTON AIRDROME OUTSIDE OF LONDON AND
WAVED HIS "PEACE FOR OUR TIME" MEMORANDUM
SIGNED BY ADOLF HITLER.
NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN'S "PEACE FOR
OUR TIME" LASTED LESS THAN ONE YEAR. IT
CULMINATED IN A WAR WHICH ENGULFED THE
WORLD AND RESULTED IN 1,078,162 AMERICAN
CASUALTIES, WITH 292,131 G.I. COMBAT
DEATHS AND 115,185 AMERICAN DEATHS DUE TO
NON-COMBAT CAUSES.
CHAMBERLAIN WAS WELL-INTENTIONED.
YET ALL WHO CHEERED HIM WHEN HE WAVED HIS
MEMO FROM HITLER ON SEPTEMBER 30. 1938,
DECLARED YEARS LATER. "WE SHOULD HAVE
STOPPED HITLER AT MUNICH."
THERE ARE CURIOUS PARALLELS
BETWEEN 1938 AND 1970. THE PACIFISTS AND
NEO-ISOLATIONISTS OF 1970 ARE
WELL-INTENTIONED TOO
GERALD R. LISRABY FORD
I AM NOT ADVOCATING REVIVAL OF
-15-
THE COLD WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION. I
WOULD BE THE LAST PERSON IN THE WORLD
TO URGE THAT. BUT I SAY WE MUST NOT
ABANDON PRINCIPLE IN PURSUIT OF PEACE.
I BELIEVE THAT IS THE SUREST ROAD TO
DISASTER.
I BELIEVE WE SHOULD SEEK A
DETENTE WITH THE SOVIET UNION WHATEVER
HAPPENS IN VIETNAM. I WAS MOST PLEASED
TO HEAR THE PRESIDENT PREDICT THAT AN
AGREEMENT WILL COME OUT OF THE SALT TALKS.
AT THE SAME TIME, I AM SURE WE WILL NOT
SCRAP OUR PRINCIPLES IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE
THAT AGREEMENT -- AND NEITHER SHOULD WE
SCRAP OUR PRINCIPLES IN VIETNAM.
WINSTON CHURCHILL IN 1938 CALLED
NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN'S "PEACE IN OUR TIME"
AGREEMENT A MATTER OF TAKING "THE LINE OF
LEAST RESISTANCE." HE SAID AS MUCH IN A
LIBRARY
THOROUGHLY IGNORED SPEECH IN THE
-16-
BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS. BUT CHURCHILL
WAS RIGHT.
DOES ANY AMERICAN TODAY REALLY
BELIEVE THAT THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE
IS THE PATH TO LASTING PEACE
LET US NOT MAKE THE SAME
MISTAKES TODAY WE MADE IN THE THIRTIES.
CHURCHILL CALLED THE
APPEASEMENT OF HITLER AT MUNICH "A DISASTER
OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE."
IN MY VIEW, THE PRESENT ANTIWAR
MOVEMENT IN THIS COUNTRY IS A TRAGEDY OF
IMMENSE PROPORTIONS BECAUSE IT HAS
PRODUCED SOME OF THE MOST IRRATIONAL
ATTITUDES EVER EXPRESSED IN AMERICA.
I MENTIONED AT THE OUTSET OF MY
COMMENTS THAT THESE APPEAR TO BE DARK DAYS.
LET ME SAY THIS IS ONLY THE SEEMING AND
NOT THE ACTUALITY. IN TRUTH, WE ALL HAVE
FORD LIBRARY
REASON TO BE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT
-17-
THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE IN THIS COUNTRY.
WHATEVER THE OUTCRY OVER THE
OFFENSIVE IN CAMBODIA, THE FACT REMAINS
WE HAVE REVERSED THE COURSE OF THE VIETNAM
WAR WE HAVE BEEN WITHDRAWING TROOPS FROM
VIETNAM INSTEAD OF PUTTING MORE IN, AND WE
ARE MAKING VIETNAMIZATION WORK.
