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Remarks of the President to the US Jaycees Convention [Ford Speech or Statement]
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Remarks of the President to the US Jaycees Convention [Ford Speech or Statement]
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Digitized from Box 27 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 22, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
U.S. JAYCEES CONVENTION
INDIANAPOLIS CONVENTION CENTER
10:24 A.M. CDT
Thank you very, very much, President Dick Robinson,
Governor Bowen, Mayor Hudnut, Mr. Simensen, members and
guests of the United States Jaycees:
I am overwhelmed and obviously deeply honored to
join you here this morning and to receive such a warm and
generous welcome and I thank you from the bottom of my
heart.
I have been looking forward to this visit for a
long, long time because the Jaycees have always made me feel
right at home. When I was just beginning a law career in
1941 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I became a proud member of
our local Jaycee chapter. In all of the years that have
followed, as a Congressman, as Vice President and now
as President, I have found the philosophy and the spirit
of the Jaycees to be a great source of personal strength.
So it is great to be among friends on this occasion.
I am especially proud that I can salute all of
you on the eve of our 200th anniversary as a Nation. If there
is a single organization, if there is a single group of
outstanding young Americans that has come to reflect the
Bicentennial spirit, it is the United States Jaycees, and I
congratulate you.
For over a half century the Jaycees have been fertile
breeding ground for America's most promising young leaders,
the kinds of leaders -- men in Philadelphia in 1776 that
proclaimed a new age of freedom for mankind. For over half
a century the Jaycees have stood tall in their patriotism
for the United States -- the kind of patriotism that rode
in the saddle with Paul Revere on the outskirts of Boston
and inspired Patrick Henry down in Colonia Williamsburg for
over half a century the Jaycees have been filled with rock
hard determination to do what is best for America, the kind
of determination that sailed with John Paul Jones when he
warned the enemy, "I have not yet begun to fight."
Youth, patriotism, determination, a love of liberty --
those are the qualities that I have always found in the
Jaycees and ''know this group and those that will follow will
carry forward this same determination, this same patriotism,
this same love of liberty in the years ahead, and if you don't,
who will?
MORE
Page 2
As an active member of this organization just
a few years ago -- (Laughter) -- I remember then that I
often asked myself what sort of a future did I want for
my family and for my country? Many of you here today may
ask yourself the same questions: What do we want for our-
selves over the next 20 or 30 years? What do we really
want for America's third century as a Nation?
Let me respond to some of those questions for
just a few moments by suggesting some of my own answers.
From my readings of history I am persuaded that America's
first two centuries can be split roughly in half. The
hallmark of our first century was the establishment of a
free democratic Government in our land. Rising up from a
weak, fledgling Nation our people sprawled across the
continent, territories were acquired, States were formed,
wars were fought, none more devastating than the one that
turned American against American.
But the Union survived that terrible ordeal and
by 1876, at the end of our first century, a responsive
and responsible form of Government was firmly implanted in
our soil.
Our second century as a Nation, I would suggest,
has been marked by the growth and the development of a great
industrial system. The pioneer spirit of the early days
began to conquer new frontiers, spanning the Nation with
rails transforming our manufacturing and marketing, recasting
our cities with concrete and steel, revolutionizing our
science and technology, so that at this very moment an
American spacecraft, for the first time in man's history,
is preparing to land on the planet of Mars.
These have been great achievements - - the triumph
of free Government in our first century, the triumph of
free enterprise in our second.
Now, in our third century, I promise that we climb
an even higher mountain. Let us fulfill the dreams of the
early fathers. Let us make these new 100 years the ultimate
triumph of people, the triumph of individual freedom in
the United States of America.
We made enormous progress in securing and expanding
individual freedoms in the past 200 years, and much of that
progress has come in our own lifetimes. But, we have not
finished the job. Full individual freedom in America must
mean freedom from want. America has the compassion and the
resources to meet this challenge.
So long as our Nation is burdened with heavy
inflation and heavy unemployment, we shall not be free.
Over the past 15 years, due in large measures to stop and
start economic policies in Washington, the United States'
economy has been on a long and dangerous roller coaster
ride -- up one year, down the next. The accompanying
inflation has not only eroded personal income but it has
eaten away at public confidence in our economic institutions,
the very institutions that served to give us the highest
standard of living anywhere in the world.
