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The original documents are located in Box D36, folder "Fifth District Weekly Radio
Reports, January-June 1969" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and
Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
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Digitized from Box D36 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
SCRIPT TAPED WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE OVER FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from
the
nation's capital.
Washington is a mighty busy place these days. Much of the activity results
from a change in administrations. History is being made. The old administration
is getting in a few last licks. The outgoing President has given us
his views on the
State of the Nation, and a new President will be sworn into
office this coming Monday.
Washington
will be a gala city Monday. The attention of the entire
Nation will be
focused on the changeover in national leadership.
the
moment when
Richard Nixon stands before the world and
swears to "faithfully executé the Office of President of the United States" and
to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Before and after the swearing-in ceremony visitors from
West
Michigan will be
served refreshments in my office in the United States
Capitol Building. I and other members of the Joint Congressional Committee
new
on Inaugural Ceremonies will be host at a luncheon for the President and
Vice-President and their
families.
My wife Betty and I
will
be very much involved in other Inaugural
Day events aswell.
So we are moving into a new year with new leaders.
And
if we pause and lay aside the gala aspects of the changeover in administrations,
we see the agenda of these new leaders and of the new
91st Congress loaded with
weighty problems.
ECRALD FORD LIBRARY
In that connection it seems most appropriate that the
-2-
91st Congre SS paused recently to honor the three brave
Americans who
performed the historic feat of orbiting the moon.
I was struck by a thought as I and other selected members of the Congress
escorted the three American moonmen to their place of honor in the well of the
House of Representatives. And the thought was this: The problems that face the
new President and the new Congress seem almost incapable of solution. They are
same degree of
staggering problems. But if we bring to them the vigor and determination
went into the flight of Apollo 8
that
there is no problem we cannot solve, no
difficulty
we cannot surmount.
The feat of the Apollo 8 astronauts has filled us all with tremendous
pride. This was a demonstration not only of the g reatness of American
technology but the greatne SS of the Ane rican spirit.
Still there are those of our people, I know, who
ask
whether Project Apollo makes sense in terms of the gigantic outlay
of dollars
necessary to finance it.
For those who see no justification for
Project Apollo expenditures
purely in tterms of
exploring the universe, a look at the down-to-earth
innovations resulting from space
techonology is in order.
come up with
Already, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration has
more than 2,750 technical innovations which may
be used
in
industry, medicine and other
areas.
One is
a miniature paint spray gun. Another is an automatic alarm that
keeps watch over hospital
patients who are suffering from breathing diff iculties.
NASA scienti ists and engineers
also have designed valves, pumps, filters and
-3-
will
switches that function with a reliability never before achieved. And that
pay off in more
ways than keeping men alive in space.
now
Congre SS
is organizing to grapple with the Nation's problems as
America's prestige
gets a
liftoff along with our moonmen.
We must come together as a people if we are to
move our Nation ahead.
We can do so if we face the future with the spirit of daring that inspired the
Apollo 8 astronauts--the
desire to forge great new accomplishments.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington.
I'll be visiting with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD XEVERIT FORD
REMARKS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DIST. RADIO STATIONS ON THE
WEEKEND OF JAN. 25-26, 1969.
recorded
1/22/69
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Students of government are mulling over the Inaugural Address made by
President Nixon on Jan. 20 and are finding much substance in its text
It was an unusual Inaugural Address, perhaps the most unusual ever delivered
in this country.
It was unusual because it was peculiarly appropriate to our times, both
in content and in delivery. And these are unusual times.
Commentators have described it as a message of peace. It was that, but it
was much more.
It contained words of great portent for peace both at home and abroad. But
it was remarkable not only for the words themselves but for the style in which they
were delivered by Mr. Nixon.
When Mr. Nixon said, "the times are on the side of peace," he was expressing
more than just hope.
He was saying to the world that the forces at work
this particular
juncture
history
lead us to believe
we will find an honorable
They also lead us to believe
compromise to stop the killing in Vietnam.
we will
find an acceptable
formula to avert another war in the Mideast because still another war there could
produce a head-on clash between the United States and the Soviet Union.
It was most appropriate that Mr. Nixon, a
man of Quaker
upbringing,
should say: "The greatest honor
history can bestow is the
title of
peacemaker.
In
recent speeches I have ventured the opinion that Mr. Nixon as
President will be numbered among the peacemakers. Those were my very words--and
FORD LIBRARY
believe it sincerely. As Mr. Nixon has said,
peacemaking is "our summons
greatness.
-2-
I have read and re-read Mr. Nixon's Inaugural Address
because I feel
it speaks so eloquently in such simple language to all of our people.
He made some profound statements, profound because they are simple but they
speak to the problems of the times. "To
a
crisis of the spirit," he said,
"we need an answer of the spirit," and "to find that answer, we need only look
within ourselves." And then he
extolled those qualities America
hungers for today "goodness, decency, love and kindne ss."
If I were to choose the most profound statement from among all of those
I admire in Mr. Nixon's address it would be this: "The simple things
are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement
what unites us. To lower our voices would be a simple thing."
Thos e are the words that speak volumes to us - words that have
needed
saying for a long time and in just the quiet voice
with
which Mr. Nixon
spoke them.
We must
stop shouting at one another, he said.
We must listen to
one another SO that we can learn and understand and lift up our lives together.
What more noble truth
is there? And how important it is that we perceive it
at this time.
There was, of course, much more in Mr. Nixon's Inaugural Address ---
call
for "the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives secure," a
challenge to all of us to "build on what has gone before -- not turning away from the
old, but turning toward the new," a call to
the concerned and the committed to
join in moving the Nation
forward.
GERALD FORD VIBRARY
This is why I said immediately
after the Inaugural Ceremdny that Mr. Nixon's
-3-
Inaugural Address struck just the right note for this moment in our history.
At this time we need in our chief executive a quiet voice, a calm voice, a
voice that will bring us together and lead us into
paths of
peace and serenity.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week at this same time
over this same
station.
######
GERALDA FORD
Radio Script Taped for Fifth Dist. Use the Weekend of *** Feb. 1-2, 1969.
Tapal 1-38-69
1-30-69
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
It was like Old Home Week
for President Nixon in the House of
Representatives last tuesday when the President visited the House chamber on an
informal basis and just shook hands and chatted with House members.
The President later had lunch with me and other members of the House
Republican and Democratic leadership groups and with the House Rules Committee,
the group which acts like a traffic cop and says "go" when a piece of legislation
is to be taken up on the House floor.
It seemed appropriate that the President should visit with House leaders and
the Rules Committee Tuesday noon because
at a breakfast meeting
discussed with
that day he
me and other members of the Republican House and Senate
leadership the actions he
would like Congre SS to take in the
period
immediately ahead.
This Tuesday-morning meeting with the
President was the first in a
weekly series of such discussions.
It was decided we should declare war against crime on a crash basis. There
will be a new urgency in the
fight against crime, the President
told us. The Nixon Administration will, he said, act swiftly and firmly.
It was agreed we should ask Congress for more funds this fiscal year to step
up the:
war against crime, particularly in the District of Columbia. Armed
robbery has become such a frequent occurrence in the nation's capital--an average
of 22 a day--that Washington is becoming known as crime city, U.S.A.
FORD LIBRARY
So we are going to have to
move on a crash basis to
curb
crime.
cannot continue to have the American people
afratid to visit
the capital of the United States.
-2-
Turning to a less exciting but nevertheless important matter, we find the
need to give the new President the authority to reorgamize the various agencies
and departments in the Federal Government,
subject to congressional veto.
Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson had this authority. The
law providing it expired last Dec. 31. It should be renewed
as
quickly
as
possible.
The Nixon Administration has several
reorganization
plans on tap.
The new Administration no doubt appears to be moving slowly to take over the
reins of government. I personally think that caution and deliberateness are
all to the good. This certainly is a time for reappraisal and review,
for
looking over what has been done in the past several years
and sifting
out that which has not worked,
I believe the mood of
most Americans is that of
review and
reassessment, And I think one of the most reassuring actions President Nixon
has taken is to hold up for review all of the old Administration's last-minute
decisions which aroused criticism by members of Congress or the press. As he
said, this doesn't necessarily mean the decisions were wrong and will be changed.
But it does indicate they need a second look and
perhaps should be modified
or reversed,
While the new Administration organizes and begins shaping legislative
proposals, the new Congress has begun meshing its gears. Members have been assigned
the
to
various committees,
and hundreds of bills
have been introduced--
most of them never to see the light of day.
Meantime hearings have been in progress in the Senate on proposed reform
FORD or LIBRAEN
abolition of the Electoral College.
-3-
I personally favor electoral college reform. I lean toward direct election
of the President by popular vote. But I am not committing myself to any particular
whatever
proposal because
I want to feel free to support
plan has the best
prospects of being ratified as the 26th
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In other words, I am interested
in seeing the problem resolved one way or another.
I
am
interested in a solution, not a crusade.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I will be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
Script taped for use by Fifth District Radio Stations the Weekend of Feb. 8-9, 1969
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford reporting to you from the Nation's
capital.
In a few days we will be marking the birthday of one of the greatest
American Presidents, the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.
short
As is traditional, the Congress of the United States will take a in recess
during the week that includes Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Congress will resume
activity
its meetings on Feb. 17.
Perhaps few people realize that Abe Lincoln, the 16th President of the
United States, was a minority President - that is, he was elected with less
than 50 per cent of the total popular vote cast in the election of 1860. As a
matter of fact, the history books show that Lincoln received slightly less than
40 per cent of the popular vote. It was a four-man Presidential race, with
Lincoln getting a majority of the electoral vote.
The fact that Lincoln achieved greatness in the Presidency is dramatic
proof that a man may be a minority President and yet be a great President.
We have had a number of minority Presidents whose administrations
produced great accomplishments. Besides Lincoln, they include Thomas Jefferson,
chief author of the Declaration of Independence and the President who negotiated
the Louisiana Purchase, Woodrow Wilson, our leader in World War I, and Harry
Truman, the chief executive who launched NATO and the Marshall Plan.
So the fact that President Nixon was elected with less than 50 per cent of
the popular vote does not take away from his chances to become a truly great
President.
FORD LIBRARY is GERALD
-2-
All of the minority Presidents I have cited as producing great achievements
had one quality in common great strength of character. I believe President
Nixon also has this quality.
He will need great strength of character to cope with the problems he
inherited when he assumed the terrible burden of the Presidency. And he has
moved to meet these problems.
On his instructions, our negotiators at Paris are pressing hard to scale
truly
down the fighting in Vietnam, make the Demilitarized Zone/neutral ground
and bring about a mutual withdrawal of American and North Vietnamese troops from
South Vietnam. It is to create pressure for negotiations on military matters
that the Southvietnamese delegation at Paris has refused to bargain with the
National Liberation Front regarding political issues.
There is some movement toward a settlement of the terrible problem in
the Middle East. I am not optimistic that any peace formula can be worked out
that the Arabs and Israelis will like, but we may be able to fashion a settlement
which will at least be accepted by the two sides and will form the basis for an
or the potential over,
other powers
end to the fighting I believe President Nixon's decision to jóin with the Soviet
Union, France and England to try to work out such a formula is a sound move.
Revised endregoral
final settlement must come between the parties of active
But would add that the final neg otiations and the
Mr. Nixon is acting with the greatest urgency to deal with the Middle
Bast
situation. Obviously from what you've read or heard Mr. Anyon is
interest which is Israil and the arab nations.
to
protactions
acting with the greatest urgency to deal with the middle
East situation
Also with a good sense of priorities the President is moving to step up
the war against crime.
As agreed at a meeting with me and the Senate minority leader and other
members of the House and Senate Republican Leadership, the President will be
GERALD FORD
-3-
phe problems
of
asking Congress for additional funds this fiscal year for a crash attack on n crime.
The Congress last year passed legislation making it possible to appropriate
+
up to $100,111,000 in federal assistance for state and local anti-crime programs.
But the Congress actually appropriated $62.5 million. So now President Nixon
will ask for additional crime-fighting funds for the country as a whole. He also
has taken steps to beef up crime-fighting forces in Washington, D.C., where an
in the nation's
average of 22 armed robberies a day are occurring and downtown merchants are
capitol
being slain in holdups.
We are getting action from the White House -- and that action is being
taken on the basis of priorities. The outlook for new solutions to our old
problems is_good. encouraging.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you next week, same time, same station.
###
R.FORD FIBRARY
Script taped for use by Fifth District Radio Stations the weekend of Feb. 15/16, 1969
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Congre SS was in recess this week. But next week we will
very important
resume activity, and we expect to receive several messages from the President.
recommending various legis. proposale from the WH.
Since Congre SS has been engaged almost entirely in getting organized, in the
new Cong.
nearly all of the action has been concentrated at the White House in recent days.
However, some of the committees of the House have plunged into subjects of
great interest to most citizens--air safety and the hijacking of airplanes, student
unrest and riots on college campuses, reform of the electoral college system, and
the needs of our war veterans.
Meantime President Nixon has announced that he will leave Feb. 23 on an
eight-day trip to Europe.
I am most pleased by the President's decision to visit western Europe. In
this
my view,
demonstrate that the United States henceforth will
have a far closer relationship with our western allies.
The President has, of course, been deeply concerned with foreign
affairs during his first few weeks in office. Of necessity he has concentrated on
trying to achieve progress in the Vietnam peace talks and movement toward a settlement
of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But he certainly has not neglected domestic matters? affairs
Proof of this is
move
his
to step up the fight against crime, his action to take the Post
Office Department out of politics, and his announced intention to send tax reform
proposals to the Congress.
FORD LIBRARY & GERALD
I would prefer to see the present system of appointing postmasters
changed through the legislative process, but I definitely favor picking postmasters
-2-
on the basis of merit. I would like to see the postal system made into a career
service where dedicated employes could advance in line with their qualifications
and where the top job would be open to them on that basis. And, just as important,
I want to see postal service greatly improved throughout this country.
I am sure the American people want better postal service, and the sooner
we can achieve it the better.
The new Postmaster General, Winton Blount, has tolds me he will expedite the
the fasis of
handling of the mail and will seek to reward postal employes on
merit.
He
believes--and I do, too--that the details of any changes requiring the approval
of Congress can be satisfactorily worked out. So I'm all for better postal service
and a better break for our dedicated Post Office workers.
I am also pleased that
President Nixon is going to send to the Congress
legislation aimed at giving the average citizen a better
income tax break.
Now, in that connection, I would like to caution that legislation of this
kind takes a long time to move through the congressional mill. There will be long
hearings before the House Ways and Means Committee, and also before the Senate
Finance Committee. And as I noted in a recent newsletter to my constituents, what
is one man's loophole is another man's equity.
But there is no question in my mind that our income tax laws need overhauling
and that this is the time to get busy on the job. I am not surprised that good,
hard-working citizens who give up a sizable chunk of their weekly paychecks in
income taxes become furious when they read about millionaires who manage
to
escape
paying any
federal income tax.
Apart from the definite need for revision of individual income tax
FORD LIBRARY
-3-
provisions, I am pleased that President Nixon will propose tax credits as a device
to help resolve the problems of our cities. I strongly support the use of
tax incentives to achieve social objectives-- to provide on-the-job training
and jobs for our disadvantaged citizens, and to give them and their families a
hand up instead of a handout.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you
again next week, same time, same station.
#####
GERALD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF FEB. 22/23, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
The hottest topic in Congre SS these days is tax reform. One reason there is
so much interest in it is that letters
smacking
of a taxp ers revolt have been
^
pouring into congre ssmen's offices.
Tax reform is a tremendous job, and this week Congre SS made a start on it.
It began with the opening of hearings before the House Ways and Means Committee.
The Wages and Means Committeer has the responsibility for drafting proposed changes
in the tax laws for consideration by the House and Senate.
Former President Johnson was supposed to send a tax reform report to Congress
but didn't do it. He left it to President Nixon to make recommendations
for
changes in our tax laws. However, the Treasury Department did make tax reform studies
be
and proposals, and President Nixon
will
basing
his recommendations on those studies.
Here's an item of interest to many individual taxpayers; The Treasury Department
study calls for an increase in llowable deductions. Under this proposal, the
minimum standard deduction would be liberalized, and tax relief amounting to more than
$1 billion would go to lower-income families. More than 70 per cent would go to
the under $5,000 group, and 18 per cent would go to the $5,000 to $7,500 group.
The Treasury Department's tax reform report is 475 pages thick. That gives you
an idea of the job facing the Ways and Mrana Committee and the Congress.
The hearings before the Ways and Means Committee will
probably continue
off and on for more than a year, but there may be some legislation coming out of the
committee during that time in piecemeal fashion.
FORD LIBRARY "II
For instance, Congressman John Byrnes of Wisconsin, the senior Republican
on the Committee, believes
some short-range proposals can be passed this year.
-2-
Other, long-range, proposals would be passed in 1970.
involve
11
The
early group
of changes may
deductions for
and
farm losses, simplification of income tax returns, the tax treatment of tax-exempt
and charitable foundations.
Initial hearings this week
focused on the treatment of tax-exempt
organizations, particularly foundations.
What Congre SS hopes to do in
this maj or tax reform effort is to
achieve fair taxation for all. And of course we want to simplify tax returns for
the average taxpayer, who tears his hair every year when he tackles the
complicated job of making out his income tax return.
Tax reform also is important because we want to keep our economy healthy and
growing and to use the full resources of government and private enterprise in behalf
in
of all
the American people. It is only this way that we can solve the pressing
and
problems of poverty,
hard-core unemployment inadequate
education and housing.
As I mentioned before, the tax reform job is a tremendous one. There are nearly
thirty areas of the Internal Revenue R Code that the Ways and Means Committee will study
and possibly revise. The last time the tax laws were completely overhauled was 15
years ago.
Many of the subjects about which constituents frequently write to me will be
considered by the Ways and Means Committee. The agenda includes the taxation of single
persons, tax treatment of municipal bonds,
capital gains deductions
for
farm
losses, charitable contributions and moving expenses.
FORD
The hearings will be very
revealing to those who follow them. One reason
LIBRARY
there is so much concern about the pre sent laws is that some very wealthy persons are
-3-
allegidly
escaping taxation altogether. Such inequities cannot continue to exist
without triggering a tax revolt.
The Congress must eliminate tax abuses. The job will take time. It must be
done thoroughly fairly and well. I will support all sensible tax reform provisions.
My duty as your congre ssman is to provide you with the best possible
representation. To do that it is helpful to me to have your constructive suggestions
including your criticisms
and your views: on the various issues that confront the Congress. So write to
me. I
welcome and appreciate your letters.
This is your congre ssmam, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll be back
with you rext week, same time, same station.
######
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USED BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF KEEX MARCH 1-2, 1969
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reprorting to you from Washington.
President Nixon is back home from his trip to Europe, and it seems
to
me that he accomplished exactly what he set out to do. He sought to bring Europe
back into America's focus of interest and to lay the groundwork for future moves
in the building of peace. In that he has been completely successful.
His was a trip of reassurance for our NATO allies. And so at the very beginning
of it, in speaking to the 15 ambassadors in the NATO headequarters in
Belgium,
President Nixon promised that our Atlantic allies will be consulted fully before and
during his anticipated negotiations with Russia
In the past the United States has been criticised for failing in some cases to
consult its European allies before making decisions. Mr. Nixon is determined that
this shall not happen while he is in the White House, and I applaud that pledge.
