Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
This file contains press releases.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
148729950
label
Presidential Statements and Remarks (2)
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
148729950
contentType
document
title
Presidential Statements and Remarks (2)
description
This file contains press releases.
citationUrl
collections
Michael Raoul-Duval Papers
Election Campaign Files
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
148729950
coverageEndDate
logicalDate
1976-11-30
month
11
year
1976
coverageStartDate
logicalDate
1976-10-01
month
10
year
1976
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
f98392742a39ff17
ocrText
The original documents are located in Box 17, folder "Presidential Statements and
Remarks (2)" of the Michael Raoul-Duval Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Michael Raoul-Duval donated to the
United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives
collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in
the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are
presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject
to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO ETHNIC LEADERS
BERALD FORD
I appreciate this opportunity to meet with you today because I want to set the
record straight on an issue that has received prominent attention in the past
week the question of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.
Let me be blunt: I did not express myself clearly when this question came
up in the debate last Wednesday night. So that there can be no doubt about
where I stand, let me spell out precisely what I believe:
First, the countries of Eastern Europe are, of course, dominated
by the Soviet Union. Were it not for the presence of more than 30
Russian divisions there now, the countries of Eastern Europe would
long since have achieved their freedom.
Second, the United States never has, does not now, and never will
recognize, accept or acquiesce in this Soviet domination of Eastern
Europe.
Third, the peoples of Eastern Europe yearn for freedom; while their
countries may be physically dominated, their spirit is not. Their spirit has
never been broken and never will be. And some day they will be free.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of my position. It is what my
commitment to the dignity of man and his inalienable right to freedom compels
me to believe. It is what my whole record of public service has demonstrated
I believe. And any man who seeks to persuade you that I think otherwise is
engaging in deceit and distortion.
The original mistake was mine. I did not express myself clearly; I admit it.
But in the last analysis, my record of 30 years of service in the Congress, as
Vice President, and as President must speak for itself. More than a year
ago, in July of 1975, I said that, "It has always been my policy ever since I
entered public life, to support the aspirations for freedom and national
independence of the peoples of Eastern Europe with whom we have close ties
of culture and blood -- by every proper and peaceful means. 11 I stand by that
record today, and I am proud of it. I welcome making it an issue in this
campaign.
But another critical issue -- one which you with particularly close ties to
Eastern Europe, as well as the American people as a whole, should consider
is whether a man who shows SO little appreciation of America's strength,
America's respect, and America's needs as my opponent has done in this
campaign -- should be allowed to guide the fortunes of the most powerful
nation on earth.
The American people have a right to ask whether a political candidate who has
variously called for a $15 billion cut, or a $7 or 8 billion cut, or a $5 to 7 billion
cut in the defense budget, and who then complains that we are "not strong
anymore, " as Governor Carter has done, is truly the man to govern the only
country in the world that can assure the defense of freedom and give hope to
the millions of oppressed in Eastern Europe and throughout the world.
(MORE)
-2-
Finally, let me address the critical question of leadership, which Governor
Carter has rightly raised. Do we want to entrust the leadership of this great
Nation to a man who seeks to lift himself up to the White House by running
down the reputation of the United States? Is the leadership we want that
which claims that America "is not respected anymore" when it is the United
States -- and the United States alone - that is trusted by all sides in the
Middle East, and by both black and white in Southern Africa?
America is the leader of the free world, and the American people arè proud
of it. But the kind of leadership America seeks for itself, the kind of
leadership America offers the world, the kind of leadership we need for
the future is the leadership of example, compassion and common sense.
And if that is what we are, if that is what we want to be, then phrases such
as "a disgrace to our country" phrases that demonstrate moral conceit
rather than example, compassion, or common sense -- have no place.
I want the American people to understand the profound differences between
us in areas of policy as well as philosophy. Therefore, I intend to fight
Mr. Carter on the issues with all the ability I can command.
The challenges before us are immense if we are to successfully defend
the principles of freedom and independence we celebrate this Bicentennial
year. The free world looks to us as the last best hope for preserving this
heritage. To be successful we must be strong. The fact is we are, and I
intend to assure that in this critical hour America remains the strong, steady
defender of freedom for all humanity.
# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Brooklyn, New York)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
YESHIVA OF FLATBUSH HIGH SCHOOL
12:55 P.M. EDT
Senator Javits, Senator Buckley, Attorney
General Lefkowitz, Congressman Peyser, Congressman Gilman,
Dick Rosenbaum, Mr. Goldschmidt, Mrs. Eliach, Mr. Klein,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
I commend this outstanding Jewish institution
and especially the Center for Holocaust Studies. From
the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people came the
greatest achievement of the Jewish spirit -- the rebirth
of the State of Israel. This inspires Americans of all
faiths.
The Jewish people, once tragic victims, today
are symbols of human courage, pride and unconquerable
determination, and I congratulate you for it. When I
think of the terrible atrocities of World War II, when
I recall the grim and moving day when I visited Auschwitz,
when I think of the 6 million Jewish martyrs and others
so brutally murdered, I reflect on how fortunate we are
to be citizens of a country which exalts trust in God
and God-given rights of every person to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.
I was just presented with a small lapel pin
inscribed with a Jewish or Hebrew word "Remember" -- and
I will remember.
God has blessed our great land. With this
blessing goes a great responsibility. As a free people,
we must remember that the price of freedom is eternal
vigilance.
In our lifetime there has been more than enough
tragedy and terror, more than enough fanaticism and fear.
My Administration has committed to combat effectively and
affirmatively terrorism everywhere on a worldwide basis.
I shared the relief and the pride of the Jewish
people last July 4 when our Independence Day was given
an added dimension by the heroic Israeli rescue operation
in Uganda. And I am proud of the fact that I was the
first head of Government to praise this tremendous act
of courage and determination by the State of Israel.
Just as I am determined to fight terrorism
throughout the world, I will do everything in my power
to fight terrorism in our own streets and neighborhoods,
in New York and throughout the United States.
MORE
Page 2
We all know from the records and from personal
experiences, there have been too many muggings and too
many murders. The time has come to lock up those who make
a career of crime and give the streets back to the people.
We are dedicated to American religious freedom,
but religious freedom means little if people cannot walk
FORD
in safety to their synagogues and to their churches, cannot
feel secure in their own streets and in their own neighbor.
LIBRA
hoods, and cannot be sure that society is as devoted to
the rights of the victim as to the rights of the criminal.
A free people must never capitulate to terrorism whether
at foreign airports or in our own streets.
I am in Flatbush today to reaffirm that neighbor-
hoods and communities like this are the life blood of
America today. Let us expand and encourage the values
inherent in our neighborhoods and in our traditions.
America's future requires traditional common sense, not
radical experimentation at personal expense. We must
cherish and preserve our religious traditions, the family,
the home and the rich heritage of many cultures and
neighborhoods throughout America.
The United States is sound. We are secure.
We are on the march to full economic recovery and a better
life for all Americans.
But America's salvation will not be found in
expensive new programs financed by you who pay the taxes
and obey the laws. In the name of justice for some, we
must not do injustice to others.
I am totally opposed, completely against
arbitrary quotas in hiring and in education. Individual
merit must be rewarded. Opportunity should be open to
all Americans on an equal basis. I, today, renew my
pledge to be President of all the people, not with wild
promises and vague plans but with a proven record of
performance.
The Arab boycott has been in existence since
1952, and I have opposed it since 1952. Our moral and
legal opposition to the Arab boycott is being made
forcefully clear, not only to the foreign governments
but to the American business community.
Last week I ordered the Department of Commerce
to make public every instance in which Arab boycott
demands are reviewed from now on by American companies.
Such disclosure will allow the public to monitor the
response of business and industry.
I have not and will not tolerate the translation
of foreign religious prejudice into domestic discrimination
against American citizens.
MORE
Page 3
I am proud to be the first President to take
strong, executive action to combat the boycott. In March
of 1975, I initiated the first comprehensive White House
review of the boycott problem. My action led in November
1975 to a series of Executive Orders that I issued
especially to combat religious discrimination against
American citizens.
During the 25 years that I was privileged to
serve in the Congress of the United States, I acted, as
you know, on numerous occasions to bring America's
attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry.
As President, I am pressing for new movement on
the issue of emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union.
I raised this question personally with General Secretary
Brezhnev, and I will raise it again and again.
It is immoral for any nation to either dominate
other nations or to dominate the religious life and
elementary human rights of its own citizens.
From the time that I first ran for Congress in
1948, I recognized that a strong Israel is essential to
the cause of peace and the national security of the
United States, and I am proud of that record.
That record is as old as the State of Israel,
and you know where I stand. I stand firm in my commitment
to Israel. I am proud that our delegation at the United
Nations has fought and will fight any measure that
condemns Zionism as racism or would deny Israel her full
rights of United Nations membership.
America's policy of peace through strength has
proven itself in the Middle East and throughout the
world. Nobody questions our dedication to peace and
nobody must doubt my willingness to use our strength
when America's vital interests are at stake.
A strong defense is the best insurance for
peace. But, our strength has never rested upon arms
alone. It is rooted in our commitment to the highest
standards of ethics and morality. As President, I am
proud to say that peace in the Middle East has been
enhanced by the trust that we have elicited on both
sides. Israel's future is certainly brighter today
than it was before I had the honor of becoming President
of the United States.
MORE
Page 4
In the last two years the forces of moderation
in the Middle East have grown stronger. The area's
extremists and terrorists are on the defensive. Prime
Minister Rabin, who has been my personal friend since he
was Ambassador in the United States when I served in the
Congress, said recently that relations between our two
countries are at a peak.
The funds for Israel in my first two years of
office totaled $4 billion 300 million. Forty percent
of the total American aid to Israel since 1948 was
authorized during the Ford Administration.
Our support of Israel with weapons, not words,
was summed up by Israel's Prime Minister Rabin, who
said, and I quote, "The margin between what we want
and what we get is very small." Israel's strength
enhances the prospects for peace. I reaffirm today that
as we pursue peace there will be no imposed solution.
There will be no one-sided concessions.
I have met with Prime Minister Rabin and other
Israeli leaders in Washington on many occasions since
I became President. In my next term I intend to visit
Israel and other Middle Eastern countries whenever such
a trip would contribute most to a just and lasting
peace.
My record as a friend of Israel speaks for
itself. My record is one of realism, not rhetoric.
My record is one of experience, not expediency. My
record is one of performance, not promises.
I recall the timeless question asked by a
great Jewish prophet, and I quote, "What doeth the
Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love
mercy and walk humbly with thy God."
As I visit with citizens like yourselves in
neighborhoods like this, I am reassured by the goodness
of the United States of America, a nation which strives
to do justice and to love mercy. Let us walk humbly
together in brotherhood with God as our guide.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 1:09 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(New York City, New York)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
QERALD FORD LIBRARY
AT THE
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE DINNER
THE NEW YORK HILTON HOTEL
9:45 P.M. EDT
Nelson, Senator Jack Javits, Senator Jim Buckley,
Governor Wilson, Attorney General Lefkowitz, distinguished
Members of Congress, Mary Louise, Dick Rosenbaum, Gus Levy,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
That concludes my remarks. Thank you. (Laughter)
Obviously, Nelson, I am deeply grateful for
your more than generous comments and, as I will say in a
moment, there is no way that I can adequately express my
appreciation for the superb job that you have done in the
last two years.
I talked to Betty just before I came down -- and
Nelson is one of her favorites, as Happy is one of mine
(Laughter) -- and she said to give you her very best and
to extend to all of you her deepest gratitude and appre-
ciation. She wanted to be here, but in the last five days
she has been in California, the State of Washington,
Colorado, Buffalo, New York, and she is going out to
four States in the next few days, so she asked me if you
would think she was here in spirit if not in person and
she said to say hello to all of you.
But, I do want to pay particular attention to
the 13 all-American representatives of the various ethnic
groups here from some 23 nations, as I understand it, and
I am deeply grateful for their support, dedication and their
understanding. Thank you very, very much.