MORE
Page 3
The first order of business in the Government of
the United States is to put the economy on a smooth, upward
course and to keep it moving in that direction. The
enormous surge in Government spending and Government deficits
must be ended. The only way to hold down the cost of
living is to hold down the cost of Government.
If I may be permitted to interject a word on a
subject that is before the Congress at this moment, I would
urge that this organization join in the struggle to enact
responsible, new tax legislation in the next 10 days.
On July 1, the temporary tax enacted last year will
expire and, unless the Congress acts promptly, taxes will
automatically increase. The Congress should not only extend
the tax cut that was enacted last year but should increase
it by $10 billion and make it permanent. There is no
excuse for the Government to take more and more of your
earnings when it cannot fully justify their use, and
especially when those hard-earned tax dollars of yours can
do more good for you and for this country in your pocket,
not in the Government Treasury.
Let me specify two specific provisions in the
additional $10 billion tax reduction that I proposed and
Congress must approve, to help your family and our country.
The personal exemption must be increased from $750 to $1,000.
The estate tax exemption must be increased from $60,000
to $150,000, so that small businesses and small farms can
stay in one family from one generation to another and not
in the pockets of the taxpayer.
And there is one other provision that involves
all of you -- estate tax transfers from husband to wife or
wife to husband must be tax free. Full individual freedom
in America also means freedom from intrusive, overbearing
Government. This is a familiar theme in our American history.
As long ago as Thomas Jefferson, he sounded it
in the Declaration of Independence himself, where he
complained there His Majesty's Government has erected a
multitude of new offices and sent swarms of officers to
harrass our people.
MORE
Page 4
Today we see the intrusion of our own Federal Govern-
ment in many forms -- some old and some new. We see it
in the many regulatory agencies that have sprouted up
along the Potomac and have imposed the massive regulatory
burden upon American business. We see it in the way that
some of our other departments in Washington under requirements
mainly imposed by the Congress have taken over many, many
of the activities that were once left to the State and local
units of government.
We see it in the past records of some government
agencies that exceeded their authority and spied upon and
otherwise violated the rights of individual American citizens.
And we see it in the way that a few of our courts
have wandered so far into the school busing controversy that
they are practically running our local school boards.
The time has come to roll back the wave of big
government in America and we must never forget a government
big enough to give us everything we want is a government big
enough to take from us everything we have.
We must bring order and restraint to the Federal
regulatory process through sweeping reforms, in airline
transportation, in trucking and in many other areas.
In order to restore greater powers to local and State
Governments to put decisions back where they belong we must
reenact general revenue sharing and collapse complicated
education and health programs into new block grants so that
the rights of our citizens may be protected while the
essential intelligence functioning of our government
continues.
We are undertaking reforms in the intelligence
community and we are putting into place new constructive
guidelines for the FBI. In the next few days I plan to
announce action in still another area -- court-ordered
forced busing. There is no good reason why we cannot wipe
out the vestiges of discrimination in America, achieve
quality education for our children and at the same time
minimize the massive busing of our children.
Underlying actions in each of these areas is
our fervent belief that individual liberty in this great
country means liberty from oppressive, heavy-handed,
bureaucratic government. That is a goal we can achieve.
That is a goal we must achieve in our third century.
I firmly believe that Americans can do anything if other
Americans do not tie us down with red tape, tie us up with
pessimism or tie us into a knot of frustration and stagnation.
MORE
Page 5
Let me reemphasize that my vision of the future
means equal opportunity and equal rights for all of our
citizens. The principle. of racial equality is indelibly
written into our Constitution and into our hearts, and in
all that we do we must honor it.
Earlier in this century the novelist, Thomas Wolfe,
spoke about America in a way that is worth remembering.
He said, "To every man his chance, to every man regardless
of his birth his shining golden opportunity, to every man
the right to live, to work, to be himself and to become
whatever things his manhood and his vision can combine to
make him. This," he said, "is the promise of America."
