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Ford - Statements and Press Releases, 1966 (1)
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The original documents are located in Box 60, folder "Ford - Statements and Press
Releases, 1/66-4/66" of the Robert T. Hartmann Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Robert T. Hartmann donated to the
United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives
collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in
the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are
presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject
to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Some items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted
materials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to
these materials.
[1966?]
(Draft - R.T.H.)
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
It is most reassuring to have the White House announce that President
Johnson "is disappointed that the election reform proposal he sent to
Congress has not, at this date, received thorough consideration and adequate
hearings."
When Mr. Johnson wants the two-to-one majority he commands in this
Congress to take action, it usually does so, following his renowned reasoning
together with his Texas-style arm twisting.
I hope that the Chairman will continue the one day of hearings the House
Administration subcommittee so far has given the President's proposal and
the various Republican bills, including my own, which substantially improve
upon it.
The public wants action on Campaign reforms by this Congress.
Republicans in the House are happy to join President Johnson in pressing for
a prompt and exhaustive public airing of the subject.
###
FORD R. GERALO LIBRARY
ford- Press Release
The National Broadcasting Company Presents
MEET THE PRESS
America's Press Conference of the Air
Produced by LAWRENCE E. SPIVAK
GERALD LIBRARY R. FORD
Guest CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD (R. Mich.)
Minority Leader, House of Representatives
VOLUME 10
JANUARY 16, 1966
NUMBER 3
Merkle Press Inc.
Printers and Periodical Publishers
Division of Publishers Co. Inc.
Box 2111, Washington, D.C. 20013
10 cents per copy
Panel: ROWLAND EVANS, New York Herald Tribune
Syndicate
RICHARD HARKNESS, NBC News
PETER LISAGOR, Chicago Daily News
ALAN OTTEN, Wall Street Journal
MEETTHEPRESS
MR. SPIVAK: Our guest today on MEET THE PRESS is the
leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Gerald
Moderator: LAWRENCE E. SPIVAK
R. Ford of Michigan. He has been a member of Congress since
1948 and Minority Leader since 1965. We will have the first
questions from Richard Harkness of NBC News.
MR. HARKNESS: Congressman, you and your counterpart in
the Senate, Senator Dirksen of Illinois, are delivering tomorrow
night a State of the Union, Republican style. I wonder why;
you are a minority, one of two in Congress-are you going to
pretend that this is a legislative program, or what?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: First, let me say, Mr. Harkness,
we believe that the public needs and deserves the other side of
the coin, that they should get both sides of the appraisal of the
State of the Union, both domestic and international. We will
make some specific recommendations, legislatively speaking.
Senator Dirksen will make some observations and comments and
perhaps recommendations concerning international affairs.
MR. HARKNESS: Would a rude person call this a kind of
'66 campaign document, Mr. Ford?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I hope not. We will try to be
objective, we will try to give the American people the other side.
We believe this will help to strengthen the American political
system, and for that reason we are giving it.
Permission is hereby granted to news media and
MR. HARKNESS: You said that you were going to have
magazines to reproduce in whole or in part. Credit
specific recommendations. Let's take, for instance, taxes. What
to NBC's MEET THE PRESS will be appreciated.
do you plan to say about taxes?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I can't give you the specifics, but
I think the Republican Party as a whole believes that the gov-
1
Chief. The facts are that more Viet Cong and more North Viet-
ernment today can be financed without any additional federal
namese regulars are moving from North Vietnam into South
taxes.
Vietnam, and with this continuous flow of men and military
MR. HARKNESS: I was thinking in terms-isn't the Republi-
equipment into South Vietnam every day, it puts our troops in
can Party on record already as favoring a kind of human-invest-
South Vietnam in greater jeopardy.
ment tax? For instance, giving business a tax break, a tax
MR. EVANS: What you are saying, Congressman, is that if
credit if that business creates jobs in the private-
you were calling the shots in the White House, you would end
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: In both the House and in the
the bombing pause tomorrow or today, perhaps?
Senate, Republican members have introduced what we call the
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: No. I think you have made an
Human Investment Act, which would be a tax incentive for
assumption that isn't necessarily true. I believe that the Presi-
American business to hire untrained people so that they can
dent, with all the facts on a day-to-day basis, can't help but be
become trained for productive jobs in America's industry.
concerned about this growing threat to the security of our forces.
This is the approach that Republicans have traditionally taken,
I can only say to you that if I were sitting in the position of
I think it is sound, and I hope that the Congress will enact it in
the President with this responsibility, at a very early date I
the next session.
might have to indicate to the enemy that we could not continue
MR. HARKNESS: Don't you have a plan to give parents-to
to have our troops put in jeopardy as they strengthened their
give me, for instance, an income tax deduction, for financing
position.
higher education for my youngsters?
MR. EVANS: Let's assume, Congressman, that the President
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Yes. Again the House and Senate
Republicans have pushed on this proposal for several years. We
and his generals decide that there is a chance perhaps in the
next two or three months for the effect of the cessation of bomb-
think this is a better way of helping to finance higher education.
It gives a benefit to the student, and it gives a great benefit to
ing to be felt in such a way in Hanoi that peace feelers of some
kind are made and that they are willing to take that risk of
the parent.
MR. HARKNESS: Mr. Ford, Republican leaders have called
waiting two or three months. What would the Republican posi-
tion be on that?
administration of the anti-poverty program confusing and scan-
dalous. What do you plan to recommend in the anti-poverty
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: As you well know, the fighting
program?
in South Vietnam is going on on a day-to-day basis except for
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Republicans have joined with
this interim at the present time. If our forces are being put
the President in trying to combat the war on poverty. On the
under greater and greater stress and strain, if our losses con-
other hand we believe that the program run by this Adminis-
tinue to go up, then I doubt if the Commander in Chief, the
tration is top-heavy with administrators. There are many, many
President, can wait very long-three or four months-while these
instances where the poverty program is scandal-ridden. We think
casualty rates increase.
the program can accomplish more for the poor if we eliminate
MR. EVANS: Can you put a time limit on it?
such projects as the one that was financed in New York for
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I don't think I can honestly put
$40,000 where the aim and objective was to spread hate of the
a time limit on it. The President, with all the facts at his hand,
Negroes for the whites. We think that the program can be
has to make that decision, but you can't let it go on indefinitely.
better managed than having the poverty program pay the bail,
MR. EVANS: In other words, the Republican party from your
for example, of Job Corps trainees who get in trouble and who
vantage point as Leader in the House will accept the President's
are picked up and put in jail by local authorities. We think this
judgment on the duration of the bombing pause.
is a waste of money, and we believe very strongly that these
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Unless he gives us certain facts
illustrations will point out that the program can accomplish its
upon which we can make our own independent judgment, and
objectives with less funds.
as a matter of fact, I don't think the communication between
MR. EVANS: Congressman, you are regarded as something
the Administration and the Minority, with one or two exceptions,
of a military expert in the House. How long do you think the
has been as good as it ought to be. Therefore, we are not in a
bombing pause can last without endangering the U. S. military
position too make a judgment as serious as the one that you are
position in Vietnam?
indicating, and it is probably one of the most serious decisions
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: This is probably the most diffi-
that the Administration has to make.
cult question, I think, facing the President as Commander in
3
2
I hope and trust they make it right because the consequences
tax bills last year was to impose a $3,600 million increase in net
are very, very important.
taxes on the American people in this calendar year.
MR. OTTEN: The President, in his State of the Union message
MR. LISAGOR: Mr. Ford, it is sometimes difficult to know
the other night, said in effect that the nation could have both
what the Republican position on Vietnam really is because of
guns and butter, and the Republican position, as I understand
conflicting statements that you make and Senator Dirksen makes.
it, is that we cannot have as much butter as we would like. But
I'd like to ask you a relatively simple question.
it has been pretty vague on exactly what chunks you would
Do you think that the Administration ought to win the war in
deprive us of. What specific programs do you think should be
South Vietnam, doing what the military believe necessary to
held down?
win it?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD I was surprised to read this morn-
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Let me say at the outset, Mr.
ing that the President's proposed budget for the new programs
Lisagor, I don't believe there is any basic difference between the
in the Great Society called for an increase of $3,600 million in
views of Senator Dirksen and myself on the conduct of the war
the next fiscal year. This includes a great many programs that
in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, both of us approved of the
I think could be deferred.
Republican Committee statement of December, and that state-
The President has to give us a priority list. At the top, of
ment on Vietnam in effect said this:
course, is the financing of our military effort, our national se-
The objective is not the unconditional surrender of the North
curity, and, as you go down the list or the ladder, there must
Vietnamese. The objective should be the unconditional security
be some programs that can be cut back or deferred or possibly
of the South Vietnamese. And in addition, we applauded any
eliminated.
efforts on the part of the Administration to achieve a negotiated
Until we see the specifics of the budget, I don't think we are
settlement that would be secure for our allies and for the best
in a position to be categorical. Let me say this. Some of the
interests of the United States.
illustrations I gave to Mr. Harkness earlier in the program, those
On the other hand, we cautioned the Administration against
programs can be eliminated and the poverty program as a whole
getting involved in a large scale ground war on the mainland of
will be better off.
China. The Administration tends to be moving in that direction.
The poverty program, unfortunately, has not given enough
This would be against the best interests of the United States.
of the actual economic aid to the poor. Too much of the federal
MR. LISAGOR: You have advocated bombing what you have
assistance in dollars has gone to administration. Too much of
called vital military targets in and around Hanoi and Haiphong,
it has gone to projects that can't possibly be justified.
and I think you have excepted the cities from bombing. Why
MR. OTTEN: Without getting into specific figures, do you be-
has the Administration, in your judgment, been reluctant to
lieve, for example, that the poverty program and the education
bomb these military targets?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I have never been able to under-
programs that Congress enacted last year should be held at their
last year's level, or do you think some increase is possible?
stand why they have not more fully utilized our capability to
destroy significant military targets in North Vietnam. This is
REPRESENTATIVE FORD As a generalization, I would say
one way to convince the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong
that the programs for the next year could be held at approxi-
that the price of continuing aggression is too high. I believe as
mately the level of the programs this year.
General McConnell, Chief of the Staff of the Air Force believes,
You have to go through the process of Appropriation Com-
that we could more effectively utilize this tremendous power
mittee hearings, where the witnesses for the Administration
that we have with conventional weapons.
come before us and try to justify every dollar. When that process
In addition, I'd like to point out that the Republican position
is completed, we will be in a much better position to be specific.
is that we should impose a quarantine, a Kennedy-missile-type-
But the Administration, itself, has to take the responsibility
crisis quarantine on the port of Haiphong to stop the flow of
of establishing a list of priorities. I don't think they have done
war materiel into North Vietnam which eventually comes down
that when they add $3,600 million to the Great Society programs
to be used against our troops in South Vietnam.
for next year, over and above the expenditures anticipated this
MR. LISAGOR: Do you have any fears at all, Mr. Ford, that
year, and particularly when they are asking for a tax increase
these proposals of a quarantine as well as bombing more exten-
over and above the increases in taxes that Congress approved
sively in the North might bring Communist China into the war?
last year. Many, many people don't realize the net effect of the
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I doubt it.