WE ARE EMBARKED ON STRATEGIC
ARMAMENTS LIMITATION TALKS WITH THE SOVIET
UNION, AND THERE IS CAUSE TO HAVE REAL
HOPE FOR STRATEGIC ARMS CONTROL.
WE HAVE ACHIEVED MAJOR DRAFT
REFORM AND WE ARE MOVING STEADILY TOWARD
AN END TO THE DRAFT.
WE HAVE REORDERED OUR NATIONAL
PRIORITIES SO THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME
IN TWO DECADES WE WILL BE SPENDING MORE
FEDERAL FUNDS ON HUMAN RESOURCES THAN ON
FORD
MILITARY PROGRAMS.
LIBRARY
WE HAVE CUT TAXES AND REFORMED
-18-
THE FEDERAL TAX STRUCTURE.
WE ARE NEAR THE POINT OF
REFORMING THE SCANDALOUS WELFARE SYSTEM
INHERITED FROM A PREVIOUS ERA.
WE WILL BE REFORMING THE POSTAL
SERVICE DESPITE A GENERAL BELIEF THAT THIS
WAS NOT POLITICALLY POSSIBLE.
WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS IN FIGHTING
THE INFLATION INHERITED BY THE PRESENT
ADMINISTRATION, AND I LOOK FOR A MODERATE
UPSWING IN THE ECONOMY BEFORE THE END OF
THE YEAR WITHOUT A REVIVAL OF STRONG
INFLATIONARY PRESSURES.
CONGRESS LAST WEEK PASSED AN
AMBITIOUS AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION BILL WHICH
PUTS THE NATIONAL AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION
PROGRAM ON A PAY-AS-YOU-GO BASIS FOR THE
R.FORD LIBRARY
GETA
FIRST TIME IN OUR HISTORY.
WE ARE IMPROVING MASS TRANSPORTATION
AND HAVE PROPOSED THE MOST FAR-REACHING
-19-
MASS TRANSIT PROGRAM EVER.
WE ARE PROTECTING THE NATIONAL
HEALTH AND SAFETY AND HAVE WRITTEN INTO
LAW THE MOST EFFECTIVE COAL MINE SAFETY
BILL IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN LABOR.
WE COULD DO MUCH MORE. WE WILL
DO MUCH MORE.
LOOKING AT THE RECORD I HAVE JUST
CITED, I DO NOT SEE HOW ANYONE WHO IS NOT
BLIND TO AMERICA'S AIMS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
CAN SELL THIS COUNTRY SHORT.
I DO NOT SEE HOW ANYONE CAN FAIL
TO PERCEIVE THE GREAT SURGE OF PROGRESS
THAT LIES JUST AHEAD OF US.
I, FOR ONE, AM NOT GIVEN TO
FEELINGS OF GLOOM AND DOOM. I BELIEVE IN
THE GREATNESS OF AMERICA AND ITS PEOPLE.
BEREID FORD LIBRARK
-20-
I BELIEVE, TO PARAPHRASE THE
WORDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THAT THE END
WILL BRING US OUT ALL RIGHT
-- END --
FORD LIBRARY "y GERALD
Distribution 10 copies Mr. Ford
moffice Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BEFORE THE LIONS OF MICHIGAN GOLDEN PRESIDENTS BANQUET
AT GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
6:30 P.M. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
These seem to be dark hours, but I see them as the beginning of the dawn.
These are confusing days, "for now we see through a glass, darkly," but
the time will soon come when we will know the situation not only in part but in
whole.
That is how I view the explosive developments which have occurred since
President Nixon on Thursday, April 30, ordered the Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia
cleaned out by South Vietnamese and U.S. troops.
The President's announcement amazed many Americans. It took them by
surprise. It was only 10 days earlier that Mr. Nixon had announced we would be
pulling an additional 150,000 G.I.'s out of Vietnam over the next 12 months.
The result has been over-reaction on the part of thousands of our people.
Emotion has completely overwhelmed reason, both in the Senate of the United States
and on college campuses throughout the country.
Fevered imaginations have fuzzed up the facts and created a series of
confrontations in this country.
The crisis will cool -- I am certain of it. The country will come out all
right in the end, and that is all that matters.