Some observers have sought to make much of the French proposal for a united
Europe independent of the United States, a story which broke just as Mr. Nixon
departed on his European trip. This proposal was nothing new. What is new is
that the Administration we now have in Washington is determined to
thus
devise ways to bring
the French and British together and
strengthen
the
West European nations as a third force in the world,
President Nixon is living up to his promises-to revitalize NATO and bring about
a new spirit of cooperation between the United States and Europe. This...in the
interests of a stronger defense, concerted initiatives for peace, and the coordination
of Free World effort which is needed to prevent crises from occurring.
The President also has acted
to move this Nation into the paths of
FORD LIBRAS
and
-2-
athome
order and progress
Without waiting for Congress to put a lid on, the President
is
seeking to eliminate unnecessary federal spending while at the same time
formulating programs
to achieve social progress.
He has ordered federal agencies not to fill job
vacancies as they
occur, to close out low priority programs and to shift the employes involved into
other programs
directly a ffecting people. In other words,
nobody will be fired but the federal payroll will be reduced over a period of
time without hurting social programs. I strongly approve of this move, particularly
since the Administration reports that some federal
agencies are over-staffed.
The President also has
asked Congress to support
him in reforming the postal system--and in this move
also I concur. The
objective
is to take politics out of the Post Office Department and to make it
possible for
career postal employes to aim for the top job in their Post
Offices on the basis of merit alone.
Mr. Nixon also plans to reorgantize the Executive Branch of the Federal
Government in the interests of greater efficiency.
To that end, he has asked Congress to give him
the authority to reorganize federal agencies and departments. I hope the Congress
will act quickly on the President's request.
The President also has acted to reassure those who feared he would scrap the
Anti-Joverty Program.
Rather than drop the program, Mr. Nixon said, he will
give poverty top priority attention. In a message to Congress, Mr. Nixon S aid
FORD
responsibility for running the Head Start and Job Corps programs will
be
GERAL
-3-
delegated to old-line federal agencies but the Office of Economic Opportunity
will continue
in its chief role-that of an innovator of programs to fight
the blight of poverty.
I heartily approve and
I also look for
improved operation
of federal manpower training programs, with Grand Rapids to be included in the
which provides training and jobs for the hard-core unemployed.
Jobs in the Busine SS Sector Program
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll be with
you
again next week--same time, same station.
######
GERALD ANVURIT FORD
SCRIPT RECORDED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 8-9, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to
you from Washington.
This week the eyes and ears not only of America but of the world were tuned
to Washington, where President Nixon reported on radio and television the results
of his
historic trip to Europe in search of peace.
To me it was significant that the President's report came as three brave
another giant step forward in
American astronauts orbited the earth
on what also was a peace missions
on
the exploration of space
behalf of all mankind.
I feel very good about
President Nixon's trip. He laid the
foundation
for future talks involving the major world powers--talks that could avert events
which
might lead to a nuclear showdown between East and West.
If I were to look ahead at what might develop as a result of Mr. Nixon's trip,
I would expect to see four-power talks on the Middle East crisis in an atmosphere
27
must
Ofcounce this should a odder - it would ml be an emposed settlement.
be a
that might produce an Arab-Israeli settlement. I would also anticipate the strong
settlement
possibility of
U.S. and Soviet talks
aimed at
slowing down the
agreed to
d
nuclear arms race and easing other tensions between the two countries.
the "ther
These are the impressions I have gathered from taking part in meetings at the
White House with President Nixon and making my own assessment of the fruits of his
European travels.
If there is any one
development that stands out from Mr. Nixon's trip it
many
is the opening up of a new era in French-Amsrican relations. In his ten hours of
conversation with Gen. deGaulle, President Nixon apparently wiped out a decade
of U.S. and French distrust. This is very meaningful for our pursuit of world peace,
hopefully
with a strong and united Europe at our side.
FORD LIBRAR.
It must have impressed many Americans that President Nixon is determined to carry
-2-
out every foreign policy pledge he made during the presidential campaign. You will
recall that he vowed to
turn America
away from a policy of
confrontation to one of negotiation. He is doing exactly that.
Mr. Nixon is also seeking to
make good on the campaign promises he
made in the field of domestic policy.
About half of the directives he has sent to government agencies and departments
to date are based on pledges he made during the campaign.
For the most part, they deal with the need to reorganize the work of the Federal
more
Government and to return more money and power to the states and to the
private sector.
Some Nixon proposals in the works involve such ideas as a student tutoring corps
to work with the
culturally deprived youngster,
computer job bank to fit
workers
available jobs, and a law to ban the mailing of pornographic
literature to
children.
To carry out some of his plans toreorganize the Federal Government, President
Nixon needs special authority only the Congress can give. This is authority which
Presidents Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower and Truman enjoyed before him.
The Senate has already passed a bill to invest Mr. Nixon with the necessary
reorganization authority.
The House Committee on Government Operations will hold a hearing on the bill
on Tuesday and is
expectedi
to report it out favorably shortly thereafter.
Through reorganization Mr. Nixon hopes to improve the efficiency of the Federal
Government and to cut operating costs. Any plans he develops must be submitted to
FORD
Congress. If neither House of the Congress rejects
ta presidential reorganization
plan within 60 days after it is submitted, it then goes into effect.
-3-
Some observers are
complaining that the governmental pace in Washington
has slowed.
I believe most American approve. I
that after eight years of experimentation Americans want good, sound,
practical
efficient government which produces
results--not just more spending
programs.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll
be
talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD
RADIO SCRIPT FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 15-16, 1969, BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Except for college and university campus disorders, the country is
most
relatively quiet -- and for that we can be, thankful.
I think the air of calm that pervades the country emanates in the first
instance from the White House. President Nixon has set the tone for the Nation --
a tone which calls for common sense and a restoration of order.
So the Nixon Administration has achieved a measurable degree of success
in bringing peace to America on the domestic scene.
Washington is relatively quiet, also.
There has been little acitvity on the floor of the U.S. House of
Legis.
Representatives, but it isvery early in the session. Right now the work is being
done in the committees, where congressmen are diligently exploring the proposed
other
Federal budget for fiscal 1970 and a wide variety of national problems.
Seven subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations are carefully
examining all the spending requests in the fiscal 1970 budget sent to Congress in
January by former President Lyndon Johnson. Meantime the Nixon Administration has
been going over that budget line by line and is suggesting changes in it.
about
The Johnson budget is made up of 1,111 pages and weighs 10 pounds. It calls
for an outlay of more than $200 billion $20 billion per pound or $1½ billion
per ounce. That comes to $1,000 per man, woman and child in this country.
While the Appropriations Committee labors over the budget, other House
committees are deeply involved in other matters.
FORD LIBRARY & GERALD
-2-
As I make this report, the House Education and Labor Committee is preparing
as a whole
to make its recommendations to the House on a bill to extend the programs of
assistance in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Health-Education-Welfare
Bob
Secretary Robert H. Finch, who recently appered in Grand Rapids at my invitation,
testified on the bill this past week.
President Nixon's request for power to reorganize the Executive Branch of
the Federal Government subject to congressional review is to come before the
very
House shortly. It was approved last Monday by the Executive and Legislative
Reorganization Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations.
The Senate has already passed it.
expraistive
The House Ways and Means Committee is conducting hearings on tax reform, an
area where nearly everybody agrees there should be corrective action. Because
the subject is so complex, my guess is there will be some action this year in a
few areas but that broad reform will not be attempted until next year.
Hearings also are continuing before both House and Senate committees on
the question of changing the Electoral College System of electing the President
of the United States. I hope the Congress can agree by two-thirds majority on
changes which will be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. Like
President Nixon, I am not wedded to any one plan. I would simply like to see
the system Nastlig improved by the 1972 presidential election in a way that will better
reflect the will of the people and eliminate the chief defects of the present
system.
Next week the House will take up a bill to increase the federal debt limit
by $12 billion. This does not mean the Federal Government is anticipating a
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-3-
$12 billion deficit this fiscal year or next. If all goes well, we may wind up
which is a welcome Charge,
both fiscal years with a surplus But the Treasury Department will be borrowing
money from the trust funds -- or, to put it another way, the trust funds will
be investing in federal securities. And these transactions must be recorded
as part of the national debt. So the debt ceiling must be raised to allow for
these transactions.
It makes sense
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.
# # #
GLRALD FORD NERABY
SCRIPT TAPED MARCH 19, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE (MARCH 22-23) BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
The week just past produced some significant developments here.
The House overwhelmingly passed and sent to the White House for signature
a bill giving President Nixon
power to reorganize the executive branch of
the
Federal Government, subject of course to veto by
either House of
Congress.
Only 44 House members voted against the reorganization authority, which is
badly needed by President Nixon if he is to promote efficiency and the best
possible use of the taxpayer's dollar. Those opposing the reogganization bill
included three Michigan Democrats.
the same day the House made clear its impatience with proliferation of
commissions and committees in Washington.
The bill under consideration was a relatively \simple one. It would have created a
commission to consider the myriad requests Congress receives to declare
national
observances of a special day or week--like Welling Water Day,
Traveler Day, Tax Freedom Day, Spring Garden Planting Week, Ski Week, National
line gres on longer and longer.
Clown Week, and the like.
While this is something that
members of the House could have clowned
around about, some congressmen took the matter very seriously and
fought
and understands so, They thought this was over.
bill that needed a pretty thorough greng
the bill. The temper of the House was revealed when members voted
212 to 164 against setting up the commission.
The House last week also took up a bill to raise the national debt ceiling
so the Federal Government can pay its bills in the months to come.
FORD LIBRARY
The point should be made right here that the Federal Government currently
is
-2-
previous
operating under a budget which was solely the work of the Johnson Administration
and was subsequently modified by the
last Congress.
The fact that the debt ceiling is raised does not
necessarily mean
deficit financing on the part of the Federal Government. In the current situation,
Federal Government
for instance, it simply means that
bills which must be paid are falling
due before the flood of income tax payments comes in.
The Nixon Administration could do nothing about the fiscal 1969 federal budget--
the income and outgo plan under which we now are operating. As for fiscal 1970,
the budget for that 12-month period also was
submitted by former President
Johnson but it is subject to revision by
President Nixon and the
91st Congre as--and it will be
revised and I believe downward to
a substantial degree
The pace of activity in Washington now is quickening--both in the Congress and
the White House.
President Nixon has made his first big decision-the decision to begin
deployment of the Safeguard Anti-Ballistic Missile System, subject to annual
review.
I applauded that decision because I believe it is a step toward world peace.
As modified by
President Nixon, the ABM system will be installed
at
Two in the first instance, one in montana
and one in n. Dakota
12 sites throughout the country. Its basic purpose will be to protect our land-based
offensive missile bases.
This is aimed at
convincing any
enemy that it would be foolish to laurnch a quickie missile attack on the United
States with a view to kmcking out our capability to retailiate.
FORD
There are those who argue that President Nixon's decision to go shead with this
modified ABM system destroys an opportunity to reach peace-keeping agreements with
-3-
the Soviet Union. I disagree completely. I think our ABM decision will have
just the opposite effect on the Russian leaders. I believe they now will
believe
be more eager to work out an agreement with the United States.
I
our projected ABM system will be a bargaining weapon in talks
with the Russians.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF MARCH 29/30, 1969
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, speaking to you from Washington.
It is time for all Americans to make a total commitment in a cause which
involves us all -- the fight against inflation. It is only through a total
national commitment that we can bring inflation under control -- and bring it
under control we must,
What we must all recognize is that we are not going to lick inflation just
by wishing it would go away. We also must all recognize that it is terribly
important that we do lick inflation.
As President Nixon has said: "If inflation is allowed to get out of hand,
there has to be a bust, and then unemployment comes."
The increase in The cost of living was almost 5%
Last year we experienced the worst case of inflation in 17 years. So we have
not to bring it under control. to do something about il.
The mos t difficult task is to convince the people that the National Administration
means business with its fight against the continuing sharp rise in prices.
President Nixon showed the country he means
to do battle with inflation
by recommending --at this time-- an extension of the 10 per cent surtax for
12 months beyond next July 1.
If we are going to bring inflationmm under control, we first have to knock out
the inflationary psychology that has gripped the American people --- the feeling that
prices are going to go up and up and up and nothing is going to be done about it.
This is why the President announced at this early date his decision to recommend
extension of the surtax. It was a move to erase the inflationary psychology that is
hurting all of us and is assuring a continuing rise in prices.
FORD LIBRARY is GENALD
-2-
The nation has no time to lose in getting inflation under control. It
is because the previous administration delayed for so long before taking anti-
inflation measures that the problem is now so difficult to solve.
In 1966
the cost of living rose at a 3 per cent rate; in 1967, at a
rate of 3.5 per cent; and in 1968, at a rate of 4.8 per cent.
Currently the rise in living costs is continging at roughly the same pace
calendar year
as in 1968.
We may have hit the peak but we must keep up the fight,
despite the fact
that
it's painful.
What about high interest rates? The present high cost of borrowing money is
one of the prices we pay for going
along with the giddy whirl of inflation.
Interest rates won't come down until all Americans make up their minds to spend less
and save more --- to cast aside the inflation psychology which has gripped this country.
High interest rates are not a
cause of inflation; they're a symptom. When
we bring inflation under control, interest rates will begin coming down. And this
again is a compelling reason to win the fight against inflation.
What about all the young people who are starting families and want to buy a
home ?
Houselfiold formation in 1969 may be twice what it was only a few years ago.
This means a great need for additional housing -- yet indications are that
rate
purchases
of single-family home will actually decline in 1969. The reason is that prospective
and
home buyers are faced with high building costs sharply higher interest rates.
Unle SS this situation is remedied, it will become even worse in the 1970s.
FORD LIBRAR,
So the stakes are high in the battle against inflation. And the American people
-3-
must
for their own good support President Nixon is this fight.
Nobody wants to continue the 10 per cent surtax. But it seems we have to
continue it and cut federal spending at the same time in order to bring inflation
under control. So let's buckle down and do what is necessary to lick inflation.
There is no alternative.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
GERALD R.FORD LIBRARE
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 5-6, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
This is the time of year when the Japanese cherry trees that border the Tidal
Basin in the heart of Washington burst forth into glorious bloom and a
host of
descends upon
visitors
the Nation's Capital.
Preceding the cherry blossoms, we have already had three senior classes from
Grand Rapids area high schools visit here and we have enjoyed welcoming them to
Washington. The first was Byron
Center High School with 96 seniors; then Lee
High School, with 74; and most recently,
Caledonia High School, with 77.
Now the general tide of visitors is flowing into Washington just as the cherry
blossoms are signalling the spring season here. It is expected that more than 15
million persons will visit the Nation's Capital this year.
The official dates for the
1969 Cherry Blossom Festival are April 8-13.
But the actual time when the cherry trees put forth their beautiful flowers varies
from year to year, depending on the weather.
The official opening ceremonies for the festival will be Tuesday, April 8,
at the 300-year-old Japanese Stone Lantern on the Tidal Basin. That evening the
Cherry Blossom Princesses from each state will be introduced at a ball sponsored by
the National Conference of State Societies.
Michigan will be represented by Miss Wendy Wismer, step-daughter of Former
United States Senator Charles
Potter.
The Michigan State Society, an organization of Michigan people in Washington, D.C.,
will hold a reception for Miss Wismer on Monday, April 7, on Capitol Hill.
During the Grand Presentation Ball on Tuesday evening, April 8, Miss Wismer
and princesses from all the other states plus Guam, Puerto Rico and the
District GERAD BER R. FORD of LIBRAR
Columbia will be presented with their military escorts in a grand and formal manner
-2-
at the Sheraton Park Hotel here.
On Wednesday, April 9, there is a
Ladies Fashion Show and Luncheon
at Washington's Shoreham Hotel and that evening there is a Twilight Gala there.
On Friday night spring elebrants turn out for the annual Cherry Blossom
Ball, where the Cherry Blossom Queen is chosen.
Saturday, April 12,
Washington
willbe the scene of a colorful
Cherry
Blossom Parade.
During the week there will be various receptions, band concernts, and other
events marking the beginning of Washington's tourist season. It is a wonderful time
of year for Michigan people to visit Washington, and I would like to see as many
Kent and Ionia County people come here as possible. My office will offer every
available
bit of advice and assistance.
plans to plant
It was 60 years ago that
Japanese 6herry trees in
Washington's Potomac Park were developed. The idea originated with the wife of
President William Howard Taft. The original trees were grown at the Imperial
Japanese experimental station and shipped to the United States in December 1911.
On March 27, 1912, Mrs. Taft planted the first Japanese cherry tree on the
Tidal Basin's north bank.
The Cherry Blossom Festival really started in 1927 when children in
the Washington, D.C., schools commemorated the planting of the first tree. The
celebration was made an annual event beginning in 1934, and it has continued ever
since except during the war years of the
1940s.
During World War II, the cherry trees in the Imperial Japanese Gardens deteriorated
FORD
for lack of care. In 1952, cuttings from the Tidal Basin trees were sent
to
GERAL
LIBRARY
Japan at the request of the Japanese Government. Thus Japanese cherry trees
If toolong cut This
-3-
transplanted to the United States in the first place were used to help rejuvenate
cherry trees in Japan, their native land.
Every year since I came to Congre SS in 1949 my office has supplied information
to the thousands of people from my congressional district who have visited
Washington. My office has schedules of events, as well as information on specific
sights. I dan arrange for special tours of the White House and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. My office is here to serve you.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's Capital.
I'll be talking with you next week--same time, same station.
DERALD FORD LIBRARD
RADIO SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 11-12, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Most Americans are very upset about the turmoil we have been witnessing on
our college and university campuses -- and indeed they should be.
This is a new and difficult problem with which the Nation must deal. When I
say the Nation must deal with this problem I do not mean that it is primarily
the Federal Government's responsibility.
I believe that every citizen interested in the welfare of this nation
should become aware of what is happening on some of the campuses in this country
and should concern himself with what is being done to meet the problem.
A challenging attitude on the part of young people is in many cases a
natural questing after truth and a meaningful education. This is not the kind
of restlessness we should be alarmed about. Rather, we should welcome it. And
university administrations should be responsive to student demands for changes
which will improve the educational process.
But we should be very much concerned about violence on our campuses and
the activities of those students and non-students who are obviously seeking to
tear down our institutions.
The right of peaceful dissent and protest is a precious right, a
constitutional right. But the constitutional right of dissent and freedom of
speech does not extend to disrupting educational processes, seizing college
buildings and destroying property.
There are New Leftists who travel from one campus to another to plan
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-2-
disruptions leading to a confrontation with college authorities and ultimately
the police. These militant activists are intent on tearing down our political,
economic and social system. They want to destroy our society, not improve it.
And they don't care who gets hurt.
We are seeing on some of our campuses an unprecedented challenge to discipline
and authority and a barbarous disregard for the rights of others. That challenge
must be met and overcome.
Many of the young people involved in the New Left Movement are idealists
who have become impatient with the democratic process and the non-responsiveness
of some university administrations. But these students are being exploited by
revolutionaries whose goal is to destroy existing institutions and, in fact,
our entire political system.
President Nixon has made it clear that the primary responsibility for dealing
with these revolutionaries rests with college and university administrators.
These confrontations are basically a local problem. But the Nixon Administration
will seek to help college administrators maintain discipline and order on the
campus.
Let us place this entire matter in proper perspective. The agitators on
our campuses are a minority -- often a very small minority -- of the student
population. But they are dangerous. And in some cases the revolutionary
leaders are not students at all. The majority of our college students are intent
upon the pursuit of scholarship and preparation for future professions. The
militant activists -- the agitators -- the disruptive minority -- should not
be permitted to prevent the quiet, conscientious majority from getting a college ORD
education.
