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    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 8 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nEMBARGO\nFOR RELEASE\nFEBR RY 28, 1975\nUNTIL 4:30 P.M. EDT\nOffice of the White House Press Secretary\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nTEXT OF REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT\nTO BE DELIVERED TO THE\nYOUNG REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE\nI want to add my personal welcome to those of Betty and Susan and\nto congratulate you for participating in this important Young Republican\nLeadership Conference.\nToday I congratulate you on this year's theme -- \"Back to Basics\".\nOne of the big lessons of the 1974 elections was the need for all of\nus -- particularly the Republican Party -- to return to the basics.\nWe must rebuild. We must restore confidence. We must learn from\nour losses and move forward -- locally, statewide and nationwide.\nAnd that means mastering the nuts-and-bolts details.\nAmerica's young voters present a challenge to the Y-R's. In the 1974\nelections less than thirty-seven percent of potential voters aged eighteen\nto twenty were even registered. Even fewer -- under twenty-one percent\nactually voted. The figure was almost as bad for citizens in the twenty-\none to twenty-four age bracket, less than twenty-seven percent voting.\nIn fact, the only group of Americans to get out a majority were those of\nus over forty-five. One of the biggest contributions you can make is to\nsell young Americane on Republicanism. Get them to the polls on time.\nAs I look around this room I see that we have at least one great asset.\nYou have the idealism and the appetite for learning and hard work that\nour party needs to ensure its future.\nIn many ways, your generation can play the most active, positive role\nin public affairs since the first generation of young American patriots\nin 1776.\nWe sometimes tend to think of the founding fathers as a group of elderly\ngentlemen in powdered wigs. That is not the way it was. In 1776,\nThomas Jefferson was only thirty-three; James Madison was twenty-\nfive; Alexander Hamilton was twenty-one and James Monroe was only\neighteen. Even George Washington, who has come down to us as\nthe ultimate father figure, was only forty-three when he assumed command\nof the Continental Army.\nThe challenges that the young generation faced two hundred years ago\nmay have been more glamorous and dramatic. But they were no more\nreal or urgent than the ones you face today.\nI know you are going to meet the challenge of today -- and that the spirit\nof 1976 will equal the spirit of 1776. It is going to take the same\nidealism -- the same spark of patriotism and sense of purpose -- that\nmotivated the founders.\nYoung Republicans have these qualities -- I can sense them here in this\nroom today.\nA good prescription for America today is the development of new energy\nsources -- including Young Republican energy. There is obviously no\nenergy shortage among the Y-R's.\nWelcome to the White House. Let's work together to strengthen and\nexpand our Republican Party and build a better America.\n#\n#\n#"
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