But let me in the meantime give you my view of the President's Cambodian
decision.
In his book, "Profiles in Courage," the late President John F. Kennedy said:
"A man does what he must -- in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures."
That is what President Nixon did when he ordered our troops into Cambodia.
He did what he felt he must do, what he felt was right.
This was truly an act of courage. It required more courageous leadership
than that demanded of Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt during the darkest days of
World Wars I and II because those chief executives knew the American people were
behind them.
President Nixon, on Cambodia, made the loneliest of decisions. He did
what he believed was right even though he knew it would bring the antiwar forces
(more)
-2-
on the campuses springing to the barricades once again and his opponents in the
Senate shouting that constitutional power had been abused.
Abraham Lincoln once said: "If the end brings me out all right, what is
said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten
angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
It was in that light that President Nixon ordered U.S. forces to join in
the Cambodian Operation.
He knew very well he was destroying the calm he had created in the Nation
with his steady troop withdrawals from Vietnam and his announcement that 150,000
more men would be withdrawn. He realized fully that he would be triggering a new
round of antiwar demonstrations. But he did what he had to do.
I think the end will bring President Nixon and the Nation out all right.
There is reason to believe that the Cambodian decision has dealt the enemy a hard
if not staggering blow in the Vietnam conflict. The Cambodian action might well
mark a turning point in the war. It could prove to be a masterstroke. I feel sure
it will shorten the war.
As for the public reaction to the President's move, let us keep it in
perspective.
The U.S. House of Representatives has firmly rejected all attempts by those
who oppose the Cambodian decision to emasculate the President's powers as commander-
in-chief of our armed forces.
And, speaking only for my own congressional district in Michigan, I can tell
you that the sentiment of many older Americans is running strongly against the
sometimes obscene and sometimes violent ways in which some college students are
expressing their reaction to the President's decision.
There have always been differences between age groups. The split we are
witnessing today is probably more severe than we have ever seen. But I am
convinced that the kind of dissent we have seen at Kent State University and
Jackson (Miss.) State College -- dissent that erupts into bloodshed and killing --
will not become a part of the American way of life.
President Nixon has made a special effort to open up lines of communication
with our young people. His early dawn visit to talk with a group of college
students at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington is evidence of that. He also
instructed members of his White House staff to engage in dialogues with college
students.
(more)
-3-
Our young people must be made to realize that violence is not the way to
resolve issues in America. They must realize that throwing rocks at national
guardsmen is not the answer, either. And they should realize they are being
misled by militant radicals when they are urged to kill or to destroy buildings and
other property.
I believe that for those who engage in violence on the campus, the only
redress is for the college authorities to administer stern discipline. We must
not, we cannot, tolerate violence and expect our society to bear the strain.
Bloodshed stemming from the actions of an irrational few must be avoided
on college campuses and city streets.
I am pleased that the massive antiwar gathering in the Nation's capital on
Saturday, May 9, was peaceful for the most part. I think this was a tribute both
to a majority of the young people who journeyed to Washington for the demonstration
and also to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department which exhibited great
restraint in handling the mammoth crowd.
The demonstration in Washington offered a sharp contrast to what happened
at Kent State and Jackson State. What transpired at Kent and Jackson, where
students were shot and killed, can only be described as senseless tragedy.
We must ,and I pray that we will, find a balance of reason and moderation in
the days ahead. It is my deep hope that the American people will find it possible
to join in support of the President as tempers cool and passions fade.
I ask those who disagree with the President to give peace a chance by giving
him a chance.
He has said all of our troops will be out of Cambodia by the end of next
month. I do not think that is too long a time to allow for a public decision on
the rightness of the President's action.
As for me, I think the President is profoundly right in what he has done.
And I am most disturbed by what I feel is an irrational wave of
neo-isolationism in this country -- not only on our college campuses but in the
United States Senate.
There are strange parallels -- but I think unmistaken parallels -- between
the anti-militarists and neo-isolationists of today and the pacifists and
isolationists of the 1930s.
Many of you remember the 1930s. You recall when Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf,"
was first published. Few people in this country took that book seriously.