4
5
MR. SPIVAK: Mr. Ford, may I ask you a question. What do
you think of the President's peace offensive on Vietnam?
MR. EVANS: Mr. Ford, I want to ask you to be more specific
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: All Republicans, I believe, ap-
on the Republican position here. You indicate that the pause
plaud the efforts of the Administration to find a formula for a
in the bombing is encouraging the infiltration of North Vietnam
secure peace. Unfortunately, this tremendous effort that was
troops into South Vietnam, down the Ho Chi Minh trail. Would
made in the latter part of 1965 apparently has produced no re-
you favor the use of American troops to cut off that infiltration
sults. But this shouldn't deter the Administration from con-
route if it is that important?
tinuing its efforts in this regard. Because it is so vital to our
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: The flow of Viet Cong and North
own security, our own best interests, anything that achieves that
Vietnamese regulars from North Vietnam to South Vietnam is
objective we will certainly support.
actually a fact.
MR. SPIVAK: At one time you hinted that the Republicans
There may be means and methods militarily that could be
might very well make a campaign issue of Vietnam in 1966. Do
used to stop the flow of these supplies and the personnel, and
you believe that; do you expect they will?
if our military people believe that this is necessary for the pro-
tection of the lives of American soldiers, I think the President
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Mr. Spivak, I have never said the
ought to undertake that.
Republicans should make Vietnam a political issue. In fact, I
said quite the contrary. The Republicans should not make Viet-
MR. EVANS: But it seems to me that you put the Administra-
nam a political issue.
tion in an awful bind, Mr. Ford. You say that you fear a ground
In the first place, the consequences are so serious to the United
war in Asia, and you are unwilling to say that at this point we
States, and secondly, I believe it would be bad politics.
should resume bombing, and yet if the Administration is to
The conduct of the war in Vietnam involves our total national
deal with the South Vietnamese military situation, it means
security, and I actually regret, for example, that Senator Wayne
more troops. Isn't this a contradiction?
Morse, a Democrat of Oregon, has called this "McNamara's war."
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Not at all. There are military
I think that is most unfortunate. I believe if it is to be a
means and methods by which the flow of this personnel, these
political issue, the American people will make it and that we, as
supplies, can be stopped. Mining the Ho Chi Minh trail, for
Republicans, should give our support to the maximum to the
example.
President in this crisis.
MR. EVANS: How do you do that?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: You do that with special forces.
MR. HARKNESS: Congressman, Mr. Johnson calls Vietnam
You don't need to move a whole regiment or a whole division
what it really is: war. He used that phrase in the State of the
in to accomplish that objective.
Union message the other evening.
These are highly technical military decisions, and the Joint
Would you favor a declaration of war by Congress?
Chiefs of Staff, in my judgment, are the best people to make
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: As you said, Mr. Harkness, the
these kinds of recommendations.
President, in his State of the Union message, and before, has
MR. OTTEN: A moment or two ago you said that Republican
called Vietnam a war, and, as a matter of fact, the record is
relations with the President-or the President's relations with
clear. In the last 12 months we have increased our military
Republicans in Congress were not too good, with one or two
personnel commitment on the orders of the President from
exceptions.
twenty-some-thousand in Vietnam to 190,000 at the present time.
Your Senate counterpart, Senator Dirksen, seems to be pretty
We are now approximating the level of manpower commitment
well tied into the White House phone line. Do you think the
in Vietnam that we had in Korea at the height of that conflict.
President is deliberately slighting the House Republicans, or
Whether we call it by name a war or not or whether Congress
how would you analyze this?
takes action of that sort, the facts are, it is a war involving the
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: We do have some differences of
lives of a great many Americans.
opinion. We certainly fought many of his legislative recom-
The Republican position is that we will support the President
mendations last year, and I am certain we will fight his budget
with money, with any resolution that he asks us to support. We
proposals in the non-military area in 1966. I have a high per-
have in the past and we will in the future, if he can convince us
sonal regard for the President. I just disagree with his philos-
that there should be action to help him in this conflict, we will
ophy, and I disagree with his dictation to the Congress. I think
go sled length to be cooperative.
the Congress ought to make up its own mind rather than have
the White House put pressure on the Congress as it did in 1965.
6
7
MR. OTTEN: You think it would be better if he kept the Re-
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I suspect that those statements
publicans in the House better informed, as he does apparently
made by Senator Dirksen were part of a longer text, and if they
with Senator Dirksen?
were used in relationship to the full text, they might not appear
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: It would be helpful.
as hard and tough as they do when you read one sentence or
MR. LISAGOR: Mr. Ford, you said you favored the President's
several phrases. In fact, I have talked at great length with
present peace offensive. I want to ask you whether you believe
Senator Dirksen on these problems, as you can imagine, and I
that any negotiations now could or would result in an agreement
really believe that his views and mine, if taken in total, would
acceptable to the United States?
be in agreement. I think there would be some modification of
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I have not been fully briefed on
those statements when you look at the total text.
the precise details of how far apart the Administration may be
MR. SPIVAK: Gentlemen, we have less than one minute.
from the Viet Cong or the Vietnamese-the North Vietnamese.
MR. HARKNESS: A very simple political question, if you
I would hope that no agreement that was made would be of
please: Would you support Governor Romney for President in
1968?
the Laotian type settlement, because certainly that settlement
made in 1962, as I recall, has not worked out nearly as well
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: I nominated him at the Republi-
from our point of view as it should. I think the Administration
can Convention in 1964. I think he has done a great job as our
should take a lesson from the failure to the Laotian settlement
Governor. On the other hand, in my position as the Minority
and try to do better than that.
Floor Leader in the House of Representatives for the Republi-
MR. LISAGOR: Why would you call the Laotian settlement
cans, I don't believe at this stage I should announce whom I will
a failure, Mr. Ford? It is a coalition government whose head
support for President in 1968.
seems to be at least at the moment favoring the American posi-
Our job in 1966 is to gain more Republican Congressmen and
tion in Vietnam. What is SO bad about the Loatian settlement
Senators, and if we do that, then we will find a good candidate
in 1968.
in your view?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: As you well know, Mr. Lisagor,
MR. SPIVAK: Gentlemen, our time is up. Thank you, Con-
Laos is being used by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong
gressman Ford, for being with us today on MEET THE PRESS.
as a means of entry into South Vietnam, and the Laotian gov-
ernment seems to be doing nothing about it. They are making
no effort to stop it, SO I can't say that was a very good settle-
ment from our point of view.
MR. LISAGOR: Mr. Ford, you said earlier that you are not
getting the facts from the Administration, and it is difficult
for you to make judgments. How do you know that during the
present bombing pause regular North Vietnamese units are
being infiltrated into the South?
REPRESENTATIVE FORD: Within the last week there was
a briefing, but this was the first one, as far as I was concerned,
for some months. And I think this statement has appeared in
print. It has been in the newspapers to the effect that the flow
of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong personnel has been coming
into South Vietnam. This wasn't any surprise to anybody.
MR. SPIVAK: May I ask you a question, Mr. Ford. You said
you were in agreement with Senator Dirksen on Vietnam. But
Senator Dirksen on Friday, January 7, said there was no sub-
stitute for victory and he was for bombing Haiphong. On
Wednesday, January 12, he warned Republicans to consider the
consequences before advocating bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.
He doesn't seem to be in agreement with himself. Which aspect
of these are you in agreement with?
8
9
The Proceedings of
MEET THE PRESS
as broadcast nationwide by the National Broadcasting Com-
pany, Inc., are printed and made available to the public to
further interest in impartial discussions of questions affect-
ing the public welfare. Transcripts may be obtained by send-
ing a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ten cents for each
copy to:
Merkle Press Inc. Box 2111, Washington, D. C. 20013
(Division Publishers Co., Inc.)
MEET THE PRESS is telecast every
Sunday over the NBC Television Net-
work. This program originated from
the NBC Studios in Washington, D. C.
Television Broadcast 1:00 P.M. EST
Radio Broadcast 6:30 P.M. EST
17
17
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
GER
BRARY
February 4, 1966
For Immediate Release
In our Republican appraisal of the State of the Union at the outset of this
session, we called upon President Johnson to set realistic priorities for
his legislative proposals which would enable the Congress to support a war
10,000 miles away and at the same time continue urgent domestic programs,
without an increase in taxes. If the President failed to do so, we called
upon our Democratic colleagues who outnumber us two to one in the Congress to
join us in cutting or eliminating low priority items.
So what is the first major law enacted by the 89th Congress this year?
Yesterday the House voted final passage of a $9.5 Million Interama project
in Florida, 201 to 140. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the "Noes" on
this boondoggle exactly equaled our Republican ranks in the House, because
in fact a few of our good Democrat friends also found this expenditure of
Federal money on an ambitious Florida tourist attraction too much to swallow.
But we were too few.
At the same time the House majority was voting $9.5 Million for this Interama
thing, the Veterans' Affairs Committee voted out a bill for limited GI benefits
for veterans of Vietnam and other cold war service. The Johnson Administration
has opposed any such action for a year, while Republicans in their State of
the Union proposals and through our House Republican Policy Committee have been
pressing for it as an act of simple justice.
Yesterday the committee rejected every Republican effort to increase the bene-
fits and bring them into line with those already extended to veterans of the
Korean war. Unfortunately the bill will be brought to the House Floor Monday
under a procedure which bars amendments, so that Vietnam veterans apparently
will have to be content with half a loaf, or none.
So the GI is still the forgotten man of the Great Society. "Interama" appar-
ently rates higher.
These two actions taken together clearly show that neither the Johnson Adminis-
tration nor Lyndon's Landslide Congress have any intention of applying real-
istic priorities to Federal projects and Federal spending this year. It is
incomprehensible that a Democrat-controlled House should shortchange American
soldiers in South Vietnam and at the same time subsidize a future dream in
Florida with $9.5 Million taxpayers' dollars -- and don't forget, servicemen
also pay taxes.
We Republicans may be too few to stop this sort of shameful steamrollering
but we intend to let the people know about it -- and in the next Congress
things will be different.
Excerpt From newsletter
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release March 2, 1966
WASHINGTON. "Why the rush?" in providing a $750,000 executive mansion for
Vice President Hubert Humphrey somewhere in Washington, Congressman Gerald
R. Ford asked today.
The House Republican leader indicated he favors adequate housing for U.S.
military personnel before Congress spends taxpayer's money for an "expensive
new home" for the Vice President,
Reported to be a favored choice is a site at the Naval Observatory in
northwest Washington. Sponsors of a bill being considered by a House Public
Works subcommittee reportedly favor a "three-story, brick and stone structure,
three-car garage, with grounds properly landscaped and fenced."
Ford, who said he hopes the proposal will die in committee, asserted that
"some of our servicemen have been living in little more than barns, even in
tents" while plans are being pushed to provide a Vice Presidential executive
mansion.
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara figured in Ford's critical attack on
the "house for HHH" plan.
The Michigan Congressman recalled that McNamara has refused to use funds
already appropriated to furnish proper housing for service personnel.
In shelving the military housing appropriation, McNamara was quoted by
Ford as claiming the spending "would add to inflation."
