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Remarks of the President to the 85th Continental Congress of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343620
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Remarks of the President to the 85th Continental Congress of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution [Ford Speech or Statement]
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1976-04-21
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1976
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Digitized from Box 24 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 21, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
85TH CONTINENTAL CONGRESS OF THE
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
CONSTITUTION HALL
10:31 A.M. EST
Mrs. Smith, members and guests of the Daughters
of the American Revolution:
It is a very great honor and a tremendous
privilege for me to meet with you again in this historic
hall. In this Bicentennial year we have a very special
reason for rededication to the ideals and to the principles
that motivated American patriots in 1776.
I am very proud that my mother was a very active
and dedicated member of the Sophie de Marsac Campau Chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The principles
of loyalty and love of this country which she cultivated
in her children are just as important today as they were
throughout her lifetime, and they will continue to be
important throughout our third century of freedom in
America.
The patriots of 1776 -- men like George
Washington and Patrick Henry -- did not mince words nor
will I, 200 years later, in reporting to you on a matter
of growing national concern.
Over the past several weeks, as the 1976
political campaigns have begun to heat up, more and more
attention has focused on the issue of America's military
strength. Frankly, I presume this has happened because
the grab-bag of other issues have tried and failed.
However, this should not be a partisan discussion.
On national defense matters, some of my supporters are
Democrats and some of my critics are Republicans. Never-
theless, politics does have a way of confusing the extremely
complex issues of national security. This is particularly
evident every four years when we have a Presidential
election campaign.
MORE
Page 2
I welcome the emergency of this debate because,
during the next four years many crucial decisions must
be made about our armed forces, decisions that will affect
our freedoms until the end of this century and beyond.
Nothing is more vital to our individual, personal
security than the security of our Nation.
At the same time, the gravity of this subject
demands that it be addressed honestly, factually and
fairly. Unfortunately, too much of the debate so far has
been cast in exaggerated rhetoric that tends to mislead
and confuse, not to enlighten and to clarify.
I believe the American people, as well as our
friends and adversaries abroad, have too much common
sense to fall for oversimplifications, but as your
President and as Commander-in-Chief, I do have a respon-
sibility to set the record straight and, obviously, it
is time for a little straight talk -- and I will give
it to you this morning.
Recent charges that the United States is in a
position of military inferiority, that we have accepted
Soviet world domination are complete and utter nonsense.
If there is any single standard which has
guided my years in public service it has been this: The
freedom and security of the United States of America
must always be preserved. America is the greatest nation
on earth and we will keep it that way. I know the D.A.P.'s
record on national defense and you know mine. They are
virtually identical.
My knowledge, my concern, my record in support
of a strong national defense does not go back merely a
few days, a few weeks or even a few months, but all the
way back to 1949 when I first went to the Congress.
For 25 years in the Congress I stood for, I
spoke for and I voted for a strong national defense.
For 14 years I served on the House Committee
on Appropriations that each year examined in great
detail every one of the programs and then provided the
appropriations for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force
and Marines, and always, in those years, mv stance was
on the side of strength for America.
MORE
Page 3
During the years before I became Vice President,
as Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, I
fought openly and hard year after year for the maximum
military strength recommended, whether by a Republican
President or by a Democratic President.
For these last two years as your President,
I have called upon the Congress to approve the two
biggest defense budgets in our American history.
And my pledge to you today is this: That as
long as I hold this office I intend to see to it that
the United States will never become second to anybody,
period.
Let's look at the record more closely for just
a few moments. When I became President in August of 1974,
some 20 months ago, I reaffirmed my conviction that
our military power must be strong enough to carry out
three essential objectives, and I found that we successfully
met all three:
We were and we remain today ready and able
to protect our own vital security interests.
We were and we remain today ready and able to
deter aggression against our allies.
And we were and we remain today ready and
able to keep the peace.
MORE
Page 4
Yet as I was sworn into office, it was also apparent
that we could not afford complacency by our Armed Forces.