(more)
-4-
The United States had engaged in unilateral disarmanent after World War I,
in the period leading into the Thirties. We were living in a dream world. We
said war just couldn't happen. And if it did happen to somebody else we would just
not become involved. The mentality of the entire country was attuned to what
became known as the "Fortress America" concept.
It was a Republican, Sen. Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, who led the
Fortress America forces in the 30s. Today isolationism is being preached by
leading Democrats in the Senate, together with a few Republicans.
Nye blamed war on the international bankers and the arms manufacturers.
Today we see militant youths burning down or damaging bank buildings, looting
the files of a napalm manufacturer, preventing college campus appearances by
recruiters for defense industries, fighting any and all military research and new
weapons developments.
There were protests in the 30s against compulsory military training, and
so a number of land grant colleges made military drill optional. Today we find
students burning down ROTC buildings or forcing college administrations to drop
ROTC from the curriculum. And today, too, we have draft card burning and the
pouring of blood on draft card files.
As a result of antiwar hearings in the early 30s by a committee Sen. Nye
haeded, the Congress in 1935 approved what became known as the Neutrality Act.
That legislation was similar to a recently-enacted Senate resolution limiting the
use of U.S. ground troops in Laos, and it was similar to the amendments aimed at
cutting off the use of U.S. troops in Cambodia.
Throughout the Thirties the antiwar sentiment waxed strong, and it is
growing today.
In the Thirties Hitler built a tremendous war machine and grabbed off
larger and larger pieces of territory adjoining Germany.
Today the Soviet Union feeds the Communist war effort in Vietnam, fuels the
Arab military forces in the Middle East even to the point of sending Soviet pilots
there, and continues amassing the most horrible and threatening array of
armaments.
In the 30s America slept. And so did England. Those of you of my
generation remember a gaunt-looking Britisher who journeyed to Munich to meet
with Adolf Hitler and agreed that part of Czechoslovakia should go to Nazi
Germany.
(more)
-5-
It was nearly 32 years ago that the British prime minister with the wing
collar, moustache and umbrella returned to England declaring he had achieved
"peace with honor peace for our time." You remember he stepped off a plane
at Heston Airdrome outside of London and waved his "peace for our time" memorandum
signed by Adolf Hitler.
Neville Chamberlain's "peace for our time" lasted less than one year. It
culminated in a war which engulfed the world and resulted in 1,078,162 American
casualties, with 292,131 G.I. combat deaths and 115,185 American deaths due to
non-combat causes.
Chamberlain was well-intentioned. Yet all who cheered him when he waved
his memo from Hitler on Sept. 30, 1938, declared years later: "We should have
stopped Hitler at Munich. 11
There are curious parallels between 1938 and 1970. The pacifists and
neo-isolationists of 1970 are well-intentioned too.
I am not advocating revival of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. I would
be the last person in the world to urge that. But I say we must not abandon
principle in pursuit of peace. I believe that is the surest road to disaster.
I believe we should seek a detente with the Soviet Union whatever happens
in Vietnam. I was most pleased to hear the President predict that an agreement
will come out of the SALT talks. At the same time, I am sure we will not scrap
our principles in order to achieve that agreement --- and neither should we scrap
our principles in Vietnam.
Winston Churchill in 1938 called Neville Chamberlain's "peace in our time"
agreement a matter of taking "the line of least resistance.' He said as much
in a thoroughly ignored speech in the British House of Commons. But Churchill
was right.
Does any American today really believe that the line of least resistance is
the path to lasting peace?
Let us not make the same mistakes today we made in the Thirties.
Churchill called the appeasement of Hitler at Munich "a disaster of the
first magnitude."
In my view, the present antiwar movement in this country is a tragedy of
immense proportions because it has produced some of the most irrational attitudes
ever expressed in America.
I mentioned at the outset of my comments that these appear to be dark days.
(more)
-6-
Let me say this is only the seeming and not the actuality. In truth, we all have
reason to be cautiously optimistic about the immediate future in this country.