BERALD
LIBRARY
-3-
There is no reason why anyone who is not prepared to abide by university
rules and regulations should be allowed to attend a college or university. Any
student whose activities are disruptive of the educational progress of other
students should be subject to expulsion.
As for the out-and-out revolutionaries who travel from one state to another
to incite violence, I believe the Federal Government should prosecute them under
the 1968 Law which makes such action a Federal offense.
Let us move firmly to restore order and reason to the functioning of our
universities. The stakes are terribly high.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.
]
# # #
GERAL FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPEDEOOR FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 19-20, 1969.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington.
Recent days have been filled with momentous events--events with direct
impact on the Grand Rapids area, and happenings of nationwide and worldwide
significance.
Two-deeply meaningful developments have occurred, affecting the local
scene in our area, and I would like to talk with you about them.
One is that the wheels are turning to set in motion a special program to
give on-the-job training to the hard-core unemployed
in the Grand Rapids Metropolitian Area and to place these trainees in productive jobs.
This is the Job Opportunities In The Business Sector Program,
run by the
National Alliance of Businessmen in cooperation with the United States Labor Department.
The other important development for our area is that nearly $1.8 million in
federal funds is being made available to the City of Grand Rapids to acquire and
clear property for public housing in the Campau Commons area, bounded by Franklin,
Division, Albany and Agnew. At the request of Mayor Chris Sonneveldt, I
began
last July to urge approval of this project by the Housing and Urban
Development Department, and
now
this critically needed project finally has
Federal go-ahead.
So that you can get an idea of what is involve
in
gaining
approval of a big project of this kind, I might mention that I was told nine months
ago by HUD that review and processing of the Grand Rapids application was "in its
final stage." From that time on, I was constantly in touch with the Chicago Regional
Office of HUD, and of course I kept Mayor Ponneväldt informed every step of the way.
Getting back to the new Grand Rapids program for training
the
hard-core ERRALOR FORD LIBRARY
unemployed on the job and giving them good-paying work, I want to say I have high hopes
-2-
that this effort will produce results very beneficial to our area.
The
Job Opportunities In The Business Sector Program has
proved highly successful in the 50 big cities where it
operated last year.
The National Alliance of Busine ssmen, which directs the J.O.B.S. program,
has an office
just a short distance from the White House.
steered
Locally, the JOBS programs are
by
Metropolitan Area
chairmen who name Metro
directors to work under them-usually men from
their own business firms.
In the Grand Rapids area, the JOBS program will be
headed by
Frederik Meijer, executive-vice-president, of Meijer, Inc. I know he will do a
great job as our
Metro Chairman.
Under the JOBS program, the Federal Government offers to pay local
employers for the extra expenses that are involved in giving on-the-job training
to the hard-core unemployed. These people are often very difficult to train, and that
is where the special expenses come in.
two-thirds of the employers
now
participating in the JOBS program have refused to take any money from the
Government.
l compliment them.
The JOBS
program is an outstanding example of how the business community
in America is helping
us build a better Nation. It is a shining example,
too, of what can be accomplished through
voluntarism--the
help that individual
citizens and local organizations can give the Federal Government in solving problems
that plague the entire country.
GERALD LIBRARY
-3-
with
I have always deeply felt that
programs like J.O.B.S.
we can lick our local problems, give our left-out citizens a stake in our
community and thus make our communities a better place for
all of us to live.
That is why I wrote to President Nixon last February, urging that Grand Rapids be
included in the J.O.B.S. program. And that is why I was highly pleased when
the President expanded the JOBS program and made Grand Rapids a part of it.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 26-27, 1969.
This is your congressmam, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
This past week there was great news for millions of American taxpayers.
Federal income tax relief is on the way, and tax reform is in the making.
That was the word from President Nixon as he announced plans to
cut
the income tax surcharge in half
next Jan. 1 and to virtually eliminate
Federal income taxes for two million low-income Americans.
The President presented his tax-cutting proposals to Congress in a package
which also included some important the present tax structure.
Mr. Nixont made it clear that in his view
the income tax sur charge
can be cut in half only if Congress also repeals the
7 per cent tax credit
now given business and industry for investment in new plant and equipment.
The reason President Nixon tied these two proposals together is that the
lost through
revenue
reduction of the surcharge
has to be
picked up somewhere else--and
repeal of the investment tax credit would
result.
accomplish that
There is another compelling reason for repealing the investment tax credit.
It is extra fuel
for an economy that right now is
must
running at top speed. We have to slow down the economy if we are going to whip
inflation
Despite all of the other fiscal and monetary
slowdown actions
taken by the Nixon Administration and the Federal Reserve Board, prospects for
too
curbing inflation did not look favorable. Repeal of the investment tax credit therefore
appeared
to be
a most logical step.
very pleased
I am must happy about the Nixon moves toward tax reduction. I have long felt
-2-
are
that Federal income taxes
too high, and that the hard-working people in
Federal
Kent and Ionia Counties and throughout the Nation deserver a Atax
break.
I would like to cut taxes further, but we must bide our time because
inflation is also Serious problem. It doesn' do do us. much good to have more money
to spend if prices keep going up on everything we buy.
Some of the
happiest features of recent
Nixon Administration
proposals are the help they offer for our senior citizens--taking many of them
off the tax rolls as low-income individuals, fighting inflation to hold down
the
prices they must pay for the necessities of life,
increasing Social
Security benefits and raising the limits on the amounts they may earn without loss of
Social Security Our senior citizens
our
benefits.
deserve our help and encouragement for self-help.
They are entitled to live their golden years in dignity and
serenity.
To return to tax reform, I want to say I am pleased that the Nixon
Administration is acting to make sure that high-income individuals pay income taxes
along with other less fortunate Americans. Whatever method is
used to
accomplish this objective, I
certainly am very much in favor of such
action.
President Nixon
last week also turned his attention to a stepped-up
war on organized crime.
Perhaps few Americans realize the extent to which orgamized crime victimizes
all Americans, and especially the poor--those whose hopeless lives
make
gambling and the use of drugs an attradtive escape.
If we are to
cut the cost of crime in America, we must raise the
strongly
of fighting it. So I am going to back President "ixon 100 per centain the requests
whose FORE LIBRARY
BER
-3-
he has made of Congress to help fight organized
crime. This will mean
a doubling of present Justice Department funds for
war against the
racketeers but I believe it will pay off by putting the leaders of the Mafia
behind bars.
This
is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reperting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
FORD LIBRARK & GERALD
SCRIPT TAPED FORMS USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF XPRXXMAY 3-4, 19697
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
up pretty fast
The
wheels are turning in Congress now, as
President Nixon begins sending legislation to Capitol Hill to carry out the program
he recently outlined in a kind of State-of-the-Union Message.
This past week the President gave us the specifics on his crusade against
organized crime. I was very much impressed by the legislation and so I joined with
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee in introducing the Administration's
anti-crime bill.
believe the
I think prospects
that Congress will approve the Nixon attack on organized
crime are good. One
reason to believe so is that Rep. Emanuel Cellery of
New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, joined with committee Republicans
in sponsoring the legislation.
The Nixon anti-crime bill focuses on big-time gambling and organized crime.
It would strike at bribery and corruption-the grease-the-palm-with-silver stuff
which makes it possible for the gamblers to carry on their operations in large-scale
fashion.
illegal
It's tough to fight gambling because the typical reaction you get from many
Americans is: So what if
people place a $2 bet on a horse or buy a numbers slip
or a football card? How does that hurt anybody?
answer is that illegal gambling channels huge sums of money into the pockets
of the overlords of organized crime, the
Cosa Nostra leaders, the Mafia.
Those millions
are used to buy hard drugs like heroin which then pass from the
drug pushers to the dope addicts. That's part of the overall operation.
FORD LIBRARY
Even at that point some Americans say, "So what? What people are really
concerned about is crime in the streets--the muggings,
robbery, the holdups."
-2-
They're absolutely right, of course. But what they are for getting is that a large
number of the holdups now taking place daily in cities throughout the country are
committed by drug addicts who have to steal in order to support their habit.
In addition-and little attention has been placed on this as yet-the President
is asking
Congress to provide the states and local law enformement agencies with
every possible bit of assistance in fighting
the ordinary garden-variety
kind
n
of street crime.
The Law Enforcement Assistance Act Congre SS passed last year authorize
an appropriation of up to $300 million for law enforcement This is
aid
in addition to the attack now being mounted by
President Nixon
on organized crime. And President Nixon is anxious to see that the full amount of
this
law enforcement aid is made available to local police forces.
So what we will have, 7 is a three-pronged attack on crime under the Nixon
well, a
Administration, We will expand the FBI, establish so-called strike forces in
major cities throughout the nation to track down and bring to justice the leaders of
organized crime, and
employ
new laws-if Congress concurs--to
cut off the flow of illegal g ambling revenue to Mafia
the
leaders by wiping out
bribery and corruption on which
rackets feed.
If the profit can be taken from illegal gambling, we can dry up the funds used
to finance such deadly activities as narcotics traffic. This would be a tremendous
blow for order and decency
DO
President Nixon also is
getting ready
to
FORD
swing another haymaker at
vice.
He is preparing a Presidential message
dealing with obscenity.
GERALD
LIBRARY
-3-
As it
now is shaping up, this proposed obscenity legislation
would
list materials that could not be sold to minors. It would be based on
a New York
statute which
last year was upheld by the United States
Supreme Court. The legislation as drafted also would strengthen the present
ads
law
providing a means for stopping the mailing of obscene
to people's homes.
This is your
congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you against next week--same time, same station.
#####
DEBALO FORD LIBRARY
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 10-11, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
every
and
I am sure
man
woman in America
would
like to see
great,
poverty wiped out in our country. It is, of course, a tremendous problem. We must
not make glowing promises to the poor or to the Nation as a whole. We must do
the best we can. We must do the best we know how.
It was in that spirit that President Nixon this past week announced plans to
expand the food stamp program--to virtually double it, in fact and to launch an
attack on malnutrition in America.
It is in that spirit, too, that the President has asked for only a one-year
extension of the present Ecomomic Opportunity Act. We are
coming to know
So
the strengths and weaknesses of our various anti-poverty projects as we go along.
during the year that the present Anti-Poverty Act is extended, President Nixon will
develop and suggest all possible means of sharpening
the attack on poverty in America.
Meantime, the President has mapped a large-scale expansion of our food
distribution programs and
has taken
other steps to deal with the serious problem of malnutri tion in America. I strongly
develop
support
the Administration's move to
programs aimed
america.
at ending hunger and malnutrition in our country,
The House of Representatives last week took a related action by extending and
enlarging the school milk program. I was happy to be among those voting for the
exclusively
measure. The House rejected a move to restrict milk at a reduced price to needy
children. The reasons were that all children should be encouraged to drink milk,
which is the near-perfect food, and to restrict reduced-price milk to the needy would
be to stigmatize those youngsters.
FORD LIBRARY is BERALD
-2-
The Congress currently is embroiled in controversy over a Nixon
Administration move to close down some of our Job Corps centers. These centers
are being closed
simply because they have not measured up in terms of job
placement of trainees and in terms of
tay
giving the taxpayer a good return on his dollar.
President Nixon therefore is standing firm on his proposal--which
calls for a
net
reduction of 29 in the number of our Job Corps
centers.
Fifty conservation centers, plus two men's urban centers and seven women's
centers will be closed. and the trainees shifted to other facilities. Fifty-four of
the present Job Corps centers will be kept open, and the
Nixon Administration
also
will
establish 30 new centers. in or near cities.
So any charge that the
Nixon Administration is killing the Job Corps is
false.
What is happening is that the Labor Department is consolidating all of its
manpower training programs, and the Job Corps will be part of the overall picture.
The objective is to provide the best and most suitable training N our disadvantaged
young people and hard-core unemployed and K to try to make sure there's a good job
waiting for them when they finish their training.
The
truth is that the Administration is
expanding manpower training
opportunities and job opportunities for our youth and others.
One example of this is the fact that
President Nixon has expanded the
Job Opportunities In The Business Sector Program from 50 cities to 125, including
Grand Rapids and Flint. I urged that the
JO.B.S. program be extended to
Grand Rapids and was most pleased when
this was done.
BERALD ORD LIBRARY
-3-
The key elements in keeping America growing
to train, educate and upgrade
our people,
keep the economy
sound and thriving and create hundredsr
of
thousands of new jobs each year.
The Nixon Administration is dedicating itself to those objectives and to
keeping America strong.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
#####
GREATO FORD
RADIO SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 17-18, 1960 BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
and I four eventually an all relunter army
I am in favor of ending the drafts I have long urged an all-volunteer military
force for the United States. But it is also clear to me that it is necessary to
continue the draft as long as
this Nation is at war.
We are at war, and so the draft must go on
as long as the war goes on.
I want to see the Vietnam War ended as soon as possible. I think it will be
possible to end it on the basis of an honorable negotiated peace.
Meantime, the draft
continues as the war continues. And so the draft must
be made as fair as possible for all of our young men.
President Nixon this past week sent Congress a plan
to reform the draft.
I think it is a plan which makes the draft as fair as possible--and so I will
support the President's draft reforms as vigororously as I
can.
There is no question that the draft is
a terribly disruptive force in.
It was during WWII, It was during Korea, and its
the same today
a young man's lifer It wrenches Min out of civilian life and places him in
Tayoung man
a totally new and far different environment. It places him in a situation where
ultimately his life may be at stake.
more
This is why I say that there is no issue
important to a young man and his
parents than the draft when this country is at war--and we are at war.
So we must do everything we can to erase the inequities in the present draft
laws. I think President Nixon's draft reforms have given Congre SS the
blueprint
to do exactly that.
The
President's proposed
draft reforms
are
based on two fundamental concepts--that the period in which a young man may be drafted
FORD
should be limited to one year of his life; and that selection of draftees should be
by "lot" random choice.
GERA
IBRARY
-2-
The idea is to eliminate present inequities under the existing birthday system
and
not to keep a man in suspense during his entire draft-el tigible period of
age 19 to 26.
Under the President's plan, the period in which a young man
would
most
likely be drafted would be normally limited to the 12 months following his 19th
birthday. The exception would be a student deferred to go to college. He
would
be
liable for the draft after he finished school--
in line with how high a number he drew when he was 19.
Here is how the system would work: At age 18, the young man would register for
the draft. At age 19, he would become eligible for callup in the Selective Service
Year that began after he reached his 19th birthday. He would be eligible for callup
drew
in accordance with the number he in the lottery. If he were not called
up during his maximum eligibility year--age 19 to 20--he normally would not be called
at all. However, a young man drawing a high number but getting a student
deferment would become vulnerable for callup on the basis of that high number
immediately after finishing college.
The need for a lottery system
to achieve the greatest possible fairness
becomes
obvious when we consider that about 2 million men reach age 19 each year
but draft callups are running about 265,000 men a year.
I believe prospects that Congress will approve President N ixon's draft reforms
are good. The key man in the House, Armed Services Committee Chairman Mendel
saidhe sees
Rivers of South Carolina has said he is open to persuasion
no
obstacle to random selection of drafteds unless there a re other offsetting
disadvantages.
FORD LIBRARY
If we have to employ the draft--and currently we do--then the only way to make
-3-
the system work
sensibly is to spread the risk of induction equally
among all who are eligible. This cannot be done unless we change from the present
birthdate system to the random selection system proposed by the President.
and obviously d autome
I welcome any suggestions you may have or any criticism. Please write and
let me know how I can be
of service to you.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.
######
GERALD FORD LIBRAR,
SCRIPT TAPED WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE (MAY 24-25) BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
The action scene in Washington has been changing even faster than the weather.
There have been many developments--most of them of major importance to every
nation
man, woman and child in Kent and Ionia Counties as well as the rest of the country.
President Nixon has embarked on new initiatives for peace in Vietnam and
has struck a responsive chord throughout the
non-Communist world. In fact,
there is every reason to believe that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong are seriously
considering Mr. Nixon's Eight Points, as his peace plan is being called. I say this
because the other side has simply sought to rebut the President's proposals but has
not rejected them outright. When you are dealing with the Communists, that
possible
movement toward meaningful peace negotiations.
I know there are some Americans who believe
we should no longer
take any kind of offensive action in Vietnam. But the problem is that the only way
we can achieve
even the modest peace goals
outlined by President
far
Nixon is to convince Hanoi that the cost of continuing the fighting is too great. We
cannot do that
simply by becoming sitting ducks--the everyday targets of enemy
rockets and suicide charges.
The greater the support we give President Nixon the sooner we can end the war.
Those who seek political advantage from the war will not bring peace any closer.
As President Nixon said in his Vietnam speech to the Nation, Hanoi's only hope for a
military takeover in Vietnam is a collapse of the public will in America. And that must
never happen.
While the war goes on and we work unceasingly for peace, we must also impose some
discipline on ourselves as a Nation. That is why I very strongly
supported
LIBRARY
-2-
a congressional ceiling on federal spending despite the fact that Budget Bureau
Director Bob Mayo seemed greatly pained by it.
I think there are many benefits to be derived from putting a lid on spending by
the
Executive Branch of the
Federal Government.
I can understand why Mr. Mayo would be aggrieved. He believes he did a good job
in cutting $4 billion out of former President Johnson's fiscal 1970 budget. And I
think he did.
do,
too. But a congressional ceiling on spending will serve to hold down
expenditures far more effectively than
any budget review,
We need to enforce policies of restraint on spending and credit in order to
bring inflation under control. A lot of people will be hurt in this country if prices
harmed to some extent
probably quite
keep going up 4 per cent or more a year indefinitely. In fact, the ultimate result
seriously
or even possibly
of uncontrolled inflation will be a recession and deep unemployment.
What I want to see is a gradual easing off--a gradual return to price stability
without
without a recession and heavy unemployment.
involves
If that
holding down on federal spending, including spending by the
Defense Department, then that is exactly the course we should follow.
I want to say at this point that I am extremely disturbed by such developments
as the sinking of the nuclear submarine, Guittaro, and the obviously
excessive
massive
costs of the C-5A ^ transport plane. I also would like it known that I applaud
Defense Secretary Laird's decision to cancel the Cheyenne helicopter contract on the
basis of excessive costs. to the Fed. Dou.
As
former senior Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,
I am keenly aware of the close watch that should be kept on military procurement
practi 188 and the cost of new weapons and equipment. It is only fair to mention
GERAL FORD VIBRARY
that the disturbing developments I have cited originated with the previous
-3-
administration.
They were contracts signed, sealed, and delivered before
-
Suy Laird took over).
We are tightening up on federal spending. We are moving against inflation.
We are acting to combat crime. We are stepping up training of the hard-core
unemployed. We are creating more jobs. We are moving
to end the war in
Vietnam and to achieve sound prosperity. These are objectives all americans
sud,
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll
be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 31-JUNE 1, 1969 BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
As the Nation marked Memorial Day this year, the thought struck me that for
of controns
the first time in the last four years there appears to be reel hope for peace in
Vietnam.
I believe that / because
President Nixon has truly made a case in
the court of world opinion and that the
crushing burden of guilt
for continuing the tragic war in Vietnam rests squarely on the North Vietnamese.
As we observed Memorial Day, I uttered a prayer
that
it will not be many more months before the guns will be silent
in Vietnam and the work of building peace in that part of the world can proceed.