Nelson, it is good to be hiding out in the White
House here in New York. (Laughter) I spent last week
hiding out in the White House in California, Oklahoma and
Texas. I plan to spend the rest of the week in the
White House in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. What I am
actually doing is playing hide and seek. I am looking all
over trying to find the candidate who used to run around the
country saying, "I will never lie to you." (Laughter)
I might say parenthetically he seems to have
disappeared. (Laughter)
MORE
Page 2
But wherever I go, I do hear good things about
another former Governor. I hear that he is one of the most
enthusiastic, one of the most effective, one of the most
energetic campaigners for the Republican cause in this
crucial 1976 election. I hear he describes what we have
accomplished in my 26 months as President a whole lot
better than I do. He is Nelson Rockefeller, and his
middle name is loyalty. Thank you.
In politics you can have charisma, you can have
eloquence, you can have leadership, you can have
character, you can have experience, and Nelson has all of
these things. Believe me, though, the one thing that you
really look for in this political arena most of all is
loyalty, and Nelson has it, and I thank you very much.
If I might, I would like to add a very special
comment. Nelson, not only for what you have done as
Vice President, not only for what you have done for my
candidacy and whatyou are doing in this campaign, but
what you have done for our country all of your public life.
Nobody will ever surpass the dedication, the devotion that
has been demonstrated on behalf of his country over the
years by our Vice President, and I think not only you
here tonight but the people in the great Empire State
and all of us in the other 49 States are deeply
grateful for this wonderful public servant, whom I have
gotten to know and love and trust, and who I think is
super.
Now I would like to express my gratitude to
your great State Chairman, Dick Rosenbaum, who has a
subtle way of suggesting that maybe certain things ought
to happen -- look at him blush. (Laughter) Well, we
will do our best, Dick, to repay you for the first-class
job you did in Kansas City.
Needless to say I have been gratified and deeply
impressed by what I have heard and seen here in New York
today. I am no judge of how big the crowds are or how
enthusiastic the people are because I have never had
the privilege of being a candidate in New York State
before.
But, I can tell warmth in the eyes of people
and I can tell by the way they look and feel and speak
and yell and get together.
We had a great day in Brooklyn today, and I
want to thank everybody for it.
MORE
Page 3
As Nelson said, the people of New York City
are sorting out some of the most difficult financial
problems any city in this country has ever faced. I
know it has not been easy for New York City to pull
through these financial problems.
During our travels through Brooklyn and
Flatbush, I had an opportunity to talk to Senator Javits
and Senator Buckley, and I told them as follows: As New
York City continues to meet its responsibilities -- and
I commend them and congratulate them -- I strongly favor
the continuation of Federal cash flow assistance. It is
good for the City and it is good for the country.
I also added another little comment. I told
them I support the rebuilding of the West Side Highway.
About 35 or 40 years ago, I was courting a very nice girl
and I used to come down from New Haven and I used to ride
and drive on that highway then. It was old and broken
down then and it should have been replaced a long time ago.
As soon as the Environmental Impact Statement
is ready, we will go ahead. And the second -- now this is
the good news -- I think we sort of put a fire under them.
They expect to have that all done in the next 30 days
and you will get the go-ahead signal.
Now let me take just a few minutes. When I
was here on the Fourth of July to see the Tall Ships,
more beautiful sails came to this City, I think, than ever
in the history of any city or any nation. There was promise,
conviction and hometown pride. It was clearly demonstrated
by anybody who came to the City on that occasion, and
that new spirit--as we flew over in the helicopter or in
our aircraft, that new spirit was demonstrated. It was
hard earned and it was well-deserved, and I congratulate
you all.
Now it has been eight weeks since Kansas City.
We have come a long, long way, baby. (Laughter) We
have the facts, we have the issues, we have the momentum,
and we have three more weeks to go to win a great victory
for the American people.
I said in Kansas City that we wouldn't
concede a single State, we wouldn't concede a single
vote; we would campaign from the snowy banks of
Minnesota to the sandy plains of Georgia. And we have,
and we are going to win on November 2.
MORE
Page 4
I have a firm commitment from Dick Rosenbaum,
and Nelson, and Jack Javits, and Jim Buckley that we
are going to carry New York with its 41 electoral votes.
I have made a firm commitment to Jim Buckley, we are
going to help him get re-elected to the United States
Senate from the State of New York.
It would be very helpful in the next two years
if we could have a good number of additional Republican
Members of the House of Representatives who would stand
tall and strong when the tough issues come down, people
like Jack Wideler and others, so do your best in that
regard.
I also told you in Kansas City that I was
ready and eager to debate Mr. Carter face to face on the
real issues. I still am (Laughter) if I can pin him
down. We have heard a lot of double-talk from Mr.
Carter, a lot of make believe mathematics, a lot of fuzzy
and contradictory policy proposals. I still don't
know where Mr. Carter stands on most issues, and I don't
think he does.
One thing is pretty clear: Mr. Carter wants to
be President, whatever he has to say to get there. I
can sympathize. I understand it when he says he will have
to take a few years to study national and international
problems and get all of the facts. Let's give Mr. Carter
a few more years to prepare himself. (Laughter) But, not
on the taxpayer's money.
You know what I will do, because you know what
I have done for the past 26 months. You know where we
were then and you know where we are today -- peace,
recovering from a recession, rebuilding pride in America
in its 200th anniversary. You know what I have done as
President despite the partisan obstructionism of a Congress
stacked two to one against me.
We heard before the Convention that our party
was sick, our party was dying. Now we hear the voters
are overcome with apathy and really don't care who wins.
I don't believe that. I just don't believe that. The
American people do care, they have a clear choice and
our job is to get them to the polls to register their
choice for our country.
Make no mistake -- this election will decide the
direction America is going to take in its third century of
independence. Mr. Carter may be deficient in details, but
the general direction of his philosophy is very, very plain.
It is the same direction which his party has been leading
this country for the last 44 years.
Don't forget that his party controlled the Congress
and written all the laws in 40 out of the last 44 years.
That is really what is basically wrong in Washington today.
Mr. Carter wants more Federal Government; I want less. Mr.
Carter wants higher Federal taxes for middle income taxpayers;
I want lower taxes for everybody, especially the overburdened,
shortchanged man in the middle.
MORE
Page 5
Mr. Carter wants less defense insurance. I
want the strongest and the best military capability
science that money can provide. We can't do less than
that.
Mr. Carter wants to reduce our commitments
to our long and steadfast allies. I want to maintain
America's world leadership for peace.
These are real fundamental differences, serious
choices to be made by the people throughout this country.
Mr. Carter, in his party's platform, charted one course
for this country. No matter how he zigzags, there is
no doubt where he wants to go. The direction Mr. Carter
would take us is the same one that brought us heavy
inflation, a tax load that kills initiative and slows
economic expansion, a slowdown in research and development
and oppressive interference by a know-it-all Federal
Government.
I stand for a totally different direction. This
year, my budget reduced -- as Jack and Jim and Jack Wideler
know -- reduced the rate of growth by 50 percent, or
one-half. Congress exceeded it by more than $18 billion.
But I still mean to submit -- and we can with the right
Congress in the next two years -- I still mean to submit
a balanced Federal budget by 1978.
It doesn't seem like much, but I think it is
an encouraging trend. In the two years that I have been
there we have reduced a proposed increase in Federal
employees by 40,000, a projected increase, and we have
actually reduced the number of employees in the civilian
side of the Federal Government by 11,000. That is
something that we can do, have done, and will do in the
months ahead beyond those 11,000.
My 60 vetoes saved the American taxpayers
$9-1/2 billion. Mr. Carter constantly criticizes those
vetoes and yet he castigates us for having too big
a deficit. I am not sure how you can have it both
ways. If his party's Congress, I might add parenthetically,
had not overridden 12 of the vetoes that I made, we
would have saved an additional $16 billion more.
When I say that I stand for smaller Government,
and my performance proves it, on the other hand Mr. Carter
says he is for reforming and reorganizing the bureaucracy,
but his performance tells a far different story, and
I respectfully suggest you ask the taxpayers of Georgia.
They don't tell the same story.
What do you think you will get from a Democratic
President and another two-to-one Democratic Congress.
One thing you will certainly get is more spending and
bigger deficits. Another thing you will get is more
runaway inflation. One thing you won't get is lower
Federal taxes. Another thing you won't get is less
Federal Government.
MORE
Page 6
So, the choice before our country is very
clear. You know where I st and and I am proud of it. I
have campaigned here ever since 1948 on the principle
that a Government big enough to give us everything we want
is a Government big enough to take from us everything we
have.
About ten days ago, early in the morning in
Washington, I got a call from a very courageous leader
of Government, one of our dear and respected allies.
Prime Minister Callaghan called and said--and I quote from
a speech that he made because, as many of you know, they
have had serious difficulties, not only more recently
but over the years--and I read some of the excerpts from
a speech that Jim Callaghan gave that I think are worth
repeating here on this occasion.
Jim Callaghan hcourageously said, and I quote,
"We have lived for too long on borrowed time, borrowed
money and even borrowed ideas, nor will we succeed if
we use confetti money to pay ourselves more than we
produce."
Then the Prime Minister continued in this
speech before his labor convention of his own political
party, he went on to say, "Each time we did this, the
twin evils of unemployment and inflation have hit hardest
those least able to stand them -- the poor, the old and
the sick."
I think that all Americans should learn a
lesson from this courageous public leader in Great Britain
and his very plain and straightforward talk to his fellow
members of the Parliament.
I think the current crisis in Great Britain
tells us more than any words can about the danger of too
much Government, too much spending on borrowed money.
The British pound has sunk to its lowest level in history.
Inflation has been running over 25 percent. Government
spending now accounts for 60 percent of the entire
British economy.
As Republicans, we are not motivated by the love
of Government power but the fear of it. We should be.
We speak for those who work hard, pay their taxes, obey
the laws and have the right to enjoy their own God-given
liberty.
We are totally committed to a policy of peace
through strength in a world where freedom is still
threatened by aggressive adversaries. The United States
of America must remain number one, and we will for our
protection and for freedomaround the world.
MORE
Page 7
I know how deeply all of you are devoted to
the principles that we have been talking about -- Nelson
and myself and others -- and I thank you from the bottom
of my heart, Gus, and all of you, for your steadfast
support.
But, there is one more effort that I would
like to ask of you. Republicans alone cannot win this
election. The principles we hold are just as dear to
millions of our friends and neighbors who prefer to be
Democrats or Independents.
Between now and November 2 I hope that every
Republican will persuade just one Independent and one
Democrat, two concerned citizens who feel as we do about
the direction this country must take, to go to the polls
and vote their true conviction regardless of party
label.
If you do this person to person and friend to
friend, we can and we will win a great victory for the
American people and the principles that we all espouse
regardless of how the label is after our registration.
The only way is to go forward together. There
is no way we can lose except by resting before the last
polls close. Together, not as partisans but as a proud
American, we will get America off to a great start on
our third century of this freedom in the greatest country
in the history of mankind.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 10:11 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Yonkers, New York)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
YONKERS CITY HALL
9:36 A.M. EDT
Dick, Senator Javits, Senator Buckley,
distinguished Members of the Congress, Governor Wilson,
Mayor Martinelli, Monsignor Ed, distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen:
Today marks a major milestone in our
continuing effort to make Government work better for the
American taxpayer. In just a moment, I will sign into
law a bill extending what we call general revenue sharing
for another 3-3/4 years.
Many of you here in this group this morning
played a very leading part in the passage of the original
revenue sharing bill back in 1972. No one had a more
significant role than two former Governors of the great
State of New York -- Vice President Rockefeller and your
own hometown friend Malcolm Wilson. Malcolm, congratulations.
In 1972, as the Republican leader of the House
of Representatives at that time, I led the fight in the
House of Representatives for the revenue sharing concept.
In 1976, as President, I led the fight for the renewal
of the general revenue sharing legislation. In 1980, as
President of the United States, I will still lead the fight
for continuation of general revenue sharing.