"If this is true, why the rush for an expensive new home for the Vice
President?" Ford asked. He concluded, "This is one expenditure that can wait."
The Minority Leader's statements were included in his newsletter to
Michigan Fifth District constituents.
#
#
#
GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Eftra copy-
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
March 7, 1966 -L.A. WASA,
For Immediate Release
The people of this Nation are losing patience with the majority party
that is bogged down in disagreement on policy and in petty feuds among its
leading figures. The people are losing patience with an Administration
that vacillates and dodges and shifts position in an attempt to please all
the conflicting elements that make up the Democratic Party.
The public has long tolerated the divisions within the majority party
that produce conflict in matters of domestic policy--in such fields as
economic policy, civil rights, and federal-state relations. Now, however,
deep disagreement among leading Democrats on foreign policy has appeared.
It leaves the public confused, apprehensive, and angry.
Why the uncertainties and misunderstandings and fears about the war in
Vietnam? In great part they ar e the result of the inability of the party
in power to agree on whether Americans should be in Vietnam at all, what
our Nation is trying to achieve there, and whether the right means are
being used.
Can a party so badly divided, torn internally by disagreement about
the path which the Nation should follow, subject to schizophrenic impulses
as it tries to satisfy its divergent elements, provide the leadership
needed in the present crisis? Let me answer this way:
As a former football player and coach, I cannot help but relate the
Democratic division and discord over Viet Nam to a football game.
Imagine if you will the Democratic Administration squad playing a
championship game against the Big Red Team. The consequences are great
and the stakes high. The head coach, LBJ, before the kick-off is
painfully pleading for unity. In the huddle on the first play the
team's new quarterback, Hurry-up Hubert, callsthe signals.
At this moment left guard Fulbright raises his head and with a
GERALD FORD
voice that clearly carries to the opposition, disputes the play called
by LBJ and HHH. When the play is run Left Guard Fulbright actually goes
off in the opposite direction.
In the second quarter left end Bobby Kennedy stalks from the
huddle and announces to all who will listen that he is going to start his
own game of touch football with his own team at the other end of the
field.
If this isn't enough trouble for LBJ and Hurry-Up Hubert on almost
every play the rollout left halfback Wayne Morse deliberately trips that
flash ball carrier, Whipping Boy Russell Long.
Whenever there is a time-out, water boy Bill Moyers dashes on the
field to save the day by sticking a wet sponge in the mouths of all he
can corral.
Just as this lack of teamwork would be disasterous in a football
game, in the serious Vietnam situation it can lead only to prolongation
of the war, undermining the morale of our fighting men, and encouragement
of the Communist aggressor.
File 1 LA up 3/7
16 Part I-TUES., MAR. 8, 1966 Los Angeles Times 2*
President Humphrey, Sen-
ate Foreign Relations
ARMY'
Committee Chairman J.
GOP Won't Use War as
William Fulbright, Sen.
Robert Kennedy of New
FLIERS
York and Sen. Wayne
FOR HL
Vote Issue, Ford Says
Morse of Oregon, among
others - for their diver-
WASHIN
gent views on Vietnam
Presiden
But House Leader Warns That If Johnson
strategy.
awarded
Republicans expect to
Bungles Effort Full Debate May Result
make substantial political
guished Unit
gains this year, the House
Monday to tl
GOP leader said. Until re-
121st Aviation
BY RICHARD BERGHOLZ
cently, he had predicted a
Times Political Writer
and attached
30-seat net gain for the
Republicans don't in-
greement on policy and in
extraordinary
GOP in the House this
tend to call the conflict in
petty feuds among its lead-
year. Now, he said, the
in Vietnam.
Vietnam "Johnson's War,"
ing figures."
chances look even better
The citation
House GOP leader Gerald
The American people,
and he puts the expected
the effective.
Ford said here Monday.
Ford said, are "losing pa-
net gain at more than 40
fighting men,
tience with an administra-
seats.
But if the Johnson Ad-
detachments a
tion that vacillates and
ministration bungles the
Neil L. Papiano, an at-
port groups a;
dodges and shifts position
.5
From the desk of
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
ROBERT T. HARTMANN
Wie Stark
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Gerald R. Ford
Send the following message, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to
March 4, 1966
P. D. Houser
Member, Board of Directors
Chairman Installation Banquet Committee
FORD R. GERALO LIBRARY
Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce
404 South Bixel Street
Los Angeles, California
Congressman Ford has no objection to heliocopters. Will meet you airport
on arrival 5:05 p.m. TWA #61.
Mildred Leonard
Secretary to Mr. Ford
COPY
February 17, 1966
FORD R. GERALO LIBRARY
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Indio, California
Dear General Eisenhower:
evailed
At a recent meeting of the House Republican Policy Committee, the enclosed statement urging the
establishment of a new, independent, hipartisan commission, patterned after the two distinguished
Hoover Commissions, was adopted. As this statement indicates, we believe there is an urgent need
for such a commission. In order to emphasize the importance of this commission and to ensure its
success, we would like now to recommend and urge that you be appointed chairman of this com-
mission.
Your experience in the Office of the President and your deep interest in the reorganization of the
Executive Department and the implementation of the various recommendations of the first and
second Hoover Commissions underscore the fact that you would be an excellent choice for chair-
man. Also, we have noted with great interest the recommendations for the reorganization of the
Executive Department that you have included in your recent book, "Waging Peace - The White
House Years - 1956-1961." As you have stated in this book, "Having lived all of my adult years
with problems of organization, it was natural that in the White House : should give attention to
the possibility of improving organization and management at higher government broger levels."
Certainly, your experience and ideas regarding this most important matter should not be wasted.
As chairman of a new Hoover-type commission, you could do much to bring these ideas to fruition.
We know an overwhelming majority of the American people would applaud your selection for this
important task.
Therefore, with your permission, and your health permitting, we would like to recommend to the
President and to the American people that you be designated as chairman of a commission that
would study and recommend essential reorganization and reform in the Executive Branch of our
government.
We hope that you are continuing to have a speedy recovery and that you can be present at the
next Coordinating Committee meeting in Washington, D. C. on March 28. We need your wise
counsel and guidance.
With every good wish.
Sincerely yours,
s/Gerald R. Ford, M. C.
s/John J. Rhodes, M.C.
s/Les Arends, M.C.
s/Charles Goodell, M.C.
s/Melvin R. Laird, M.C.
s/Bob Wilson, M.C.
(over)
COPY
COLY
Box FFF, Indio, California
8821 , 51
February 25, 1966
Dear Gerry:
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projected and new-type "Hoover Commission." I personally believe that the work of Mr. Hoover's
two Commissions was highly beneficial and I agree with the conclusion that you and your associ-
ates in the House Republican Leadership have reached that the proliferation of bureaucratic agen-
cies in the past five years clearly indicates the desirability of a new bipartisan and completely
disinterested study of this developmentrotioni exizoriqme of nobio noizaimmos douz
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ty. Since 1, by nature, dislike intensely to participate in anything to which I cannot give my woy
very best and continuous efforts, I rather think it would be unwise for me to undertake such a
position even if it should be tendered me, Moreover, the Congress may enoiazimmo) well wish nevooli to look else-3 bricoes
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GERALD A. FORD LIBRARY
FOR RELEASE: Tuesday A. M., March 8, 1966
From The Office of
Rep. Gerald R. Ford of Michigan
House Republican Leader
Phone 225-3831
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower had high praise for a House Republican-sponsored
plan to establish a new Hoover Commission on Government Reorganization but declined the GOP
suggestion that he head the new Commission because of his health.
In an exchange of correspondence released today by House Republican Leader Gerald R.
Ford of Michigan, General Eisenhower said he believed the work of the two previous Commissions
headed by former President Herbert Hoover "was highly beneficial and I agree with the conclusion
that you and your associates in the House Republican Leadership have reached that the prolifer-
ation of bureaucratic agencies in the past five years clearly indicates the desirability of a new
bipartisan and completely disinterested study of this development." Ford had written Eisenhower
on February 17 urging that the General be appointed chairman of a new commission to conduct
such a study.
"In considering your suggestion," General Eisenhower said in reply, "I have a very defi-
nite problem, my doctors have urged that I cut down materially on activities that require close
attention and supervision of administration. Since I, by nature, dislike intensely to participate in
anything to which I cannot give my best and continuous efforts, I rather think it would be unwise
for me to undertake such a position, even if it should be tendered me, Moreover, the Congress
may well wish to look elsewhere for a Chairman."
(Note: The texts of the Ford-Eisenhower correspondence are attached.)
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release at 12 noon
Tuesday, March 15, 1966
Washington --- House Republican leader Gerald R. Ford today named
Paul A. Miltich of Booth Newspapers as his press secretary,
effective immediately.
Miltich, 46, succeeds James M.Mudge, who resigned to become
chief of the DETROIT FREE PRESS City-County Bureau.
Miltich will be giving up a seat on the House and Senate Press
FORD OF LIBRARY GERALD
Galleries' Standing Committee of Correspondents. He was elected
to the post last January.
Ford's new press man has covered Washington for 81/2 years for
Booth Newspapers, concentrating on the activities of Michigan
members of Congress. Prior to that he worked for 11 years as both
reporter and desk man for THE SAGINAW NEWS, one of the nine Booth
newspapers.
Miltich was graduated "with distinction" in June, 1941, from
the University of Minnesota, where he was elected to honor societies
for creative writing and outstanding work in literature and
languages. He is a native of Virginia, Minnesota.
##########
"
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
Friday, March 18, 1966
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R- MICHIGAN
FORD P.O. GERALD LIBRARY
"It would be a shame if the presidential presence on television
is blacked out because the White House insists on using Signal Corps'
technicians instead of network union engineers to handle pickups of
Mr. Johnson's TV and radio broadcasts.
GI's are great fellows, but I don't think men in uniform should
be doing jobs that can and should be handled by civilians--and I
believe they feel the same way about it.
I'm surprised that the President does not have more concern
that the contract between the NBC and ABC networks and the National
Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (AFL-CIO) should
be honored.
The union points out that presidential use of Signal Corpsmen
to handle broadcast pickups violates a network-union contract pro-
vision requiring that the union's members handle all technical work
at the "point of origination."
Harry G. Schleggle, director of network affairs for the union,
contends that non-network personnel have moved into this kind of
work more and more in the past two years.
(MORE)
Friday, March 18, 1966
-2-
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
Unless there are overriding reasons for this--and I can't see
them at this time--I believe the presidential policy is manifestly
unfair to the network technicians,
The White House maintains that security is involved and that
using network engineers would take up some of the President's time.
For Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Robert H. Fleming to
raise the issue of security implies that some of the network tech-
nicians may be disloyal to the United States. I don't believe that
for one minute.
It's difficult to believe the security question is a real
problem. Certainly these men can be screened and given security
clearance.
As for the union technicians unnecessarily taking up the
President's time, we have the word of William McAndrew, President
of NBC news, that their own technicians "can be unobtrusive too."
Surely these matters can be worked out to the satisfaction of
the President while at the same time the livelihood of the men who
work as network technicians is protected."
