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    "label": "South Kent Exchange Club, October 28, 1970",
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    "id": "4526336",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "South Kent Exchange Club, October 28, 1970",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4526336",
    "collections": [
        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
        "Speeches"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Crime",
        "Legislation",
        "Terrorism"
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    "seq": 1,
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    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/ford/grf-0054/642080/4526336.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D30, folder \"South Kent Exchange Club,\nOctober 28, 1970\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at\nthe Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nall\nFifth\nDistrict\nonly\n10/23/70 pm.\nOffice Copy\nCONGRESSMAN\nNEWS\nGERALD R. FORD\nHOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER\nRELEASE\n--FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON WEDNESDAY--\nOctober 28, 1970\nRemarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the South Kent Exchange Club\nLegislation which puts together an organized assault against organized crime\nand bombings in this country has become Federal law.\nThis legislation, S. 30, is one of the greatest achievements of the 91st\nCongress and a major accomplishment of the Nixon Administration. There is credit\nenough for everybody, and credit is due. My only criticism is that the legislation\nshould have been passed months earlier.\nApart from giving authorities new tools to fight organized crime, the new\nOrganized Crime Control Act also zeroes in on bombings, arson and other criminal\nacts which threaten to turn our citadels of learning into citadels of violence.\nI sponsored the anti-bombing provisions which were written into the Organized\nCrine Control Act of 1970, in addition to sponsoring other anti-crime measures which\nbecame part of the omnibus crime control bill. I am most pleased that my\nlegislation has been enacted into law.\nLet me impress upon you how critical the campus violence situation has become.\nFBI Director J. Edgar Hoover has informed me that the Students for A Democratic\nSociety, during the last academic year, alone was directly involved in 247 arson\ncases, 462 personal injury incidents and more than 300 other episodes of destruction.\nSuch acts--the most recent at the University of Wisconsin where a student\ndied in a bomb blast--cannot be allowed to continue. Those responsible must be\ntracked down. And the law enforcement agency best suited to that job is the Federal\nBureau of Investigation. I was therefore glad to give my support to the President's\nrequest for 1,000 more FBI agents to investigate campus bombings and arson as well\nas to help combat airplane hijackings.\nAs you know, the FBI now will investigate bombings and arson at all colleges\nreceiving any form of Federal aid, and that includes virtually all of them.\nUnder the Organized Crime Control Act just enacted into law, Federal lawmen\nwill be able to move swiftly and forcefully against terrorist bombers and other\nsegments of the criminal world.\nNot only does the anti-bombing provision cover government buildings and nearly\nall college campuses, it also applies to police stations where the City is receiving\n(more)\nDigitized from Box D30 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nfunds under the Law Enforcement Assistance Act as is the case in Grand Rapids.\nThe new Organized Crime Control Act is of course primarily designed to combat\norganized crime.\nBasically, it provides for new perjury and contempt procedures calculated to\ninduce reluctant witnesses to testify and it provides stiffer jail terms for\nhabitual criminals.\nThe first five titles of the Act are designed to accomplish one purpose: To\nget the facts needed to obtain indictments and convictions.\nThe new law establishes special grand juries which may exercise more\nindependence in fulfilling their duties and may sit for up to 36 months. The grand\njury may compel witnesses to talk by guaranteeing their testimony will not be used\nagainst them. If they refuse to talk, they may be held in contempt. If they talk\nbut lie, they may be tried for perjury. And if the witness puts his life in jeopardy\nby talking the Government will protect him and even try to relocate him.\nTitles VI and VII of the new law facilitate the actual trial of organized\ncriminals.\nTitle VI allows the Government to take a deposition of a Government witness\nand use it at the trial if the witness for certain reasons will not be available to\ntestify in person. This not only protects the Government's case but the witness as\nwell.\nTitle VII rules out litigation involving claims of illegal electronic\nsurveillance by the Government--surveillance which could not have possibly produced\nevidence for the prosecution.\nTitle VIII makes a Federal crime of large-scale gambling operations which are\nin violation of State law.\nTitle IX makes it unlawful to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity as\na means of acquiring, maintaining or conducting a business.\nTitle X establishes a pre-sentencing procedure for determining whether a\nconvicted defendant is an habitual, professional, or organized criminal--and provides\nan extended sentence for such an offender.\nTitle XI is the anti-bombing part of the new crime control law.\nI do not claim that the new Organized Crime Control Act is a panacea for our\ncriminal ills. I do not claim we will solve all of our crime problems simply by\nhaving enacted this legislation. But I do believe it will enable local, State and\nFederal law enforcement officials and our court system to deal more effectively with\nthe problem of organized crime.\nI have been most anxious to give law enforcement officials the tools to get\nthe job done. This I believe the Congress has accomplished by enacting the\nOrganized Crime Control Act of 1970.\n###"
}