My strong support for revenue sharing stems
from one very simple but very important fact. Revenue
sharing is a people's program that works very well for
all our people -- 215 million of them throughout the
length and breadth of this land.
By the end of this year, 39,000 State and local
units of Government will have received more than $30
billion in general revenue sharing funds from the Federal
Treasury. Here in Yonkers almost $8 million in revenue
sharing funds have been used for major transportation
improvements, better fire and police protection, and other
essential public services.
Throughout America, as many of the mayors that
I see here this morning well know, revenue sharing has
beefed up, enforced law enforcement efforts, made health
services much more accessible, expanded parks and
recreational facilities, held local property taxes in
check and helped promote economic growth in literally
thousands of communities. It is a good program, and we
are lucky to have it.
MORE
Page 2
Revenue sharing success goes well beyond these
excellent services. This program has reversed a dangerous
trend toward centralization, unaccountable power in
Washington, D. C. For decades, the Federal Government
piled programs of narrow categorical aid, one on top of
another. By 1972, there were more than 1,000 separate
Federal grant programs, each equipped with its own
Federal bureaucracy, its own set of rules and regulators.
With revenue sharing, we have begun to restore
the necessary balance among Federal, State and local
units of Government to restore local control over local
concerns. That means you in Yonkers, you in Westchester
will be making the decisions rather than some bureaucrat
on the banks of the Potomac, and I have a lot more faith
in you than I do in them.
The general revenue sharing program for the
$30 billion that in five years will be distributed has
only 100 Federal employees. For every $800 in the revenue
sharing budget, its own budget, only $1 goes for
administrative costs or overhead, the best record in
the Federal Government.
Now despite the obvious success of general
revenue sharing, it has faced some very strong opposition
from within the majority party in the House as well as
in the Senate. The reasons for this opposition from the
many Democratic Congressmen in Washington are clear and
very simple.
Democrats in Washington don't trust local
Government. Democrats in Washington want to tell you how
to run your State and local affairs. Over the years
Democrats in Washington created big Government. They have
a stake in preserving it. They are firmly committed to
it and, without a President who is willing to say no, they
would make it even bigger, more powerful and more expensive.
I am willing to say no, not only by exercizing
the Presidential veto but by calling for positive
imaginative alternatives to Government by Washington
decree, alternatives like general revenue sharing.
Governor Carter has stated his opposition to
revenue sharing in its present form, calling it a big hoax
and a mistake. He says he opposes general revenue sharing
with State Governments but he apparently had no trouble
whatsoever in finding uses for the $140 million in general
revenue sharing funds that came to Georgia during his one
term as Governor of that State. As far as I know, he
didn't send a single penny of that big hoax revenue
sharing back to Washington during those four years.
MORE
Page 3
He knew in his heart, as most Governors know,
that revenue sharing is vitally important. It is a
vitally important resource of State governments as well
as local units of government. We know that revenue
sharing has been a major success at every level of
Government.
The legislation that I will be signing into
law will make the program an even greater success. It
will extend revenue sharing for another 3-3/4 years. It
will provide $25 billion 600 million to State and
local units of government.
But, most importantly, it will give to you here
in Yonkers, in Westchester and in the State an even greater
voice in deciding how your tax dollars that go to
Washington and come back to you will be spent at the
local level.
The City of Yonkers is particularly appropriate
for the signing of this bill. This city has 204,000
residents and its distinguished Government officials are
committed to solving your own problems in your own way
with your own imagination, and with your own hard work.
I congratulate each and every one of you
for your very recent breakthrough in selling many
millions of dollars in Yonkers bonds on the public
market. This is an encouraging sign of health in which
thousands of cities and towns throughout America proudly
share because of the success of the revenue sharing
program.
With confidence that this legislation will
make a good program even better, I will very shortly
right down there sign into law the General Revenue
Sharing Extension Act of 1976.
Congratulations to you, to those who worked
on it, and good luck and God bless you.
END
(AT 9:46 A.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(White Plains, New York)
FORD
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
WHITE PLAINS CITY HALL
11:02 A.M. EDT
Dick Rosenbaum, Senator Javits, Senator Buckley,
distinguished Members of the House of Representatives,
Mayor Delveccio, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
At the outset, let me express my deep gratitude
and appreciation for this wonderful crowd, to see all of
these tremendous young people from all of the high schools,
and I am especially appreciative of the student body of
Archbishop Stepinac.
But, may I say one other comment. I had a
wonderful day in the State of New York yesterday in
Flatbush and Brooklyn and Manhattan, and we have had
a superb day so far in Yonkers and White Plains.
But, it has been made especially meaningful to
me because I have had with me your two outstanding United
States Senators, Senator Jack Javits and Senator Jim
Buckley. But, I have also been privileged to have the
various Members of Congress who represent the various
areas in the State of New York that I have been privileged
to visit in this day and a half so far. They are quality
people. Send them back and give me some help by getting
some more good people like that.
Mayor Delveccio said that White Plains has a
great, wonderful historical background. I was looking
just the other day, in contemplation of coming to
White Plains, that 200 years ago young Americans fought
the British Redcoats right in the battle of White Plains.
In 1976 a different kind of battle is raging
the length and the breadth of this country. In this
battle the citizens of White Plains and all Americans are
not fighting Redcoats but red tape and red ink, and we
are going to win that battle, too. That is the basic
difference between Plains, Georgia and White Plains, New
York.
My opponent from Plains, Georgia makes the
promises. You here in White Plains, New York would have
to pay for them, and you don't want to, so let's win this
battle November 2.
MORE
Page 2
One of the most important issues in this
campaign is taxes. You heard over the last few months
all four sides of the same question, three of them from
Mr. Carter. As a matter of fact, the liveliest debate of
this campaign has been the debate between Jimmy Carter
and Jimmy Carter. He says he is for a balanced budget
but he refuses to support the 60 vetoes that have saved
the American taxpayer $9-plus billion.
He says America is weak militarily but he wants
to cut the defense budget by $15 billion. Jimmy Carter
says he is against inflation, but he supports the
Democratic platform with $100 billion to $200 billion in
new spending. He can't have it both ways, and we are not
going to let him have it both ways.
He says he is for tax reform, but he reneged on
his promise to provide specifics before the election. He
says he is for higher taxes for people earning over $14,000
a year. But, I say -- and listen carefully -- I say
the middle income taxpayer is already overtaxed, over-
burdened and under-represented.
Jimmy Carter says he wants to tax the churches
except on their church property. I am opposed to
that and I know you are. I have been told few things
upset New Yorkers as much as your skyrocketing taxes.
I athink that bothers people all over the country. The
way to reverse that trend is not to expand Government
spending but to cut it back, and thanks to my 60 vetoes
you know which candidate for President stands for cutting
back expenditures, holding the line and reducing your
taxes -- it is Jerry Ford,
Property taxes all over the country are climbing.
But, let me add this: They would climb a lot faster if
we didn't have general revenue sharing, which I just
signed into law in the City of Yonkers. Revenue sharing
is the kind of a specific program to help all of you, to
encourage all of you to solve your problems at the local
level.
Let me tell you something that some of you may
have forgotten. Last February Jimmy Carter came out in
favor of eliminating the deduction for mortgage interest
on your Federal income tax return. Obviously, when the
American people rebelled he retreated back into the same
old generalities.
Well, there is no such confusion about my
stand on that deduction of mortgage interest. Jerry
Ford supports that deduction. I did for 25 years in the
House of Representatives and I will do it for the next
four years as President of the United States.
I am not going to let homeowners become the
next endangered species. Jimmy Carter would.
MORE
Page 3
To me, tax reform means tax reduction. Nine
days ago I signed into law a tax bill which extended
the cuts that I recommended last year. But, the Tax
Reform Act of 1976 fails to include some other
suggestions that I have proposed to give the proper kind
of tax relief that the taxpayers deserve. For example,
I recommended that we increase the personal exemption from
$750 to $1,000. That is a meaningful tax return to the
middle income taxpayer, and we are going to get it
next year if we didn't get it this year.
You know we have heard a lot of talk in this
campaign about compassion. Our Government must always
show compassion toward the truly needy. The time has
come, as I see it, to show as much compassion toward the
people who make the generosity of Federal Government
programs possible in the first place. But, let me add
this great big important extra comment: How about a lot
of compassion for the American taxpayer? That is what
Jerry Ford stands for.
The people of White Plains work hard for every
dollar that you make. You are the people who get up
early ever day, go to bed tired every night, quietly
building a better life for your families and your
fellow citizens. You pay the taxes, you obey the
laws, you are the people who make possible the good things
that Government does.
So, when a Federal spending bill reaches my
desk, I keep each and every one of you in mind. It
may be Congressional compassion, but it is your money
and that is why I have vetoed 60 bills sent down to the
Oval Office from Capitol Hill, because they want to spend
and spend and spend, and Jimmy Carter wants to spend and
spend and spend, and I am going to be there to be
compassionate about your tax dollar, period.
The American people cannot afford to have
leaders who try to be all things to all people. The
President of the United States must be the same thing
to all people. When voters look at the record of the
last two years, they will see that the United States
has made an incredible comeback.
Today we are on the steady road to peace,
prosperity and trust. But, on November 2 we will reach
a fork in that road. We can continue the policies and
the leadership that have brought us back from a national
nightmare, back from recession, back from international
conflict, or we can take instead the same old path that
leads to bigger Government--higher taxes and more inflation
and more unemployment. The choice to each and every one
of you voters in this great State of New York, that is
your choice. Through two difficult years, I have stood
for the little taxpayer against the big tax spender. It
is from your ranks that I come and on your side that I stand.
On November 2 I ask that each and every one of
you stand with me. I would appreciate your help.
END
(AT 11:15 A.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(New City, New York)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
ROCKLAND COUNTY COURTHOUSE
12:25 P.M. EDT
Dick Rosenbaum, Senator Javits, Senator Buckley,
Congressman Ben Gilman, distinguished guests, wonderful
people from Rockland and Orange County:
I love you. Thank you. I am deeply, deeply
grateful to the fine Congressman that you have from
this Congressional District. All of you know Ben
Gilman. You know the job he has done. You know that
he got the Otisville Prison for you. You know he works
day after day for you. Let me congratulate you, and
reelect Ben Gilman.
In the last day and a half I have had a great
privilege to be in the State of New York. We started
out in Manhattan, we went to Brooklyn, we were in the
Flatbush, we, this morning started in Yonkers, we were
in White Plains, and now we are in Rockland County with
all the fine people from Orange County along side of us.
But all during this time where we have had
great crowds like all of you here, I have had the
privilege and the honor of having with me your two
outstanding United States Senators -- my good friends
Jack Javits and Jim Buckley -- and I want you to give
them a great big show of appreciation.
I can't express to them adequately my
personal appreciation and gratitude. But now let me
express particularly to the young people who I see here
from the various schools -- elementary, secondary and
otherwise -- their coming here and warmly welcoming
their President.
Let me say I couldn't think of a better way
to spend a brisk fall afternoon than being in this
particular county with all of you. I only wish that I
could talk to each one of you individually.
Since I can't, let me tell you what I would
do, what I would say to each of you if I could sit down
with you over a cup of coffee or just a plain, old
sandwich. Let me give you some straight talk from the
White House.
MORE
Page 2
Mr. Smith, I would say to you, or to Mrs. Jones,
you have been hearing an awful lot of words and a lot
of numbers in the last several weeks. You have heard
statistics, percentages and conflicting claims. I don't
believe those are the most important things in this
campaign. Let me tell you what I believe and believe
very deeply is the most important thing -- and that is
you and you and you and 10,000 people who are here in
Rockland County right now.
But each of you between now and November 2
have some clear choices to make, and let me present
some of the alternatives.
My opponent leaves a lot of issues up in the
air, but he is clearly in favor of additional Federal
spending, Federal spending which he endorses -- $100
billion or $200 billion each year.
I happen to believe -- and this is where the
choice is very clear -- I happen to believe in restraining
Federal spending, holding the lid on expenditures from
the Federal Government, so we can dampen the threat of
inflation and let you keep more of your own hard-earned
money in your pocket.