Quite the contrary. For the past ten to fifteen years the
Soviet Union has been striving with dogged determination
to overtake us in military strength. In our own country, on
the other hand, many people, 'especially in the United States
Congress, seemed oblivious to the growing Soviet military
capability. Instead, Congress seemed to believe that we could
channel more and more of our tax dollars into rapidly growing
social programs and that our military should receive a smaller
and smaller share of our national financial resources.
In the ten-year period from 1964 to 1974, estimated
in real dollar terms the Soviets expanded their defense
spending by fully one-third. By stark contrast, military
requests of successive Presidents were slashed by $50 billion
in the Congress during this same period. When I became President,
defense spending represented the lowest share of our GNP since
1947.
There was cause to be concerned about the future
security of the country, particularly if the Congress
continued to hack away at our military budgets. If the Soviet
Union continued to expand its capabilities and we continued
to bleed our own defense forces, it was inevitable that the
United States would eventually become a second-rate power.
Clearly the adverse trend had to be reversed, and I set
out to make that one of the foremost objectives of my
Administration.
In January of 1975, five months after I came into
office, I submitted my first budget to the Congress calling
for a ten percent increase in overall defense spending.
However, that year the Congress cut my defense budget request
by $6 billion 500 million which included reductions of more
than $1 billion 500 million in operation and maintenance for
our forces, more than $3 billion in procurement of weapons and
other equipment and more than $700 million in research and
development. Specifically, the Congress refused to provide
the full funding requested for new Naval ships, took away
funds for two of our new airborne warning and control systems
aircraft designed to vastly improve our surveillance,
warning and control capabilities, denied us additional
attack aircraft, reduced the funds for modifying civil
reserve air fleet aircraft, delaying our back-up airlift
capability for support in military contingencies, cut our
intelligence and communications programs, reduced the program
for our new B-1 strategic bomber, cut into the Air Force program
for development of a new air combat fighter to maintain our
air superiority in the future, reduced our ballistic missile
defense technology program, reduced the fund request for war
reserve stocks and spare parts needed to sustain our fighting
men in combat.
MORE
Page 5
I could go on and on but the point is clear:
No President could countenance such disregard for the
Nation's security needs.
So in January of this year, 1976 -- only three
months ago -- I submitted an even bigger defense budget:
$112 billion 700 million, or a 14 percent bigger budget than
the defense budget of the year before. I also made it very
clear that if the Congress sent me a defense bill that short-
changed the needs of this country, I would take the unprecedented
step of vetoing it because Congressional action was inadequate.
Furthermore, I have gone to the American people on this issue.
To my satisfaction, it seems the American people share
my concern and are communicating that message to the Congress,
and their message was loud and clear -- stop cheating the
country's defenses.
Two weeks ago the Congress took the first steps
toward committing us to the biggest single increase in
defense spending since the Korean War. I thank you and
millions of other Americans for your help in this very crucial
matter. I hope you and literally millions of other Americans
will keep the pressure on the Congress.
The defense program that I am advancing will mean
that the United States of America will remain unsurpassed
for years and years to come.
Just about two weeks ago we laid the keel for the
first of a new class of nuclear submarines to be armed with
the most accurate submarine ballistic missiles in the world.
This Trident missile fleet will be the foundation for a
formidably technologically superior force through the
1980's.
We are now completing the final testing of the
world's most modern and capable strategic bomber, the B-1.
We are also accelerating work on a new intercontinental
ballistic missile for the 1980's.
We are developing a new cruise missile for our air
and naval forces.
Nor does our effort stop with weapons, for we are
also expanding our Army from 13 to 16 combat divisions.
MORE
Page 6
We are seeking to achieve new efficiencies across
the board -- better ways to carry out our military missions
that will not only save taxpayers $2 billion 800 million for
the next fiscal year, but will also improve our readiness
capability of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and Marines.
This is a program designed to insure that America
will never become number two in military power. It is a
sound investment in our future, and I intend to see it through --
this year, next year, right through to the end of this decade.
I have spoken of our military strength. Let us never
forget that our strength will be meaningful only if it is
matched by our resolve -- our resolve to keep the peace,
our resolve to preserve our precious freedom.