####
FORD R. LIBRARY GERALD
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For release Friday, March 18, 1966
WASHINGTON--Medical help for South Vietnamese civilians
is woefully inadequate and the Administration must act quickly
to meet that need, House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford
declared today.
Ford said he has received reports of miserable conditions
in Vietnam hospitals and in some cases "absolute filthiness"
from a Grand Rapids, Michigan, orthopedic surgeon who has
donated his services in Vietnam on three occasions and has just
returned from a voluntary tour of duty there.
The surgeon, Dr. Alfred B. Swanson, told Ford he is
"appalled by the lack of medical facilities in Vietnam."
GERALD R. FORD
"It's a national disgrace," Dr. Swanson declared.
Ford noted that Health-Education-Welfare Secretary John W.
Gardner, now on a Vietnam tour, has found hospital conditions
fully as shocking as Dr. Swanson has described them.
He pointed to a news dispatch from Banmethuot, South
Vietnam, telling how Gardner visited a 30-bed Banmethuot hos-
pital ward with 70 men and women patients piled into it and
muttered to the hospital supervisor: "Impossible, impossible."
Gardner flew to the hospital, 170 miles north of Saigon,
to see what medical and educational aid South Vietnam lacks.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Two
Dr. Swanson charges that the Administration has talked
for years about giving South Vietnam medical aid but hasn't
done anything about it.
Ford said he will raise his voice again and again until
the Administration acts. He said he hopes to have Dr. Swanson
testify before the congressional committees concerned so they
can learn what he has seen in Vietnam.
Of Administration officials, Dr. Swanson said:
"Their charts indicate they're doing a lot (about
Vietnam's medical problems) but I've been there three times
in four years, and there just haven't been any improvements."
He added:
"In a country that's burning and bleeding to death, it's
fantastic we aren't doing more to save the lives of the civi-
lian population. It's just plain wrong."
Dr. Swanson said there are many dedicated people providing
medical aid in Vietnam but not enough of them.
At the same time, the lack of hospital bed space and
FORD OF GERALD LIBRARY
other facilities is staggering, Dr. Swanson added.
Dr. Swanson estimated the need for new hospitals at 40 to
50 spotted throughout Vietnam.
He quoted the Vietnamese Army's surgeon general as saying
they would cost $300,000 to $500,000 apiece and should be de-
signed to include a civilian wing and an army wing with a
common laboratory-surgical unit in the center.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Three
"The President should ask Congress to appropriate funds
for this program," Dr. Swanson said.
"Congress has just voted $1.8 billion to replace aircraft
shot down over Vietnam. If they would put the same amount of
money into social reconstruction, the war would be a lot closer
to being won."
"Even now the AID (Agency for International Development)
people over there could at least do something about the filthi-
ness in the hospitals--at least get the walls scrubbed down
on a regular basis. But they won't do it, and their excuse is
that the Vietnamese don't do it and it's their problem.
"It's mostly a matter of the guy at the top (President
Johnson) saying, 'Let's do something about this; and if there's
anything you can do, we'll back you up.'"
Ford emphasized that Congress has just approved $415 million
in special economic aid for Vietnam. He suggested some of this
money could be used to improve medical conditions there.
Dr. Swanson recalled that Vice-President Humphrey on his
recent visit to Vietnam pledged help on two fronts--social as
GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
well as military. If the United States follows through, the
surgeon continued, this should mean medical funds equal to the
need.
Dr. Swanson currently is trying to put together a polio
immunization program for Vietnam with private assistance coupled
with the government's blessing.
(MORE)
VIETNAM MEDICAL
Page Four
He said all he needs to line up 1 million shots of polio
vaccine, to transport it to Vietnam, and to get two deep
freezers to store it is a letter of intent from Maj. Gen. James W.
Humphreys, Jr., public health chief in Vietnam on loan to AID.
Polio is not an epidemic disease in Vietnam but the people
are deathly afraid of it, Dr. Swanson said.
He wants to begin by immunizing the 500,000 children in
the Saigon area.
#######
FORD R. GERALO LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
Friday, March 18, 1966
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
HOUSE MINORITY LEADER
Since November, the rate of inflation in this country has climbed
at what amounts to an annual rate of 6 per cent.
That is the devastating meaning of the just-released Labor
Department figures pointing to the month of February as showing the
sharpest rise in the wholesale price index for that month since the
Korean War.
Ever since this session of Congress started, I have been talking
about inflation because I believe the people of this country are being
deluded by the Administration into thinking all is well.
GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
High Administration officials for months have been serving as
apologists for inflation, trying desperately to allay the public's fears.
Let them try to explain away the shocking figures in this latest
report on wholesale price increases from their own Bureau of Labor
Statistics--this disclosure that the lid has blown off wholesale prices,
The Democrats, who for months have pooh-poohed the cont inuing
increase in the cost of living and have blithely ignored their wives'
complaints, are now in deep trouble.
Excessive, virtually unrestrained spending by the Democrats on
non-defense programs is a principal cause of inflation. We could cope
with inflation if the Administration and spenders in the Congress would
make cuts in new and failing programs.
Republicans for months have warned of the serious increase in the
cost of living and have urged the President to do something about it.
The inflation we are now experiencing stems from the fact that the
Administration has made only tentative steps to fight inflation for
fear of a rebuke at the polls in November.
Let's take a close look at the Administration's own figures on the
wholesale price rise last month. It was a 7/10ths of 1 per cent increase
(MORE)
INFLATION STATEMENT
Page Two
increase. Doesn't sound like much? It was the biggest January to
February jump since the days of the Truman administration and the
Korean War.
Does the Administration need proof that American families are
worried about inflation?
Gallup Poll results reported Friday indicated it takes a family of
four about $18 more a week to get along this year than it did a year
ago. That's the American public's own view of the climb in living costs.
I'm sure President Johnson is aware that the public's worried. He
not only carries important poll results around in his pocket, he loves to
be the purveyor of good news.
It's interesting that President Johnson proudly pointed to a 13-year
record low in unemployment March 8 but discreetly let the news of the
15-year record high in wholesale price increase emanate routinely from
the Labor Department.
It's difficult to see how high Administration officials can continue
to wish inflation away now that the record wholesale price rise for
February has hit them right between the eyes.
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
The Administration has cranked some curbs against inflation into
the economy. The latest, of course, is the $6 billion tax bill. But
many of the smartest economists in the country don't think these restraints
will halt the price climb,
If the Johnson-Humphrey Administration does not take effective action
soon, prices are going to rise faster than they have in the past year--
and the February showing is proof of that.
It's a good bet prices will go up faster after the middle of the
year than they have in the last few months, and retail price hikes may
well surpase wholesale prices.
This situation demands that the Johnson-Humphrey Administration
force a cutback in consumer spending or hold down government spending.
The President is pretending to do both but is not doing a good job of
either one.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
Monday, March 21, 1966
FOR P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
It's an insult to the intelligence of the American people for
Democratic leaders to contend the Republican Party and the press have
kidded the public into thinking inflation is here.
The people know that certain prices have been going up steadily and
that all the nibbles at the family paycheck have added up to a great big
bite. That's why it's ridiculous for any Democrat in Congress to remark
casually that price increases since the 1957-59 period have been gradual
and to dismiss last month's record jump for a February in the wholesale
price index.
In February the wholesale price index registered the sharpest rise
for that month since 1951. That is a real danger signal, and no Democrat
in Congress can ignore it.
President Johnson recently stated candidly that inflation is "perhaps
our most serious economic challenge in 1966." If Mr. Johnson is aware of
that--just as we Republicans are and have been for some time--I'm sur-
prised other Democratic leaders are not.
FORD R. GERALO LIBRARY
Some Democrats in Congress apparently are not as interested in polls
as is Mr. Johnson. They seem not to have seen the latest Gallup Poll
results on inflation's impact on the family. That poll showed Americans
believe a family of four needs $18 more a week just to get along this
year, as compared with a year ago. That adds up to $936 more in a 12-month
period--or nearly $1,000 more a year. I'd like to ask Democrats in Congress
how many families have an additional $1,000 net this year to meet the
climb in the cost of living.
Democratic leaders say Republicans complaining about inflation are
"looking at the stock market and its gyrations rather than the overall
economy as it is." The American housewife certainly is not looking at the
stock market when she goes to buy necessities for her family and then
cries out: "My goodness, the price has gone up again."
###
FORD FOR LIBRARY GERALD
March 21, 1966
FOR MONDAY P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I applaud President Johnson's determination to provide safeguards against
tragic accidents which have resulted in injury or death to many children
throughout the nation.
I strongly favor the child safety legislation outlined by the President
in his consumer message, and I believe that we have tarried too long in enacting
such a measure.
The President's Consumer Message is a strong and wise one in this regard
but he makes certain general statements which only point up an Administration
weakness.
He says "the consumer has a right to a dollar of stable purchasing power."
The Administration to date has failed to halt the steady rise in the prices of
many monsumer items, notably food and clothing. The President simply has done
too little to cope with the inflationary fever which is drpriving wage-earners
of much of the real rise in their earnings.
He says, "Our standard of living has never been higher." But what he
fails to say is that while Americans are spending more and living better, their
standard of living will suffer a sharp setback if the Administration and
Democrate in Congress refuse to stem the tide of inflation.
(MORE)
FORD ON CONSUMER MESSAGE
-2-
TEb President calls for swift passage of the truth in packaging and
truth in lending bills. Both bills are tied up in Sanate committees and
there has to be good reason for this.
Nobody's opposed to truth in packaging and truth in lending. That's
like being against motherhood.
The truth in packaging bill is a touchy package because there's reason
to believe it would result in added cost to the consumer--and we've already
had enough of rising prices.
In addition, many of the packaging complaints aired before the Senate
Commerce Committee have resulted in remedial action by the producers and
packagers.
Advocates of the legislation also are ignoring the fact that the
President already has all the power he needs to do the job. Deceptive
packaging already is a violation of federal and state law.
In sort, the legislation just isn't needed.
As for truth in landing, nobody in his right mind wants to see anyone
deceived into paying ridiculously high interest charges. But many contend
the proposed Douglas bill is unworkable because it's virtually impossible
to determine the simple interest rate accurately at the time of purchase.
This legislation also may be unnecessary because the states are moving
in on the gougers in the metropolitan areas where the wordt practices exist.
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is
FORD OF OERALO LIBRARY
expected to report in a short time that any federal law of this type would
conflict with state laws. The conference also is expected to report that
state laws should be adjusted to apply uniformly to the gougers. This would
be far better than federal action in this field.
...
March 21, 1966
FOR MONDAY P.M. RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
I like Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Gavanagh because he is a Democrat who
apparently doesn't mind helping the Republican Party.
He is befriending the GOP-whether or not that is his intention--by
fighting Soapy Williams for the Michigan Democratic Senate nomination.
He and Soapy will be chopping each other up in the August primary, and
that will improve chances for the Republican candidate to win in November.
Not only will Democratic ranks be bitterly divided by the Cavanagh-
Williams race, but it's obvious that all campaign contributions spent to
influence the outcome of that struggle will be lost to the Democratic
Party in the general election drive.
All of this promises & Republican victory in the Michigan Senate contest
this fall, whether Cavanagh or Williams is the Democratic nomineee.