This past week the attention of the Congress turned to a major domestic
that plague us because we continue to run
concern--the staggering problems our Post Office Department
as an outmoded political
institution.
President Nixon sent the Congress a plan to put the Post Office Department
on a business basis-convert it into a government-owned corporation dedicated to
efficien cy and the best possible service to the public.
But I will be frank to say that nobody gives the President's postal reform
legislation much chance of winning congressional approval.
I
will be
equally frank and say that
Mr. Nixon's postal
reform bill probably won't even get out of the House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee-at least not in any form
resembling the original proposal. This is
informate This is because
representatives of postal unions would
rather bargain with the Post Office and Civil Service Committees than with a
non-political board of directors. And some members of the Post Office and
Civil FORD LIBRARY
political
SERA
Service Committees
want to keep the power they now wield.
-2-
Those are the political facts in the situation.
There are other facts, of course-facts that should persuade postal workers
that they would be better off under businessetype management. After all, they
would retain their Civil Service annuity rights, veterans preference and other
benefits
At the same time they would for the first time enjoy
true
collective bargaining power, with a provision for binding arbitration when agreement
could
not be reached.
Some union representatives have been quoted as saying that they won't go for the
businessetype postal service proposal unle SS postal employes are
given the right
postal employes
to strike. I am opposed to giving
the right to strike. I think
binding
arbitration is a reasonable answer to an impasse between
postal
employe bargainers and the government. A strike against the public is not.
What about the public? Where do the people stand on this question of
reforming
the postal service, improving mail delivery, erasing our postal deficits that cost the
taxpayer nearly a billion dollars a year?
President Nixon's
postal reform plan is
a proposal which would benefit
both the postal employes and the public--and I think the people ought to be heard from.
I think there should be a spontaneous outpouring of letters to members of Congress from
the people, letting the Congre SS know that the people want the last vestige of politics
removed from our postal service.
In 1830
the great Daniel Webster described the Federal Government as "the
people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the
people."
If the people want postal reform-and
make their wishes known--I think Congress will respond.
they GERALO FORD LIBRARY
-3-
Whenever there is a tremendous public demand for legislation to remedy
a problem, the Congress eventually complies with the public will.
The United States House of Representatives has been called "the people's
House." I hope the people let their men in Washington, their men in
"the
people's House," know they want reform of our postal service.
This is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to
you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
######
GERALD'S LIBRASY TORD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 31--JUNE 1. 1969 BY FIFTH DISTRICT
RADIO STATIONS.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
As the Nation marked Memorial Day this year, the thought struck me
that for the first time in the last four years there appears to be an
atmosphere of cautious hope for peace in Vietnam.
I believe that because President Nixon has truly made a case in the
court of world opinion and that the crushing burden of guilt for continuing
the tragic war in Vietnam rests squarely on the North Vietnamese.
As we observed Memorial Day, I uttered a prayer that it will not be
many more months before the guns will be silent in Vietnam and the work of
building peace in that part of the would can proceed.
This past week the attention of the Congress turned to a major domestic
concern -- the staggering problems that plague us because we continue to run
our Post Office Department as an outmoded political institution,
President Nixon sent the Congress a plan to put the Post Office
Department on a business basis -- convert it into a government-owned cor-
poration dedicated to efficiency and the best possible service to the public.
But I will be frank to say that nobody gives the President's postal
reform legislation much chance of winning congressional approval.
I will be equally frank and say that Mr. Nixon's postal reform bill
probably won't even get out of the House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee -- at least not in any form resembling the original proposal.
This is unfortunate.
This is because representatives of postal unions would rather bargaan
with the Post Office and Civil Service Committees than with a non-political
board of directors. And some members of the Post Office and Civil Service
Committees want to keep the political power they now wield.
Those are the political facts in the situation.
There are other facts, of course -- facts that should persuade postal
workers that they would be better off under business-type management. After
all, they would retain their Civil Service annuity rights, veterans prefer-
once and other benefits. At the same time they would for the first time
enjoy true collective bargaining power, with a provision for binding arbi-
tration when agreement could not be reached.
Some union representatives have been quoted as saying that they won't FORD
go for the business-type postal service proposal unless postal employes are
GERALD
LIBRARY
-2-
given the right to strike. I am opposed to giving postal employes the right
to strike. I think binding arbitration is a reasonable answer to an impasse
between postal employe bargainers and the government. A strike against the
public is not.
What about the public? Where do the people stand on this question
of reforming the postal service, improving mail delivery, erasing our postal
deficits that cost the taxpayer nearly a billion dollars a year?
President Nixon's postal reform plan is a proposal which would benefit
both the postal employes and the public -- and I think the people ought to
be heard from. I think there should be a spontaneous outpouring of letters
to members of Congress from the people, letting the Congress know that the
people want the last vestige of politics removed from our postal service.
In 1830 the great Daniel Webster described the Federal Government as
"the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answer-
able to the people."
If the people want postal reform -- and they make their wishes known --
I think Congress will respond.
Whenever there is a tremendous public demand for legislation to reardy
a problem, the Congress eventually complies with the public will.
The United States House of Representatives has been called "the
people's House." I hope the people let their men in Washington, their men
in "the people's House," know they want reform of our postal service.
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
I'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.
# #
GERALD R. FORD
7-8
SCRIPT TAPED BY MR. FORD FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF JUNE E-Z, 1969, BY TH DIST. RADIO
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's capital.
The biggest news
in recent days was, of course, President Nixon's
the U.S.
announcement that we will withdraw 25,000 American troops from South Vietnam
starting next month.
I do not want to appear overly optimistic, but I feel that this
development
is far more significant than it has been described by many other
members of Congress.
I say this because the United States is--after all-taking some troops out
of Vietnam for the first time since former President Johnson began our
massive troop buildup there in February, 1965.
Let's get this clear. This action by President Nixon marks a beginning of
American de-escalation in South Vietnam-- reduction
of our role in
out
the war way there.
While it is true that the figure of 25,000
is small in relation to our
overall troop commitment of 538,000 up to this point, this initial withdrawal
nevertheless constitutes an important beginning.
It is a beginning pointed toward the withdrawal of all foreign
troops from South Vietnam. It is a beginning aimed at giving the
Vietnam War
back to the South Vietnamese. It is a beginning that spells de-Americanization of
the war at least in small part- a movement that we hopefully can continue in
markthe
sizable fashion as we move into 1970. It
may
beginning of truly
meaningful negotiations in Paris.
Unfortunately, the
Communists are pursuing the same
FORD LIBRARY
fight-and-talk strategy in Vietnam that they followed in Korea. But there has
-2-
been a significant
change in the Vietnam situation since President Nixon
took office. There has been a shift in world opinion to the side of the United
tates and this has in turn produced a change in atmosphere at
the
bargaining
sessions in Paris.
By this I mean that the Nixon Administration has
pursued
a strategy which has squarely fixed the blame for continuation of the Vietnam
War on the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
We have done this by applying restraint in the face of Communist rocket
attacks on South Vietnamese cities and suicide-style attacks on American outposts,
both aimed at breaking down the American will to achieve
our simple,
fundamental goal in
Vie tnam: national self-determination for the South
Vietnamese people.
President Nixon has held down the level of fighting in Vietnam except for
maintaining pressure on the enemy, a strategy I feel we must continue to employ.
Mr. Nixon has made it clear that all the United States wants in Vietnam is a
fair election in which the South Vietnamese will decide--at the polls and not at
the point of a gun-what kind of government they
are to have.
Certainly the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese have scoffed at President
Nixon's announcement that we will putl out 25,000 American troops beginning next
month. They
have been waging a desperate propaganda campaign directed
toward the American people--a campaign intended to make the American people so
impatient with the Vietnam situation that
the demand
will be for a
Communists
massive unilateral withdrawal of American troops. The don't
like the ideaof
taking their chances in a free election in South Vietnam. And they know that Mr.
now
Nixon's
withdrawal of 25,000 U.S. troops places them in a difficult position,
psychology ically--a difficult position in the court of U.S. and world opinion.
-3-
The meeting of President Nixon and President Thieu on Midway Island may
well have
marked a turning point in the V ietnam War. I had that feeling
talking with
Mr. Nixon immediately after his return to Washington--
a meeting at which the President gave me and other congressional leaders a
detailed run-down on the Midway Island conference. What is needed now is
widekspread support of the President by the American people. I hope it is
forthcoming.
This
is your congressman, Jerry Ford,
reporting to you
from Washington, D.C. I'll be talking with you again next week same time,
same station.
#####
GERALD
SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 14-15, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.
Each year there is a special day when we reaffirm our belief in the ideas and
aspirations we Americans share as a
people who live in the finest country
on the face of this earth.
It
is Flag Day, a day we mark on June 14th. It was President Woodrow
Wilson who in the midst of World War I proclaimed June 14th as Flag Day. The
year was 1916.
to Americans
In simple yet eloquent words, President Wilson made clear what Flag Day meant
53 years ago when it was first observed and what it means to us today. He said:
"The things that the Flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great
people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The Flag is the
embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history. It represents the experiences
made
by men and women, the experiences of those who do and live under the Flag."
Perhaps many Americans today do not know why President Wilson designated June 14th-
that particular date--as Flag Day. The answer is that it was on June 14, 1777, that
the Continental Congress decided
the form
of the Flag which
was to be the proud emblem of
what was to become the greatest Nation
in the world.
The Continental Congress resolved: "That the flag of the 13 United States be
13 stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be 13 stars, white on a
blue field, representing a new conste: llation." The stars were
arranged in a circle so
that no colony would take precedence over another.
FORD
was fought to
Under this Flag, the American revolution
a glorious end, and the
LIBRARY & GERALIA RL
President of the United States was inaugurated.
-2-
George Washington described the symbolism in the Flag. He said: WWe take the
stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by
white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white
stripes shall go down in posterity representing liberty."
Now, 192 years since the Continental Congre SS first proclaimed a design for
our Flag, we have 50 stars on the Flag's field of blue to represent our 50 states,
and our proud banner has
flown
throughout the
world.
There are those in our country today who sneer at patriotism and others who
go so far as to defile our Flag. I feel pity for them. Their hearts and their
minds must be empty places.
I do not believe patriotism and love of our Flag is dead in America. It is not
always
wildly evident, but the deep love that our people feel for our
country is there nevertheless.
Henry Ward Beecher wrote: "A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees
not the flag only, but the Nation itself, and whatever may be its symbols, its
insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths,
the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth."
And so it is when we Americans look at our Flag. We see it as the symbol of
our values, our principles, and our determination to succeed as a free and
democratic people It is a symbol that guides us through the darkness of hatred
and
divisivene s. Ours must continue to be a patriotism that stands
not only for love of countr y but for love of people. For that is the great strength
of America--the generosity and good sense of its people,
GERALD
-3-
In these days when some of our young men have waved the Viet Cong flag and
Communist victory
called for a
In
Vietnam, it is appropriate to r ecall the
words of President Theodore Roosevelt when he said: "We have room in this Country
for but one flag, the Stars and Stripes. .We have room for but one loyalty-loyalty
to these United States."
This is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll be
talking with you again next week-same time, same station.
GERALD LIDERA FORD
Radio script taped June 27, 1969 for use on 5th District Radio Stations
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Congressman Jerry Ford with your weekly
radio program from the Nation's Capital.
On this program I've asked Congressman Clarence Brown of the State of
Ohio who is a member of the committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to
discuss with me legislation which the House considered and approved this
past week in reference to stiffening the advertising requirements as far as
cigarettes are concerned. Nice to have you on the program.
Jerry, nice to be with you. It is a pleasure to have the chance to
talk to people in Michigan.
Mr. Ford -- Well, you're an expert in this area on this important
legislation which your committee recommended and the House approved. Will
you give us the benefit of your annalysis of this legislation.
Brown -- I think that the most significant thing that the average
citizen will note as a change XM as a result of this legislation is the
fact the warning on the cigarette pack will be a lot stiffer than it was.
The warning will now say that the surgeon general has determined that smoking
cigarettes is dangerous to your health and may cause lung cancer MMX
and
other diseases. Currently the warning just says, "Cigarette smoking may be
dangerous to your health." The reason for the legislation is that there has
/in
been quite a controversy on the degree of danger and the smoking of cigar-
ettes and the MMM use of other tobacco products. Of course, this is a multi-
billion dollar industry, and there are a lot of people in the country that
make a lot of money growing tobacco, and making cigarettes and selling
tobacco. And the economic effect of it has to be given consideration. And
then the issue was whether or not the Federal Trade Commission should ban
the advertising of cigarettes or whether the Federal Communications киниха
Commission should ban the advertising of cigarettes on television and
radio, the agencies of communication licensed by the Federal Government.
Mr. Ford -- Wasn't one of the issues here whether one or more Federal
administrative agencies should exercise prerogatives which the Congress
itself felt it ought to decide to exercise.
Brown -- That's right. The agencies still have the authority to lim t
advertising terms and some of the things that go on radio and television.
But the fact of the matter is that there still is a controversy of the
degree of danger of cigarette smoking . I'm a former cigarette smoker myself.
I decided it was not the best thing in the world for you and gave it up.
But we got very controversial testimony ИНИ on our committee on just how
dangerous cigarettes are and what the real causes of lung cancer can be.
And you you know there are a lot of things in this world that are dangerous.
AHMX Automobiles made in Michigan and Ohio are dangerous, but the question
is whether you should ban them. Whether it's an undue intrusion
Mr. Ford -- Certainly whether Congress or an administrative agency
in the federal government should exercise the prerogative in the first
instance.
Brown -- That's correct. Because there was considerable doubt that
we felt that the Congress ought speak to this subject. And of course the
Congress has the control over these administrative agencies when it
wishes to exercise it . But in order to expedite our work, we give to
the administrative agencies the right in certain instances to go ahead
and take action in our name.
LXX
Well, this was one of those instances
where they were going to take action in our name that the Congress felt
they should not take. So in effect, the legislation basically prohibits
the agencies from taking action except as the Congress prescribed. And
here again, we prescribed a firmer label on the pack, but we did not allow
the agencies or it was decided that we would not permit the agencies
to ban all cigarette advertising, for instance.
Mr. Ford -- And in addition, I think it ought to be pointed out. Isn't
there expanded research going on at the present time as to whether or not
and to what degree there is a connection between cigarette smoking and
lung cancer and many other diseases.
Brown -- There is -- There has been ever since the attorney general's
report which initially raised this question and since that time the results
of such research have not been very definitive. Another thing come out of
the subcommittee hearings and the full committee hearings, and that was that
the advertising agencies , the television program people themselves should
restrict their practices and try to clean up the advertising they do.
Mr. Ford -- Well, thank you very much Congressman Clarence Brown of
Ohio and member of the Committee on Interstate anf Foreign Commerce for
being on this program. I'm very grateful.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Congressmany Jerry Ford signing
off KM until next week, same time, same station.