Do you want your taxes raised so you can pay
for those hundred billion dollar programs of Jimmy Carter?
(Chorus of no's) I think I heard that loud and clear.
Let me talk for just a minute about taxes. You
know where I stand. I recommended last year a $28 billion
tax reduction which included a tax reduction of the personal
income exemption, increasing that exemption from $750
to $1,000. Do you want that tax reduction?
I think you want your personal taxes cut. Jimmy
Carter wants to raise them. Whose side are you on?
Mr. Carter wants to increase the tax or take
away the deduction for those people who are buying homes
who get a deduction from the interest payments on those
mortgages. I am against Jimmy Carter on that. I am
against Jimmy Carter's plan to tax church property other
than the churches themselves.
Whose side are you on?
MORE
Page 3
Let me talk for just a minute. We want to
have peace at home, a prosperous economy, less inflation,
less Federal spending, less Federal taxes. But, if we
are going to keep peace at home, we have to have the
peace throughout the world. I don't think you can keep
the necessary military strength to meet the challenges
around the world by cutting the defense budget $5
billion, I think we have to have the Army, the Navy,
the Air Force, the Marine Corps number one, and that is
what Jerry Ford wants.
I am not willing to take a chance with a
weakened national security. The United States represent
leadership throughout the world. We are at peace today.
Not a single young American is fighting or dying on a
foreign battlefield today because we are strong and we
are going to stay that way. But, the United States as a
leader throughout the world has an obligation to stand
tall and strong with certain allies and friends
throughoutthe world.
The Ford Administration stands shoulder to
shoulder with the State of Israel. We believe in its
security and survival and independence. But, let me
conclude with just this final observation: I have been
your President for two years. Let's look at the record.
Inflation is half of what it was when I became President.
More Americans are working today than at any time in
the history of the United States.
But, Jerry Ford won't be satisfied until every
American who wants a job has a job period. And as Dick
Rosenbaum said, when I became President there was a loss
of faith and trust in the White House itself. I believe
that in the last 24 months we have restored that trust
that is essential in the Oval Office, and I can assure
you in the next four years we will maintain that trust,
that confidence, that candor, that openness and that
straight talk, and that is what the American people want.
But, let me say this one final word to all of
you. Between now and November 2 you have to make a
very important choice. I need your help. This is a
critical, crucial election. It is an election that
will make the determination whether the United States
goes down one path or another. Our path -- the path I
represent -- is a healthy economy at home, peace
throughout the world and trust in the White House.
I want to represent you in your White House in
the Oval Office in the next two (four) years. I need
your help. Can I count on it?
Thank you very much. Good luck and God bless
you.
END
(AT 12:36 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Paramus, New Jersey)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
GARDEN STATE PLAZA
2:51 P.M. EDT
Senator Cliff Case, distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen:
As I came in from the highway into the plaza,
I saw a wonderful sign. It said, "Jersey Loves Jerry."
Let me reciprocate. Jerry loves Jersey.
Let me thank you all from the bottom of my heart
for all of you being present. And I believe the fact
that there is such a tremendous crowd here today puts
to rest the allegation that the American people are
not concerned about this election. You are concerned,
the American people are concerned, and you all have good
reason to be concerned. We are right, they are wrong,
and we are going to win in Jersey and 40 other States.
You in Jersey care and you care very deeply,
because you have a great stake in this election. Despite
what my opponent tries to say and the hedging that he
does, despite his attempts to take both sides of almost
every issue, there is a clear choice between Jimmy
Carter and President Ford.
The choice is, do you want the Federal
Government to spend more and more of your money in the
next four years? Do you want the Federal Government to
interfere more and more in your daily lives in the next
four years? I think the American people have been over-
taxed, overburdened, and with Jerry Ford as President
we are going to change that in the next four years.
The American people have had enough double-
talk, fuzzy talk, doubtful promises. The American
people want a Government that will promise only what it
will deliver and will deliver everything it promises.
You heard my opponent say that he is going to
balance the Federal budget. And then the next thing, he
turns around and he approves of, endorses supporters
about all of these programs that are going to cost $100
billion more each year. He can't get away with it. The
American people won't let him get away with it, and you
in Paramus won't let him get away with it.
MORE
Page 2
I think you in New Jersey know how risky it
is when a candidate says one thing on the campaign trail
and then does something else when he gets in public
office. You have been burned before here in New
Jersey. You have learned what it is like when a candidate
faces the voters with a smile and then turns his back
on them later. You have learned it with every dollar
you pay for your State income tax here in New Jersey.
There is a good alternative to that kind of
political acrobatics. You know where I stand. I am
for the little taxpayer and against the big tax spender.
But let's talk about taxes. Jimmy Carter wants
to withdraw the income tax deduction of the interest on
your mortgage payments. I am against his position. I
am for the taxpayer. He wants to collect more money from
you with all of that income tax deduction. Jimmy Carter
wants to tax your churches except the church property. I
am against that tax proposal. Jimmy Carter wants to
increase Federal income taxes on all medium and middle
income taxpayers on up. Jerry Ford wants to increase
your personal exemption from $750 to $1,000. I want to
cut your taxes. He wants to increase your Federal taxes.
I happen to believe that the best tax reform
is tax reduction, and this Administration holds the lid
on Federal spending, cuts down on our national deficit,
makes it possible for us to have an honest tax deduction.
That is the kind of Government you are going to get with
Jerry Ford as President for the next four years and a
better Congress to work with.
When I became President two years ago, America
was deeply troubled. In the last two years, America has
made an incredible comeback. In two short years, we
have added 4 million new jobs in this country. In the
last two years, we have cut the rate of inflation in half.
In the last two years, we restored trust in the White
House.
And let me emphasize right today that there is
not a single young American fighting and dying on foreign
soil because of Ford foreign policy. We are at peace
because we are strong. We are going to stay strong.
Jimmy Carter wants to undercut your Defense
Department with a $15 billion reduction in Federal
spending for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force. That
is not the way to keep the peace. That is not the way to
be sure, to be certain that we have peace in America, we
have peace around the world.
The Ford Administration has achieved the peace
and we are strong and diplomatically skillful, and we
are going to keep the peace in the next four years.
MORE
Page 3
The American people want a steady, experienced
hand handling our national affairs in our international
relations, someone who knows a little bit about what is
good for us at home as well as us abroad.
Let me say that I have had nothing but the
finest experience in working with Cliff Case and his
Republican associates in the House of Representatives.
I am very impressed with the kind of programs that are
good for New Jersey that Cliff Case and others have
sponsored and made available through their ability and
skill in the Congress.
But, let me add this: Cliff does a super job
and I have a long list of things that have been accom-
plished. But Cliff Case could do more for New Jersey
and you could do more for yourself with same of those
good Republican candidates for the House of Representatives.
Send them down to Washington.
Let me conclude with this observation and
comment. We have heard a lot -- a great deal, I might say --
about trust in this campaign. But, it is not enough for
anybody to say trust me. Trust must be earned. Trust
is not guessing what a candidate means. Trust is leveling
with the American people before the election about what
you are going to do after the election. Trust is not
being all things to all people. Trust is being the same
thing to all people. Trust is saying what you mean and
meaning what you say.
In the two years that I have had the honor and
privilege of being your President, by the progress that
we have made at home, by the successes we have had
abroad, by the way in which we run the White House --
open, candid, straightforward -- I think I have earned
the trust of the American people.
Now I need your help. We have to carry New
Jersey. We have to carry a great State like New Jersey.
When I say that I had seen this wonderful sign on the
way in -- "Jersey Loves Jerry" -- I want to reiterate
what I said at the outset, that Jerry Loves Jersey.
But to do what all of us have to do--you in New
Jersey and your fellow Americans from all over the country--
we have to win that election November 2. I need your
help. We can win in New Jersey. We are going to win
throughout the United States. It will be a great day
November 3 for America for four more years of Ford.
END
(AT 3:00 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Brooklyn, New York)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE CROWD IN
BAY RIDGE
3:05 P.M. EDT
It is nice to see you.
Let me make one or two comments. I am delighted
to be here in this wonderful community with Senator Javits
and Senator Buckley. Give them a big hand.
Let me say very quickly, what do we want
in America? We want peace and we want prosperity and
we want trust, under your President.
I think your President, Jerry Ford, has restored
trust in the White House. You can now believe what you
hear out of the White House.
Number two, America is at peace. There is
not a single young American fighting and dying on foreign
soil today, and we are going to keep it that way.
But we want to give a better quality of life
right here in America. What we want is a job for everybody
who wants to work, and we will get him a job. We want
a home for everybody who will work and save for it, and
we are going to get that under the next four years.
We want to be certain that you can walk down
this street or that street and be safe, and we are going
to take care of the crime problem in America, period.
We want these young people that I have seen
on both sides of the street -- we want them to get an
education so that they cannot only have an education but
one that will do them good when they get old enough and
want a job, and we are going to get that in the education
system.
But let me just conclude with this observation:
November 2 is a critical testing point for America. If
you want a country that is strong at home, strong abroad
and with peace and prosperity, vote for Jerry Ford. I
ask for your support.
Thank you.
END
(AT 3:10 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Union, New Jersey)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE CROWD AT THE
TOWN AND CAMPUS INN
5:05 P.M. EDT
Thank you all very, very much. These wonderful
bands, I thank each and every one of you. Thank you
very much.
It is great to be in Union. I saw a sign
on the way here, a sign that means a great deal to me.
The sign said, "Jersey Likes Jerry". Let me respond
by saying Jerry likes Jersey. You are great.
I like Jersey because I know good people like
Cliff Case, like Bob Kean, who I had the honor of
serving with for a number of years. I like the kind of
people that you have joined with me in my campaign. And
I am in New Jersey because New Jersey is a very important
State.
I have heard rumors, I hear talk, I read
some stuff that is written that the American people are
apathetic, they are not going to vote, they don't care
about this election.
Let me say very strongly, I believe the
American people do care. You care because there is a
clear difference between Mr. Carter and myself. He
wants to increase your taxes. I want to reduce and
decrease your taxes.
Mr. Carter wants to increase Federal spending.
I want to hold a lid on Federal spending. Mr. Carter
wants to have you cut our national defense. I think that
is wrong. America has to stay number one, and we will
under President Ford.
So, when you come right down to it, there is
a choice. The American people are concerned, they do
care, and I say again, Jerry Ford loves Jersey just like
Jersey loves Jerry.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 5:07 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 13, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Union, New Jersey)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT A
PRESIDENT FORD COMMITTEE RECEPTION
TOWN AND CAMPUS INN
5:20 P.M. EDT
Thank you, Matt; thank you, Cliff; thank you,
Millicent; thank you, Dave; thank you Tom Kean, I thank
all of you. You know, I have said it before, but I want
to say it again. I saw a sign down the road that says
"Jersey Loves Jerry." But, let me reciprocate -- Jerry
loves Jersey.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to the New
Jersey delegation that went to Kansas City and came
through with, I think, flying colors. It depended upon
the great organization and the support of Tom Kean,
Millicent, Matt and everybody else. I thank you from the
bottom of my heart.
Incidentally, I want you to make darned sure
that you re-elect Matt, that you re-elect Millicent,
you elect Dave so we can have a far better Congress to
help Cliff Case in the next four years.
You know out in Kansas City in my acceptance
speech I said I was going to not concede a single State,
a single vote, and we were going to campaign from the snowy
banks of Minnesota to the sandy plains of Georgia.
We are doing it. We were in New York yesterday.
We had agreat reception in Flatbush, in Brooklyn in
Manhattan. We have been in Yonkers and White Plains and
Rockland in Orange County. We were in New Jersey, had two
great stops, including this one, and I am encouraged. I
know we are going to carry New Jersey November 2, period.
One of the most important issues in this campaign,
especially in New Jersey, is taxes. The people of New
Jersey have already heard four sides of the tax issue.--
two from Governor Carter and two from Governor Byrne.