I'm sure the voters of Michigan will recognize Cavanagh for what he is--
one of the biggest of the big spenders, a man who as Detroit's mayor keeps
begging for more and more federal funds and keeps complaining Detroit isn't
getting enough. At the same time, he is collecting Cavanagh's income tax--
one pet cent from the pay of every Detroit wage earner and of every
suburganite who works in Detroit.
Williams is 55; Cavanagh is 37. Cavanagh himself has tagged williams
as a tired old political warhorse who is back in the starting gate after not /
having stood election for eight years. when Williams left the Michigan
governorship, the state was bankrupt. Now he wants to pull the same sort of
stuff in the U. S. Senate.
That's the choice offered Michigan voters by the Cavanagh-Williams
primary contest--a choice between & young spender and an old one.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FROM THE OFFICE OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT
MARCH 25, 1966
WASHINGTON--House Minority Leader Gerald R, Ford, R-Mich., today
proposed that Congress investigate the rash of reported sightings of
unidentified flying objects in Southern Michigan and other parts of the
country.
Ford said he believes a congressional inquiry would be worthwhile
because the American people are becoming alarmed by the UFO stories.
He noted that Air Force investigators have been checking on such
reports for years but have come up with nothing conclusive.
"In the light of these new sightings and incidents," Ford said,
"it would be a very wholesome thing for a committee of the Congress to
conduct a number of hearings and to call responsible witnesses from the
executive branch (of the government) and witnesses who say they have
sighted these objects."
"I think the American people would feel better if there was a
full-blown investigation of these incidents, which some persons allege
have taken place."
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
FOR SATURDAY P. M. RELEASE
MARCH 26, 1966
One of the selling points for the $1.5 billion anti-poverty program
launched last year by the Johnson Administration was that it would take
people off the welfare rolls and reduce welfare spending.
Yet federal welfare officials have asked a House Appropriations
subcommittee for an extra $381 million to pay welfare bills through
June 30 of this year, and this requested $381 million would be added to
the $3.2 billion Congress voted last year for fiscal 1965-66 welfare
payments to the states.
Testimony released Friday showed that subcommittee members were
astonished by the Johnson Administration request.
GERALD R. FORD
Now the House Ways and Means Committee is demanding to know why
welfare spending is mounting during a period of low unemployment--low
unemployment partially caused by the manpower needs of a wartime economy.
I also am amazed by the request for more welfare funds, and I hope
the hearings planned for this summer by the Ways and Means Committee
will produce some answers for the American taxpayer.
This request for more welfare money casts grave doubt on the
Administration argument that the anti-poverty war will put welfare
families back on their feet. It also reflects on the manner in which the
anti-poverty war is being waged. I am talking now not only of political
favoritism by the Democrats and obvious misuse of taxpayer money but of the
overall strategy being employed in the war on poverty- a strategy that
produces frustrating feuding at the local level and blunts or paralyzes
an attack on the problem.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, P.M.
MARCH 28, 1966
NOTE TO ALL NEWS MEDIA: House Minority Leader Gerald P., Ford,
R-Michigan, today sent the attached letter to the chairmen and the ranking
Republican members of the House Committees on Armed Services and Science
and Astronautics, urging that one committee or the other investigate the
subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's).
Ford is not satisfied with the Air Force explanation of the recent
sightings in Michigan and describes the "swamp gas" version given by
astrophysicist J. Allen Hynek as "flippant."
Ford has received a number of telegrams and letters from individuals
anxious to see a congressional investigation of UFO's.
###
LIBRARY GERALD R. FORD
COPY
March 28, 1966
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Science and Astronautics Committee
Armed Services Committee
U. S. House of Representatives
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D. C.
Dear Chairmen Miller and Rivers:
No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of newspaper stories about
unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special interest in
these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have been
in my home state of Michigan.
The Air Force sent a consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek of
Northwestern University, to Michigan to investigate the various reports;
and he dismissed all of them as the product of college student pranks or
swamp gas or an impression created by the rising crescent moon and the
planet Venus. I do not agree that all of these reports can be or should
be so easily explained away.
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and
because I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough
explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date, I am
proposing that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee of the House schedule hearings on the subject
of UFO's and invite testimony from both the executive branch of the
government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFO's.
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing the
advisability of an investigation of UFO's.
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond, published
last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these reported
sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need a more credible
and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are getting."
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn together
to one place and examined far more objectively than anyone has done so far.
A stable public opinion will come from a trustworthy look at the evidence,
not from belittling it."
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective and
respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all present and
future evidence about what is going on."
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you scan
the enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the Griffin-
Larrabee News Bureau here. In the last of his articles, published last
January, Mr. Griffin says, "A main conclusion can be briefly stated. It
is that the Air Force is misleading the public by its continuing campaign
to produce and maintain belief that all sightings can be explained away
as misidentification of familiar objects, such as balloons, stars, and
aircraft."
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional
investigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R. Brown,
Ardmore, Tennessee, who says, "I have seen UFO. Will be available to
testify."
Another, from Mrs. Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oregon, reads, "Nine out of
ten people want truth of UFO's Press your investigation to the fullest."
(MORE)
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Page Two
March 28, 1966
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as "a scientist from
M.I.T.," urges that you "do everything in your power to make Air Force
Project Blue Book (the AF name for its study and verdicts on UFO reports)
known to the people."
Are we to assume that everyone who says he has seen UFO's is an unreliable
witness?
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dated March 21, 1966, states that
"at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that they saw
a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land in a swamp near
here Sunday night."
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of a
recent UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical engineer
employed by Ford Motor Company. He points out that an aeronautical
engineer can hardly be considered an untrustworthy witness.
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation
than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there
be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena.
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFO's
and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject.
Kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
/s/
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:plr
Enclosures
# # #
R.H.
SPEECH BY REP. GERALD R. FORD OF MICHIGAN.
March 29, 1966
Mr. Speaker:
The Republican Coordinating Committee met here yesterday and
unanimously adopted a Task Force report on the most pressing domestic
problem facing the American people, the fact that the United States is
in the treacherous, swirling currents of dangerous inflation as a result
of the unrestrained spending policies of the Johnson-Humphrey Administra-
tion.
It noted that inflation contains the seeds of recession and called
upon the President to re-submit his fiscal 1967 budget after balancing
it by elimination or postponement of non-defense expenditures.
The distinguished Task Force which prepared this excellent study on
"The Rising Costs of Living" was headed by Mr. Maurice H. Stans, who was
the very able Director of the Budget Bureau under President Eisenhower.
I commend it to all who are concerned with this threat to the savings
and financial security of every American. Under leave to extend my remarks,
I insert the full text of the summary statement adopted by the Republican
Coordinating Committee.
...
FORD OF LIBRARY QERALT
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT
MARCH 29, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
Acting like the Air Force with flying saucer reports, Johnson
Administration economists are trying to explain away the 0.5 of one per cent
increase in the consumer price index for February.
It makes no sense to try to make this bad news less bad. The realist
will recognize the February rise in the consumer cost-of-living figures for
what it is--the largest since June of last year, which was the same. Last
month's consumer price jump also was the biggest for a February since 1951.
If the monthly rise in the consumer price index continues at the
February rate, it will result in a nearly six per cent jump in prices at
retail for the year.
It should be remembered in this connection that for the November-
February period, the wholesale price rise was at a six per cent annual rate.
This is the peril in the February consumer price increase, coming as
it does after a wholesale price reading which shows the steepest climb in
wholesale prices for a February since the Korean War--0.7 of one per cent.
The consumer price rise for February brings the consumer price index
to 111.5. This means it cost $11.15 last month to buy what $10 bought in
the 1957-59 period, which is used as a base for the index.
Johnson-Humphrey Administration economists are seeking to calm the
public's fears about inflation, so they claim that food prices already have
begun to drop.
Their forecast of a food price decline may prove no more trustworthy
than President Johnson's faulty figures on January-February retail sales
FORD OF LIBRARY GERALD
announced at his press conference last week.
All the American people have to go on are the government's monthly
readings of wholesale and consumer prices. If, indeed, food prices do
decline this month, there may well be increases in other items.
This much we know--prices have been increasing and sharply. The
Johnson-Humphrey Administration, because it continuously promotes more
federal spending, is the prime cause of spiralling costs for every family.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR WEDNESDAY, P, M. RELEASE
MARCH 30, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
It is now revealed that President Johnson was the purveyor of
misinformation when he told news reporters last week that retail sales for
January and February showed a "slight drop" from November and December.
Mr. Johnson was eager to display to inflation-anxious Americans an
"indicator" that the economy is cooling off.
Tuesday, we learned that the "flash" figures on which Mr. Johnson
based his statement about a drop in retail sales for January and February
were cockeyed. Revised Census Bureau figures now disclose that retail
sales rose vigorously in January, and the guessing by government analysts
is that February sales ran slightly above the $25.016 billion January
figure.
It is a small wonder that the American people are doubting the
Johnson-Humphrey Administration's ability to keep the economy from running
wild when Mr. Johnson cites faulty figures.
The revised government figures showing an increase in January-February
retail sales are another indicator that Republicans are right when they
insist upon cutting government spending as an alternative to a tax increase.
Since Mr. Johnson is so determined to avoid a tax increase, he should
submit a revised fiscal 1967 budget to Congress and thus do a service to
all Americans who want a tax increase no more than he does.
It is ironic that instead Mr. Johnson is appealing to businessmen to
hold off on plant expansion and to governors and mayors to hold back on
their governmental spending.
It would doubtless be more effective and have a greater impact on
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
the economy if Mr. Johnson would take the course his cockeyed January-
February retail sales figures initally blinded him to take--reductions in
non-essential domestic spending by the federal government.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 1, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
No "April-Fooling" about it--it has now become more and more urgent
that Democrats in Congress join Republicans in looking for places to cut
the President's $112.8 billion budget instead of trying to inflate it.
The reason is that French President Charles deGaulle has announced
he wants all allied commands and installations out of his country by
April 1, 1967. France just announced it will not pay one penny toward
the cost of removing the U. S. and other allied NATO bases from French
soil, and I don't think there is any way we can force France to assume
any of that tremendous expense.
Estimated cost of the move-out runs as high as $2.5 billion, according
to news dispatches from Paris where deGaulle and his cabinet yesterday
met on the question for 2½ hours. The cabinet firmly rejected a demand
by us and our NATO allies that France pay for removing the NATO bases.
It has been impossible for me to learn the extent to which our 13
NATO allies apart from France will share in the cost of base removal; but
since most of the installations are ours, we know the U. S. will pay most
of the bill. A good guess is that our share will exceed $1 billion.
This will create an unanticipated and heavy drain on U. S. defense
funds in fiscal 1967 at a time when we are pouring billions of dollars into
Vietnam with no end in sight.
This is something that has received little attention, eclipsed as
GERALD R. FORD
it is by the Vietnam war and by the problem of inflation here at home. It
is an added reason why Congress should cut spending as a move to halt
inflation and avoid a tax increase.
