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1969 Inbound To APB Part 2: July – Dec 1969 [4 of 4]
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1969 Inbound To APB Part 2: July – Dec 1969 [4 of 4]
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White House Staff Member and Office Files (Nixon Administration)
Alexander P. Butterfield's Files
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MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
December 15, 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR:
ROBERT J. BROWN
DR. ARTHUR F. BURNS
DR. LEE A. DU BRIDGE
MR. JOHN D. EHRLICHMAN
MR. HARRY DENT
MR. PETER M. FLANIGAN
MR. HARRY S. FLEMMING
MR. LEONARD GARMENT
MR. H. R. HALDEMAN
MR. ALEXANDER BUTTERFIELD
MR. BRYCE HARLOW
MR. KENNETH BELIEU
MR. WILLIAM TIMMONS
MR. H. DALE GRUBB
MR. JOHN NIDECKER
MR. LAMAR ALEXANDER
DR. HENRY KISSINGER
MRS. VIRGINIA KNAUER
MR. CLARK MOLLENHOFF
DR. DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN
MR. STEPHEN HESS
MR. JOHN R. PRICE
MR. LYN NOFZIGER
MR. DONALD RUMSFELD
MRS. CONNIE STUART
MR. RONALD ZIEGLER
MR. GERALD WARREN
Many members of the President's staff have requested a
summary of the Administration's accomplishments for
the year. Jim Keogh and colleagues have prepared the
following material which should be useful to you and
your associates.
Her Hub Klen
Herbert G. Klein
Encl
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION: A NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICA
(A Summary Of A Year Of Reform)
"We intend, 11 said President Nixon last October, "to begin a decade
of government reform such as this nation has not witnessed in half a
century. 11 The record of his first year in office gives solid substance
to this promise, for it was a year of reform that set a new direction for
America in both foreign and domestic policy.
NEW DIRECTION IN FOREIGN POLICY
Among the accomplishments were:
-- The Nixon doctrine, set forth at the outset of his round-the-
world tour, calling for a new kind of partnership for peace and security.
-- Agreement with Japan on the difficult question of Okinawan
reversion.
-- New life for the Western European alliance, dramatized by the
President's visit to Europe.
-- New posture toward the countries of Eastern Europe, symbolized
by the visit to Romania, the first by any President to a Communist
country.
-- A new policy for Latin America, unveiled in the first Presidential
address ever televised live to the other nations of the Western hemisphere.
- - A series of initiatives to probe the possibilities of moving
toward a political settlement of the conflict in the Middle East.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- -2-
-- Continued efforts to end the tragedy of starvation in Biafra.
-- Proposals for reforms in foreign aid and trade.
-- The signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
-- The opening of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in Helsinki.
-- A new policy on the use of chemical and biological weapons.
-- A Presidential directive to implement significant overseas
personnel reductions, to cut back the American presence and to stream-
line operations.
NEW DIRECTION IN VIETNAM
-- After years in which American involvement has constantly
increased, 60, 000 troops were withdrawn.
-- Casualties fell to a three year low.
-- The continued progress in the President's Vietnamization pro-
gram enabled him to put into effect an orderly timetable for the withdrawal
of American forces.
NEW DIRECTION ON THE DRAFT
President Nixon instituted major reform in Selective Service.
-- The first draft lottery since 1942 was conducted.
-- The period of draft vulnerability was reduced from, seven years
to one year.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-3-
-- Young men will now know at age nineteen the degree of likeli-
hood that they will be drafted and can plan accordingly.
-- Draft calls for November and December were eliminated
entirely, and the January 1970 call sharply reduced.
-- The first system of youth advisors to the Selective Service
System was inaugurated.
-- An intensive review of the other major aspects of draft policy
(including the deferment question) is now underway.
NEW DIRECTION IN DEFENSE POLICY
The Nixon Administration conducted the most thorough review of
worldwide military strategy and force options ever undertaken, which re-
sulted in:
-- Presidential approval of explicit criteria for strategic sufficiency.
-- Presidential approval of explicit budgeted strategy guidelines for
planning the Defense force posture, which will reduce and stabilize defense
spending over the next five years.
-- Presidential establishment of an interagency Defense Program Re-
view Committee to insure balanced review of defense policy and program
issues in the light of our overall national priorities.
-- Initial construction of an anti-ballistic missile system to protect
our deterrent and to defend the American people against accidental
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-4-
nuclear attacks or nuclear blackmail by third countries.
NEW DIRECTION IN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
President Nixon undertook the most sweeping reform of govern-
ment machinery since the Hoover Commission, including:
-- The establishment of four new Cabinet level domestic Councils
and numerous other new planning groups.
-- The revival of the National Security Council and other reforms
in foreign policy machinery.
-- The establishment of common regional boundaries and head-
quarters for the field operations of the major domestic departments.
-- A program for consolidating Federal grant programs.
-- A new Office of Child Development to implement the President's
commitment to improve the first five years of life.
-- Complete reorganization in such areas as the Manpower Ad-
ministration and the Office of Economic Opportunity.
-- The most thorough reform proposal in history for the nation's
Post Office system.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-5- -
NEW DIRECTION IN FEDERAL-STATE-LOCAL RELATIONS
The President's "New Federalism" proposals marked an historic
turning point:
-- For the first time in history, the President proposed the sharing
of Federal revenues with the States and localities.
-- In another historic innovation, the President proposed that ad-
ministration of manpower training be turned over to State and local
governments.