You know firsthand how risky it is when a
candidate says one thing about taxes on the campaign
trail and then does something else when he gets into
office. You know what it is like when a candidate faces
the voters with a smile (Laughter) and then turns his
back on them later. You have been burned before.
I will just say this: I think Mr. Carter has
tried to do the same thing to you.
MORE
Page 2
Let me give you some examples. First, back
in February Mr. Carter said he wanted to eliminate the
home mortgage interest deduction on your Federal income
tax return. Not long after that he said maybe he wouldn't
eliminate it. He said, as it stands now -- nobody is
sure, certainly Mr. Carter -- just what he wants to do
on this particular item.
Second, a few weeks ago Mr. Carter suggested
that he would raise income taxes for anybody from the mean
to the medium income tax level, which means about $14,000
per person. Now he says, "That isn't what I meant." He
says he has not studied the subject at all but he will
let us know how he really feels after he has been in
office for a few months.
Let me talk straight to you. That is too darned
late. I think the people of New Jersey ought to know,
along with 215 million other Americans, before the election
what Mr. Carter really intends to do about your taxes after
the election. Third, Mr. Carter proposed putting a tax
on all church properties other than the church building
itself. He wants to tax church-supported schools, church-
supported hospitals, church-supported orphanages and church-
supported retirement homes. Those activities are just
as much a part of the church's work as the physical place
of worship and we shouldn't let him get away with that
kind of a tax policy.
Fourth, Mr. Carter -- his platform that he
embraced and many people say he wrote -- calls for
between $100 billion and $200 billion in additional
Federal spending, yet he talks about balancing the
budget without raising your income taxes. He can't have
it both ways. He can't talk about compassion and not
have compassion for the hard working middle income
taxpayers in this country.
The American people have a big heart but too
many politicians mistake that big heart for a blank
check, and I don't think the American people want to give
that kind of authority to a candidate for the Presidency
of the United States who says one thing on Monday and
another thing on Tuesday. He is on both sides of the
issue, and he cannot be trusted with this kind of a state-
ment on that kind of a platform.
We have got to beat him in New Jersey and in
Michigan and in 48 other States. It is not an act of
compassion to prevent a young couple from buying a home
because Federal borrowing for deficit spending sends
interest rates up. It is not an act of compassion to put
generations of Americans deeply in debt and mortgage
their future before they are born. You worked 'very hard,
every one of you here and all of those several thousand
outside. You worked very hard for the money that you earn.
Your tax dollars should work just as hard for you as you
worked for them. You know who pays the bill for each
campaign promise. You know when the bills come due
you get stuck with them, predicated on false promises
before an election.
MORE
Page 3
In the last two years I vetoed some 60 various
bills sent down to the Oval Office from Capitol Hill. My
vetoes saved us $9-1/2 billion. I am darned proud of
that record. And if we had had more stalwart Republicans
up there to help with those vetoes we could have saved
you another $16 billion. So, that is a good reason why
we ought to change the Congress and get the right kind
of a Congress for the next two years.
Mr. Carter talks about tax reform. I think the
best tax reform that we can talk about is tax reduction,
cut spending, cut taxes, keep more of your own money. For
the last 10 years now Federal spending has grown at an
alarming rate, thanks to an overtaxing, overspending,
overburdening Congress.
The budget that I submitted to the Congress
last January sought to cut the rate of growth in Federal
spending by 50 percent. I asked for a $28 billion tax
reduction coupled with a $28 billion reduction in Federal
spending. The Congress sent me a $10 billion tax
reduction and an $18 billion increase in Federal
spending. That is going the wrong way, and that is
another reason why we have to change this Congress in
this election.
The most meaningful tax reduction, the one you
understand the best, the one that helps the middle
income taxpayers the most, is an increase in the personal
exemption from $750 to $1,000. If you take a family
of three children, a husband and wife, one taxpayer,
that family gets, under my proposal to increase the
personal exemption by $250 -- that family would get
$1,250 more, more, more in tax reduction. That is the
kind of meaningful tax reduction that you ought to get,
215 million Americans ought to get, and that is what
President Ford proposed, and that is what he will propose
in January of next year as President of the United States.
As I have said before, the middle income
taxpayer gets shortchanged. He has been shortchanged
for the last 22 years. He has been shortchanged by
a Congress controlled for 22 years by the Democratic
Party.
Mr. Carter calls our tax laws a disgrace.
Well, he ought to look back and see the pages of history.
What political party has controlled both the House
and the Senate for the last 22 years? They have passed
every tax law; they have passed every loophole.
I think you know where to put the blame. Let's
make sure, darned sure we get more good Republicans from
the State of New Jersey to go down and help us with this
tax problem in the next session of the Congress.
MORE
Page 4
We have less than three weeks to go. It
hardly seems possible. It is a very crucial three weeks,
but the decisions that people make in the State of
New Jersey, New York, Michigan and 47 others, those
decisions will determine the direction of the American
people in our great country for the first four years
of our third century.
Mr. Carter and his party platform offer more
promises, more programs, more spending, more taxes,
more inflation and more unemployment. I say the
Government is already too big, too powerful, too costly,
too remote and too deeply involved in your personal
life.
I want your Government to be made your servant,
not your meddling master.
I am a candidate for the Presidency because
I have a deep conviction and faith, a deep inward feeling
that the American people want to go the direction we want
to take them. And, therefore, I come to the great State
of New Jersey to ask for your help and your support.
New Jersey is a key State. New Jersey can
make the difference whether we have enough electoral
votes on November 2 to win.
So, let me just conclude by saying I know we
will win in New Jersey. Jerry loves Jersey, and I have
a good feeling that Jersey loves Jerry like Jerry loves
Jersey.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 5:33 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 14, 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
Statement by the President
When I was chosen to be Vice President, I underwent the most intensive
scrutiny of any man who has ever been selected for public office in the
United States. My past life, my qualifications, my beliefs--all were
put under a microscope and in full public view.
Nonetheless, all of you here tonight and many in our listening audience
are aware of allegations in recent weeks involving my past campaigns.
As I have said on several occasions, those rumors were false. And I
am very pleased that this morning the Special Prosecutor has finally
put this matter to rest, once and for all.
I have told you before that I am deeply privileged to serve as the
President of this great nation. But one thing that means more to me
than my desire for public office is my personal reputation for integrity.
Today's announcement by the Special Prosecutor reaffirms the original
findings of my vice presidential confirmation hearings.
I hope that today's announcement will also accomplish one other major
task: that it will elevate the Presidential campaign to a level
befitting the American people and the American political tradition.
For too many days, this campaign has been mired in questions that have
little bearing upon the future of the nation. The people of this
country deserve better than that. They deserve a campaign that focuses
on the most serious issues of our time--on the purposes of government,
on the heavy burdens of taxation, on the cost of living, on the
quality of our lives, and on ways to keep American strong and at peace.
Governor Carter and I have profound differences of opinion on these
matters. I hope that in the 20 days remaining in this campaign, we
can talk seriously and honestly about these differences so that on
November 2nd, the American people can make a clear choice and give one
of us a mandate to govern wisely and well during the next four years.
#
#
#
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 14, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF REMARKS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
MARTHA GRAHAM
UPON BEING PRESENTED WITH
THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM
THE STATE DINING ROOM
10:13 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Martha and distinguished guests:
It is wonderful to have you here tonight. And
let me say at the outset, I apologize for being a little
late. I had a friendly engagement with some of my friends
from the press here. (Laughter)
But it is nice to have you here, and particularly
in this Bicentennial year. I think each of us has celebrated
the spirit and the vitality of the United States, and the
person we are honoring tonight, Martha Graham, has been
doing that for as long as most of us can remember.
When Martha Graham began her career in modern
dance -- and I became a better authority on it since I
married Betty (Laughter) -- she has not only raised
people's eyebrows but she has raised sights. A true
pioneer, she continuously broke new ground and challenged
old assumptions.
Her innovations were so original that one
startled traditionalist was reported to have said, "How
long do you intend, Martha, to keep this up?" I think
today America is very thankful that she is still keeping
it up, and we congratulate her.
Martha Graham has not only expanded the horizons
of modern dance, but she also moved inward to convey the
deepest types of emotion. In doing so, she created what
one critic labeled "an original way of communication." Long
before the phrase "body language," Martha, entered our
vocabulary, Martha Graham was using the human form to
express human feelings.
Martha Graham's name, we all recognize, has
become synonymous with modern dance. In addition to her
work as a performer and a choreographer, she has provided
inspiration and counseling to generations of young people,
including Miss Betty Bloomer of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(Laughter)
MORE
Page 2
Her pupils learn that self-discipline is not
an obstacle to creativity but a vehicle; that hard
work does not distract from inspiration but rather allows
it to reach its fullest dimension. And most of all, they
learn to meet a situation with courage and complete
honesty.
Over the years as a great dancer, Martha Graham
has received many, many awards. Tonight she receives an
award as a truly great American. Her visits abroad have
given the word real meaning -- "ambassador". She has
shown very clearly to all the world what is possible when
personal genius is allowed to flourish under artistic and
political freedom.
In America, the arts have blossomed, and we are
justly proud of the great strides that we have made. Last
year in the ai ena of dance alone there were more than
four times as many professional dance companies as there
were in 1965.
But the continued survival and the continued
growth of the arts in America requires more than just
the genius of the artist. It also requires the foresight,
the generosity of both public and private sectors in order
to have adequate support.
Tonight I take pleasure in announcing that I
intend to seek full funding for the cultural challenge,
grant program over the next three years. This will provide
$12 million in new Federal money for the arts next year
and approximately $50 million over the next three years.
Because these grants will be made on the basis of one
Federal dollar for every three raised from other sources,
it can serve to generate $200 million in new support for
the arts.
Many, many people in this audience tonight were
instrumental in providing the financial support that enabled
Martha Graham's dance troupe to inspire America and truly
to inspire the world.
Let me assure you that we in the Federal
Government are going to do our part, Martha, to encourage
the Martha Grahams of the future.
Tonight, however, there is only one Martha
Graham, and all of America is very, very proud of her.
And now, Martha, would you please join me here.
Martha, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to
present to you one of our Nation's highest honors, the
Medal of Freedom, and let me read, if I might, the
citation before I actually put the sash in the appropriate
place.
MORE
Page 3
The citation reads as follows: "Dancer, teacher,
choreographer, Martha Graham has captivated the world
with her magic and has left a legacy of imagination
with all who have witnessed her talent. Her energy,
creativity and daring have opened new doors of expression
in dance. Her followers and friends adore her, and her
country, the United States of America, is proud to proclaim
her a brilliant star and a national treasure."
I, as well as Betty, decided that we won't
try to pin this medal on her tonight, but we did think
you might like to see it, and it will be her's, and we
are honored that you are here and it is a great tribute
to you and all Americans.
We are deeply grateful for your many, many
contributions, Martha.
MS. GRAHAM: Mr. President and my very dear
Betty, this is an overwhelming moment and there is very
little to say even if you have an Irish tongue that my
grandmother said was hung in the middle. (Laughter)
It is a little difficult for me to talk on such
an occasion, but America has stood with me. I did not
leave, I did not go to any country until I felt I had
something to say, from here, and there is one woman here
tonight who gave me my first chance. She signed a co-note.
She was a co-maker at a bank, the National City Bank. Her
name is Frances Steloff.
I had to have two co-makers, and then I paid
it off. And it was $1,000, and it was a tremendous amount
of money. And then, about two years later, I had only one
co-maker. Then I did not have to have any. And then,
finally, when I didn't borrow any more, they came and
asked me why I didn't borrow. (Laughter)
But when the President said that this lady
had said "How long will you keep this up, Martha," --
it is dreadful; dreadful. She had seen me in Denison
during the floating period. And I am deeply grateful to
that period, but time does not stand still. She said
this to me. I said, "I will keep it up as long as I have
an audience."
I am dependent on those people to support me, and
I can only say that they have, individually and my Government,
and I am so happy about your news tonight and your
endowment of the arts because there is a saying in Asia,
"They had no poet so they died." In other words, the
city, the country had no one to sing or to dance their
imagination and their dreams and their faith, so they
disappeared from the memory of man.