Whatever the outcry over the offensive in Cambodia, the fact remains we have
reversed the course of the Vietnam War. We have been withdrawing troops from
Vietnam instead of putting more in, and we are making Vietnamization work.
We are embarked on strategic armaments limitation talks with the Soviet
Union, and there is cause to have real hope for strategic arms control.
We have achieved major draft reform and we are moving steadily toward an
end to the draft.
We have reordered our national priorities so that for the first time in two
decades we will be spending more Federal funds on human resources than on military
programs.
We have cut taxes and reformed the Federal tax structure.
We are near the point of reforming the scandalous welfare system inherited
from a previous era.
We will be reforming the postal service despite a general belief that this
was not politically possible.
We are making progress in fighting the inflation inherited by the present
Administration, and I look for a moderate upswing in the economy before the end
of the year without a revival of strong inflationary pressures.
Congress last week passed an ambitious airport construction bill which puts
the national airport construction program on a pay-as-you-go basis for the first
time in our history.
We are improving mass transportation and have proposed the most far-reaching
mass transit program ever.
We are protecting the national health and safety and have written into law
the most effective coal mine safety bill in the history of American labor.
We could do much more. We will do much more.
Looking at the record I have just cited, I do not see how anyone who is not
blind to America's aims and accomplishments can sell this country short.
I do not see how anyone can fail to perceive the great surge of progress
that lies just ahead of us.
I, for one, am not given to feelings of gloom and doom. I believe in the
greatness of America and its people.
I believe, to paraphrase the words of Abraham Lincoln, that the end will
bring us out all right.
# # #
Distribution 10 copies to Mr. Ford only
a Office Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BEFORE THE LIONS OF MICHIGAN GOLDEN PRESIDENTS BANQUET
AT GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
6:30 P.M. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1970
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
These seem to be dark hours, but I see them as the beginning of the dawn.
These are confusing days, "for now we see through a glass, darkly," but
the time will soon come when we will know the situation not only in part but in
whole.
That is how I view the explosive developments which have occurred since
President Nixon on Thursday, April 30, ordered the Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia
cleaned out by South Vietnamese and U.S. troops.
The President's announcement amazed many Americans. It took them by
surprise. It was only 10 days earlier that Mr. Nixon had announced we would be
pulling an additional 150,000 G.I.'s out of Vietnam over the next 12 months.
The result has been over-reaction on the part of thousands of our people.
Emotion has completely overwhelmed reason, both in the Senate of the United States
and on college campuses throughout the country.
Fevered imaginations have fuzzed up the facts and created a series of
confrontations in this country.
The crisis will cool -- I am certain of it. The country will come out all
right in the end, and that is all that matters.
But let me in the meantime give you my view of the President's Cambodian
decision.
In his book, "Profiles in Courage," the late President John F. Kennedy said:
"A man does what he must -- in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures."
That is what President Nixon did when he ordered our troops into Cambodia.
He did what he felt he must do, what he felt was right.
This was truly an act of courage. It required more courageous leadership
than that demanded of Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt during the darkest days of
World Wars I and II because those chief executives knew the American people were
behind them.
President Nixon, on Cambodia, made the loneliest of decisions. He did
what he believed was right even though he knew it would bring the antiwar forces
(more)
-2-
on the campuses springing to the barricades once again and his opponents in the
Senate shouting that constitutional power had been abused.
Abraham Lincoln once said: "If the end brings me out all right, what is
said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten
angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
It was in that light that President Nixon ordered U.S. forces to join in
the Cambodian Operation.
He knew very well he was destroying the calm he had created in the Nation
with his steady troop withdrawals from Vietnam and his announcement that 150,000
more men would be withdrawn. He realized fully that he would be triggering a new
round of antiwar demonstrations. But he did what he had to do.
I think the end will bring President Nixon and the Nation out all right.
There is reason to believe that the Cambodian decision has dealt the enemy a hard
if not staggering blow in the Vietnam conflict. The Cambodian action might well
mark a turning point in the war. It could prove to be a masterstroke. I feel sure
it will shorten the war.
As for the public reaction to the President's move, let us keep it in
perspective.