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"ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D36, folder \"Fifth District Weekly Radio\nReports, January-June 1969\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and\nSpeech File at the 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.\nDigitized from Box D36 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nSCRIPT TAPED WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE OVER FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from\nthe\nnation's capital.\nWashington is a mighty busy place these days. Much of the activity results\nfrom a change in administrations. History is being made. The old administration\nis getting in a few last licks. The outgoing President has given us\nhis views on the\nState of the Nation, and a new President will be sworn into\noffice this coming Monday.\nWashington\nwill be a gala city Monday. The attention of the entire\nNation will be\nfocused on the changeover in national leadership.\nthe\nmoment when\nRichard Nixon stands before the world and\nswears to \"faithfully executé the Office of President of the United States\" and\nto \"preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.\"\nBefore and after the swearing-in ceremony visitors from\nWest\nMichigan will be\nserved refreshments in my office in the United States\nCapitol Building. I and other members of the Joint Congressional Committee\nnew\non Inaugural Ceremonies will be host at a luncheon for the President and\nVice-President and their\nfamilies.\nMy wife Betty and I\nwill\nbe very much involved in other Inaugural\nDay events aswell.\nSo we are moving into a new year with new leaders.\nAnd\nif we pause and lay aside the gala aspects of the changeover in administrations,\nwe see the agenda of these new leaders and of the new\n91st Congress loaded with\nweighty problems.\nECRALD FORD LIBRARY\nIn that connection it seems most appropriate that the\n-2-\n91st Congre SS paused recently to honor the three brave\nAmericans who\nperformed the historic feat of orbiting the moon.\nI was struck by a thought as I and other selected members of the Congress\nescorted the three American moonmen to their place of honor in the well of the\nHouse of Representatives. And the thought was this: The problems that face the\nnew President and the new Congress seem almost incapable of solution. They are\nsame degree of\nstaggering problems. But if we bring to them the vigor and determination\nwent into the flight of Apollo 8\nthat\nthere is no problem we cannot solve, no\ndifficulty\nwe cannot surmount.\nThe feat of the Apollo 8 astronauts has filled us all with tremendous\npride. This was a demonstration not only of the g reatness of American\ntechnology but the greatne SS of the Ane rican spirit.\nStill there are those of our people, I know, who\nask\nwhether Project Apollo makes sense in terms of the gigantic outlay\nof dollars\nnecessary to finance it.\nFor those who see no justification for\nProject Apollo expenditures\npurely in tterms of\nexploring the universe, a look at the down-to-earth\ninnovations resulting from space\ntechonology is in order.\ncome up with\nAlready, the National\nAeronautics and Space Administration has\nmore than 2,750 technical innovations which may\nbe used\nin\nindustry, medicine and other\nareas.\nOne is\na miniature paint spray gun. Another is an automatic alarm that\nkeeps watch over hospital\npatients who are suffering from breathing diff iculties.\nNASA scienti ists and engineers\nalso have designed valves, pumps, filters and\n-3-\nwill\nswitches that function with a reliability never before achieved. And that\npay off in more\nways than keeping men alive in space.\nnow\nCongre SS\nis organizing to grapple with the Nation's problems as\nAmerica's prestige\ngets a\nliftoff along with our moonmen.\nWe must come together as a people if we are to\nmove our Nation ahead.\nWe can do so if we face the future with the spirit of daring that inspired the\nApollo 8 astronauts--the\ndesire to forge great new accomplishments.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington.\nI'll be visiting with you again next week-same time, same station.\nGERALD XEVERIT FORD\nREMARKS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DIST. RADIO STATIONS ON THE\nWEEKEND OF JAN. 25-26, 1969.\nrecorded\n1/22/69\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nStudents of government are mulling over the Inaugural Address made by\nPresident Nixon on Jan. 20 and are finding much substance in its text\nIt was an unusual Inaugural Address, perhaps the most unusual ever delivered\nin this country.\nIt was unusual because it was peculiarly appropriate to our times, both\nin content and in delivery. And these are unusual times.\nCommentators have described it as a message of peace. It was that, but it\nwas much more.\nIt contained words of great portent for peace both at home and abroad. But\nit was remarkable not only for the words themselves but for the style in which they\nwere delivered by Mr. Nixon.\nWhen Mr. Nixon said, \"the times are on the side of peace,\" he was expressing\nmore than just hope.\nHe was saying to the world that the forces at work\nthis particular\njuncture\nhistory\nlead us to believe\nwe will find an honorable\nThey also lead us to believe\ncompromise to stop the killing in Vietnam.\nwe will\nfind an acceptable\nformula to avert another war in the Mideast because still another war there could\nproduce a head-on clash between the United States and the Soviet Union.\nIt was most appropriate that Mr. Nixon, a\nman of Quaker\nupbringing,\nshould say: \"The greatest honor\nhistory can bestow is the\ntitle of\npeacemaker.\nIn\nrecent speeches I have ventured the opinion that Mr. Nixon as\nPresident will be numbered among the peacemakers. Those were my very words--and\nFORD LIBRARY\nbelieve it sincerely. As Mr. Nixon has said,\npeacemaking is \"our summons\ngreatness.\n-2-\nI have read and re-read Mr. Nixon's Inaugural Address\nbecause I feel\nit speaks so eloquently in such simple language to all of our people.\nHe made some profound statements, profound because they are simple but they\nspeak to the problems of the times. \"To\na\ncrisis of the spirit,\" he said,\n\"we need an answer of the spirit,\" and \"to find that answer, we need only look\nwithin ourselves.\" And then he\nextolled those qualities America\nhungers for today \"goodness, decency, love and kindne ss.\"\nIf I were to choose the most profound statement from among all of those\nI admire in Mr. Nixon's address it would be this: \"The simple things\nare the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement\nwhat unites us. To lower our voices would be a simple thing.\"\nThos e are the words that speak volumes to us - words that have\nneeded\nsaying for a long time and in just the quiet voice\nwith\nwhich Mr. Nixon\nspoke them.\nWe must\nstop shouting at one another, he said.\nWe must listen to\none another SO that we can learn and understand and lift up our lives together.\nWhat more noble truth\nis there? And how important it is that we perceive it\nat this time.\nThere was, of course, much more in Mr. Nixon's Inaugural Address ---\ncall\nfor \"the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives secure,\" a\nchallenge to all of us to \"build on what has gone before -- not turning away from the\nold, but turning toward the new,\" a call to\nthe concerned and the committed to\njoin in moving the Nation\nforward.\nGERALD FORD VIBRARY\nThis is why I said immediately\nafter the Inaugural Ceremdny that Mr. Nixon's\n-3-\nInaugural Address struck just the right note for this moment in our history.\nAt this time we need in our chief executive a quiet voice, a calm voice, a\nvoice that will bring us together and lead us into\npaths of\npeace and serenity.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week at this same time\nover this same\nstation.\n######\nGERALDA FORD\nRadio Script Taped for Fifth Dist. Use the Weekend of *** Feb. 1-2, 1969.\nTapal 1-38-69\n1-30-69\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nIt was like Old Home Week\nfor President Nixon in the House of\nRepresentatives last tuesday when the President visited the House chamber on an\ninformal basis and just shook hands and chatted with House members.\nThe President later had lunch with me and other members of the House\nRepublican and Democratic leadership groups and with the House Rules Committee,\nthe group which acts like a traffic cop and says \"go\" when a piece of legislation\nis to be taken up on the House floor.\nIt seemed appropriate that the President should visit with House leaders and\nthe Rules Committee Tuesday noon because\nat a breakfast meeting\ndiscussed with\nthat day he\nme and other members of the Republican House and Senate\nleadership the actions he\nwould like Congre SS to take in the\nperiod\nimmediately ahead.\nThis Tuesday-morning meeting with the\nPresident was the first in a\nweekly series of such discussions.\nIt was decided we should declare war against crime on a crash basis. There\nwill be a new urgency in the\nfight against crime, the President\ntold us. The Nixon Administration will, he said, act swiftly and firmly.\nIt was agreed we should ask Congress for more funds this fiscal year to step\nup the:\nwar against crime, particularly in the District of Columbia. Armed\nrobbery has become such a frequent occurrence in the nation's capital--an average\nof 22 a day--that Washington is becoming known as crime city, U.S.A.\nFORD LIBRARY\nSo we are going to have to\nmove on a crash basis to\ncurb\ncrime.\ncannot continue to have the American people\nafratid to visit\nthe capital of the United States.\n-2-\nTurning to a less exciting but nevertheless important matter, we find the\nneed to give the new President the authority to reorgamize the various agencies\nand departments in the Federal Government,\nsubject to congressional veto.\nPresidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson had this authority. The\nlaw providing it expired last Dec. 31. It should be renewed\nas\nquickly\nas\npossible.\nThe Nixon Administration has several\nreorganization\nplans on tap.\nThe new Administration no doubt appears to be moving slowly to take over the\nreins of government. I personally think that caution and deliberateness are\nall to the good. This certainly is a time for reappraisal and review,\nfor\nlooking over what has been done in the past several years\nand sifting\nout that which has not worked,\nI believe the mood of\nmost Americans is that of\nreview and\nreassessment, And I think one of the most reassuring actions President Nixon\nhas taken is to hold up for review all of the old Administration's last-minute\ndecisions which aroused criticism by members of Congress or the press. As he\nsaid, this doesn't necessarily mean the decisions were wrong and will be changed.\nBut it does indicate they need a second look and\nperhaps should be modified\nor reversed,\nWhile the new Administration organizes and begins shaping legislative\nproposals, the new Congress has begun meshing its gears. Members have been assigned\nthe\nto\nvarious committees,\nand hundreds of bills\nhave been introduced--\nmost of them never to see the light of day.\nMeantime hearings have been in progress in the Senate on proposed reform\nFORD or LIBRAEN\nabolition of the Electoral College.\n-3-\nI personally favor electoral college reform. I lean toward direct election\nof the President by popular vote. But I am not committing myself to any particular\nwhatever\nproposal because\nI want to feel free to support\nplan has the best\nprospects of being ratified as the 26th\nAmendment to the Constitution of the United States. In other words, I am interested\nin seeing the problem resolved one way or another.\nI\nam\ninterested in a solution, not a crusade.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI will be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\nScript taped for use by Fifth District Radio Stations the Weekend of Feb. 8-9, 1969\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford reporting to you from the Nation's\ncapital.\nIn a few days we will be marking the birthday of one of the greatest\nAmerican Presidents, the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.\nshort\nAs is traditional, the Congress of the United States will take a in recess\nduring the week that includes Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Congress will resume\nactivity\nits meetings on Feb. 17.\nPerhaps few people realize that Abe Lincoln, the 16th President of the\nUnited States, was a minority President - that is, he was elected with less\nthan 50 per cent of the total popular vote cast in the election of 1860. As a\nmatter of fact, the history books show that Lincoln received slightly less than\n40 per cent of the popular vote. It was a four-man Presidential race, with\nLincoln getting a majority of the electoral vote.\nThe fact that Lincoln achieved greatness in the Presidency is dramatic\nproof that a man may be a minority President and yet be a great President.\nWe have had a number of minority Presidents whose administrations\nproduced great accomplishments. Besides Lincoln, they include Thomas Jefferson,\nchief author of the Declaration of Independence and the President who negotiated\nthe Louisiana Purchase, Woodrow Wilson, our leader in World War I, and Harry\nTruman, the chief executive who launched NATO and the Marshall Plan.\nSo the fact that President Nixon was elected with less than 50 per cent of\nthe popular vote does not take away from his chances to become a truly great\nPresident.\nFORD LIBRARY is GERALD\n-2-\nAll of the minority Presidents I have cited as producing great achievements\nhad one quality in common great strength of character. I believe President\nNixon also has this quality.\nHe will need great strength of character to cope with the problems he\ninherited when he assumed the terrible burden of the Presidency. And he has\nmoved to meet these problems.\nOn his instructions, our negotiators at Paris are pressing hard to scale\ntruly\ndown the fighting in Vietnam, make the Demilitarized Zone/neutral ground\nand bring about a mutual withdrawal of American and North Vietnamese troops from\nSouth Vietnam. It is to create pressure for negotiations on military matters\nthat the Southvietnamese delegation at Paris has refused to bargain with the\nNational Liberation Front regarding political issues.\nThere is some movement toward a settlement of the terrible problem in\nthe Middle East. I am not optimistic that any peace formula can be worked out\nthat the Arabs and Israelis will like, but we may be able to fashion a settlement\nwhich will at least be accepted by the two sides and will form the basis for an\nor the potential over,\nother powers\nend to the fighting I believe President Nixon's decision to jóin with the Soviet\nUnion, France and England to try to work out such a formula is a sound move.\nRevised endregoral\nfinal settlement must come between the parties of active\nBut would add that the final neg otiations and the\nMr. Nixon is acting with the greatest urgency to deal with the Middle\nBast\nsituation. Obviously from what you've read or heard Mr. Anyon is\ninterest which is Israil and the arab nations.\nto\nprotactions\nacting with the greatest urgency to deal with the middle\nEast situation\nAlso with a good sense of priorities the President is moving to step up\nthe war against crime.\nAs agreed at a meeting with me and the Senate minority leader and other\nmembers of the House and Senate Republican Leadership, the President will be\nGERALD FORD\n-3-\nphe problems\nof\nasking Congress for additional funds this fiscal year for a crash attack on n crime.\nThe Congress last year passed legislation making it possible to appropriate\n+\nup to $100,111,000 in federal assistance for state and local anti-crime programs.\nBut the Congress actually appropriated $62.5 million. So now President Nixon\nwill ask for additional crime-fighting funds for the country as a whole. He also\nhas taken steps to beef up crime-fighting forces in Washington, D.C., where an\nin the nation's\naverage of 22 armed robberies a day are occurring and downtown merchants are\ncapitol\nbeing slain in holdups.\nWe are getting action from the White House -- and that action is being\ntaken on the basis of priorities. The outlook for new solutions to our old\nproblems is_good. encouraging.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you next week, same time, same station.\n###\nR.FORD FIBRARY\nScript taped for use by Fifth District Radio Stations the weekend of Feb. 15/16, 1969\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nCongre SS was in recess this week. But next week we will\nvery important\nresume activity, and we expect to receive several messages from the President.\nrecommending various legis. proposale from the WH.\nSince Congre SS has been engaged almost entirely in getting organized, in the\nnew Cong.\nnearly all of the action has been concentrated at the White House in recent days.\nHowever, some of the committees of the House have plunged into subjects of\ngreat interest to most citizens--air safety and the hijacking of airplanes, student\nunrest and riots on college campuses, reform of the electoral college system, and\nthe needs of our war veterans.\nMeantime President Nixon has announced that he will leave Feb. 23 on an\neight-day trip to Europe.\nI am most pleased by the President's decision to visit western Europe. In\nthis\nmy view,\ndemonstrate that the United States henceforth will\nhave a far closer relationship with our western allies.\nThe President has, of course, been deeply concerned with foreign\naffairs during his first few weeks in office. Of necessity he has concentrated on\ntrying to achieve progress in the Vietnam peace talks and movement toward a settlement\nof the Arab-Israeli conflict.\nBut he certainly has not neglected domestic matters? affairs\nProof of this is\nmove\nhis\nto step up the fight against crime, his action to take the Post\nOffice Department out of politics, and his announced intention to send tax reform\nproposals to the Congress.\nFORD LIBRARY & GERALD\nI would prefer to see the present system of appointing postmasters\nchanged through the legislative process, but I definitely favor picking postmasters\n-2-\non the basis of merit. I would like to see the postal system made into a career\nservice where dedicated employes could advance in line with their qualifications\nand where the top job would be open to them on that basis. And, just as important,\nI want to see postal service greatly improved throughout this country.\nI am sure the American people want better postal service, and the sooner\nwe can achieve it the better.\nThe new Postmaster General, Winton Blount, has tolds me he will expedite the\nthe fasis of\nhandling of the mail and will seek to reward postal employes on\nmerit.\nHe\nbelieves--and I do, too--that the details of any changes requiring the approval\nof Congress can be satisfactorily worked out. So I'm all for better postal service\nand a better break for our dedicated Post Office workers.\nI am also pleased that\nPresident Nixon is going to send to the Congress\nlegislation aimed at giving the average citizen a better\nincome tax break.\nNow, in that connection, I would like to caution that legislation of this\nkind takes a long time to move through the congressional mill. There will be long\nhearings before the House Ways and Means Committee, and also before the Senate\nFinance Committee. And as I noted in a recent newsletter to my constituents, what\nis one man's loophole is another man's equity.\nBut there is no question in my mind that our income tax laws need overhauling\nand that this is the time to get busy on the job. I am not surprised that good,\nhard-working citizens who give up a sizable chunk of their weekly paychecks in\nincome taxes become furious when they read about millionaires who manage\nto\nescape\npaying any\nfederal income tax.\nApart from the definite need for revision of individual income tax\nFORD LIBRARY\n-3-\nprovisions, I am pleased that President Nixon will propose tax credits as a device\nto help resolve the problems of our cities. I strongly support the use of\ntax incentives to achieve social objectives-- to provide on-the-job training\nand jobs for our disadvantaged citizens, and to give them and their families a\nhand up instead of a handout.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you\nagain next week, same time, same station.\n#####\nGERALD\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF FEB. 22/23, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nThe hottest topic in Congre SS these days is tax reform. One reason there is\nso much interest in it is that letters\nsmacking\nof a taxp ers revolt have been\n^\npouring into congre ssmen's offices.\nTax reform is a tremendous job, and this week Congre SS made a start on it.\nIt began with the opening of hearings before the House Ways and Means Committee.\nThe Wages and Means Committeer has the responsibility for drafting proposed changes\nin the tax laws for consideration by the House and Senate.\nFormer President Johnson was supposed to send a tax reform report to Congress\nbut didn't do it. He left it to President Nixon to make recommendations\nfor\nchanges in our tax laws. However, the Treasury Department did make tax reform studies\nbe\nand proposals, and President Nixon\nwill\nbasing\nhis recommendations on those studies.\nHere's an item of interest to many individual taxpayers; The Treasury Department\nstudy calls for an increase in llowable deductions. Under this proposal, the\nminimum standard deduction would be liberalized, and tax relief amounting to more than\n$1 billion would go to lower-income families. More than 70 per cent would go to\nthe under $5,000 group, and 18 per cent would go to the $5,000 to $7,500 group.\nThe Treasury Department's tax reform report is 475 pages thick. That gives you\nan idea of the job facing the Ways and Mrana Committee and the Congress.\nThe hearings before the Ways and Means Committee will\nprobably continue\noff and on for more than a year, but there may be some legislation coming out of the\ncommittee during that time in piecemeal fashion.\nFORD LIBRARY \"II\nFor instance, Congressman John Byrnes of Wisconsin, the senior Republican\non the Committee, believes\nsome short-range proposals can be passed this year.\n-2-\nOther, long-range, proposals would be passed in 1970.\ninvolve\n11\nThe\nearly group\nof changes may\ndeductions for\nand\nfarm losses, simplification of income tax returns, the tax treatment of tax-exempt\nand charitable foundations.\nInitial hearings this week\nfocused on the treatment of tax-exempt\norganizations, particularly foundations.\nWhat Congre SS hopes to do in\nthis maj or tax reform effort is to\nachieve fair taxation for all. And of course we want to simplify tax returns for\nthe average taxpayer, who tears his hair every year when he tackles the\ncomplicated job of making out his income tax return.\nTax reform also is important because we want to keep our economy healthy and\ngrowing and to use the full resources of government and private enterprise in behalf\nin\nof all\nthe American people. It is only this way that we can solve the pressing\nand\nproblems of poverty,\nhard-core unemployment inadequate\neducation and housing.\nAs I mentioned before, the tax reform job is a tremendous one. There are nearly\nthirty areas of the Internal Revenue R Code that the Ways and Means Committee will study\nand possibly revise. The last time the tax laws were completely overhauled was 15\nyears ago.\nMany of the subjects about which constituents frequently write to me will be\nconsidered by the Ways and Means Committee. The agenda includes the taxation of single\npersons, tax treatment of municipal bonds,\ncapital gains deductions\nfor\nfarm\nlosses, charitable contributions and moving expenses.\nFORD\nThe hearings will be very\nrevealing to those who follow them. One reason\nLIBRARY\nthere is so much concern about the pre sent laws is that some very wealthy persons are\n-3-\nallegidly\nescaping taxation altogether. Such inequities cannot continue to exist\nwithout triggering a tax revolt.\nThe Congress must eliminate tax abuses. The job will take time. It must be\ndone thoroughly fairly and well. I will support all sensible tax reform provisions.\nMy duty as your congre ssman is to provide you with the best possible\nrepresentation. To do that it is helpful to me to have your constructive suggestions\nincluding your criticisms\nand your views: on the various issues that confront the Congress. So write to\nme. I\nwelcome and appreciate your letters.