There is no question that the reorganizing of NATO's supply lines in
Europe will require heavy military expenditures by the U. S. I personally
am most concerned and feel this is another reason for Congress to cut back
non-military spending.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 1, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
I am shocked and outraged by the charge reportedly made last night
by a John Birch Society official in Arkansas that President Johnson was
under Communist influence in civil rights matters.
The President and I have had our political differences, as you well
know. But if anybody says Lyndon B. Johnson was under Communist influence
on this issue, they will have to say the same of all of us who have
championed human decency and equal justice in this country.
The author of these remarks in Arkansas, according to the UPI, also
smeared the late President Kennedy with the same foul brush just as another
John Birch official has smeared former President Eisenhower.
I believe in a good hard political fight and intend to make one this
year for a Republican Congress that will keep a close eye on President
Johnson for the rest of his term. But I think partisanship should stop far
short of the cesspool.
# # #
FORD OF LIBRARY OERALO
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR SUNDAY A.M. RELEASE
APRIL 3, 1966
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
As I had expected, some persons have ridiculed my call for a congressional
investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). These people are a
fraction of those who have given me their reaction to my proposal. The
overwhelming majority of those expressing a view in letters to me believe
a congressional investigation would be useful and is needed.
Those who scoff at the idea of a congressional investigation of UFO's
apparently are unaware that the House Armed Services Committee has scheduled
a closed-door hearing on the matter Tuesday with the Air Force and that
Rep. Joseph E. Karth, D-Minn., headed a three-man subcommittee which held
two days of hush-hush hearings five years ago on behalf of the House Science
and Astronautics Committee. Karth has confirmed in conversation with a
member of my staff that he conducted these secret hearings.
The present Science and Astronautics Committee chairman, Rep. George P.
Miller, D-Calif., has shied away from a UFO probe at this time, saying his
committee does not have jurisdiction over the Air Force. But the late
Rep. Overton Brooks, D-La., obviously had different ideas because he tapped
Karth to summon Air Force witnesses and question them after a flurry of UFO
sightings in 1961.
Karth has informed me that his subcommittee made an oral report to the
full committee but never released anything to the public. According to
Charles F. Ducander, the committee's staff director, no record was made of
conversation between Karth subcommittee members and Air Force witnesses.
The hearings, he said, took place in Karth's congressional office.
I have never said that I believe any of the reported UFO sightings¹
indicate visits to earth from another planet. Apart from pranks and natural
phenomena, some of these objects may well be products of experimentation by
our own military. If this is so, why doesn't the Air Force concede it and
in this way reassure the American people? There would be no need to go into
detail on the nature of the experiments.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 5, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MCIHIGAN
In line with his "jawbone" campaign to cool off the economy and try
to halt inflation, President Johnson is setting an example by postponing
construction of "two little rooms to a house that we have down home that
we will occupy some of these days."
If Mr. Johnson thinks it important to defer adding "two little
rooms" to a house he owns, then it would be only logical for him to veto
the Hubert Humphrey House bill now awaiting his signature. By vetoing
that bill, the President would deal inflation a much weightier blow than
by his deferment of the two-room addition he speaks of. He would be
putting off a $750,000 construction project which hardly falls into the
category of essential wartime spending.
In explaining his decision to postpone the two-room addition to his
house, Mr. Johnson said: "I asked Mrs. Johnson to defer those two
rooms because the construction people who would be working on them would
GERALD R. FORD
be very much in demand."
The same is true, of course, about Hubert Humphrey House.
Mr. Johnson said his two-room addition was "a little thing" but
added that if everybody postpones non-essential building "the economy
won't get out of our hands, and the prices won't go up five per cent in
the next five months."
I suggest to the President that he could set an even better example
for the people by vetoing the bill which will put Hubert Humphrey House
on the drawing boards. He has until Saturday to sign the bill. He can
strike a blow against inflation by vetoing it.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR WEDNESDAY P.M. RELEASE
APRIL 6, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
I feel certain the House will pass highway safety and tire safety
bills in some form this year. I personally feel there should be action
in this area. But it might be useful at this point, when the Senate
hearings on highway safety are in progress and House hearings are to
start late this month, to try to put auto safety in proper perspective.
There is danger in the sensationalism of the Senate hearings. It
tends to distort the auto safety problem, throw it out of proportion.
Dramatic testimony has been presented to the effect that 1965 Chevrolets
and 1964 and 1965 Chevelles equipped with Powerglide Transmission present
a potential hazard--the possibility that the accelerator will stick when
kept at the same level for some time under certain winter driving conditions.
Testimony making GM out to be a villain is obscuring the fact that
GM knows of only five incidents resulting from this potential hazard.
Also drowned out in the tumult and the shouting is the fact that no
injuries occurred in any of the five incidents. GM is calling all of
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
these cars back--as, of course, it should--and is installing a splash
guard at a total cost of $3 million to protect against any further incidents.
I am not trying to minimize the seriousness of a development of this
kind.
But I do believe there is a temptation under the circumstances to try
to pin most automobile accidents on the manufacturer, saying he simply
isn't engineering enough safety into his product. Of course, we want
safety built into our cars, but we must not lose sight of the fact that
auto accidents are caused by a variety of factors--and it is highly unusual
to find the kind of potential hazard in new automobiles which GM is now
taking steps to eliminate in 1.5 million of its cars.
There is also much to be learned from a four-year on-the-spot study
of fatal auto accidents in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area just completed
by University of Michigan scientists Donald F. Huelke and Paul W. Gikas.
(MORE)
-2-
AUTO SAFETY STATEMENT
Their study, believed to be the most extensive of its kind ever made,
indicated that 71 of the 177 persons killed in the Ann Arbor area auto
accidents would have lived had they been wearing seat belts--that's
nearly two three out of three Four of those who died.
The study also showed that an additional 35 of the victims would have
survived had they been wearing shoulder harnesses as well as seat belts.
The additional 35 brings to 106 the number of persons among the 177
victims who would have lived had both seat belts and shoulder harnesses
been used.
It is difficult, of course, to get people to wear shoulder harnesses.
They are extremely uncomfortable. And you and I also know that many
people driving cars equipped with seat belts use them maybe half the time.
It's easy to point the finger at the auto manufacturers. It's about
time we also pointed a finger at ourselves.
There should be a three-pronged attack on the highway safety problem--
by government, by industry, and by the driver.
###
GERALD R. FORD
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 7, 1966
House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., will tour the First
Congressional District of Wisconsin April 22 and 23 with Henry C. Schadeberg,
Republican candidate for Congress.
Ford will speak at a campaign kick-off dinner for Schadeberg Friday
evening, April 22, at the new Carthage College Field House in Kenosha
before an expected audience of 1,600 Schadeberg supporters.
Saturday, April 23, Ford will address a Walworth County breakfast
meeting at the Green Shutters Restaurant in Whitewater at 8:30 A. M. and
a luncheon rally at the Aero Park hall in Janesville at 12:30 P. M.
Ford, congressman from the Fifth District of Michigan, is in his
18th year in Congress. He was elected Minority Leader of the House of
GERALD LISBERT R. FORD
Representatives at the opening of the 89th Congress on January 4, 1965
During the 88th Congress (1963-64) he was Chairman of the Republican
Conference of the House. Before becoming Minority Leader, Ford served on
the committee on Appropriations, where he was senior Republican on the
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Schadeberg is campaigning to return to Congress from the First District
of Wisconsin. From 1961 to 1964 he represented the area composed of Racine,
Kenosha, Walworth, and Rock counties in the 87th and 88th Congresses. A
resident of Burlington, Schadeberg was minister at the Plymouth Congregational
Church before his election to Congress.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
APRIL 7, 1966,
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
I urge this Congress to change its rubber-stamping, loose-spending
ways when it returns from Easter Recess.
The 89th Congress in this session has continued to be a rubber stamp
for the White House. On critical votes most Democrats have done whatever
President Johnson told them to do. They don't seem to have minds of their
own.
This Congress in the first three months of this year has resumed the
wild spending spree it embarked on in 1965. This has caused painful
inflation, increases in automobile and telephone excise taxes, and now the
strong possibility of an income tax increase.
The way the Johnson Administration and the tcp-heavy Democratic
majorities in Congress are throwing the people's money around, one would
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
almost think there was no war going on in Vietnam. It's acting like a
business-as-usual Congress, not a war Congress.
It's claimed this is one of the hardest working of all Congresses. I
say the hardest work is being done in certain major committees by those
Democrats intent on inflating already bloated Administration spending
requests.
It's claimed this has been one of the most productive Congresses. I
say this Congress has moved at a rather slow pace, and the product is
nothing to be proud of. Apart from quick action on emergency money requests
for the multi-billion-dollar Vietnam war, the thing that stands out is
Mr. Johnson's $6 billion tax bill.
It's said this Congress is living up to the reputation it established
in the first session. That's true. It is living up to a reputation for
big spending and total disregard of the taxpayer's wishes.
# # #
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE MONDAY P. M., APRIL 11, 1966
WASHINGTON--House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, Mich., will address the
Republican faithful at appreciation dinners for two GOP members of the House in
appearances April 15-16 in California.
Ford will speak the evening of April 15 at Santa Rosa on behalf of Rep. Don H,
Clausen. The Clausen dinner is sponsored by the First District Republican
Committee.
The House GOP leader will be the principal speaker April 16 at a Lincoln-
Day-in-April dinner at Burbank honoring Rep. Ed Reinecke of California's 27th
congressional district.
Prior to the Clausen dinner, Ford will speak to the Republican Associates
FORD LIBRAHY
of San Diego County at San Diego.
On his swing into Santa Rosa, Ford will arrive at 4:40 p.m. at San Francisco
International Airport, where a press conference is scheduled.
He will spend the night of April 15 at San Francisco and will have another
press conference at 10:30 a.m. April 16 at the Hilton Inn before departing for
Burbank.
Ford will fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he is due at 3:30 p.m.
There he will be greeted by a Burbank civic committee. Burbank city officials
will be having their own annual dinner-dance that evening and so will be unable
to attend the Ford-Reinecke dinner.
Ford will meet the press at Burbank at 5:30 p.m. and later mingle with
guests at a social hour preceding the dinner for Reinecke.
Ford has made more than 200 speeches throughout the country since becoming
House Republican leader January 4, 1965. Congressman from Michigan's Fifth
District, he is serving his 18th year in the House. During the 88th Congress, he
was Chairman of the House Republican Conference. Before becoming Minority Leader,
he was ranking Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Clausen, of Crescent City, was elected to Congress January 23, 1963, to fill
a vacancy caused by the death of Democratic Rep. Clem Miller. He was reelected
to the 89th Congress.
Reinecke is a first-termer who was named whip of the California Republican
delegation January 6, 1965.
# # #
RIA
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY AT 10:30 A.M.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1966
STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER.
Yesterday was the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. Today is the anniversary
of Abraham Lincoln's death. Tomorrow, as most of us are unhappily aware
even without this reminder is Great Society Tax Day--the deadline for filing
your federal income tax returns for 1965.
President Johnson is in Mexico City today unveiling a statue of Abraham
Lincoln, so I suppose it will not be amiss for me to say a few words in praise
of Thomas Jefferson.