The U.S. House of Representatives has firmly rejected all attempts by those
who oppose the Cambodian decision to emasculate the President's powers as commander-
in-chief of our armed forces.
And, speaking only for my own congressional district in Michigan, I can tell
you that the sentiment of many older Americans is running strongly against the
sometimes obscene and sometimes violent ways in which some college students are
expressing their reaction to the President's decision.
There have always been differences between age groups. The split we are
witnessing today is probably more severe than we have ever seen. But I am
convinced that the kind of dissent we have seen at Kent State University and
Jackson (Miss.) State College -- dissent that erupts into bloodshed and killing --
will not become a part of the American way of life.
President Nixon has made a special effort to open up lines of communication
with our young people. His early dawn visit to talk with a group of college
students at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington is evidence of that. He also
instructed members of his White House staff to engage in dialogues with college
students.
(more)
-3-
Our young people must be made to realize that violence is not the way to
resolve issues in America. They must realize that throwing rocks at national
guardsmen is not the answer, either. And they should realize they are being
misled by militant radicals when they are urged to kill or to destroy buildings and
other property.
I believe that for those who engage in violence on the campus, the only
redress is for the college authorities to administer stern discipline. We must
not, we cannot, tolerate violence and expect our society to bear the strain.
Bloodshed stemming from the actions of an irrational few must be avoided
on college campuses and city streets.
I am pleased that the massive antiwar gathering in the Nation's capital on
Saturday, May 9, was peaceful for the most part. I think this was a tribute both
to a majority of the young people who journeyed to Washington for the demonstration
and also to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department which exhibited great
restraint in handling the mammoth crowd.
The demonstration in Washington offered a sharp contrast to what happened
at Kent State and Jackson State. What transpired at Kent and Jackson, where
students were shot and killed, can only be described as senseless tragedy.
We must ,and I pray that we will, find a balance of reason and moderation in
the days ahead. It is my deep hope that the American people will find it possible
to join in support of the President as tempers cool and passions fade.
I ask those who disagree with the President to give peace a chance by giving
him a chance.
He has said all of our troops will be out of Cambodia by the end of next
month. I do not think that is too long a time to allow for a public decision on
the rightness of the President's action.
As for me, I think the President is profoundly right in what he has done.
And I am most disturbed by what I feel is an irrational wave of
neo-isolationism in this country -- not only on our college campuses but in the
United States Senate.
There are strange parallels -- but I think unmistaken parallels -- between
the anti-militarists and neo-isolationists of today and the pacifists and
isolationists of the 1930s.
Many of you remember the 1930s. You recall when Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf,"
was first published. Few people in this country took that book seriously.
(more)
-4-
The United States had engaged in unilateral disarmanent after World War I,
in the period leading into the Thirties. We were living in a dream world. We
said war just couldn't happen. And if it did happen to somebody else we would just
not become involved. The mentality of the entire country was attuned to what
became known as the "Fortress America" concept.
It was a Republican, Sen. Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, who led the
Fortress America forces in the 30s. Today isolationism is being preached by
leading Democrats in the Senate, together with a few Republicans.
Nye blamed war on the international bankers and the arms manufacturers.
Today we see militant youths burning down or damaging bank buildings, looting
the files of a napalm manufacturer, preventing college campus appearances by
recruiters for defense industries, fighting any and all military research and new
weapons developments.
There were protests in the 30s against compulsory military training, and
so a number of land grant colleges made military drill optional. Today we find
students burning down ROTC buildings or forcing college administrations to drop
ROTC from the curriculum. And today, too, we have draft card burning and the
pouring of blood on draft card files.
As a result of antiwar hearings in the early 30s by a committee Sen. Nye
haeded, the Congress in 1935 approved what became known as the Neutrality Act.
That legislation was similar to a recently-enacted Senate resolution limiting the
use of U.S. ground troops in Laos, and it was similar to the amendments aimed at
cutting off the use of U.S. troops in Cambodia.
Throughout the Thirties the antiwar sentiment waxed strong, and it is
growing today.
In the Thirties Hitler built a tremendous war machine and grabbed off
larger and larger pieces of territory adjoining Germany.