\nThis is your congre ssmam, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll be back\nwith you rext week, same time, same station.\n######\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USED BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF KEEX MARCH 1-2, 1969\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reprorting to you from Washington.\nPresident Nixon is back home from his trip to Europe, and it seems\nto\nme that he accomplished exactly what he set out to do. He sought to bring Europe\nback into America's focus of interest and to lay the groundwork for future moves\nin the building of peace. In that he has been completely successful.\nHis was a trip of reassurance for our NATO allies. And so at the very beginning\nof it, in speaking to the 15 ambassadors in the NATO headequarters in\nBelgium,\nPresident Nixon promised that our Atlantic allies will be consulted fully before and\nduring his anticipated negotiations with Russia\nIn the past the United States has been criticised for failing in some cases to\nconsult its European allies before making decisions. Mr. Nixon is determined that\nthis shall not happen while he is in the White House, and I applaud that pledge.\nSome observers have sought to make much of the French proposal for a united\nEurope independent of the United States, a story which broke just as Mr. Nixon\ndeparted on his European trip. This proposal was nothing new. What is new is\nthat the Administration we now have in Washington is determined to\nthus\ndevise ways to bring\nthe French and British together and\nstrengthen\nthe\nWest European nations as a third force in the world,\nPresident Nixon is living up to his promises-to revitalize NATO and bring about\na new spirit of cooperation between the United States and Europe. This...in the\ninterests of a stronger defense, concerted initiatives for peace, and the coordination\nof Free World effort which is needed to prevent crises from occurring.\nThe President also has acted\nto move this Nation into the paths of\nFORD LIBRAS\nand\n-2-\nathome\norder and progress\nWithout waiting for Congress to put a lid on, the President\nis\nseeking to eliminate unnecessary federal spending while at the same time\nformulating programs\nto achieve social progress.\nHe has ordered federal agencies not to fill job\nvacancies as they\noccur, to close out low priority programs and to shift the employes involved into\nother programs\ndirectly a ffecting people. In other words,\nnobody will be fired but the federal payroll will be reduced over a period of\ntime without hurting social programs. I strongly approve of this move, particularly\nsince the Administration reports that some federal\nagencies are over-staffed.\nThe President also has\nasked Congress to support\nhim in reforming the postal system--and in this move\nalso I concur. The\nobjective\nis to take politics out of the Post Office Department and to make it\npossible for\ncareer postal employes to aim for the top job in their Post\nOffices on the basis of merit alone.\nMr. Nixon also plans to reorgantize the Executive Branch of the Federal\nGovernment in the interests of greater efficiency.\nTo that end, he has asked Congress to give him\nthe authority to reorganize federal agencies and departments. I hope the Congress\nwill act quickly on the President's request.\nThe President also has acted to reassure those who feared he would scrap the\nAnti-Joverty Program.\nRather than drop the program, Mr. Nixon said, he will\ngive poverty top priority attention. In a message to Congress, Mr. Nixon S aid\nFORD\nresponsibility for running the Head Start and Job Corps programs will\nbe\nGERAL\n-3-\ndelegated to old-line federal agencies but the Office of Economic Opportunity\nwill continue\nin its chief role-that of an innovator of programs to fight\nthe blight of poverty.\nI heartily approve and\nI also look for\nimproved operation\nof federal manpower training programs, with Grand Rapids to be included in the\nwhich provides training and jobs for the hard-core unemployed.\nJobs in the Busine SS Sector Program\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll be with\nyou\nagain next week--same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD ANVURIT FORD\nSCRIPT RECORDED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 8-9, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to\nyou from Washington.\nThis week the eyes and ears not only of America but of the world were tuned\nto Washington, where President Nixon reported on radio and television the results\nof his\nhistoric trip to Europe in search of peace.\nTo me it was significant that the President's report came as three brave\nanother giant step forward in\nAmerican astronauts orbited the earth\non what also was a peace missions\non\nthe exploration of space\nbehalf of all mankind.\nI feel very good about\nPresident Nixon's trip. He laid the\nfoundation\nfor future talks involving the major world powers--talks that could avert events\nwhich\nmight lead to a nuclear showdown between East and West.\nIf I were to look ahead at what might develop as a result of Mr. Nixon's trip,\nI would expect to see four-power talks on the Middle East crisis in an atmosphere\n27\nmust\nOfcounce this should a odder - it would ml be an emposed settlement.\nbe a\nthat might produce an Arab-Israeli settlement. I would also anticipate the strong\nsettlement\npossibility of\nU.S. and Soviet talks\naimed at\nslowing down the\nagreed to\nd\nnuclear arms race and easing other tensions between the two countries.\nthe \"ther\nThese are the impressions I have gathered from taking part in meetings at the\nWhite House with President Nixon and making my own assessment of the fruits of his\nEuropean travels.\nIf there is any one\ndevelopment that stands out from Mr. Nixon's trip it\nmany\nis the opening up of a new era in French-Amsrican relations. In his ten hours of\nconversation with Gen. deGaulle, President Nixon apparently wiped out a decade\nof U.S. and French distrust. This is very meaningful for our pursuit of world peace,\nhopefully\nwith a strong and united Europe at our side.\nFORD LIBRAR.\nIt must have impressed many Americans that President Nixon is determined to carry\n-2-\nout every foreign policy pledge he made during the presidential campaign. You will\nrecall that he vowed to\nturn America\naway from a policy of\nconfrontation to one of negotiation. He is doing exactly that.\nMr. Nixon is also seeking to\nmake good on the campaign promises he\nmade in the field of domestic policy.\nAbout half of the directives he has sent to government agencies and departments\nto date are based on pledges he made during the campaign.\nFor the most part, they deal with the need to reorganize the work of the Federal\nmore\nGovernment and to return more money and power to the states and to the\nprivate sector.\nSome Nixon proposals in the works involve such ideas as a student tutoring corps\nto work with the\nculturally deprived youngster,\ncomputer job bank to fit\nworkers\navailable jobs, and a law to ban the mailing of pornographic\nliterature to\nchildren.\nTo carry out some of his plans toreorganize the Federal Government, President\nNixon needs special authority only the Congress can give. This is authority which\nPresidents Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower and Truman enjoyed before him.\nThe Senate has already passed a bill to invest Mr. Nixon with the necessary\nreorganization authority.\nThe House Committee on Government Operations will hold a hearing on the bill\non Tuesday and is\nexpectedi\nto report it out favorably shortly thereafter.\nThrough reorganization Mr. Nixon hopes to improve the efficiency of the Federal\nGovernment and to cut operating costs. Any plans he develops must be submitted to\nFORD\nCongress. If neither House of the Congress rejects\nta presidential reorganization\nplan within 60 days after it is submitted, it then goes into effect.\n-3-\nSome observers are\ncomplaining that the governmental pace in Washington\nhas slowed.\nI believe most American approve. I\nthat after eight years of experimentation Americans want good, sound,\npractical\nefficient government which produces\nresults--not just more spending\nprograms.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington. I'll\nbe\ntalking with you again next week-same time, same station.\nGERALD\nRADIO SCRIPT FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 15-16, 1969, BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nExcept for college and university campus disorders, the country is\nmost\nrelatively quiet -- and for that we can be, thankful.\nI think the air of calm that pervades the country emanates in the first\ninstance from the White House. President Nixon has set the tone for the Nation --\na tone which calls for common sense and a restoration of order.\nSo the Nixon Administration has achieved a measurable degree of success\nin bringing peace to America on the domestic scene.\nWashington is relatively quiet, also.\nThere has been little acitvity on the floor of the U.S. House of\nLegis.\nRepresentatives, but it isvery early in the session. Right now the work is being\ndone in the committees, where congressmen are diligently exploring the proposed\nother\nFederal budget for fiscal 1970 and a wide variety of national problems.\nSeven subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations are carefully\nexamining all the spending requests in the fiscal 1970 budget sent to Congress in\nJanuary by former President Lyndon Johnson. Meantime the Nixon Administration has\nbeen going over that budget line by line and is suggesting changes in it.\nabout\nThe Johnson budget is made up of 1,111 pages and weighs 10 pounds. It calls\nfor an outlay of more than $200 billion $20 billion per pound or $1½ billion\nper ounce. That comes to $1,000 per man, woman and child in this country.\nWhile the Appropriations Committee labors over the budget, other House\ncommittees are deeply involved in other matters.\nFORD LIBRARY & GERALD\n-2-\nAs I make this report, the House Education and Labor Committee is preparing\nas a whole\nto make its recommendations to the House on a bill to extend the programs of\nassistance in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Health-Education-Welfare\nBob\nSecretary Robert H. Finch, who recently appered in Grand Rapids at my invitation,\ntestified on the bill this past week.\nPresident Nixon's request for power to reorganize the Executive Branch of\nthe Federal Government subject to congressional review is to come before the\nvery\nHouse shortly. It was approved last Monday by the Executive and Legislative\nReorganization Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations.\nThe Senate has already passed it.\nexpraistive\nThe House Ways and Means Committee is conducting hearings on tax reform, an\narea where nearly everybody agrees there should be corrective action. Because\nthe subject is so complex, my guess is there will be some action this year in a\nfew areas but that broad reform will not be attempted until next year.\nHearings also are continuing before both House and Senate committees on\nthe question of changing the Electoral College System of electing the President\nof the United States. I hope the Congress can agree by two-thirds majority on\nchanges which will be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. Like\nPresident Nixon, I am not wedded to any one plan. I would simply like to see\nthe system Nastlig improved by the 1972 presidential election in a way that will better\nreflect the will of the people and eliminate the chief defects of the present\nsystem.\nNext week the House will take up a bill to increase the federal debt limit\nby $12 billion. This does not mean the Federal Government is anticipating a\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n-3-\n$12 billion deficit this fiscal year or next. If all goes well, we may wind up\nwhich is a welcome Charge,\nboth fiscal years with a surplus But the Treasury Department will be borrowing\nmoney from the trust funds -- or, to put it another way, the trust funds will\nbe investing in federal securities. And these transactions must be recorded\nas part of the national debt. So the debt ceiling must be raised to allow for\nthese transactions.\nIt makes sense\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.\n# # #\nGLRALD FORD NERABY\nSCRIPT TAPED MARCH 19, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE (MARCH 22-23) BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nThe week just past produced some significant developments here.\nThe House overwhelmingly passed and sent to the White House for signature\na bill giving President Nixon\npower to reorganize the executive branch of\nthe\nFederal Government, subject of course to veto by\neither House of\nCongress.\nOnly 44 House members voted against the reorganization authority, which is\nbadly needed by President Nixon if he is to promote efficiency and the best\npossible use of the taxpayer's dollar. Those opposing the reogganization bill\nincluded three Michigan Democrats.\nthe same day the House made clear its impatience with proliferation of\ncommissions and committees in Washington.\nThe bill under consideration was a relatively \\simple one. It would have created a\ncommission to consider the myriad requests Congress receives to declare\nnational\nobservances of a special day or week--like Welling Water Day,\nTraveler Day, Tax Freedom Day, Spring Garden Planting Week, Ski Week, National\nline gres on longer and longer.\nClown Week, and the like.\nWhile this is something that\nmembers of the House could have clowned\naround about, some congressmen took the matter very seriously and\nfought\nand understands so, They thought this was over.\nbill that needed a pretty thorough greng\nthe bill. The temper of the House was revealed when members voted\n212 to 164 against setting up the commission.\nThe House last week also took up a bill to raise the national debt ceiling\nso the Federal Government can pay its bills in the months to come.\nFORD LIBRARY\nThe point should be made right here that the Federal Government currently\nis\n-2-\nprevious\noperating under a budget which was solely the work of the Johnson Administration\nand was subsequently modified by the\nlast Congress.\nThe fact that the debt ceiling is raised does not\nnecessarily mean\ndeficit financing on the part of the Federal Government. In the current situation,\nFederal Government\nfor instance, it simply means that\nbills which must be paid are falling\ndue before the flood of income tax payments comes in.\nThe Nixon Administration could do nothing about the fiscal 1969 federal budget--\nthe income and outgo plan under which we now are operating. As for fiscal 1970,\nthe budget for that 12-month period also was\nsubmitted by former President\nJohnson but it is subject to revision by\nPresident Nixon and the\n91st Congre as--and it will be\nrevised and I believe downward to\na substantial degree\nThe pace of activity in Washington now is quickening--both in the Congress and\nthe White House.\nPresident Nixon has made his first big decision-the decision to begin\ndeployment of the Safeguard Anti-Ballistic Missile System, subject to annual\nreview.\nI applauded that decision because I believe it is a step toward world peace.\nAs modified by\nPresident Nixon, the ABM system will be installed\nat\nTwo in the first instance, one in montana\nand one in n. Dakota\n12 sites throughout the country. Its basic purpose will be to protect our land-based\noffensive missile bases.\nThis is aimed at\nconvincing any\nenemy that it would be foolish to laurnch a quickie missile attack on the United\nStates with a view to kmcking out our capability to retailiate.\nFORD\nThere are those who argue that President Nixon's decision to go shead with this\nmodified ABM system destroys an opportunity to reach peace-keeping agreements with\n-3-\nthe Soviet Union. I disagree completely. I think our ABM decision will have\njust the opposite effect on the Russian leaders. I believe they now will\nbelieve\nbe more eager to work out an agreement with the United States.\nI\nour projected ABM system will be a bargaining weapon in talks\nwith the Russians.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.\n######\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT RADIO STATIONS WEEKEND OF MARCH 29/30, 1969\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, speaking to you from Washington.\nIt is time for all Americans to make a total commitment in a cause which\ninvolves us all -- the fight against inflation. It is only through a total\nnational commitment that we can bring inflation under control -- and bring it\nunder control we must,\nWhat we must all recognize is that we are not going to lick inflation just\nby wishing it would go away. We also must all recognize that it is terribly\nimportant that we do lick inflation.\nAs President Nixon has said: \"If inflation is allowed to get out of hand,\nthere has to be a bust, and then unemployment comes.\"\nThe increase in The cost of living was almost 5%\nLast year we experienced the worst case of inflation in 17 years. So we have\nnot to bring it under control. to do something about il.\nThe mos t difficult task is to convince the people that the National Administration\nmeans business with its fight against the continuing sharp rise in prices.\nPresident Nixon showed the country he means\nto do battle with inflation\nby recommending --at this time-- an extension of the 10 per cent surtax for\n12 months beyond next July 1.\nIf we are going to bring inflationmm under control, we first have to knock out\nthe inflationary psychology that has gripped the American people --- the feeling that\nprices are going to go up and up and up and nothing is going to be done about it.\nThis is why the President announced at this early date his decision to recommend\nextension of the surtax. It was a move to erase the inflationary psychology that is\nhurting all of us and is assuring a continuing rise in prices.\nFORD LIBRARY is GENALD\n-2-\nThe nation has no time to lose in getting inflation under control. It\nis because the previous administration delayed for so long before taking anti-\ninflation measures that the problem is now so difficult to solve.\nIn 1966\nthe cost of living rose at a 3 per cent rate; in 1967, at a\nrate of 3.5 per cent; and in 1968, at a rate of 4.8 per cent.\nCurrently the rise in living costs is continging at roughly the same pace\ncalendar year\nas in 1968.\nWe may have hit the peak but we must keep up the fight,\ndespite the fact\nthat\nit's painful.\nWhat about high interest rates? The present high cost of borrowing money is\none of the prices we pay for going\nalong with the giddy whirl of inflation.\nInterest rates won't come down until all Americans make up their minds to spend less\nand save more --- to cast aside the inflation psychology which has gripped this country.\nHigh interest rates are not a\ncause of inflation; they're a symptom. When\nwe bring inflation under control, interest rates will begin coming down. And this\nagain is a compelling reason to win the fight against inflation.\nWhat about all the young people who are starting families and want to buy a\nhome ?\nHouselfiold formation in 1969 may be twice what it was only a few years ago.\nThis means a great need for additional housing -- yet indications are that\nrate\npurchases\nof single-family home will actually decline in 1969. The reason is that prospective\nand\nhome buyers are faced with high building costs sharply higher interest rates.\nUnle SS this situation is remedied, it will become even worse in the 1970s.\nFORD LIBRAR,\nSo the stakes are high in the battle against inflation. And the American people\n-3-\nmust\nfor their own good support President Nixon is this fight.\nNobody wants to continue the 10 per cent surtax. But it seems we have to\ncontinue it and cut federal spending at the same time in order to bring inflation\nunder control. So let's buckle down and do what is necessary to lick inflation.\nThere is no alternative.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD R.FORD LIBRARE\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 5-6, 1969.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nThis is the time of year when the Japanese cherry trees that border the Tidal\nBasin in the heart of Washington burst forth into glorious bloom and a\nhost of\ndescends upon\nvisitors\nthe Nation's Capital.\nPreceding the cherry blossoms, we have already had three senior classes from\nGrand Rapids area high schools visit here and we have enjoyed welcoming them to\nWashington. The first was Byron\nCenter High School with 96 seniors; then Lee\nHigh School, with 74; and most recently,\nCaledonia High School, with 77.\nNow the general tide of visitors is flowing into Washington just as the cherry\nblossoms are signalling the spring season here. It is expected that more than 15\nmillion persons will visit the Nation's Capital this year.\nThe official dates for the\n1969 Cherry Blossom Festival are April 8-13.\nBut the actual time when the cherry trees put forth their beautiful flowers varies\nfrom year to year, depending on the weather.\nThe official opening ceremonies for the festival will be Tuesday, April 8,\nat the 300-year-old Japanese Stone Lantern on the Tidal Basin. That evening the\nCherry Blossom Princesses from each state will be introduced at a ball sponsored by\nthe National Conference of State Societies.\nMichigan will be represented by Miss Wendy Wismer, step-daughter of Former\nUnited States Senator Charles\nPotter.\nThe Michigan State Society, an organization of Michigan people in Washington, D.C.,\nwill hold a reception for Miss Wismer on Monday, April 7, on Capitol Hill.\nDuring the Grand Presentation Ball on Tuesday evening, April 8, Miss Wismer\nand princesses from all the other states plus Guam, Puerto Rico and the\nDistrict GERAD BER R. FORD of LIBRAR\nColumbia will be presented with their military escorts in a grand and formal manner\n-2-\nat the Sheraton Park Hotel here.\nOn Wednesday, April 9, there is a\nLadies Fashion Show and Luncheon\nat Washington's Shoreham Hotel and that evening there is a Twilight Gala there.\nOn Friday night spring elebrants turn out for the annual Cherry Blossom\nBall, where the Cherry Blossom Queen is chosen.\nSaturday, April 12,\nWashington\nwillbe the scene of a colorful\nCherry\nBlossom Parade.\nDuring the week there will be various receptions, band concernts, and other\nevents marking the beginning of Washington's tourist season. It is a wonderful time\nof year for Michigan people to visit Washington, and I would like to see as many\nKent and Ionia County people come here as possible. My office will offer every\navailable\nbit of advice and assistance.\nplans to plant\nIt was 60 years ago that\nJapanese 6herry trees in\nWashington's Potomac Park were developed. The idea originated with the wife of\nPresident William Howard Taft. The original trees were grown at the Imperial\nJapanese experimental station and shipped to the United States in December 1911.\nOn March 27, 1912, Mrs. Taft planted the first Japanese cherry tree on the\nTidal Basin's north bank.\nThe Cherry Blossom Festival really started in 1927 when children in\nthe Washington, D.C., schools commemorated the planting of the first tree. The\ncelebration was made an annual event beginning in 1934, and it has continued ever\nsince except during the war years of the\n1940s.\nDuring World War II, the cherry trees in the Imperial Japanese Gardens deteriorated\nFORD\nfor lack of care. In 1952, cuttings from the Tidal Basin trees were sent\nto\nGERAL\nLIBRARY\nJapan at the request of the Japanese Government. Thus Japanese cherry trees\nIf toolong cut This\n-3-\ntransplanted to the United States in the first place were used to help rejuvenate\ncherry trees in Japan, their native land.\nEvery year since I came to Congre SS in 1949 my office has supplied information\nto the thousands of people from my congressional district who have visited\nWashington. My office has schedules of events, as well as information on specific\nsights. I dan arrange for special tours of the White House and the Federal Bureau of\nInvestigation. My office is here to serve you.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's Capital.\nI'll be talking with you next week--same time, same station.\nDERALD FORD LIBRARD\nRADIO SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 11-12, 1969.