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Remarks of the President at the 50th Annual Armed Forces Day Dinner, Galt House Hotel (Louisville, Kentucky) [Ford Speech or Statement]
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Remarks of the President at the 50th Annual Armed Forces Day Dinner, Galt House Hotel (Louisville, Kentucky) [Ford Speech or Statement]
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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 14, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Louisville, Kentucky)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
50TH ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY DINNER
GALT HOUSE HOTEL
7:33 P.M. EDT
General Van Stockum, Ambassador Cooper, Congressman
Tim Lee Carter, Congressman Mazzoli, Congressman Gene Snyder,
members of the Armed Services, distinguished guests, ladies
and gentlemen:
I am extremely proud to be here in Louisville
this evening to address the Armed Forces Committee and
their many, many friends. It is a tremendous privilege and
great honor to address this very distinguished group of
outstanding Americans, citizens who are vitally interested,
as I am, in the defense of this country.
I was happy to see that even in the midst of
all the excitement of the Kentucky Derby, one of our
National Guardsmen, Sergeant Gary Wald, who was here tonight,
I understand, was on the alert. I salute Gary for his
quick thinking and quick action in smothering that smoke
bomb thrown on to the race track, and good luck to you, Gary.
You know, we could sure use a few more like
Sergeant Wald to smother some of the smoke that is clouding
the real issues before the American people in 1976
But I am not here to talk about races, horses
or political. I came here to tell you my deep concern and
feeling about defense and military preparedness.
The first person to address this very distinguished
organization at its first Armed Services banquet in 1919,
was the great General John J. Pershing. Pershing spoke
after the end of World War I -- a war that had found America
unprepared. Pershing knew what it meant to go to war
unprepared. He had seen for himself the terrible price it
had cost in American blood, spilled in the trenches of France.
Like any other military commander, Pershing
wanted his fighting forces held together as a single American
unit, but, at first, he was forced to split off some of
his divisions to fight alongside the British and French
forces.
MORE
Page 2
The question is legitimate: Why was that? One
very important reason, the American expeditionary force had
no tanks, and in 1917 tanks were rapidly changing the nature
of the battlefield, tanks were the decisive punch in any
attack in World War I.
Our fighting forces have come a long, long way
since those days. Speaking here tonight, not 30 miles from
the armor center of the United States Army at Fort Knox,
let me say tanks today are a critical element of the
American ground combat capability. As we saw, vividly saw
in the 1973 Middle East War, the tanks played a central
role in ground combat.
And as part of our budget for fiscal year 1977,
which I submitted to the Congress in January of this year,
we are going to make sure that American soldiers have
nothing but the best in this very crucial area. That
budget calls for the purchase of better than 30 percent
more tanks in the budget for fiscal year 1975.
We have gone from a single line of production to
a second line, and, if necessary to meet the requirements,
we will go to a third line, and we are now testing advanced
tanks to select the very, very best that can be provided
to the American soldier.
We can also look with great confidence to our
substantial arsenal of the world's most effective anti-tank
systems, both air as well as ground. American technology
and American skills have made us the foundation of the
free world's military might, but we must use that great
resource to stay ahead.
Research and development is an important, very
crucial element, and in my fiscal year 1977 budget, I
recommended a billion dollars more, or an 11 percent
increase in Defense Department research and development.
With this kind of money, we can do the job.
If you look at the record, you will find that we
have laid the keel for the first of a series of new missile
launching submarines, the Trident Missile fleet, which will
be the foundation for a strong and technologically superior
force through the 1980s.
We are developing new fighters and new Inter-
continental Ballistic Missiles for the 1980s, and a cruise
missile for our air and naval forces.
MORE
Page 3
The B-1 is approaching its final testing, and
every test so far is on the plus side, and I have recommended
the procurement funds for the 200-plus aircraft which
will be phased-in to replace our B-52s.
I want to say this to all of you: We owe our
soldiers, every one of us -- those in civilian life or
those in military life -- we owe our soldiers, sailors,
airmen and Marines the finest tools, the finest equipment,
the finest leadership that this country can provide, and
we are going to provide it.
That goes for all members of the total force that
protects America, both active and reserve components. The
National Guard and reserve forces are a great part of
America's fighting team and I intend to continue improving
the combat power and the readiness of that force.
Within the last two hours, as some of you may
know, I signed a law, a bill making our National Guard
and reserve units an even more significant part of our
total forces. Until today, it took a national emergency
or an act of Congress to put the reserves into action.
MORE
Page 4
Under this new law, the President will be
able to mobilize up to 50,000 of selected reserves
for a period of 190 days. Of course, we all hope and we
all trust that such an order will never have to be given,
but if it is, we can now count on the effective deployment
of a significant number of reservists to participate with
our active duty personnel on 'the defense of this great
country.
This means that our reserve and National Guard
are being given an increased responsibility, a greater
importance in our total force complex, so it is more
important than ever that they be equipped and treated as
first-class units. Secretary Rumsfeld and I are going to
see that this advanced equipment is available to your
units throughout the country.
