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7343981
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Remarks of the President at Shain Park (Birmingham, Michigan) [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343981
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Remarks of the President at Shain Park (Birmingham, Michigan) [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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1976-05-12
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1976
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Digitized from Box 26 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 12, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Birmingham, Michigan)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT SHAIN PARK
5:30 P.M. EDT
Thank you very, very much, Congressman Bill
Broomfield, Governor Milliken, former Governor Romney,
Senator Bob Griffin, distinguished Members of the House
of Representatives, Mayor Staples, but, more particularly,
all of you wonderful people from the City of Birmingham
and Oakland County:
Thank you very, very much. You don't know how
nice it is to come back home on a beautiful day in
May and to see so many wonderful people who are here because
they want to hear a story about what we have done and what
we are trying to do and what we intend to do in the next
four years.
Let me just quickly refresh what we faced when
in August of 1974 I became President. This country had
gone through some very serious economic times with inflation
up to 12 to 14 percent. We were on the brink of a very
serious economic recession, the worst in 40 years. We
were on the precipice of unemployment going up and
employment going down, but the facts are that what we
did was to restore confidence. What we did was not push
the panic button but to have faith in the American people
that if we kept our cool in Washington this country would
turn around and be what it is today: on the uphill, on the
real movement toward the kind of prosperity that we must have
and will have, and we did it because of you.
And then let me point out to you what we have done
in that area. Employment is up three and a half million
more than last year. The last report showed that we
had 87 million 400 thousand people working in America --
the highest figure in the history of the United States.
MORE
Page 2
And instead of 12 or 14 percent inflation, we
have cut it over 50 percent. For the first 3 months of
1976, it is less than 3 percent. So let me quickly
summarize it. Everything that should be going up is going
up and everything that should be going down is going down.
America is on the verge of a boom and that is what we
want and that is what we worked for.
But let me quickly refresh your memory to what
was the circumstance in August of 1974 as far as peace.
Yes, after the trauma of 1973 and early 1974 our allies
abroad were worried about the will and the resolution of
the American people: our adversaries were uncertain as to
whether we were going to be weak or strong and whether they
could or should exploit the situation here at home.
But what the Ford Administration did was, first, to restore
the faith of our allies in the strength of America and
the resolution of 215 million Americans, strong: its
deep believers in our form of government that 18 the best
by any standards in the history of mankind.
And let me say this as we move ahead. There
have been some individuals who have attempted to downgrade
this country's capabilities in a military and a diplomatic
way. But what is the standard by which you judge the way
we handle our foreign affairs and the way we handle our
military capability? The objective of all of it is the
achievement and the maintenance of peace, and we have peace
today. And I am proud to say to everyone of you that I am
the first President in 20 years who can go to the American
people seeking election or reelection who can say that
America is at peace. The fact that we are at peace is
because we are strong and because we are resolute and we
are going to stay that way by strengthening our relations
with our allies and convincing our adversaries that
America means what it says.
MORE
Page 3
But let us turn now to the last fact that I
think we ought to take a look at. In August of 1974, there
had been a shocking series of scandals in the highest
offices in our land and the American people had lost
a lot of confidence in their, Government, and the net result
was we had to restore that confidence.
The Ford Administration has been open, it has
been candid, it has been forthright, and I can look every
American in the eye and say that we have worked at the
restoration of confidence and the strengthening of integrity
in the White House and I can be proud of the fact that as
we travel around the country people have faith in the path
of integrity and honesty that this Administration has tread
for the last 21 months.
I have talked about the past, I have talked
of where we are going, and the three main areas that seems
to me is how you should judge how you vote on next Tuesday --
peace, prosperity, integrity or trust.
But what we have to do is to make sure that those
policies are in our vision and will be our effort for the
next four years. I can assure you that with your support
on next Tuesday and with your support in November, we
can continue those high, strong resolutions that we have
had of peace, prosperity and trust.
But, why do we want to do it -- and I think that
is a good question with so many wonderful young people here
this afternoon. It has been the tradition, it has been the
heritage of America that we do things for those that follow.
Our forefathers did it for us -- they sacrificed and they
made a better America for all of us. And those of you who
can go to vote on next Tuesday, I think you ought to look
at what you want for America for the next four years --
not for yourself, necessarily, but for these young people
whose stake in the world is what you can strengthen and
the opportunity for them which you can strengthen.
I ask you on the basis of performance, the
achievement and the maintenance of peace, prosperity, a
progress out of a recession toward a healthy and prosperous
economy and the restoration of trust in your Presidency --
I ask for your help and assistance, performance versus
promises, and what we have done in 21 months we can do even
better for you and yours in the next four years.
Thank you very, very much.
END (AT 5:40 P.M. EDT)