MORE
Page 7
No one should mistake our internal debates as
a weakening of our intention to protect our interests
and to live up to our obligations to our friends. The
United States will not only remain secure in its power,
but I assure you we shall not hesitate to use that power
when it must be used in our national interest.
Even as we are determined in our defense, we
shall also be determined in our efforts to reduce the
potential of a nuclear holocaust.
We are continuing the Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks with the Soviet Union for the simple but very good
reason that these negotiations offer the best hope for
sanity in super-power relations. Ever since the
beginning of serious arms negotiations with the Russians
years and years ago, there have been political pressures
either to speed up or to slow down the negotiations, and
those pressures continue today.
Instead, I have chosen a steady but persistent
course based on a realistic appreciation of our national
interests. Those interests do not lie in an uncontrolled
nuclear arms race but in maintaining an equitable strategic
balance at the lowest possible level.
Those who argue that SALT talks jeopardize the
security of the United States are badly mistaken. In
Vladivostok we began negotiating an agreement which, if
successfully completed, will place equal ceilings on
missiles, heavy bombers and multi-headed warheads.
There are still many important issues to be
resolved in the SALT talks. I do not know at this time
whether we will succeed, but under no circumstances will
we be stampeded by arbitrary deadlines or demagogic
political charges. We will be guided solely by the
national interests of the United States of America. If
a sound agreement is reached, of course I will submit it
to the United States Senate for ratification.
My friends, this election year is still young.
There is still time to restore reason and perspective
to our debates over national security. Those who seek
our Nation's highest office have an obligation, I
believe, to spell out the alternative directions they
propose in our foreign policy and our defense policy.
It is not good enough to criticize current policies while
refusing to propose specific alternatives. Those who
seek the Presidency must be equal to its burdens.
MORE
Page 8
To charge that this Administration -- an
Administration that has fought for the two biggest defense
budgets in history and for the first time in 10 years
is convincing the United States Congress to spend enough
for defense -- to charge that we have led our Nation into
military inferiority is preposterous on its face.
The American people have had enough distorted
allegations that we have become a second-rate power.
We must see the world as it is. We must form our policies
out of hard facts, not political fiction.
First and foremost is the fact that the United
States today is the single most powerful nation on earth --
indeed, in all history -- and we are going to keep it
that way.
Our economic power is far and away the largest
and the most productive, producing an estimated 24
percent of the world's wealth with less than 6 percent
of the world's population.
At a time when the number of democracies in the
world has dwindled to less than two dozen out of over 140
countries on this globe, we remain the best hope of
freedom and the inspiration for liberty of all mankind.
I say that those with faith in America must
speak the truth to the American people -- the truth that
we are the greatest nation on earth; the truth that we
have the strength to defend our interest and to resolve
to uphold our values; the truth that we are strong, we
can never relax our guard; the truth that for the first
time since the days of Dwight Eisenhower a President
standing for election can say we are at peace; and, finally,
the truth that we must actively engage in maintaining world
peace and defending freedom.
I promise to you that I will do everything
within the power of the Presidency to keep America strong --
militarily, economically and morally -- as I have throughout
my public life, but I need your help. Without your support --
without the informed, intelligent, confident, constructive
support of all the American people -- no President can
keep the Ship of State on a safe, steady course. But with
your help, our 200th birthday as a Nation can be truly
a rebirth of America.
For 200 years we have more than justified the
faith and far exceeded the wildest dreams of our Founding
Fathers. Time and time again we have repeated the hardships
of Valley Forge and the sacrifices of Iwo Jima to protect
and to defend our precious freedom. Our dedicated armed
forces stand guard today in the same spirit.
MORE
Page 9
America today is unsurpassed in military
capability. We have the greatest industrial capacity
in the history of mankind. Our farmers out-produce every-
one in history. We are ahead in education, science and
technology. We have the greatest moral and spiritual
resources of any modern nation.
Let us resolve today to build upon those
great strengths so that 100 years from now our great
grandchildren can look back and say they, too, are proud
of America and proud to be Americans.
Thank you very much.
END (AT 10:54 A.M. EST)