I like to feel that those of us who are dancers
have contributed toward a singing voice that will go on for
a long time, and this is the first wonderful big step, and
I thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: May I offer a toast on behalf of
Betty and myself to our superstar and a person that truly
deserves the Medal of Freedom.
END
(AT 10:23 P.M. EDT)
file
PRESS CONFERENCE NO. 38
of the
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
7:31 P.M. EDT
October 14, 1976
Thursday
In Room 450
The Old Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Will you please
sit down.
I do have a brief opening statement... When I was
chosen to be Vice President, I underwent the most intensive
scrutiny of any man who has ever been selected for public
office in the United States. My past life, my quali-
fications, my beliefs all were put under a microscope and in
full public view. Nonetheless, all of you here tonight --
and many in our listening audience -- are aware of
allegations that came forth in recent weeks involving my
past political campaigns.
As I have said on several occasions, these rumors
were false. I am very pleased that this morning the
Special Prosecutor has finally put this matter to
rest once and for all.
I have told you before that I am deeply privileged
to serve as the President of this great nation. But, one
thing that means more to me than my desire for public
office is my personal reputation for integrity.
Today's announcement by the Special Prosecutor
reaffirms the original findings of my Vice Presidential
confirmation hearings. I hope that today's announcement
will also accomplish one other major task -- that it
will elevate the Presidential campaign to a level
befitting the American people and the American political
tradition.
For too many days this campaign has been mired
in questions that have little bearing upon the future
of this nation. The people of this country deserve
better than that. They deserve a campaign that focuses
on the most serious issues of our time -- on the purposes
of Government, on the heavy burdens of taxation, on the
cost of living and on the quality of our lives and on the
ways to keep America strong, at peace and free.
MORE
Page 2
Governor Carter and I have profound differences
of opinion on these matters. I hope that in the 20 days
remaining in this campaign we can talk seriously and
honestly about these differences so that on November 2
the American people can make a clear choice and give
us, one of us, a mandate to govern wisely and well during
the next four years.
FORD
Ladies and gentlemen, I will be glad to
answer your questions.
LIBRARI
Fran?
QUESTION: Mr. President, would you also like
to set the record straight tonight on an issue that John
Dean has raised?
Did you at any time use your influence with any
Members of Congress or talk to lobbyist Richard Cook
about blocking a 1972 Watergate break-in investigation
by Wright Patman's House Banking Committee?
THE PRESIDENT: I have reviewed the testimony
that I gave before both the House and the Senate
committees and those questions were asked. I responded
fully.
A majority of the Members of the House
committee and the Senate committee, after full
investigation, came to the conclusion that there was no
substance to those allegations.
I do not believe they are any more pertinent
today than they were then, and my record was fully
cleared at that time.
MORE
Page 3
QUESTION: Mr. President, in the past several
days you have made two major decisions, one to sell
Israel compression bombs, sophisticated weaponry, even
though their request had been hanging fire for many
months. You also decided to give the wheat price support,
the 50 percent boost, even though the Agriculture
Department said the day before that there was no economic
justification for these.
Can you state flatly that none of these decisions
was designed to enhance you politically?
THE PRESIDENT: Categorically, those decisions
were based on conditions I think justified fully the
decisions that I made. In the case of the four items
that were cleared for delivery to the Government of
Israel, those items have been on the list for consideration.
Those items have been analyzed by the various departments
in our Government. And the net result was that I
decided, after discussing the matter with my top advisers,
that those items should be cleared for the Government
of Israel.
QUESTION: On what justification do you give
such weapons and why did you bypass the Pentagon and
the State Department?
THE PRESIDENT: I made the decision, and that
decision is mine and they may have been a little
disappointed that they did not have an opportunity to
leak the decision beforehand--and I felt that it was a
decision only for the Commander-in-Chief, and I made
it as such, and based on recommendations that were
made to me by responsible people, the top people, giving
me. advice in this regard.
On the other question regarding the increase
in the loan rates, in May of 1975 I vetoed an agricultural
bill on the basis that I thought it was not good
legislation at that time. But I said at that time
in the veto message that I would be very watchful to
make certain that if conditions changed we would increase
the loan rate.
In May of 1975, for example, the price of wheat
was about $3.35 a bushel. Recently, the price of wheat
was about $2.79 a bushel. There was a very severe drop.
And in order to make certain that wheat will be marketed
properly and the farmer will have an opportunity to
market that wheat which he produced at our request of
full production, and in order for the farmers, the wheat
farmers, to have adequate financing to proceed with their
fall planting of winter wheat, I decided that it was in
the best interest of full production for the American
farmer that those loan rates be increased. They were
based on a commitment I made in May of 1975, and changed
conditions today.
MORE
Page 4
QUESTION: Mr. President, in the course of the
Watergate Prosecutor's investigation of your income taxes,
your taxes were made public, leaked to the press at one
point, and in those taxes, it showed at one point you took
money from your political organization and used over $1,000
for a family vacation to Vail and several hundred dollars
for personal clothing.
I wonder if you would address the propriety of
action like that.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you have to bear in mind,
as I recall those initial payments, for airline tickets
and for the others, were made out of what we call the
Fifth District account, and within, I think it was a week,
or two weeks at the most, I reimbursed that account fully
in both cases.
QUESTION: In the case of reimbursements, the tax
information also showed that your personal bank account,
if it were, went down in the red something like $3,000, but
it was soon reimbursed, and there was a question left as
to how you reimbursed that $3,000.
THE PRESIDENT: That was my next paycheck. (Laughter)
I think a few people in this country have written
checks and then waited until the end of the month and then
mailed the checks -- maybe you haven't done it, but I
suspect a few people have -- and we mailed those checks after
we had the money in the bank account. But I wrote the
checks before the end of the month. It is a perfectly
legitimate thing and there was never an overdraft in my
account. (Laughter)
QUESTION: Mr. President, there have been some
questions a few weeks ago about your taking, accepting,
golfing vacations and travel from lobbyists and corpora-
tions. It has been quite some time since these allegations
were made. I wonder if you can clear this up tonight.
Just how often, how many times, did you accept free travel
and golfing vacations from lobbyists and corporations?
THE PRESIDENT: To the best of my recollection,
the ones that came to light are the ones involved --
there might be one or two more, but I can't recollect
the instances.
QUESTION: Mr. President, if I may follow up on
Frances Lewine's first question, I don't think you quite
answered the question. The question is not about your
testimony at the time specifically, it is about the new
allegations from John Dean that, in fact, you did discuss
six times with Mr. Cook the matter of blocking the investi-
gation by the House of Watergate and at the time you said,
at the time that you went through your investigation, you
mentioned, you said you did not recollect such discussions.
Do you now recollect discussions with Mr. Cook on that
subject?
MORE
Page 5
THE PRESIDENT: I will give you exactly the same
answer I gave to the House Committee and the Senate Committee.
That answer was satisfactory the House Committee by a vote
of 29 to eight, and I think a unanimous vote in the Senate
committee.
The matter was fully investigated by those two
committees and I think that is a satisfactory answer.
I am not going to pass judgment on what Mr. Dean now alleges.
QUESTION: Mr. President, would you oppose, on
the Dean matter, would you oppose a review of White House
tapes and investigation by the Special Prosecutor an
investigation that has been called for by Congressman
Conyers and Congresswoman Holtzman?
THE PRESIDENT: That is a decision:for the Special
Prosecutor to make. I have never, at any time, in the
just previous investigations or at any other time, inter-
fered with the judgment or the decisions of the Special
Prosecutor, and I wouldn't in this case.
MORE
Page 6
QUESTION: Mr. President, you have been going
up and down the country, most recently in New York and
New Jersey, saying things are getting better, things
have improved and there is a definite difference between
you and your other candidate, Mr. Carter.
There is a 7.8 percent unemployment rate. The
Commerce Department today announced that retail sales
fell by 1.1 percent. The stock market took a nose dive.
Mr. Friedman, a conservative economist, says nothing that
either you or Mr. Carter offers will cause a change in
the rise of Federal spending, and finally Mr. Greenspan --
your own advisor -- predicted today a continued 6 percent
inflation rate.
THE PRESIDENT: Let me set the record --
QUESTION: I don't understand how things are
getting better.
THE PRESIDENT: Let me set the record straight.
There is a very distinct difference between Federal
spending proposals by President Ford and those of Governor
Carter. Governor Carter has endorsed, embraced, sponsored,
60-some new programs that will cost $100 billion a year
at a minimum and $200 billion probably on an annual
basis. So, there is a distinct difference between
Governor Carter on the one hand and myself. He wants to
spend more and I want to hold the lid on Federal spending.
Let's talk about the status of the economy. In
the first quarter of this calendar year, the rate of
growth of GNP was 9.2 percent. It fell in the second
quarter to 4.5 percent. It looks like the third quarter
will be in the range of about 4 percent.
I have checked with the responsible advisors
to me in this area and they expect a resumption of the
rate of growth of GNP in October, November and December
of over 5 percent and probably closer to 6 percent, and
they expect that same rate of growth in 1977.
We have had a pause, but we could not sustain
the rate of growth of the first quarter of 1976, when
it was 9.2 or .3. We are now coming out of the dip or
the pause that we had, and I believe that all, or
practically all, economists recognize that the economy
is continuing to improve and will get better in this
quarter and in 1977.
MORE
Page 7
QUESTION: Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President, in keeping the
lid on Federal spending, are you willing to accept the
continued physical and social deterioration of the big
cities of this country? A Marshall plan sort of approach
has been offered. Would you, if elected, move in that
direction?
THE PRESIDENT: I would not embrace any spending
program that is going to cost the Federal Treasury and
the American taxpayers billions andbillions and billions
of dollars. We have good programs for the rehabilitation
of our major metropolitan areas. I just signed a
general revenue sharing bill. We fully fund the
Community Development Act. We fully fund the mass transit
legislation.
We have a number of very good programs that are
in operation today, and about three months ago I
appointed the Secretary of HUD, Carla Hills, to head a
Cabinet Committee on Urban Development and Neighborhood
Revitalization. That committee is working together
very closely so that we get the full benefit out of all
the Federal dollars now available to help our inner
cities and major metropolitan areas.
I think we are doing a good job and to all
of a sudden just throw money in doesn't make any sense
because you are bound to have more deficits, more taxes
and more inflation.
So, I think we ought to make the programs we
have today work and they are working and will solve
the problem.
Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President, a review of your
travel logs from this fall and last fall shows that
for a comparable period last fall you spent exactly as
much time on the road -- 15 days last fall -- when there
was no campaign and no election than you have this
fall when there is a hotly contested Presidential
election.
Doesn't this lend a little bit of credence to
Governor Carter's charge that you have been hiding in the
White House for most of this campaign?
MORE
Page 8
THE PRESIDENT: Tom, didn't you see that
wonderful picture of me standing on top of the limousine
with the caption "Is He Hiding?" The truth is, we are
campaigning when we feel that we can be away from the
White House and not neglect the primary responsibilities
that I have as President of the United States.
I think you are familiar with the vast number
of bills that I have had to sign. We have done that.
That is my prime responsibility, among other things.
We do get out and campaign. We were in New York and New
Jersey earlier this week. We are going to Iowa,
Missouri and Illinois between now and Sunday.
We will be traveling when we can, but my prime
responsibility is to stay in the White House and get
the job done here, and I will do that and then we will
campaign after that.
MORE
Page 9
QUESTION: Mr. President, how do you account
for, at this rather late stage in the campaign, so many
voters are telling pollsters that they remain undecided
and many more are saying that they may not bother to
vote at all?
THE PRESIDENT: It is disturbing that there are
these statements to the effect that voters are apathetic.
I believe we have tried to do everything we possibly
can to stimulate voter participation. I want a maximum
vote in this election on November 2 and in every way I
possibly can we are going to stimulate it between now
and November 2.