SERALD FORD LIBRARY
Jefferson, though he called himself a Republican, is regarded now as the
Father of the Democratic Party. Lincoln, the first Republican president, was
himself a great admirer of Jefferson, saying that "the principles of Jefferson
are the definitions and axioms of free society." For his part, Jefferson
declared that "every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle
We are all Republicans; we are all Federalists."
So without quibbling about labels, let me merely note that we are all today
indebted to Thomas Jefferson for one major contribution to our system of
government. He was the Founding Father who started the Two-Party System. You
might say that, as Vice-President, he was the first minority leader here on
Capitol Hill. And the country has prospered under the two-party system which
developed--thanks to Jefferson--outside the provisions of the Constitution.
It added another and most important check and balance to our experiment in
self-government.
As to Jefferson's principles, during his presidency he cut federal spending,
reduced taxes, repaid $33 million of the national debt, and repealed the excise
tax on whisky. Whether he was the last Democrat or the first Republican to do
this I will leave for historians to argue.
There certainly can be no argument, however, about the differences of
principle that divide our two parties in this lopsided 89th Congress. There is
no doubt which is the spending party and which is the prudent party. Nevertheless,
we keep hearing noises from the direction of the White House that we 140
Republicans in the House of Representatives, outnumbered more than two to one,
(MORE)
-2-
FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 14, 1966
are wrecking the Johnson-Humphrey Administration's earnest efforts to economize
and head off higher taxes. The President pleads with us and with the housewives
and businessmen and the farmers and labor leaders to sharpen our pencils and help
him halt inflation.
Well, I have sharpened my pencil on my income tax forms, so let me show you
a little simple arithmetic:
At this moment, there are 293 Democrats and 140 Republicans in the House.
That is a two-to-one majority with 13 votes to spare. Even the liberal
"Democratic Study Group" in the House of Representatives boasts enough members
to outvote the Republican minority.
In the Senate there are 68 Democrats, including Wayne Morse, and 32
Republicans. That's also a two-to-one majority with four votes to spare.
In short, this is a Blank Check Democratic Congress which can do virtually
anything it pleases, or anything President Johnson pleases, whether the
Republican Loyal Opposition likes it or not. Such lopsided legislative majorities
can spend your money, raise your taxes--and that's exactly what this Blank Check
Democratic Congress is doing.
And remember, no matter what President Johnson says or how fervently he
pleads with the housewives to stop buying steaks, the responsibility for federal
spending and for federal taxing rests with the Congress. This Blank Check
Democratic Congress will have to face the American voter in November, and the
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
people will know who are the spenders and who are the savers.
They will know because there will be roll calls on every spending bill that
comes to the House of Representatives which offers any hope of saving a single
wasted dollar of your money.
We asked President Johnson at the outset of this session to put wartime
priorities on his wartime budget requests. So far he has refused. We have gone
along with our elected commander in chief on everything he has asked to support
our fighting men in South Vietnam--but when I read what is happening over there
and how we are running short of bombs despite all the billions we have voted
for defense, I wonder how long we can underwrite shocking mismanagement in the
name of national unity.
We are certainly going to take hard second looks at all the rest of the
Johnson-Humphrey spending proposals when the Congress resumes.
Now here is the record on nondefense spending rolled up by the Blank Check
Democratic Congress thus far this session: On six key money measures, an average
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FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 14, 1966
of 82 per cent of the Democrats have voted for higher spending and, inevitably,
higher taxes. (See Table)
On the same six roll calls in the House of Representatives, an average of
93 per cent of my Republican minority colleagues have stood up for economy and
the now dwindling hope of holding off inflation and higher federal taxes for
future April fifteenths.
We were faced with 3 new spending proposals, all having some merit in normal
times but steamrollered through the Blank Check Democratic Congress by lopsided
majorities. Then we tried to trim excess fat from 3 appropriation bills which
came to us before the recess. Some of these proposals were worthy, and they had
powerful advocates. But we are at war--and not doing too well with it. So again
the roll was called. Again the result was the same. Ninety-three per cent of
the Republicans were for saving; 82 per cent of the Blank Check Democrats were
for more spending.
Who votes for higher taxes? Democrats--four out of five of them. We cannot
expect to stop this steamroller without substantial help from any Jeffersonian
Democrats still left in the Congress--and it doesn't look like there are very
many of them left.
But we are going to make the record clear for the people to judge in
November, and I predict that the next Congress will be known as the Check and
Balance Congress instead of the Blank Check Congress. I am confident that here
in the legislative branch, at least, this country will have the right kind of
leadership next year to meet the mounting array of dilemmas and disasters at
home and abroad.
# # #
FORD OF GERALD LIBRARY
TOTAL STRENGTH: 293 DEMOCRATS VS. 140 REPUBLICANS (Two seats vacant)
SIX ECONOMY ROLL CALLS IN THE HOUSE - 1966
DEMOCRATS VOTING
REPUBLICANS VOTING
FOR SPENDING MORE
FOR CUTS AND SAVING
82%
93%
(Average)
(Average)
88%
Five per cent cut in
95%
Interior Appropriations.
4/6/66
93%
Five per cent cut in
89%
Postal-Treasury Appro-
priations.
4/6/66
75%
$12,000,000 Supplemental
95%
for Rent Subsidies.
3/29/66
76%
$750,000 new authority
95%
for H.H.H. House.
3/22/66
79%
$4,600,000 new authority
94%
for Alaska Centennial.
3/2/66
83%
$9,500,000 new authority
87%
for Florida "Interama".
2/3/66
WHO VOTES FOR HIGHER TAXES?
GERALD R. FORD
LIBRARY
RIA
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT, APRIL 18
President Johnson is going to have to make a big decision soon-whether to
make greater use of our air and sea power or to send many more U. S. troops to
Vietnam, maybe an additional 200,000 or more.
We apparently must make such a choice to achieve even a stalemate in Vietnam
and to gain a cease-fire in a war that now looks like a war without end.
Infiltration of enemy troops from North Vietnam into the south has been
FORD A. GERALO LIBRARY
officially estimated at 4,500 a month. How should we deal with this continued
infiltration?
U. S. combat losses so far this year already have exceeded those for all of
1965--1,361 Army, Marine, Navy, and Air Force men killed in combat between
January 1 and April 9 as compared with 1,342 men in all of last year.
This reflects the fact that there were only about 25,000 American troops in
Vietnam last year at this time, while there now are more than 240,000 there.
Use of more air and sea firepower would seem preferable to sending more U. S.
manpower to Vietnam. Let's try this before sending more of our boys into combat.
I feel use of more air and sea power could save thousands of American lives
and hasten the accomplishing of our objective in Vietnam--to stop Communist
aggression, persuade the enemy to agree to a negotiated settlement, and promote
an honorable and lasting peace.
Is there a shortage of certain kinds of bombs in Vietnam? The Pentagon has
acknowledged that our factories will not be turning out new 750-pound bombs until
July and that meantime we're resorting to such things as buying back 5,570
750-pounders we sold to a West German fertilizer firm which wanted the nitrate
from the explosives.
We find that the Pentagon sold these bombs to the West German firm for $1.20
apiece two years ago and now is buying them back for $21 apiece. That means the
German firm is making a gross profit of $102,124 on the deal--1,200 per centprofit.
If there is no shortage of 750-pound bombs, then I can't understand why the
Defense Department would be willing to buy back its own bombs. Let the Pentagon
explain that away.
I say such an incident substantiates my charge of mismanagement. I say it's
a glaring example of mismanagement. And I'm sure the American people will feel
the same way about it.
###
RTA
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT, APRIL 19, 1966
CBS News Correspondent Peter Kalisher, quoting what he described as an
"unimpeachable" source, reported today from Saigon that "a dire lack of
ammunition and explosives" has forced a cutback in U. S. Air Force sorties in
South Vietnam from over 400 to less than 100 a day in the past week.
Yet the Defense Department keeps issuing denial after denial of any shortages
in Vietnam.
I challenge the Pentagon to level with the American people. I demand that
the American people be allowed to know just what is happening in Vietnam.
Kalisher states flatly that there is no bomb shortage in Vietnam but there
is a shortage of the things that make bombs go off--fuses, pins, and timing
devices. There is also a shortage of 20-millimeter cannon shells.
Why do we have to learn these things from "an unimpeachable source," obviously
an American Air Force officer who naturally prefers to remain unidentified?
It should not be left to an unidentified but obviously honest officer to
report that Air Force bombers have been taking off half-loaded in Vietnam since
the middle of April and that only emergency missions and those in direct support
of ground force operations are being flown.
Kalisher reports that the bomb parts shortage apparently is about to be met
through shipments now on the way. But he notes that the parts are not in Vietnam
now and describes the shortage as "foreseen but not avoided."
These are the hard facts about the conduct of the war in Vietnam. There is
no reason for any U. S. officer to give out a false report concerning bomb parts
shortages. It's time the Pentagon tore away the veil of secrecy.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY P. M.
APRIL 20, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
President Johnson today asked Congress to give its blessing to a government
debt refinancing scheme that resembles a gigantic crap game with the taxpayer
the only one who loses.
What the President proposes to do is to dump $4.2 billion in government loans
into a pot at the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and invite
investment firms to grab a piece of the action--put some money into a government
revolving fund and get paid off with interest by the taxpayer for their trouble.
The conventional way to handle this kind of debt is to sell government bonds.
But this would show up in President Johnson's budget. It also would be subject
to the debt limit. If Congress refuses to approve the President's refinancing
scheme, the projected Johnson deficit for fiscal 1967 will be not $1.8 billion
but $6 billion.
It costs more in interest to refinance as the President proposes. If Congress
rubber-stamps the President's refinancing bill, the taxpayer will pay off to
private investors to the tune of up to $210 million more over the 10-year life
of the refinancing game. The lid also will be off the national debt.
Why is Mr. Johnson willing to make a goat of the taxpayer with his refinancing
scheme?
He wants to spend more but make it look like less. He wants a budget that
GERALD R. FORD
looks smaller on the outside but is bigger on the inside. And he wants to get
out from under the debt ceiling with government agency loans.
This is the Great Deception of the Great Society. Mr. Johnson found himself
with a $6 billion fiscal 1967 deficit--not a $1.8 billion red ink figure--until
his budget director tucked the ball under his jersey and pulled a sneak run around
the budget. Congress has to stop this run around the budget before it crosses the
goal line.
This devious financing scheme is just another handle for backdoor spending.
Mr. Johnson is trying to treat the taxpayer like the spendthrift husband who
keeps his debts hidden from his wife. That chap runs up a lot of bills, consolidates
his debts by borrowing fresh money from a finance company at higher rates and then
blithely resumes his role of the big spender.
Unless Congress rejects the President's refinancing plan, the road to greater
inflation will be wide open. Congressional appropriations committees will have no
no say in future lending operations of the agencies involved. The committees will
not be standing in the way to say this is as far as you go. They may as well hang
up a "gone fishing" sign over their doors.
###
RJA
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT-APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
A week ago, in reiterating that the Republican minority in the House had given
the President every penny he has asked for defense purposes, I raised a question of
serious shortages and inadequate advance planning by the civilian managers in the
Penatagon which, according to widely publicized reports by reliable and patriotic
Americans close to the scene, have been and still are hampering thestepped-up level
of combat operations in Vietnam.