That is the promise we seek to fulfill in the next
100 years. We must also recognize, as George Washington
did in his first inaugural address, that no nation on
earth owes more to providence than does the United States of
America. Our greatness is because of our goodness. Should
we cease to be good, we would soon cease to be great.
Americans have seen too much abuse of the moral imperatives
of honesty and decency, the foundations of our civilized
society.
Americans, especially our young people, can take
little pride in the system that is dishonored by misconduct
whether in the White House or in the halls of Congress.
The essential task of leadership in business, in education,
in family life and in public life is to inspire, to teach,
to act with courage --to live with honor and to show the way.
Personal integrity must not be a part of nostalgia, it must
be the living and life essence of the American character.
There are many freedoms that we must secure, that
we must expand in the United States, but let me mention only
one other, freedom from war. On too many occasions since
the Jaycees were founded America has sent her finest sons
to the battlefields in faraway lands. The first and
foremost objective of every President is to protect and
preserve the security of the United States.
Today that security is fully protected. Our
armaments are unsurpassed, our alliances with Europe and Japan
have never been healthier. Our will in America is strong.
Yet we must also recognize that we live in a world
that is increasingly hostile to freedom. Only one nation
in six in the world today is free and democratic. There are
many, many nations that oppose our interests and our belief
and our dedication to freedom and to liberty. Through
negotiations and constructive diplomacy we are seeking to
reduce the level of tensions with the Soviet Union. We
share with them an interest in preventing a nuclear
incineration but we have no illusions that they have changed
their political objectives or their essential world outlook.
It is, therefore, incumbent upon us to maintain a strong
balanced military posture. Military strength is the best
insurance for peace. We have that peace and we are going to
keep it.
MORE
Page 6
One of my greatest frustrations as a Congressman --
and I think Mayor Bill Hudnut can vividly recall it because
he served in the Congress with me -- but that frustration
was to join with the occupant of the White House, Democrat
or Republican, in the fight for large defense budgets and
then to see those budgets unmercifully cut by a Congressional
majority on the other side.
In just the past 10 years the Congress has cut
some $50 billion from the defense budget recommended by three
different Presidents, often to make room for new social
programs of questionable merit.
This year, I am pleased to report to you we are
finally reversing that trend and, for the first time in a
long, long while the Congress seems ready to agree with the
President for a needed increase in the expenditures and
programs for the defense establishment. However, once
again, I ask the support of the Jaycees on a critical issue.
This country simply cannot afford anything less than the very
best for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines.
America covets no one else's land. We seek no
one else's treasures. Indeed, we have given generously of
our own when others needed help, but we must also never shirk
from the responsibility of protecting our interests and
our own security. If the promise of individual freedom is
to be achieved in the coming century, it will take a full-
hearted effort by all Americans.
I know that as Jaycees you are devoted to humanity
as the best work of life. You are neither weak nor timid
in your devotion to America. You believe that citizens
must be actively involved in the affairs of the State
and of the Nation.
We have an historic opportunity in America today.
We stand at the threshold of our third century. We can
either let this time slip by with no clear vision of what
we wish to achieve as a people or we can seize this moment
by resolving to fulfill the great promise of America -- to
achieve full individual freedom for all Americans.
A year ago, there was a special ceremony in the City
of Boston at Old North Church. You may recall that was the
church where two lanterns were hung on the night of Paul
Revere's famous ride. Last April, they hung a third lantern
in the Old North Church and as they did the rector spoke
briefly about it: "The two lanterns which were shown from
this steeple," he said, "led us to two centuries of some
progress in reason, liberty and in faith -- but not enough.
To some fulfillment in mind, body and spirit -- but not
enough. To some gains in thinking, acting and trusting in
freedom -- but not enough.
"Now the steeple of the Old North Church will shine
with a third lantern tonight, a new signal that will call us
to renewed effort and renewed hope in our third century.
It will say we will yet make the American promise a reality.
We will yet make it the truth every day, everywhere for
everyone. We will go forward and we will stumble, but we
will try again and again and again."
MORE
Page 7
My fellow Jaycees in this Bicentennial year,
let us carry that message to every community across this
land. Let us, through our own actions, become a beacon
of hope and of promise, and let us working together light
the path to a new century of freedom for all Americans.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 10:49 A.M. CDT)