I can't give you an answer as to why there is
apathy. I am going to do what I can to overcome that
apathy and, naturally, I hope to convince 51 percent of
the people in enough States so that we get enough
electoral votes so that we can continue the policies
of trust, peace and growing prosperity in the United
States.
QUESTION: Mr. President, do you think it is
proper for a Member of Congress to accept a golfing
vacation or golfing weekend trip, and would you, now
that you are in the White House, accept such a trip?
THE PRESIDENT: I have not accepted such a trip
since I have been Vice President or President. And when
I was in the Congress I have done as I said in the
limited number of instances that have been in the paper.
Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President, you said that in your
debate with Jimmy Carter, your statement on Eastern
Europe demonstrated a certain lack of ability to think
fast on your feet. Without intending to once again
review the merits of that debate, how important, in
your judgment, is it for a President to think fast
on his feet to do his job properly?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it is vitally important
for a President to make the right decisions in the Oval
Office, and I think I have made the right decisions
in the Oval Office. I have admitted that in that
particular debate I made a slip in that one instance,
but I would like to compare that one slip with the
documented instances that we found in Governor Carter's
presentation a week ago when he made some 14 either
misrepresentations or inaccurate statements.
MORE
Page 10
And while we are on that subject, I would like
to may that I feel very strongly that the attitude
that he took on that occasion, where he said America
was not strong, where he said the United States
Government had tried to get us into another Vietnam
in Angola, and where he said the United States had lost
respect throughout the world.
I don't approve of any candidate for office
slandering the good name of the United States. It
discourages our allies and it encourages our adversaries.
Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President, on the debates, two
of them have happened and one is to come. Do you have
any thoughts perhaps on changing the rules for the
third debate, and also, do you feel impeded since you
are President and know more than you can say in public?
THE PRESIDENT: About the only improvement I
would make is to get Mr. Carter to answer the questions.
(Laughter)
QUESTION: Mr. President, could you tell us why
it took you six days and four clarifications before you
finally admitted that you had in fact made a mistake
in the debate in your remarks on Eastern Europe?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it took some thoughtful
analysis because, as someone may have noticed, there was
a letter to the editor in the New York Times a day or
two ago by a very prominent ethnic, a man by the name
of Janovitz, as I recall, who said that my answer was the
right one. But it all depends on how you analyze the
answer.
But I wanted to be very clear to make certain
that the Polish-Americans and other ethnics in this
country knew that I knew that there are some 30 Soviet
divisions in Poland and several of the other Eastern
European countries.
On the other hand, I want to say very strongly that
anybody who has been in Poland, for example, as I have in
1975, and seen the Polish people, the strong, courageous
look in their face, the deep feeling that you get
from talking with them, although they recognize that
the Soviet Union has X number of divisions occupying
their country, that freedom is in their heart and in
their mind, and they are not going to be dominated over
the long run by any outside power.
Now we concede for the time being the Soviet
Union has that military power there, but we subscribe
to the hopes and the aspirations of the courageous Polish
people and their relatives here in the United States.
MORE
Page 11
QUESTION: Mr. President, if they tried to
overthrow that power, would you look favorably on helping
them in some way?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think we should answer
that question. I don't think it is going to happen.
I don't think we should respond to thatkind of a question
in a press conference.
Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President, you have had some
harsh words for your opponent's performance in the
second debate, and yet every public opinion survey that
I have seen showed you lost that debate and it was one
that was on foreign and defense affairs, which are
supposed to be your strong suit.
Do you agree that you lost that second debate
and, if so, why? Or, if you think you won it, why
do you think that happened?
THE PRESIDENT: I think there is a poll that
shows the conclusion you have just set forth. I don't
necessarily agree with that, but there were some very
specific answers that were given by people who were
interrogated afterwards. If you will look at that
list of special questions that were asked of people who
responded, it showed that in those cases -- and I
think they were the very fundamental ones on specific
issues -- knowledge, firmness, strength -- that a majority of
people thought I had prevailed.
QUESTION: Mr. President, the Federal Power
Commission has authorized the increase in the price of new
natural gas. That is something you favored. The original
estimate was that it would cost the American consumer
$1.3 billion a year. Now we are told that it may be as
high or higher than $3 billion a year. Do you think
that price increase should be rolled back or should it
stand?
THE PRESIDENT: The fundamental issue is, if
you don't get a price increase you are not going to
have any new natural gas. So, the question is, are you
willing to pay for enough gas to heat our homes and
to heat our factories so people will have jobs? We have
to give an incentive to people to go out and find
new natural gas sources, and if you don't give them
that incentive, there won't be any heat for their homes
or heat for their factories and will lose the jobs.
MORE
Page 12
QUESTION: Are you willing to risk another
jolt to the economy from this large price increase?
THE PRESIDENT: I think a bigger jolt would
be to have the jobs lost and the houses cold.
QUESTION: Mr. President, earlier in your
campaign you said you intended to stress positive
themes. Yet, in your most recent campaign appearance
you concentrated on attacking Governor Carter. Tonight
you accused him of slandering the name of the United
States.
Do you think you have done all you can to
elevate the level of this campaign and can we expect
you to continue the way you have been in the last week or
so?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it is very positive to
talk about tax reductions, as I have recommended to the
American people that we increase the personal exemption
from $750 to $1,000. That is very positive and very
affirmative, and certainly in contrast to what Mr.
Carter wants, which is to increase taxes for people with
a medium or middle income level, which is about $14,000.
That is a distinct difference.
I am on the affirmative side. He is on the
negative side.
QUESTION: Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Sarah? (Laughter)
You knew I would get around to you.
QUESTION: Thank you. When you were in
Congress you filed an income tax return for those
years saying that you had very little money left over.
Like a lot of us, you have about $5 left over for
spending money, I believe.
I wonder if you had included your golf fees
and your dues at Congressional and Burning Tree? I
believe you belonged to both of them, didn't you, and
they are very expensive. You must have been strapped
for funds. Who was helping you pay those large golfing
expenses? You golfed three to five times a week, I
believe.
THE PRESIDENT: First, that is an inaccurate
statement and you know it, Sarah. (Laughter) When you
are the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
and on the job, you don't play golf three to five times a
week. I.am sorry you said that because you know that
is not true.
Now, let me just say that I paid for those golfing
dues or charges by check, and the committee and everybody
else, the Internal Revenue Service, the Joint Committee on
Internal Revenue Taxation, the FBI and now the Special
Prosecutor have all looked into those in depth and in
detail and they have given me a clean bill of health, and
I thank them for it.
MORE
Page 13
QUESTION: Mr. President, the Washington Post
had an article today which noted that Ford Motor Company
paid no taxes last year, paid no taxes the year before.
Do you think that is fair and what are you going to do
about it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it is proper to
remind the American people that those tax laws which are
on the statute books were written by the Democrats who
controlled the Congress for the last 22 years. If they
are wrong, it is the fault of the majority party in the
Congress.
QUESTION: What are you doing to change that?
THE PRESIDENT: We have made recommendations to
the Congress over the last year and a half for some modifica-
tions in the income tax legislation, but how that would
affect that particular company I can't give you
the answer.
QUESTION: Mr. President, in a recent speech --
I am afraid I don't recall where -- you cut a line from
your text in which you said something about the campaign
should not be just a quiz show to see who gets to live
in the White House for the next four years. And I assume
you stand by that advance text. Were you trying to
suggest that the debates have not been as effective as
they should have been, they have not kept up the level of
the campaign?
THE PRESIDENT: Ann, you know, you read the
advance text. I hope you are listening when I speak.
You know, on many occasions, I add a little here and I
take something else out. Oftentimes, I don't get those
texts until maybe a half, three-quarters of an hour before
I make the speech. So, I make the judgment myself. Those
are the recommendations of the speechwriters.
Now, I didn't think that was an appropriate
thing to say and, therefore, I didn't include it in the
text that I gave to the meeting that you referred to.
QUESTION: Let me put it this way: Do you think
the debates have helped keep up the level of the campaign?
THE PRESIDENT: I think the debates have been
very wholesome. I think they have been constructive.
I was the one that initiated the challenge. I believe
that they ought to be an institution in future Presidential
campaigns. I really believe that. And for that reason,
I didn't think that sentence in that prepared text which
I deleted reflected my own views.
MORE
Page 14
QUESTION: Mr. President, thank you. A little
while ago you gave us an idea of how you balance your
family budget, you kite checks. (Laughter)
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, no, I don't. No, I don't.
I have never been overdrawn, young lady.
QUESTION: The question is, then, how is it
that you are able to live on from $5 to $13 a week in cash
as has been reported by the Washington Post and the Wall
Street Journal in 1972?
THE PRESIDENT: I repeat that the Internal
Revenue Service, the FBI, the Joint Committee on Taxation,
two committees in the House and in the Senate, and an
overwhelming majority of the Members of the House and
Senate, believed the testimony. They went back and
checked every one of those income tax returns from 1973
back six years, and they gave me a clean bill of health.
Now, it has been reinvestigated for the fourth time by
the Special Prosecutor and he concurs with the previous
investigations.
Those are the facts of life. I write checks.
Thank you all. Thank you very much.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
(AT 8:00 P.M. EDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 15, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Ames, Iowa)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
FORD
AT
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
FISHER THEATRE
12:22 P.M. CDT
Governor Bob Ray, Dr. Parks, Mrs. Peterson,
JillWagner, Congressman Grassley, Mayor Fellinger, Ken
Fuller, students, faculty and guests:
It is great to be in Ohio -- Iowa State.
(Laughter) You know we Michiganders have Ohio State on
our mind. But, it is great to be at Iowa State University.
This University has a long, long tradition of excellence
in agricultural education, training and research, and you
have a pretty good football team, too.
You score a lot of touchdowns. I congratulate
you, but we are going to score a lot of touchdowns for
the United States of America in the next four years,
also.
Just three days ago, the Department of Agriculture
released its October forecast predicting the second
largest wheat crop and the largest corn crop in American
history. This new record will be achieved in spite of
serious drought conditions in many areas of this great
country.
I am delighted to be in the heart of America
to see some of that bumper crop being harvested this
afternoon. We are all proud of you wherever we come
from in the United States of America. This record corn
crop is a graphic illustration of an overriding non-
political fact that transcends all the noise, the rhetoric
of this election year.
America is blessed with farmlands and farm
know-how unequal anyplace on this earth. The corn belt
and the other great growing areas of our bountiful
country are renewable, not depleting assets worth far
more than all the diamonds in Africa, all the oil of the
Middle East and all the gold in Fort Knox.
Today, a single American farmer can feed 56
people. No other nation comes close to that record.
The Soviet Union has one-third of its people engaged in
agriculture and they frequently fall short of their
needs.
MORE
Page 2
American agriculture has maintained an
average of 6 percent increase in productivity year after
year. No other segment of our society, or any other
society, has been able to do that well, and I
congratulate you on behalf of 215 million Americans.
You have been so successful because you have
used your own ingenuity, your own inventiveness, your
own initiative to produce the finest and the most
abundant food and fiber throughout the world. If you
were to continue meeting the needs of this country and
our trading partners throughout the world, you must
continue to have this kind of freedom--freedom from the
meddling hands and the long arm of an arbitrary, auto-
cratic Government.
What are the results of this policy? Average
farm income over the last three years has been higher
than ever before in the history of America. For the
farmer in Iowa, total net income on the average has
risen from about $6,900 in 1965 to about $14,800 in
1975. You no longer have heavy Government held sur-
plusses held over the market depressing your prices,
costing the taxpayers $1 billion a year -- or $3 million
a day -- in storage and handling fees.
Instead of storing grain in Government bins,
we are selling it in a free market in record volume.
Farm exports hit a record of $22 billion in the last
fiscal year, our sixth straight year of record farm
exports, and I am glad to say that exports are expected
to be about $22 billion again in this fiscal year.
We will export nearly three billion bushels
of wheat and feed grains in this marketing year, an
all-time record. We did it without any Government
board selling your exports, as some countries do, and
under a Ford Administration we will never have that
kind of arbitrary action -- a Government board selling
your hard work, hard earned profits from your farms.