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nMost Americans are very upset about the turmoil we have been witnessing on\nour college and university campuses -- and indeed they should be.\nThis is a new and difficult problem with which the Nation must deal. When I\nsay the Nation must deal with this problem I do not mean that it is primarily\nthe Federal Government's responsibility.\nI believe that every citizen interested in the welfare of this nation\nshould become aware of what is happening on some of the campuses in this country\nand should concern himself with what is being done to meet the problem.\nA challenging attitude on the part of young people is in many cases a\nnatural questing after truth and a meaningful education. This is not the kind\nof restlessness we should be alarmed about. Rather, we should welcome it. And\nuniversity administrations should be responsive to student demands for changes\nwhich will improve the educational process.\nBut we should be very much concerned about violence on our campuses and\nthe activities of those students and non-students who are obviously seeking to\ntear down our institutions.\nThe right of peaceful dissent and protest is a precious right, a\nconstitutional right. But the constitutional right of dissent and freedom of\nspeech does not extend to disrupting educational processes, seizing college\nbuildings and destroying property.\nThere are New Leftists who travel from one campus to another to plan\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n-2-\ndisruptions leading to a confrontation with college authorities and ultimately\nthe police. These militant activists are intent on tearing down our political,\neconomic and social system. They want to destroy our society, not improve it.\nAnd they don't care who gets hurt.\nWe are seeing on some of our campuses an unprecedented challenge to discipline\nand authority and a barbarous disregard for the rights of others. That challenge\nmust be met and overcome.\nMany of the young people involved in the New Left Movement are idealists\nwho have become impatient with the democratic process and the non-responsiveness\nof some university administrations. But these students are being exploited by\nrevolutionaries whose goal is to destroy existing institutions and, in fact,\nour entire political system.\nPresident Nixon has made it clear that the primary responsibility for dealing\nwith these revolutionaries rests with college and university administrators.\nThese confrontations are basically a local problem. But the Nixon Administration\nwill seek to help college administrators maintain discipline and order on the\ncampus.\nLet us place this entire matter in proper perspective. The agitators on\nour campuses are a minority -- often a very small minority -- of the student\npopulation. But they are dangerous. And in some cases the revolutionary\nleaders are not students at all. The majority of our college students are intent\nupon the pursuit of scholarship and preparation for future professions. The\nmilitant activists -- the agitators -- the disruptive minority -- should not\nbe permitted to prevent the quiet, conscientious majority from getting a college ORD\neducation.\nBERALD\nLIBRARY\n-3-\nThere is no reason why anyone who is not prepared to abide by university\nrules and regulations should be allowed to attend a college or university. Any\nstudent whose activities are disruptive of the educational progress of other\nstudents should be subject to expulsion.\nAs for the out-and-out revolutionaries who travel from one state to another\nto incite violence, I believe the Federal Government should prosecute them under\nthe 1968 Law which makes such action a Federal offense.\nLet us move firmly to restore order and reason to the functioning of our\nuniversities. The stakes are terribly high.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.\n]\n# # #\nGERAL FORD LIBRARY\nSCRIPT TAPEDEOOR FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 19-20, 1969.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting from Washington.\nRecent days have been filled with momentous events--events with direct\nimpact on the Grand Rapids area, and happenings of nationwide and worldwide\nsignificance.\nTwo-deeply meaningful developments have occurred, affecting the local\nscene in our area, and I would like to talk with you about them.\nOne is that the wheels are turning to set in motion a special program to\ngive on-the-job training to the hard-core unemployed\nin the Grand Rapids Metropolitian Area and to place these trainees in productive jobs.\nThis is the Job Opportunities In The Business Sector Program,\nrun by the\nNational Alliance of Businessmen in cooperation with the United States Labor Department.\nThe other important development for our area is that nearly $1.8 million in\nfederal funds is being made available to the City of Grand Rapids to acquire and\nclear property for public housing in the Campau Commons area, bounded by Franklin,\nDivision, Albany and Agnew. At the request of Mayor Chris Sonneveldt, I\nbegan\nlast July to urge approval of this project by the Housing and Urban\nDevelopment Department, and\nnow\nthis critically needed project finally has\nFederal go-ahead.\nSo that you can get an idea of what is involve\nin\ngaining\napproval of a big project of this kind, I might mention that I was told nine months\nago by HUD that review and processing of the Grand Rapids application was \"in its\nfinal stage.\" From that time on, I was constantly in touch with the Chicago Regional\nOffice of HUD, and of course I kept Mayor Ponneväldt informed every step of the way.\nGetting back to the new Grand Rapids program for training\nthe\nhard-core ERRALOR FORD LIBRARY\nunemployed on the job and giving them good-paying work, I want to say I have high hopes\n-2-\nthat this effort will produce results very beneficial to our area.\nThe\nJob Opportunities In The Business Sector Program has\nproved highly successful in the 50 big cities where it\noperated last year.\nThe National Alliance of Busine ssmen, which directs the J.O.B.S. program,\nhas an office\njust a short distance from the White House.\nsteered\nLocally, the JOBS programs are\nby\nMetropolitan Area\nchairmen who name Metro\ndirectors to work under them-usually men from\ntheir own business firms.\nIn the Grand Rapids area, the JOBS program will be\nheaded by\nFrederik Meijer, executive-vice-president, of Meijer, Inc. I know he will do a\ngreat job as our\nMetro Chairman.\nUnder the JOBS program, the Federal Government offers to pay local\nemployers for the extra expenses that are involved in giving on-the-job training\nto the hard-core unemployed. These people are often very difficult to train, and that\nis where the special expenses come in.\ntwo-thirds of the employers\nnow\nparticipating in the JOBS program have refused to take any money from the\nGovernment.\nl compliment them.\nThe JOBS\nprogram is an outstanding example of how the business community\nin America is helping\nus build a better Nation. It is a shining example,\ntoo, of what can be accomplished through\nvoluntarism--the\nhelp that individual\ncitizens and local organizations can give the Federal Government in solving problems\nthat plague the entire country.\nGERALD LIBRARY\n-3-\nwith\nI have always deeply felt that\nprograms like J.O.B.S.\nwe can lick our local problems, give our left-out citizens a stake in our\ncommunity and thus make our communities a better place for\nall of us to live.\nThat is why I wrote to President Nixon last February, urging that Grand Rapids be\nincluded in the J.O.B.S. program. And that is why I was highly pleased when\nthe President expanded the JOBS program and made Grand Rapids a part of it.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week--same time, same station.\n######\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 26-27, 1969.\nThis is your congressmam, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nThis past week there was great news for millions of American taxpayers.\nFederal income tax relief is on the way, and tax reform is in the making.\nThat was the word from President Nixon as he announced plans to\ncut\nthe income tax surcharge in half\nnext Jan. 1 and to virtually eliminate\nFederal income taxes for two million low-income Americans.\nThe President presented his tax-cutting proposals to Congress in a package\nwhich also included some important the present tax structure.\nMr. Nixont made it clear that in his view\nthe income tax sur charge\ncan be cut in half only if Congress also repeals the\n7 per cent tax credit\nnow given business and industry for investment in new plant and equipment.\nThe reason President Nixon tied these two proposals together is that the\nlost through\nrevenue\nreduction of the surcharge\nhas to be\npicked up somewhere else--and\nrepeal of the investment tax credit would\nresult.\naccomplish that\nThere is another compelling reason for repealing the investment tax credit.\nIt is extra fuel\nfor an economy that right now is\nmust\nrunning at top speed. We have to slow down the economy if we are going to whip\ninflation\nDespite all of the other fiscal and monetary\nslowdown actions\ntaken by the Nixon Administration and the Federal Reserve Board, prospects for\ntoo\ncurbing inflation did not look favorable. Repeal of the investment tax credit therefore\nappeared\nto be\na most logical step.\nvery pleased\nI am must happy about the Nixon moves toward tax reduction. I have long felt\n-2-\nare\nthat Federal income taxes\ntoo high, and that the hard-working people in\nFederal\nKent and Ionia Counties and throughout the Nation deserver a Atax\nbreak.\nI would like to cut taxes further, but we must bide our time because\ninflation is also Serious problem. It doesn' do do us. much good to have more money\nto spend if prices keep going up on everything we buy.\nSome of the\nhappiest features of recent\nNixon Administration\nproposals are the help they offer for our senior citizens--taking many of them\noff the tax rolls as low-income individuals, fighting inflation to hold down\nthe\nprices they must pay for the necessities of life,\nincreasing Social\nSecurity benefits and raising the limits on the amounts they may earn without loss of\nSocial Security Our senior citizens\nour\nbenefits.\ndeserve our help and encouragement for self-help.\nThey are entitled to live their golden years in dignity and\nserenity.\nTo return to tax reform, I want to say I am pleased that the Nixon\nAdministration is acting to make sure that high-income individuals pay income taxes\nalong with other less fortunate Americans. Whatever method is\nused to\naccomplish this objective, I\ncertainly am very much in favor of such\naction.\nPresident Nixon\nlast week also turned his attention to a stepped-up\nwar on organized crime.\nPerhaps few Americans realize the extent to which orgamized crime victimizes\nall Americans, and especially the poor--those whose hopeless lives\nmake\ngambling and the use of drugs an attradtive escape.\nIf we are to\ncut the cost of crime in America, we must raise the\nstrongly\nof fighting it. So I am going to back President \"ixon 100 per centain the requests\nwhose FORE LIBRARY\nBER\n-3-\nhe has made of Congress to help fight organized\ncrime. This will mean\na doubling of present Justice Department funds for\nwar against the\nracketeers but I believe it will pay off by putting the leaders of the Mafia\nbehind bars.\nThis\nis your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reperting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.\n######\nFORD LIBRARK & GERALD\nSCRIPT TAPED FORMS USE BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS THE WEEKEND OF XPRXXMAY 3-4, 19697\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nup pretty fast\nThe\nwheels are turning in Congress now, as\nPresident Nixon begins sending legislation to Capitol Hill to carry out the program\nhe recently outlined in a kind of State-of-the-Union Message.\nThis past week the President gave us the specifics on his crusade against\norganized crime. I was very much impressed by the legislation and so I joined with\nRepublicans on the House Judiciary Committee in introducing the Administration's\nanti-crime bill.\nbelieve the\nI think prospects\nthat Congress will approve the Nixon attack on organized\ncrime are good. One\nreason to believe so is that Rep. Emanuel Cellery of\nNew York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, joined with committee Republicans\nin sponsoring the legislation.\nThe Nixon anti-crime bill focuses on big-time gambling and organized crime.\nIt would strike at bribery and corruption-the grease-the-palm-with-silver stuff\nwhich makes it possible for the gamblers to carry on their operations in large-scale\nfashion.\nillegal\nIt's tough to fight gambling because the typical reaction you get from many\nAmericans is: So what if\npeople place a $2 bet on a horse or buy a numbers slip\nor a football card? How does that hurt anybody?\nanswer is that illegal gambling channels huge sums of money into the pockets\nof the overlords of organized crime, the\nCosa Nostra leaders, the Mafia.\nThose millions\nare used to buy hard drugs like heroin which then pass from the\ndrug pushers to the dope addicts. That's part of the overall operation.\nFORD LIBRARY\nEven at that point some Americans say, \"So what? What people are really\nconcerned about is crime in the streets--the muggings,\nrobbery, the holdups.\"\n-2-\nThey're absolutely right, of course. But what they are for getting is that a large\nnumber of the holdups now taking place daily in cities throughout the country are\ncommitted by drug addicts who have to steal in order to support their habit.\nIn addition-and little attention has been placed on this as yet-the President\nis asking\nCongress to provide the states and local law enformement agencies with\nevery possible bit of assistance in fighting\nthe ordinary garden-variety\nkind\nn\nof street crime.\nThe Law Enforcement Assistance Act Congre SS passed last year authorize\nan appropriation of up to $300 million for law enforcement This is\naid\nin addition to the attack now being mounted by\nPresident Nixon\non organized crime. And President Nixon is anxious to see that the full amount of\nthis\nlaw enforcement aid is made available to local police forces.\nSo what we will have, 7 is a three-pronged attack on crime under the Nixon\nwell, a\nAdministration, We will expand the FBI, establish so-called strike forces in\nmajor cities throughout the nation to track down and bring to justice the leaders of\norganized crime, and\nemploy\nnew laws-if Congress concurs--to\ncut off the flow of illegal g ambling revenue to Mafia\nthe\nleaders by wiping out\nbribery and corruption on which\nrackets feed.\nIf the profit can be taken from illegal gambling, we can dry up the funds used\nto finance such deadly activities as narcotics traffic. This would be a tremendous\nblow for order and decency\nDO\nPresident Nixon also is\ngetting ready\nto\nFORD\nswing another haymaker at\nvice.\nHe is preparing a Presidential message\ndealing with obscenity.\nGERALD\nLIBRARY\n-3-\nAs it\nnow is shaping up, this proposed obscenity legislation\nwould\nlist materials that could not be sold to minors. It would be based on\na New York\nstatute which\nlast year was upheld by the United States\nSupreme Court. The legislation as drafted also would strengthen the present\nads\nlaw\nproviding a means for stopping the mailing of obscene\nto people's homes.\nThis is your\ncongressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you against next week--same time, same station.\n#####\nDEBALO FORD LIBRARY\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 10-11, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nevery\nand\nI am sure\nman\nwoman in America\nwould\nlike to see\ngreat,\npoverty wiped out in our country. It is, of course, a tremendous problem. We must\nnot make glowing promises to the poor or to the Nation as a whole. We must do\nthe best we can. We must do the best we know how.\nIt was in that spirit that President Nixon this past week announced plans to\nexpand the food stamp program--to virtually double it, in fact and to launch an\nattack on malnutrition in America.\nIt is in that spirit, too, that the President has asked for only a one-year\nextension of the present Ecomomic Opportunity Act. We are\ncoming to know\nSo\nthe strengths and weaknesses of our various anti-poverty projects as we go along.\nduring the year that the present Anti-Poverty Act is extended, President Nixon will\ndevelop and suggest all possible means of sharpening\nthe attack on poverty in America.\nMeantime, the President has mapped a large-scale expansion of our food\ndistribution programs and\nhas taken\nother steps to deal with the serious problem of malnutri tion in America. I strongly\ndevelop\nsupport\nthe Administration's move to\nprograms aimed\namerica.\nat ending hunger and malnutrition in our country,\nThe House of Representatives last week took a related action by extending and\nenlarging the school milk program. I was happy to be among those voting for the\nexclusively\nmeasure. The House rejected a move to restrict milk at a reduced price to needy\nchildren. The reasons were that all children should be encouraged to drink milk,\nwhich is the near-perfect food, and to restrict reduced-price milk to the needy would\nbe to stigmatize those youngsters.\nFORD LIBRARY is BERALD\n-2-\nThe Congress currently is embroiled in controversy over a Nixon\nAdministration move to close down some of our Job Corps centers. These centers\nare being closed\nsimply because they have not measured up in terms of job\nplacement of trainees and in terms of\ntay\ngiving the taxpayer a good return on his dollar.\nPresident Nixon therefore is standing firm on his proposal--which\ncalls for a\nnet\nreduction of 29 in the number of our Job Corps\ncenters.\nFifty conservation centers, plus two men's urban centers and seven women's\ncenters will be closed. and the trainees shifted to other facilities. Fifty-four of\nthe present Job Corps centers will be kept open, and the\nNixon Administration\nalso\nwill\nestablish 30 new centers. in or near cities.\nSo any charge that the\nNixon Administration is killing the Job Corps is\nfalse.\nWhat is happening is that the Labor Department is consolidating all of its\nmanpower training programs, and the Job Corps will be part of the overall picture.\nThe objective is to provide the best and most suitable training N our disadvantaged\nyoung people and hard-core unemployed and K to try to make sure there's a good job\nwaiting for them when they finish their training.\nThe\ntruth is that the Administration is\nexpanding manpower training\nopportunities and job opportunities for our youth and others.\nOne example of this is the fact that\nPresident Nixon has expanded the\nJob Opportunities In The Business Sector Program from 50 cities to 125, including\nGrand Rapids and Flint. I urged that the\nJO.B.S. program be extended to\nGrand Rapids and was most pleased when\nthis was done.\nBERALD ORD LIBRARY\n-3-\nThe key elements in keeping America growing\nto train, educate and upgrade\nour people,\nkeep the economy\nsound and thriving and create hundredsr\nof\nthousands of new jobs each year.\nThe Nixon Administration is dedicating itself to those objectives and to\nkeeping America strong.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll\nbe talking with you again next week--same time, same station.\n#####\nGREATO FORD\nRADIO SCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 17-18, 1960 BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nand I four eventually an all relunter army\nI am in favor of ending the drafts I have long urged an all-volunteer military\nforce for the United States. But it is also clear to me that it is necessary to\ncontinue the draft as long as\nthis Nation is at war.\nWe are at war, and so the draft must go on\nas long as the war goes on.\nI want to see the Vietnam War ended as soon as possible. I think it will be\npossible to end it on the basis of an honorable negotiated peace.\nMeantime, the draft\ncontinues as the war continues. And so the draft must\nbe made as fair as possible for all of our young men.\nPresident Nixon this past week sent Congress a plan\nto reform the draft.\nI think it is a plan which makes the draft as fair as possible--and so I will\nsupport the President's draft reforms as vigororously as I\ncan.\nThere is no question that the draft is\na terribly disruptive force in.\nIt was during WWII, It was during Korea, and its\nthe same today\na young man's lifer It wrenches Min out of civilian life and places him in\nTayoung man\na totally new and far different environment. It places him in a situation where\nultimately his life may be at stake.\nmore\nThis is why I say that there is no issue\nimportant to a young man and his\nparents than the draft when this country is at war--and we are at war.\nSo we must do everything we can to erase the inequities in the present draft\nlaws. I think President Nixon's draft reforms have given Congre SS the\nblueprint\nto do exactly that.\nThe\nPresident's proposed\ndraft reforms\nare\nbased on two fundamental concepts--that the period in which a young man may be drafted\nFORD\nshould be limited to one year of his life; and that selection of draftees should be\nby \"lot\" random choice.\nGERA\nIBRARY\n-2-\nThe idea is to eliminate present inequities under the existing birthday system\nand\nnot to keep a man in suspense during his entire draft-el tigible period of\nage 19 to 26.\nUnder the President's plan, the period in which a young man\nwould\nmost\nlikely be drafted would be normally limited to the 12 months following his 19th\nbirthday. The exception would be a student deferred to go to college. He\nwould\nbe\nliable for the draft after he finished school--\nin line with how high a number he drew when he was 19.\nHere is how the system would work: At age 18, the young man would register for\nthe draft. At age 19, he would become eligible for callup in the Selective Service\nYear that began after he reached his 19th birthday. He would be eligible for callup\ndrew\nin accordance with the number he in the lottery. If he were not called\nup during his maximum eligibility year--age 19 to 20--he normally would not be called\nat all. However, a young man drawing a high number but getting a student\ndeferment would become vulnerable for callup on the basis of that high number\nimmediately after finishing college.\nThe need for a lottery system\nto achieve the greatest possible fairness\nbecomes\nobvious when we consider that about 2 million men reach age 19 each year\nbut draft callups are running about 265,000 men a year.\nI believe prospects that Congress will approve President N ixon's draft reforms\nare good. The key man in the House, Armed Services Committee Chairman Mendel\nsaidhe sees\nRivers of South Carolina has said he is open to persuasion\nno\nobstacle to random selection of drafteds unless there a re other offsetting\ndisadvantages.\nFORD LIBRARY\nIf we have to employ the draft--and currently we do--then the only way to make\n-3-\nthe system work\nsensibly is to spread the risk of induction equally\namong all who are eligible. This cannot be done unless we change from the present\nbirthdate system to the random selection system proposed by the President.\nand obviously d autome\nI welcome any suggestions you may have or any criticism. Please write and\nlet me know how I can be\nof service to you.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll\nbe talking with you again next week--same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD FORD LIBRAR,\nSCRIPT TAPED WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1969, FOR WEEKEND USE (MAY 24-25) BY 5TH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nThe action scene in Washington has been changing even faster than the weather.\nThere have been many developments--most of them of major importance to every\nnation\nman, woman and child in Kent and Ionia Counties as well as the rest of the country.\nPresident Nixon has embarked on new initiatives for peace in Vietnam and\nhas struck a responsive chord throughout the\nnon-Communist world. In fact,\nthere is every reason to believe that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong are seriously\nconsidering Mr. Nixon's Eight Points, as his peace plan is being called. I say this\nbecause the other side has simply sought to rebut the President's proposals but has\nnot rejected them outright. When you are dealing with the Communists, that\npossible\nmovement toward meaningful peace negotiations.