I was glad to find that the Kentucky Air National
Guard has just replaced their outmoded R-F 101s with one
of our most modern reconnaissance fighters, the R-F-4-C.
This is the type of improvement that we are aiming to
achieve across the board and we will achieve with the
support of Congress.
Organizations such as those represented here
in this room tonight--the 100th Army Reserve Division, the
Kentucky Air National Guard, the Retired Officers' Asso-
ciation and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps--are a
very integral part of the fighting team that deserves
America's support.
Throughout our history America has shown its
ability to raise great fighting forces on very short
notice. In World War I, for example, within 18 months
General Pershing was able to produce an army of some
two million strong that decisively defeated troops
hardened by four years of war in Europe.
In fact, the speed at which America has been
mobilized has been matched only by the speed with which
America dismantled much of its military establishment time
and time again, and tragically leaving us ill-prepared
for the next threat to our priceless freedom.
Today, America can no longer afford to rely
on the roller coaster approach, the peak and valley way
we have done it in the past in handling our national
defense capabilities. The awesome speed, the technology
of modern warfare mean we would not have 18 months in
the decade of the seventies or the eighties or the nineties.
We wouldn't have 18 months. I think the record
is clear we wouldn't have 18 days to prepare our own
defenses. If we are forced to fight again, the next war
is likely to be come-as-you-are. Instant readiness is
another term. We are strong today. We are well-prepared
to deter war as we have, but if deterrences should fail,
we are well-prepared to control the conflict and to avoid
nuclear confrontation.
MORE
Page 5
Our job now is to make sure that America remains
strong, and I promise you as Commander-in-Chief and as
President that we will remain strong in the future, as
we have in the past.
In my budgets for fiscal year 1976 and 1977, I
took the necessary steps to stop the downward trend in
American military spending for which the Congress must
bear the exclusive responsibility. That trend in Congress
has reduced the defense share of our Federal budget to
its lowest level since fiscal year 1940, and the lowest
share of our Gross National Product since before the
Korean War.
This has come to pass for one very specific
reason -- because the Congress over the last ten years
has reduced defense budget proposals of three Presidents
by some $45 to $50 billion.
When I was in the Congress, I fought that trend
for some 25 years. For 14 of those years, I had the
privilege to serve on the House Appropriations Subcommittee
that reviewed the total defense budget submitted by
Presidents from 1953 to 1965.
For 14 years, for five months a year, for five
days a week, five hours a day, I listened, along with the
other Members of the subcommittee, to Secretaries of
Defense, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all the
Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, as
well as the top Generals and Admirals in all of the
services.
It was a great experience and gave me a foundation
and a background I think unmatched by anybody in the
Congress. What I learned at that time confirmed the lesson
of my wartime experiences in the Navy -- the lesson that
peace demands preparedness and that weakness invites war.
In my two years as your President I assure you
that I have fully utilized all of this background and
experience in putting together as your Commander in Chief
programs for national defense which produce two of the
largest peacetime defense budgets in the history of the
United States.
This year, with that budget that I submitted
of $112 point some billion and $101 billion in spending,
we must not let the Congress do as they have done in the
last ten years, slash the Defense Department budget for
fiscal year 1977, and I call on your help to prevent
this from happening in 1976.
Several weeks ago, just to make the point with
many of my former colleagues in the Congress, I bluntly
warned the House as well as the Senate, if the defense
budget is weakened, it will be vetoed, and I will go
to the American people to make sure that the blame is
put where it belongs -- in the House as well as in the
Senate.
MORE
Page 6
Now, with a budget of this capability, we all
recognize that the United States, if we get the budget
from the Congress, we will have a national defense
program that will meet all of the missions, all of the
challenges, all of the problems that we would expect,
anticipate or put on our doorstep in the future.
We must stay prepared. We must keep our forces
strong to keep the peace. What does that mean? That
means having the best soldiers, the best sailors, the
best airmen, the best Marines, and giving them the
finest training and the most effective equipment and the
most outstanding leadership that we have in this great
country.
That means setting a firm course for the Federal
Government, not just in the defense budget but in all the
areas where we can help to keep America the greatest
nation in the history of mankind. President Eisenhower,
when he was General of the Army, once remarked that our
fighting forces are just the cutting edge of a great
machine.
The inspiration and power for that machine, he
said, are found in the hearts of our many citizens.
The spiritual powers of a nation -- its religious faith,
its self-reliance, its capacity for intelligent sacrifice --
Ike called these the most important stones in any defense
structure.
Our defenses are strong, not just because their
fighting or cutting edge is sharp but because America's
spirit is unbeatable. America is prosperous, peaceful
and proud on its 200th birthday. All of us must do our
part to see that America remains strong in every respect.
We will do our part. America will stand ready
to meet the challenges and the responsibilities of our
third century, not just for us, but more importantly for
our children and our children's children. It is our
obligation. We will do it.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 7:50 P.M. EDT)