These reports, coincident with serious internal disturbances in that troubled
country, came as something of a surprise to me, to a great many members of the
Congress, of both parties, as well as to the millions of Americans we are here to
represent. We had been told in October 1963, by Secretary of Defense McNamara,
that most Americans would be out of South Vietnam by the end of 1965. We had been
assured, again by Mr. McNamara early last year that neither more combat troops nor
more money would be needed in South Vietnam. Late last year, the Defense Secretary
returned from a personal inspection of the situation there to say, "We have stopped
losing the war!" And we have been told ever since that the situation was improving
day by day.
So it produced something of a sonic shock wave when suddenly the front pages of
the newspapers and the radio and television newscasts were full of reports of
internal unrest, attacks on Americans, and curtailment of combat operations against
the Communist enemy. These were variously attributed to supply tieups, shortages
of essential equipment, and civil disturbances in South Vietnam. Evidence mounted,
and continues to mount, that the Pentagon planners were not adequately prepared to
cope with the kind of limited, non-nuclear type of military operation for which
they have supposedly been reorganizing since the end of the Eisenhower administra-
tion, with much fanfare about modern management methods.
When I raised the question of mismanagement, Mr. McNamara quickly--perhaps too
quickly--sought to smother it by sheer weight of computer-like statistics. He
called a quickie press conference that afternoon and personally declassified large
areas of secret information about U. S. bomb loads and backlogs. This information
was presumably classified on the grounds of national security and potential value
to the enemy. It was not the first time he has removed the "secret" label when R.
criticism of the Pentagon came too close for comfort.
FORD GERALD LIBRARY
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REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
In the course of Mr. McNamara's news conference to discredit his critics--who
have never supposed or suggested that any of his mistakes were deliberate or
dishonorable-- the Secretary found himself partially confirming our concern. He
admitted that the Air Force had to buy back 750-pound bombs which had originally
cost U. S. taxpayers $330 apiece, were sold as surplus to a West German fertilizer
firm two years ago for $1.70 apiece, and have now been recovered for $21 apiece.
If this is good management, I am mistaken about the meaning of the word. If there
was no bomb shortage, was this transaction really necessary?
Mr. McNamara also denied there is any shipping shortage affecting Vietnam. Yet
only last Monday there were reliable reports--one headlined "U. S. Again Short Of
Viet Ships" from the April 18 Journal of Commerce--that the government is trying to
get 20 or more additional vessels from private shipping companies. It is a known
fact that ships have been stacked up for weeks as far away as Manila waiting to
unload their Vietnam cargoes. Mr. McNamara cites figures on Post Exchange supplies
delivered to Saigon in answer to allegations that our airmen haven't enough bombs,
He says there is no ship shortage, only shortages of dock facilities, I am
not interested in playing word games, nor am I interested in playing politics with
this serious situation. I am only interested--and I think every member of the
House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, is also interested--in seeing that the
billions for defense we have unhesitatingly voted is well and wisely spent and that
every American sent 10,000 miles from home is given all the support and supplies he
needs to protect himself, defend all of us, and bring the war to a swift and
satisfactory end.
FORD of GERALD LIBRARY
There has never been any doubt in my mind that every one of my colleagues in
the House and Senate, regardless of party, agrees completely on this point. I am
proud to see such distinguished Americans and distinguished Democrats as Senator
Stennis say, as he did on a national television network last Sunday, that his
Preparedness Subcommittee has found evidence of "mismanagement" in Pentagon planning
for the war. I am encouraged to hear that Mr. McNamara conceded before the
Fulbright committee that we have some "temporary dislocations of supplies" in South
Vietnam because that means that he is going to do something about it. I am informed
that he sent his chief of Air Force logistics to Saigon to investigate what he
calls the non-existent bomb shortages and to eliminate them. That's what we want.
But I ani deeply concerned that Mr. MoNamara, in his Senate testimony yesterday,
brushed off the concern of millions of patriotic Americans as "all this baloney."
I share this concern, and I shall continue to express it. I think such able members
of Congress as Senator Stennis, Chairman Carmatz of the House Merchant Marine
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REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
Committee, and Congressman Otis Pike of the House Armed Services Committee share
it. I know that many responsible newsmen here, covering the Pentagon and sharing
risks with our fighting men in Vietnam will continue to express their concern
because that is our obligation to the American people.
Now here are just a few of the reports that have come in to corroborate the
question I raised a week ago:
1. New York Times Correspondent Neil Sheehan, in a front page story from
Saigon yesterday, reported that since April 6 "the number of Air Force attack
sorties in South Vietnam has shrunk to about 43 per cent of its former level"--
from 185 daily sorties dropping about 1000 bombs on Communist targets to an
average of 83 sorties and 400 bombs. Rocket firings, according to this reliable
report, have fallen even more spectacularly from 2800 a week to 98. Mr. Sheehan
says further that our planes are being sent out against the enemy with light
loads--which is another way of saying more American manpower is being exposed to
combat risks with less firepower. The New York Times dispatch states that "Air
Force officers in Vietnam have repeatedly warned the Pentagon over the last four
months that munitions were not arriving fast enough to meet requirements" and so
far they are still inadequate. This has nothing to do with recent civil
disturbances at South Vietnamese ports nor with the internal distribution system
of our fine military field commanders under Gen. Westmoreland, according to
Mr. Sheehan's sources. This New York Times report was called to Mr. McNamara's
attention in the Senate hearings yesterday and he called it "baloney."
2. Earlier, CBS News Correspondent Peter Kalischer, quoting what he called
an "unimpeachable" source, reported from Saigon that "a dire lack of ammunition
and explosives" has forced a cutback in U. S. Air Force sorties from over 400
to less than 100 per day. Kalischer said the critical shortage was not in bombs
but in fuses and other key parts that make bombs usable. He also reported a
shortage of 20-millimeter cannon shells and planes taking off half-loaded.
"Only emergency missions and those in direct support of ground forces operations
are being flown," CBS News said. This and other careful reports from trained
war correspondents on the scene also, apparently, come under Mr. McNamara's
category of "all this baloney."
3. The long-range management of our overall defense effort can be faulted
for its failure to adequately anticipate the needs of the American Merchant
Marine, a subject which we discussed at some length yesterday at the House
Republican Policy Committee press conference. As recently as the start of this
year, Mr. McNamara testified that our merchant fleet was adequate for our defense
needs and reaffirmed his earlier preference for airlift. Yet this week the
administration is reportedly trying to scrape up 20 or more additional U. S.
flag carriers, and the current budget includes funds for replacement of only
9 to 13 of the World War II merchant ships that form the bulk of our dwindling
merchant marine--now fallen to about 1000 vessels, mostly old, while the Soviet
Union has 1500, mostly new, and 673 more building or on order. In this connection,
I note that Mr. McNamara yesterday brushed off questions by the distinguished
senator from Kansas, Senator Carlson, about the resale of surplus items by NATO
nations. He said it was all "World War II equipment junk." It's a sad fact
this is true of much of the Merchant Marine that he considers perfectly adequate.
But our alarm over shipping is more "baloney."
4. The authoritative magazine, Aviation Week, in a series of articles by a
Marine Corps Reserve pilot who spent two months in Vietnam reports in technical
FORD
detail on a wide range of ordnance and ammunition shortages, deficiencies and
deterioration. The publication, Aviation Daily, in its April 19 issue summed
up the misstatements Mr. McNamara has made in recent weeks and concluded that
GERALD
LIBRARY
"he has managed to almost meet himself coming back on some of the stories he
has presented to the public."
Mr. McNamara has a great gift for figures. He is extremely agile in the use
of words. As I said previously, I am not the least concerned with playing word
games. I have not myself used the word "baloney" to characterize disagreements
among equally patriotic Americans. We in the minority in this Congress cannot
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REP. FORD STATEMENT - APRIL 21, 1966
selectively declassify information which has been stamped "Secret" in order to
substantiate the serious questions raised about the safety and support of our
fighting men in Vietnam and the future security of our country.
We must therefore depend in large measure on the kind of responsible,
independent reporters I have cited for firsthand information on the situation in
Vietnam. I for one do not regard them as "baloney." Whether you call these
examples mistakes of judgment, mismanagement, poor planning, faulty foresight,
bad bungling or just plain goofs, I don't care. Whether they are "alarming" or
"distressing" or "shocking" or whatever word you prefer--they are intolerable as
long as they endanger any American soldier, airman, sailor, or marine. They are
intolerable as long as we, by asking questions of the Pentagon and persisting
after answers, can compel or speed up remedial action. This is the joint duty
of the responsible press and the responsible representatives of the people. I
intend and hope they intend to continue this duty. It is not "baloney."
# # #
GERALD LIBRARY F FORD
FORD R. GERALD LIBRARY
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON THURSDAY, P.M.,
APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
X
The Air Force has informed me it is arranging for a study by high-caliber
scientists of some of the UFO sightings which have never been explained.
This study will be placed under contract soon after July 1, start of the new
fiscal year. It will be carried out by a university which has no close ties with
the Air Force so that the findings will be completely objective, Air Force officials
tell me.
Those people engaged in the study will be high-caliber scientists who have
never taken a position on UFO's, the Air Force said. It will be made clear to them
that they are not being hired to come up with findings in support of previous Air
Force statements regarding UFO's, I am informed.
The Air Force said there is too much effort involved to ask these scientists
to make this study without pay.
The report will definitely be made public, the Air Force assured me. The
whole purpose of the study is to clear the air as far as the public is concerned.
This, of course, was my purpose in recently requesting that public hearings
on the subject of UFO's be conducted by either the House Armed Services Committee
or the House Science and Astronautics Committee.
It was as a result of my call for a congressional investigation that the Air
Force now is arranging for a study of UFO's by topflight scientists not connected
in any way with the Air Force.
I would have preferred a congressional investigation with witnesses to include
reliable persons from among those who say they have seen UFO's. I still think this
would be beneficial. But the UFO study by a panel of scientists, with the report
to be made public, is a step in the right direction.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GERALO
APRIL 21, 1966
STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN.
The rise in the cost of living for March, the second consecutive monthly
jump, is in line with my prediction that consumer prices will climb 3 to 5
per cent this year as compared with a 2 per cent rise in 1965.
It also is proof that the jawbone technique the President is using to
try to halt inflation--talk, talk, talk--just isn't working. He is going to
have to make a choice within perhaps the next six months on asking Congress
for an income tax increase or cutting back substantially on the level of
federal spending.
I urge that he resolve to reduce spending and pass that word to Democratic
members of Congress. If this is done, there will be no need to impose a
second tax increase on the American people this year--and no excuse to do so.
The consumer price index rose four-tenths of 1 per cent in March. In
February, it went up five-tenths of 1 per cent. There was no change in January.
The trend is unmistakable. Inflation is here. Averaging in the no-change
month of January, we find that consumer prices rose at an annual rate of
3.6 per cent for the first quarter of this year. If there are no more no-change
months during 1966, the rise for the year may be considerably greater than that.
It's time the President stopped talking about inflation and did something
about it.
###