\nI know there are some Americans who believe\nwe should no longer\ntake any kind of offensive action in Vietnam. But the problem is that the only way\nwe can achieve\neven the modest peace goals\noutlined by President\nfar\nNixon is to convince Hanoi that the cost of continuing the fighting is too great. We\ncannot do that\nsimply by becoming sitting ducks--the everyday targets of enemy\nrockets and suicide charges.\nThe greater the support we give President Nixon the sooner we can end the war.\nThose who seek political advantage from the war will not bring peace any closer.\nAs President Nixon said in his Vietnam speech to the Nation, Hanoi's only hope for a\nmilitary takeover in Vietnam is a collapse of the public will in America. And that must\nnever happen.\nWhile the war goes on and we work unceasingly for peace, we must also impose some\ndiscipline on ourselves as a Nation. That is why I very strongly\nsupported\nLIBRARY\n-2-\na congressional ceiling on federal spending despite the fact that Budget Bureau\nDirector Bob Mayo seemed greatly pained by it.\nI think there are many benefits to be derived from putting a lid on spending by\nthe\nExecutive Branch of the\nFederal Government.\nI can understand why Mr. Mayo would be aggrieved. He believes he did a good job\nin cutting $4 billion out of former President Johnson's fiscal 1970 budget. And I\nthink he did.\ndo,\ntoo. But a congressional ceiling on spending will serve to hold down\nexpenditures far more effectively than\nany budget review,\nWe need to enforce policies of restraint on spending and credit in order to\nbring inflation under control. A lot of people will be hurt in this country if prices\nharmed to some extent\nprobably quite\nkeep going up 4 per cent or more a year indefinitely. In fact, the ultimate result\nseriously\nor even possibly\nof uncontrolled inflation will be a recession and deep unemployment.\nWhat I want to see is a gradual easing off--a gradual return to price stability\nwithout\nwithout a recession and heavy unemployment.\ninvolves\nIf that\nholding down on federal spending, including spending by the\nDefense Department, then that is exactly the course we should follow.\nI want to say at this point that I am extremely disturbed by such developments\nas the sinking of the nuclear submarine, Guittaro, and the obviously\nexcessive\nmassive\ncosts of the C-5A ^ transport plane. I also would like it known that I applaud\nDefense Secretary Laird's decision to cancel the Cheyenne helicopter contract on the\nbasis of excessive costs. to the Fed. Dou.\nAs\nformer senior Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,\nI am keenly aware of the close watch that should be kept on military procurement\npracti 188 and the cost of new weapons and equipment. It is only fair to mention\nGERAL FORD VIBRARY\nthat the disturbing developments I have cited originated with the previous\n-3-\nadministration.\nThey were contracts signed, sealed, and delivered before\n-\nSuy Laird took over).\nWe are tightening up on federal spending. We are moving against inflation.\nWe are acting to combat crime. We are stepping up training of the hard-core\nunemployed. We are creating more jobs. We are moving\nto end the war in\nVietnam and to achieve sound prosperity. These are objectives all americans\nsud,\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll\nbe talking with you again next week-same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD LIBRARY FORD\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 31-JUNE 1, 1969 BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nAs the Nation marked Memorial Day this year, the thought struck me that for\nof controns\nthe first time in the last four years there appears to be reel hope for peace in\nVietnam.\nI believe that / because\nPresident Nixon has truly made a case in\nthe court of world opinion and that the\ncrushing burden of guilt\nfor continuing the tragic war in Vietnam rests squarely on the North Vietnamese.\nAs we observed Memorial Day, I uttered a prayer\nthat\nit will not be many more months before the guns will be silent\nin Vietnam and the work of building peace in that part of the world can proceed.\nThis past week the attention of the Congress turned to a major domestic\nthat plague us because we continue to run\nconcern--the staggering problems our Post Office Department\nas an outmoded political\ninstitution.\nPresident Nixon sent the Congress a plan to put the Post Office Department\non a business basis-convert it into a government-owned corporation dedicated to\nefficien cy and the best possible service to the public.\nBut I will be frank to say that nobody gives the President's postal reform\nlegislation much chance of winning congressional approval.\nI\nwill be\nequally frank and say that\nMr. Nixon's postal\nreform bill probably won't even get out of the House Post Office and Civil Service\nCommittee-at least not in any form\nresembling the original proposal. This is\ninformate This is because\nrepresentatives of postal unions would\nrather bargain with the Post Office and Civil Service Committees than with a\nnon-political board of directors. And some members of the Post Office and\nCivil FORD LIBRARY\npolitical\nSERA\nService Committees\nwant to keep the power they now wield.\n-2-\nThose are the political facts in the situation.\nThere are other facts, of course-facts that should persuade postal workers\nthat they would be better off under businessetype management. After all, they\nwould retain their Civil Service annuity rights, veterans preference and other\nbenefits\nAt the same time they would for the first time enjoy\ntrue\ncollective bargaining power, with a provision for binding arbitration when agreement\ncould\nnot be reached.\nSome union representatives have been quoted as saying that they won't go for the\nbusinessetype postal service proposal unle SS postal employes are\ngiven the right\npostal employes\nto strike. I am opposed to giving\nthe right to strike. I think\nbinding\narbitration is a reasonable answer to an impasse between\npostal\nemploye bargainers and the government. A strike against the public is not.\nWhat about the public? Where do the people stand on this question of\nreforming\nthe postal service, improving mail delivery, erasing our postal deficits that cost the\ntaxpayer nearly a billion dollars a year?\nPresident Nixon's\npostal reform plan is\na proposal which would benefit\nboth the postal employes and the public--and I think the people ought to be heard from.\nI think there should be a spontaneous outpouring of letters to members of Congress from\nthe people, letting the Congre SS know that the people want the last vestige of politics\nremoved from our postal service.\nIn 1830\nthe great Daniel Webster described the Federal Government as \"the\npeople's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the\npeople.\"\nIf the people want postal reform-and\nmake their wishes known--I think Congress will respond.\nthey GERALO FORD LIBRARY\n-3-\nWhenever there is a tremendous public demand for legislation to remedy\na problem, the Congress eventually complies with the public will.\nThe United States House of Representatives has been called \"the people's\nHouse.\" I hope the people let their men in Washington, their men in\n\"the\npeople's House,\" know they want reform of our postal service.\nThis is your congre ssman, Jerry Ford, reporting to\nyou from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week-same time, same station.\n######\nGERALD'S LIBRASY TORD\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF MAY 31--JUNE 1. 1969 BY FIFTH DISTRICT\nRADIO STATIONS.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nAs the Nation marked Memorial Day this year, the thought struck me\nthat for the first time in the last four years there appears to be an\natmosphere of cautious hope for peace in Vietnam.\nI believe that because President Nixon has truly made a case in the\ncourt of world opinion and that the crushing burden of guilt for continuing\nthe tragic war in Vietnam rests squarely on the North Vietnamese.\nAs we observed Memorial Day, I uttered a prayer that it will not be\nmany more months before the guns will be silent in Vietnam and the work of\nbuilding peace in that part of the would can proceed.\nThis past week the attention of the Congress turned to a major domestic\nconcern -- the staggering problems that plague us because we continue to run\nour Post Office Department as an outmoded political institution,\nPresident Nixon sent the Congress a plan to put the Post Office\nDepartment on a business basis -- convert it into a government-owned cor-\nporation dedicated to efficiency and the best possible service to the public.\nBut I will be frank to say that nobody gives the President's postal\nreform legislation much chance of winning congressional approval.\nI will be equally frank and say that Mr. Nixon's postal reform bill\nprobably won't even get out of the House Post Office and Civil Service\nCommittee -- at least not in any form resembling the original proposal.\nThis is unfortunate.\nThis is because representatives of postal unions would rather bargaan\nwith the Post Office and Civil Service Committees than with a non-political\nboard of directors. And some members of the Post Office and Civil Service\nCommittees want to keep the political power they now wield.\nThose are the political facts in the situation.\nThere are other facts, of course -- facts that should persuade postal\nworkers that they would be better off under business-type management. After\nall, they would retain their Civil Service annuity rights, veterans prefer-\nonce and other benefits. At the same time they would for the first time\nenjoy true collective bargaining power, with a provision for binding arbi-\ntration when agreement could not be reached.\nSome union representatives have been quoted as saying that they won't FORD\ngo for the business-type postal service proposal unless postal employes are\nGERALD\nLIBRARY\n-2-\ngiven the right to strike. I am opposed to giving postal employes the right\nto strike. I think binding arbitration is a reasonable answer to an impasse\nbetween postal employe bargainers and the government. A strike against the\npublic is not.\nWhat about the public? Where do the people stand on this question\nof reforming the postal service, improving mail delivery, erasing our postal\ndeficits that cost the taxpayer nearly a billion dollars a year?\nPresident Nixon's postal reform plan is a proposal which would benefit\nboth the postal employes and the public -- and I think the people ought to\nbe heard from. I think there should be a spontaneous outpouring of letters\nto members of Congress from the people, letting the Congress know that the\npeople want the last vestige of politics removed from our postal service.\nIn 1830 the great Daniel Webster described the Federal Government as\n\"the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answer-\nable to the people.\"\nIf the people want postal reform -- and they make their wishes known --\nI think Congress will respond.\nWhenever there is a tremendous public demand for legislation to reardy\na problem, the Congress eventually complies with the public will.\nThe United States House of Representatives has been called \"the\npeople's House.\" I hope the people let their men in Washington, their men\nin \"the people's House,\" know they want reform of our postal service.\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nI'll be talking with you again next week -- same time, same station.\n# #\nGERALD R. FORD\n7-8\nSCRIPT TAPED BY MR. FORD FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF JUNE E-Z, 1969, BY TH DIST. RADIO\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from the Nation's capital.\nThe biggest news\nin recent days was, of course, President Nixon's\nthe U.S.\nannouncement that we will withdraw 25,000 American troops from South Vietnam\nstarting next month.\nI do not want to appear overly optimistic, but I feel that this\ndevelopment\nis far more significant than it has been described by many other\nmembers of Congress.\nI say this because the United States is--after all-taking some troops out\nof Vietnam for the first time since former President Johnson began our\nmassive troop buildup there in February, 1965.\nLet's get this clear. This action by President Nixon marks a beginning of\nAmerican de-escalation in South Vietnam-- reduction\nof our role in\nout\nthe war way there.\nWhile it is true that the figure of 25,000\nis small in relation to our\noverall troop commitment of 538,000 up to this point, this initial withdrawal\nnevertheless constitutes an important beginning.\nIt is a beginning pointed toward the withdrawal of all foreign\ntroops from South Vietnam. It is a beginning aimed at giving the\nVietnam War\nback to the South Vietnamese. It is a beginning that spells de-Americanization of\nthe war at least in small part- a movement that we hopefully can continue in\nmarkthe\nsizable fashion as we move into 1970. It\nmay\nbeginning of truly\nmeaningful negotiations in Paris.\nUnfortunately, the\nCommunists are pursuing the same\nFORD LIBRARY\nfight-and-talk strategy in Vietnam that they followed in Korea. But there has\n-2-\nbeen a significant\nchange in the Vietnam situation since President Nixon\ntook office. There has been a shift in world opinion to the side of the United\ntates and this has in turn produced a change in atmosphere at\nthe\nbargaining\nsessions in Paris.\nBy this I mean that the Nixon Administration has\npursued\na strategy which has squarely fixed the blame for continuation of the Vietnam\nWar on the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.\nWe have done this by applying restraint in the face of Communist rocket\nattacks on South Vietnamese cities and suicide-style attacks on American outposts,\nboth aimed at breaking down the American will to achieve\nour simple,\nfundamental goal in\nVie tnam: national self-determination for the South\nVietnamese people.\nPresident Nixon has held down the level of fighting in Vietnam except for\nmaintaining pressure on the enemy, a strategy I feel we must continue to employ.\nMr. Nixon has made it clear that all the United States wants in Vietnam is a\nfair election in which the South Vietnamese will decide--at the polls and not at\nthe point of a gun-what kind of government they\nare to have.\nCertainly the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese have scoffed at President\nNixon's announcement that we will putl out 25,000 American troops beginning next\nmonth. They\nhave been waging a desperate propaganda campaign directed\ntoward the American people--a campaign intended to make the American people so\nimpatient with the Vietnam situation that\nthe demand\nwill be for a\nCommunists\nmassive unilateral withdrawal of American troops. The don't\nlike the ideaof\ntaking their chances in a free election in South Vietnam. And they know that Mr.\nnow\nNixon's\nwithdrawal of 25,000 U.S. troops places them in a difficult position,\npsychology ically--a difficult position in the court of U.S. and world opinion.\n-3-\nThe meeting of President Nixon and President Thieu on Midway Island may\nwell have\nmarked a turning point in the V ietnam War. I had that feeling\ntalking with\nMr. Nixon immediately after his return to Washington--\na meeting at which the President gave me and other congressional leaders a\ndetailed run-down on the Midway Island conference. What is needed now is\nwidekspread support of the President by the American people. I hope it is\nforthcoming.\nThis\nis your congressman, Jerry Ford,\nreporting to you\nfrom Washington, D.C. I'll be talking with you again next week same time,\nsame station.\n#####\nGERALD\nSCRIPT TAPED FOR USE THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 14-15, 1969, BY FIFTH DISTRICT STATIONS\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington.\nEach year there is a special day when we reaffirm our belief in the ideas and\naspirations we Americans share as a\npeople who live in the finest country\non the face of this earth.\nIt\nis Flag Day, a day we mark on June 14th. It was President Woodrow\nWilson who in the midst of World War I proclaimed June 14th as Flag Day. The\nyear was 1916.\nto Americans\nIn simple yet eloquent words, President Wilson made clear what Flag Day meant\n53 years ago when it was first observed and what it means to us today. He said:\n\"The things that the Flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great\npeople. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The Flag is the\nembodiment, not of sentiment, but of history. It represents the experiences\nmade\nby men and women, the experiences of those who do and live under the Flag.\"\nPerhaps many Americans today do not know why President Wilson designated June 14th-\nthat particular date--as Flag Day. The answer is that it was on June 14, 1777, that\nthe Continental Congress decided\nthe form\nof the Flag which\nwas to be the proud emblem of\nwhat was to become the greatest Nation\nin the world.\nThe Continental Congress resolved: \"That the flag of the 13 United States be\n13 stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be 13 stars, white on a\nblue field, representing a new conste: llation.\" The stars were\narranged in a circle so\nthat no colony would take precedence over another.\nFORD\nwas fought to\nUnder this Flag, the American revolution\na glorious end, and the\nLIBRARY & GERALIA RL\nPresident of the United States was inaugurated.\n-2-\nGeorge Washington described the symbolism in the Flag. He said: WWe take the\nstars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by\nwhite stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white\nstripes shall go down in posterity representing liberty.\"\nNow, 192 years since the Continental Congre SS first proclaimed a design for\nour Flag, we have 50 stars on the Flag's field of blue to represent our 50 states,\nand our proud banner has\nflown\nthroughout the\nworld.\nThere are those in our country today who sneer at patriotism and others who\ngo so far as to defile our Flag. I feel pity for them. Their hearts and their\nminds must be empty places.\nI do not believe patriotism and love of our Flag is dead in America. It is not\nalways\nwildly evident, but the deep love that our people feel for our\ncountry is there nevertheless.\nHenry Ward Beecher wrote: \"A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees\nnot the flag only, but the Nation itself, and whatever may be its symbols, its\ninsignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths,\nthe history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.\"\nAnd so it is when we Americans look at our Flag. We see it as the symbol of\nour values, our principles, and our determination to succeed as a free and\ndemocratic people It is a symbol that guides us through the darkness of hatred\nand\ndivisivene s. Ours must continue to be a patriotism that stands\nnot only for love of countr y but for love of people. For that is the great strength\nof America--the generosity and good sense of its people,\nGERALD\n-3-\nIn these days when some of our young men have waved the Viet Cong flag and\nCommunist victory\ncalled for a\nIn\nVietnam, it is appropriate to r ecall the\nwords of President Theodore Roosevelt when he said: \"We have room in this Country\nfor but one flag, the Stars and Stripes. .We have room for but one loyalty-loyalty\nto these United States.\"\nThis is your congressman, Jerry Ford, reporting to you from Washington. I'll be\ntalking with you again next week-same time, same station.\nGERALD LIDERA FORD\nRadio script taped June 27, 1969 for use on 5th District Radio Stations\nLadies and gentlemen, this is Congressman Jerry Ford with your weekly\nradio program from the Nation's Capital.\nOn this program I've asked Congressman Clarence Brown of the State of\nOhio who is a member of the committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to\ndiscuss with me legislation which the House considered and approved this\npast week in reference to stiffening the advertising requirements as far as\ncigarettes are concerned. Nice to have you on the program.\nJerry, nice to be with you. It is a pleasure to have the chance to\ntalk to people in Michigan.\nMr. Ford -- Well, you're an expert in this area on this important\nlegislation which your committee recommended and the House approved. Will\nyou give us the benefit of your annalysis of this legislation.\nBrown -- I think that the most significant thing that the average\ncitizen will note as a change XM as a result of this legislation is the\nfact the warning on the cigarette pack will be a lot stiffer than it was.\nThe warning will now say that the surgeon general has determined that smoking\ncigarettes is dangerous to your health and may cause lung cancer MMX\nand\nother diseases. Currently the warning just says, \"Cigarette smoking may be\ndangerous to your health.\" The reason for the legislation is that there has\n/in\nbeen quite a controversy on the degree of danger and the smoking of cigar-\nettes and the MMM use of other tobacco products. Of course, this is a multi-\nbillion dollar industry, and there are a lot of people in the country that\nmake a lot of money growing tobacco, and making cigarettes and selling\ntobacco. And the economic effect of it has to be given consideration. And\nthen the issue was whether or not the Federal Trade Commission should ban\nthe advertising of cigarettes or whether the Federal Communications киниха\nCommission should ban the advertising of cigarettes on television and\nradio, the agencies of communication licensed by the Federal Government.\nMr. Ford -- Wasn't one of the issues here whether one or more Federal\nadministrative agencies should exercise prerogatives which the Congress\nitself felt it ought to decide to exercise.\nBrown -- That's right. The agencies still have the authority to lim t\nadvertising terms and some of the things that go on radio and television.\nBut the fact of the matter is that there still is a controversy of the\ndegree of danger of cigarette smoking . I'm a former cigarette smoker myself.\nI decided it was not the best thing in the world for you and gave it up.\nBut we got very controversial testimony ИНИ on our committee on just how\ndangerous cigarettes are and what the real causes of lung cancer can be.\nAnd you you know there are a lot of things in this world that are dangerous.\nAHMX Automobiles made in Michigan and Ohio are dangerous, but the question\nis whether you should ban them. Whether it's an undue intrusion\nMr. Ford -- Certainly whether Congress or an administrative agency\nin the federal government should exercise the prerogative in the first\ninstance.\nBrown -- That's correct. Because there was considerable doubt that\nwe felt that the Congress ought speak to this subject. And of course the\nCongress has the control over these administrative agencies when it\nwishes to exercise it . But in order to expedite our work, we give to\nthe administrative agencies the right in certain instances to go ahead\nand take action in our name.\nLXX\nWell, this was one of those instances\nwhere they were going to take action in our name that the Congress felt\nthey should not take. So in effect, the legislation basically prohibits\nthe agencies from taking action except as the Congress prescribed. And\nhere again, we prescribed a firmer label on the pack, but we did not allow\nthe agencies or it was decided that we would not permit the agencies\nto ban all cigarette advertising, for instance.\nMr. Ford -- And in addition, I think it ought to be pointed out. Isn't\nthere expanded research going on at the present time as to whether or not\nand to what degree there is a connection between cigarette smoking and\nlung cancer and many other diseases.\nBrown -- There is -- There has been ever since the attorney general's\nreport which initially raised this question and since that time the results\nof such research have not been very definitive. Another thing come out of\nthe subcommittee hearings and the full committee hearings, and that was that\nthe advertising agencies , the television program people themselves should\nrestrict their practices and try to clean up the advertising they do.\nMr. Ford -- Well, thank you very much Congressman Clarence Brown of\nOhio and member of the Committee on Interstate anf Foreign Commerce for\nbeing on this program. I'm very grateful.\nLadies and gentlemen, this is your Congressmany Jerry Ford signing\noff KM until next week, same time, same station."
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