We did it without any international reserve
where this country could be outvoted one hundred to one.
We have worked out a long-term agreement, as all of you
know, with the Soviet Union, which commits them to buy
at least six million metric tons of grain every vear
for the next five years. In dollars and cents, that is
at least $1 billion worth of grain sales every 12 months.
This agreement gives us a stable, long-term
foreign market. It assures us of a more consistent
flow of payments from abroad. It assures the American
farmer that the Soviet Union will be a steady customer
whether they have good crops or bad.
MORE
Page 3
In the past, Soviet grain purchases have
been erratic, secretive, unpredictable, causing
prices to fluctuate widely, leaving the American farmer
on the short end. The Soviets have already bought
over six and a half million metric tons of wheat and
corn for the first year of this agreement.
To date, we have sold the Soviet Union more
than eight million metric tons of grain and soybeans
from this year's crop. By this arrangement, the private
marketing system has not only been preserved, but it has
been strengthened.
We are moving in the right direction toward
greater prosperity for the American farmer, and we will
keep moving in that direction in the next four years.
These good sales, good prospects, are the
fruits of free trade. They are also the benefits of
peace and aggressive, successful negotiations. They are
the just rewards of the Iowa farmers' hard work, and
we appreciate it.
In Kansas City last August, I said that we
would never use the bounty of America's farmers as a
pawn in international diplomacy. Today, I repeat that
statement.
I also said in Kansas City there will be no
embargoes, and I repeat that statement here in Ames
today.
MORE
Fage 4
There is a fundamental difference between
Mr. Carter and me on that question. In an interview
published on August 8, 1976, Mr. Carter was asked, would
you favor using our economic leverage to get the Russians
to cease and desist from aggressive actions? Mr. Carter
replied, "Yes, I would."
In our second debate, he told 90 million
Americans that a new Arab oil embargo would amount to
an economic declaration of war and that he would instantly
respond with a total embargo against the offending country,
shipping them nothing, including food. Those are the
things he said about his plans for your products in the
future.
But more important is what Mr. Carter didn't
say. When he made his acceptance speech at the Democratic
Convention in New York City there was no mention of
farm policy, not once in 40 minutes. At the Republican
Convention, I said, "We will carry out a farm policy that
assures a fair market price for the farmer, encourages
full production, leads to record exports and eases the
hunger within the human family." I think you like my
comments better than his.
That is a pledge that I was proud to make,
a pledge that I will proudly carry out for the next
four years. Despite the good overall record I mentioned
earlier, some farmers -- yes, too many, are having a
hard time of it right now. Cattle prices are way too
low. Wheat prices are too low. The weather has not been
a very good friend to a lot of farmers in Iowa, Nebraska,
South Dakota, Minnesota, and other parts of our great
country.
I have already done something about the cattle
situation. I tried earlier this year to halt the importation
of foreign beef through a free trade zone in Puerto Rico.
Diplomatic, administrative and legal roadblocks prevented
us from carrying out what I wanted to do to help the
cattle producer. I then went to the Congress, which failed
to act on my request to curb these imports.
Therefore, last week in Dallas, Texas, I signed
a Presidential proclamation to limit beef imports and
thereby help the American beef industry. I have repeatedly
said that I would not under any circumstances permit the
United States to become a dumping grounds for foreign
beef.
I have already done something about Government
loan rates for grains. On Wednesday, I ordered an increase
in the Government loan rates for wheat from $1.50 to $2.25
a bushel; for corn, from $1.25 to $1.50. These adjust-
ments, as you know far better than I, will permit the
bumper crops to be marketed in a much more orderly way,
and will help farmers to properly finance next year's
planning.
MORE
Page 5
And I have also done something about the great
tradition of the American family farm. Earlier this
year I called upon the Congress to increase the Federal
estate tax exemption. I fought hard for it and was proud
to sign it into law a few days ago. This increases the
estate tax exemption from $60,000 to the equivalent of
$175,000.
This new law also permits estate tax payments
on family farms to be stretched out over an extended
period. These tax reforms will go a long, long way to
help save the family farm from the Federal tax collector.
But I must add one other comment: The Congress
failed to go along with my proposal to permit tax exempt
transfers from spouse to spouse, but next year I am going
to put the pressure on the Congress and will keep it
there until they do something about this situation.
I am also trying to do something about the
drought. (Laughter) I have just signed legislation
authorizing the establishment for the first time in
American history of a national policy to develop new
methods of combatting the crippling drought conditions
that have cut farm production far too frequently. Under
this new program the Commerce Department will conduct
research and develop means of modifying the effects of
severe weather changes to protect the farmer.
This new program, with some extra funding,
is in addition to the increases that I approved for
other agriculture research and development in this year's
budget at a time when we were faced with serious financial
problems in the Federal Government, at a time when I kept
the lid on, or actually cut back a number of Federal
programs. But agricultural research has produced wonders
for America and the world, and we must continue making
sound investment in research and development in agriculture
in the future for us and those around the world.
Those are some of the things that our Government
can and should do to help you. The Government should
never try to dictate how farmers should farm. I have
faith in the ability of America's farmers to make their
own decisions, to determine what and how much they will
plant. As long as I am President, agriculture will have
an understanding friend in the White House in the Nation's
capital.
Of course, Mr. Carter says he is a farmer's
friend, too. But what kind of a friend is he? Mr. Carter
wants to go back to the old discredited Government meddling
in the farmer's affairs. He wants to build up a stockpile
of farm surplusses once again. He has proposed a stock-
pile of 25 million metric tons of grain with half of it
to be held in Government bins.
MORE
Page 6
His underlying philosophy of Government
interference won't change. His philosophy is best
exemplified by the Humphrey-Hawkins bill, embraced by
Mr. Carter, which envisions export controls and licensing
unprecedented in peacetime economy.
Mr. Carter does have a strange way of changing
his accent as he moves about this great country. (Laughter)
In California, he tries to sound like Caesar Chavez. In
Chicago, he sounds like Mayor Daley. In New York, he
sounds like Ralph Nader. (Laughter) In Washington, D. c.,
he sounds like George Meany.
Then Mr. Carter comes to the farm belt. He
becomes a little, old peanut farmer. (Laughter)
The President has to take the same position
wherever he goes, and that is the kind of a President I
have been and will continue to be for the next four years.
When the Agriculture Department was created
by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, its motto was "Agriculture
is the foundation of manufacturing and commerce.' It was
true then; it is true today.
The farmer is the main spring of the American
economy. U.S. farm exports have provided the foundation
for our economic recovery, which is now underway. It has
taken mankind countless centuries to reach a worldwide
population of 4 billion, but just 35 years from now
there will probably be 4 billion more people living
on this earth.
We initiated a World Food Conference in Rome
in 1974, and one of our delegates at that time was Senator
Bob Dole, who will be the next Vice President of the United
States. At that Conference, experts concluded that the
United States, Canada and Australia combined, the three
biggest food exporting countries in the world, could not
hope to meet the food demands of the world if the population
doubled in that short a time. Yet we must. The American
farmer can do anything he sets out to do if the Government
will just leave him alone.
The Ford Administration and the American farmer
share the same ideals, the same confident approach to the
future, the same belief in our land and the same concern
for the undernourished and starving millions throughout
the world.
You and I together stand for hard, productive
work, for honesty, straight talk and basic morality. You
and I together stand for lean, responsive, fiscally-sound
Government, and you and I together working for the next
four years can make this great country better and better
and better. Let's do it.
MORE
Page 7
We believe in a minimum of bureaucratic
control over farming. We believe in agricultural
policies geared to a free market economy. We believe
that the farmer himself should decide how to use
his land, his capital and his labor for a profit.
We don't believe that profit should be
capriciously taxed away from him or his family. The
choice is clear. Government is already too large, too
powerful, too costly and too deeply involved in the lives
of every American.
Mr. Carter cannot carry out his promises
without bigger bureaucracies and higher taxes.
I want a new generation of freedom in America,
freedom for all of us to do what we want to do and what
we ought to do. The kind of an America you want and I
want is an abundant America, one of record farm income,
record crops, record exports and record acreage back into
production, and freedom for the farmer to make his own
decisions and to reap the rewards of his hard labor.
I have come here today to ask for your support
and for your vote on November 2. You know where I stand.
I will not let you down.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 12:46 P.M. CDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 15, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Ames, Iowa)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
UPON SIGNING H. R. 15059
EMERGENCY LIVESTOCK CREDIT ACT EXTENSION
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
3:23 P.M. CDT
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
I am glad to be in the Iowa version of the
Rose Garden. (Laughter) I don't think they can say
we are hiding out in the Rose Garden in Washington, D. C.,
because we are in the beautiful new complex of the Iowa
State School of Veterinary Medicine, and it is a pleasure
and a privilege to be here.
But it is also a great pleasure and a privilege
to be able to sign this legislation which extends the
Emergency Livestock Credit Act through September 30, 1978.
American agriculture and our livestock industry
in particular is the envy of the world. We all want to
keep this industry strong so that our farmers and ranchers
can continue to provide the food that America needs.
This legislation provides a useful and necessary
program to insure that the livestock industry can obtain
the credit it needs in order to return to a healthy and
a stable position.
This and other actions I have recently taken,
such as signing the much needed packers banding legislation
and the imposition of quotas on meat imports, will help
to strengthen the American livestock industry. I consider
it critically important that we continue to provide the
relief to the livestock industry where it is experiencing
the current economic adversities.
The bill which I will sign very shortly will
assist livestock producers, provide stability in the
marketplace, and help to insure an adequate supply of meat
for the American consumer at reasonable prices.
Thank you all very much.
END
(AT 3:26 P.M. CDT)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 15, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Joliet, Illinois)
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF REMARKS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
SENATOR ROBERT DOLE
IN A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
SHERATON JOLIET INN
9:50 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Bob?
SENATOR DOLE: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: You did great, and Betty and I
on our anniversary are very, very grateful for the anniversary
present, because your performance was superb and we are
all applauding and very, very proud of your accomplishments.
SENATOR DOLE: I am very proud of you, Mr.
President, and I hope I did a good job. I had a bad cold
but I guess my voice held out long enough.
THE PRESIDENT: You were confident. You hit hard
but hit fairly, and you differentiated the issues, I think,
very effectively between their platform and ours, between
our promises and theirs where we have consistently said
that taxes ought to be reduced, and they have, as we
all know, played both sides of the street.
You have done a fine job in showing that they
are the big spenders, and we are the ones that think we
should spend responsibly and effectively.
And I think the most telling point you made --
there was no answer by Senator Mondale -- we are at peace
and our foreign policy has achieved it and will maintain
it. And the comment you made to the effect that not a
single American is fighting or dying on foreign soil tonight
ought to give great reassurance to the American people
that our policy of peace through strength is the highest
policy of morality in foreign policy.
SENATOR DOLE: Mr. President, I meant that, and
I tried to say it as best I could, and I think a great
deal of that credit goes to you. We are at peace for
the first time in a long time. We are having the election
at peace, and I think it means a great deal to Americans,
mothers and fathers and young people, and it is due to your
leadership, Mr. President.
MORE
Page 2
I wish I had thought of some of the other
things you mentioned, but you always think of things --
(Laughter)
THE PRESIDENT: Let me say, Bob, you thought
of a lot of very effective points and you have some
great friends here from the State of Illinois -- we are
in Joliet -- Chuck Percy, Bob Michel --
SENATOR DOLE: I can hear Chuck laughing. Hi,
Chuck, how are you doing? (Laughter)
THE PRESIDENT: John Anderson is here, and you
have the Illinois delegation standing tall and strong
with you, and we are all very proud. And the best to
Elizabeth.
SENATOR DOLE: I have Governor Connally -- he
is standing upstairs talking to Fred. And Mrs. Connally
and Elizabeth went upstairs to proclaim victory.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you did.
SENATOR DOLE: If they didn't do it, I was
going to do it. (Laughter)
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Goodbye.
THE PRESIDENT: You were great, Bob.
Goodbye.
END
(AT 9:56 P.M. CDT)