Today the Soviet Union feeds the Communist war effort in Vietnam, fuels the
Arab military forces in the Middle East even to the point of sending Soviet pilots
there, and continues amassing the most horrible and threatening array of
armaments.
In the 30s America slept. And so did England. Those of you of my
generation remember a gaunt-looking Britisher who journeyed to Munich to meet
with Adolf Hitler and agreed that part of Czechoslovakia should go to Nazi
Germany.
(more)
-5-
It was nearly 32 years ago that the British prime minister with the wing
collar, moustache and umbrella returned to England declaring he had achieved
"peace with honor peace for our time." You remember he stepped off a plane
at Heston Airdrome outside of London and waved his "peace for our time" memorandum
signed by Adolf Hitler.
Neville Chamberlain's "peace for our time" lasted less than one year. It
culminated in a war which engulfed the world and resulted in 1,078,162 American
casualties, with 292,131 G.I. combat deaths and 115,185 American deaths due to
non-combat causes.
Chamberlain was well-intentioned. Yet all who cheered him when he waved
his memo from Hitler on Sept. 30, 1938, declared years later: "We should have
stopped Hitler at Munich. 11
There are curious parallels between 1938 and 1970. The pacifists and
neo-isolationists of 1970 are well-intentioned too.
I am not advocating revival of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. I would
be the last person in the world to urge that. But I say we must not abandon
principle in pursuit of peace. I believe that is the surest road to disaster.
I believe we should seek a detente with the Soviet Union whatever happens
in Vietnam. I was most pleased to hear the President predict that an agreement
will come out of the SALT talks. At the same time, I am sure we will not scrap
our principles in order to achieve that agreement -- and neither should we scrap
our principles in Vietnam.
Winston Churchill in 1938 called Neville Chamberlain's "peace in our time"
agreement a matter of taking "the line of least resistance." He said as much
in a thoroughly ignored speech in the British House of Commons. But Churchill
was right.
Does any American today really believe that the line of least resistance is
the path to lasting peace?
Let us not make the same mistakes today we made in the Thirties.
Churchill called the appeasement of Hitler at Munich "a disaster of the
first magnitude."
In my view, the present antiwar movement in this country is a tragedy of
immense proportions because it has produced some of the most irrational attitudes
ever expressed in America.
I mentioned at the outset of my comments that these appear to be dark days.
(more)
-6-
Let me say this is only the seeming and not the actuality. In truth, we all have
reason to be cautiously optimistic about the immediate future in this country.
Whatever the outcry over the offensive in Cambodia, the fact remains we have
reversed the course of the Vietnam War. We have been withdrawing troops from
Vietnam instead of putting more in, and we are making Vietnamization work.
We are embarked on strategic armaments limitation talks with the Soviet
Union, and there is cause to have real hope for strategic arms control.
We have achieved major draft reform and we are moving steadily toward an
end to the draft.
We have reordered our national priorities so that for the first time in two
decades we will be spending more Federal funds on human resources than on military
programs.
We have cut taxes and reformed the Federal tax structure.
We are near the point of reforming the scandalous welfare system inherited
from a previous era.
We will be reforming the postal service despite a general belief that this
was not politically possible.
We are making progress in fighting the inflation inherited by the present
Administration, and I look for a moderate upswing in the economy before the end
of the year without a revival of strong inflationary pressures.
Congress last week passed an ambitious airport construction bill which puts
the national airport construction program on a pay-as-you-go basis for the first
time in our history.
We are improving mass transportation and have proposed the most far-reaching
mass transit program ever.
We are protecting the national health and safety and have written into law
the most effective coal mine safety bill in the history of American labor.
We could do much more. We will do much more.
Looking at the record I have just cited, I do not see how anyone who is not
blind to America's aims and accomplishments can sell this country short.
I do not see how anyone can fail to perceive the great surge of progress
that lies just ahead of us.
I, for one, am not given to feelings of gloom and doom. I believe in the
greatness of America and its people.
I believe, to paraphrase the words of Abraham Lincoln, that the end will
bring us out all right.
# # #