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7343875
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Remarks of the President to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the State Floor [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343875
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document
title
Remarks of the President to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the State Floor [Ford Speech or Statement]
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collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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7343875
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6
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1976-05-06
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5
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1976
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f1ef2ba8ba580da4
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Digitized from Box 25 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 6, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS
THE STATE FLOOR
3:50 P.M. EDT
Mr. Hill, Mr. Huici, members of the Association
and guests:
Walking over, I was trying to recollect where
we had first gotten together, and I was reminded by one
of your officers that it was up in Boston, so it is a
little shift from the Parker House to the East Room of the
White House, but it is a great opportunity for me to
welcome all of you and to meet with you and to provide a
more personalized view of the President for your sketches.
Although, when it comes to personalized views,
I don't think I will ever forget the one expressed by a
former teammate of mine from my old Michigan football team.
He introduced me one time at a banquet and said, "You might
be interested to know that I played football with Jerry
Ford for two years. Jerry played center, I was the quarter-
back, and you might say it gave me a completely different
view of the President." (Laughter)
I hope your views today won't be quite that
different. But, I am pleased and honored to welcome you
to the White House. Your editorial cartoons representing a
truly great American tradition have adorned the White
House, its walls, for many, many years. Today, I am
delighted to welcome all of you in person.
Two years ago this month I addressed your asso-
ciation in Boston. At that time, Guernsey LePelley,
editorial cartoonist for the Christian Science Monitor,
said you wanted to get a firsthand impression to better
perceive my true identity. There had been a number of
cartoons depicting identical Vice President Fords seated
behind a desk with the caption, "Will the real Jerry Ford
stand up?"
Today, two years later, the real Jerry Ford has
stood up. You have taken me full measure. In keeping
with the artistic and journalistic responsibility to call
the shots as you see them, you have in all honesty, in my
opinion, treated me very fairly, and for that I thank you.
MORE
Page 2
I concede that a pen is mightier than a
politician. Only six or seven seconds are required to
read and digest a cartoon. That is why you have such a
big advantage over those of us in political life. It
may take six or seven months before the public forgets a
cartoon that hits the target, and that takes us up to next
November.
I am pleased to take my chances with your
cartoons because I know that you depict all candidates
without fear or without favor. Your cartoon art is a
very vital American safeguard against the deception of
voters by any candidate, especially those that demagogue
false issues or fuzz up the real issues.
We in political life -- and I think the public
as a whole -- count on you to rip away facades with
penetrating realism, and just as you asked for the real
Jerry Ford to stand up, I congratulate all of you for asking
the very same question for all the new and old faces of
1976.
I have heard cartoonists say their cartoons
make a complex situation really very simple, while the
editorials usually found on the same page make a simple
situation really very complicated. (Laughter)
I am glad that we are in agreement on that. We
all know the old Chinese proverb that a single picture is
worth 1,000 words. Every cartoonist realizes this anew
each time he starts to write the caption. So it is with
polítical campaigns. We often see the real situation
behind the mask, but can't always at the outset put
the precise caption on it.
Yet, there is a very basic and penetrating
wisdom that emerges in cartoons. I am confident that the
same insight exists in full abundance among the American
people. That is why I personally face the future with
complete and total confidence.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 3:55 P.M. EDT)