NEW DIRECTION IN WELFARE
The President introduced dramatic new concepts for helping the
disadvantaged. They include:
-- The first major reform in welfare in over a generation, a new
family assistance plan for helping people move from welfare rolls to
payrolls.
-- A new manpower training program to prepare workers for new
jobs.
-- The first comprehensive reform of unemployment insurance in
the history of that program.
-- The elimination or reduction of taxes for some 17 million low
income persons.
-- The first Presidential commitment to put an end to hunger in
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
_6_
America, including an expanded food stamp program and free food stamps
for the very poor.
-- New initiatives to provide more low income housing.
-- Strong efforts to eliminate racial discrimination in the job
market and new programs for strengthening minority business enterprise.
-- Proposals for Social Security reforms, including larger benefits
and a provision that future benefits be tied to the cost of living.
NEW DIRECTION ON THE ECONOMY
The President carried on a rigorous and unrelenting fight against
inflation:
-- The Federal budget was cut by more than $7 billion.
- - A program for gradually phasing out the 10 percent surtax was
proposed.
-- A plan of responsible tax reform was laid out, including sub-
stantive proposals for making the tax structure fairer.
NEW DIRECTION AGAINST CRIME
- - The Administration asked for more money for crime fighting.
-- More personnel were assigned to the war on crime.
-- Structural reforms in crime-fighting included new anti-racketeering
field offices.
-- New laws were requested for combatting organized crime, Dis-
trict of Columbia crime, pornography, and narcotics.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-7-
-- The President directed that reforms be made in Federal cor-
rectional institutions.
NEW DIRECTION FOR TRANSPORTATION
Long range efforts to meet the transportation crisis were intro-
duced, including:
-- A $10 billion, twelve-year mass transit program, the largest
ever.
-- A $2. 5 billion, ten-year program to improve airway facilities
and equipment.
- - An immediate increase in the number of air traffic controllers.
-- A decision to build a supersonic transport.
- - The first comprehensive reform of merchant shipping legisla-
tion since 1936.
NEW DIRECTION IN HEALTH AND SAFETY
Significant, new steps were taken to protect public health and
safety, including:
-- A comprehensive series of consumer protection proposals to
safeguard the "Buyers' Bill of Rights. "
-- Steps to protect the public against pesticides and other poten-
tially dangerous materials in the food supply.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-8-
-- A strong new approach to enforcing occupational safety and
health standards.
-- The first Presidential message in history on the subject of
the population explosion.
-- A strong Coal Mine Safety bill.
*
*
*
*
*
During his busy first year, the President traveled to fourteen
foreign countries, officially received thirteen heads of government or
heads of state as his guests, in the exercise of a new foreign policy
aimed at peace and stability in the world. He sent thirty-one messages
to the Congress, proposing historic changes in domestic policy. It was
a year of substantial progress toward changing the nation's mood, re-
ordering its priorities and reorganizing its institutions. At the end of
the year, the American people - -- 68 percent of whom expressed approval
of the way the President was doing his job - - - could look forward to the
new decade with increased confidence and hope.
#####
/
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION: A NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICA
(An Analysis Of A Year Of Reform)
"We do not seek more and more of the same. We were
not elected to pile new resources and manpower on the top of
old programs. We were elected to initiate an era of change.
We intend to begin a decade of government reform such as this
nation has not witnessed in half a century. 11
With these words, President Richard Nixon described to the Congress
last October the philosophy that has guided him during this first year in
office. He went on to recall the observation of a Washington columnist
that if ours is not to be an age of revolution, then it must become an age
of reform. He proclaimed the word "reform" as the "watchword" of his
Administration.
"REFORM. 11 As the President explained, the word implies more than
the mere extension of old methods or the expansion of old approaches. It
implies instead changes that are fundamental in nature; it implies changes
in the concepts that motivate and guide the activities of the government.
Fundamental reform requires careful analysis and patient planning,
for it means dealing with the causes of problems rather than their symp-
toms. The reformer recognizes that the quality of thinking which goes into
a solution is often more important than the quantity of money spent on it.
As the President put it on one occasion, "We cannot count on good money
to bail us out of bad ideas. 11 The reformer also avoids the error of con-
fusing publicity with significance; he would rather be right than be rhetorical.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-2-
He knows, too, that a single good idea, quietly implemented, can have an
impact which is more sweeping and more lasting than that of the most
expensively outfitted and loudly trumpeted of superficial repairs.
It was in the spirit of careful, patient reform that the Nixon Adminis-
tration approached its tasks on January 20. The fruits of that approach
have become increasingly apparent as the year has progressed. They
were especially apparent during a ten-day period in late November
when -- without particular fanfare --
1) The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) opened in Helsinki;
2) A new foreign trade policy was proposed;
3) The troublesome Okinawa reversion question was settled;
4) The treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was
ratified;
5) A new policy on the use of chemical and biological weapons was
presented; and
6) Major reforms in the Selective Service System were signed into
law.
Each of these events was the product of many months of study and
consultation. Each could have great impact on American life in the
coming decade.
This late November period of fruition coincided with the second land-
ing on the moon in human history. The first landing on the moon, in late
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- -3- -
July, also came at a time of significant Administration accomplishments.
Then -- in just a sixteen-day period -- the President (a) traveled to eight
countries on an around-the-world tour, (b) became the first President
to visit Saigon and the first to visit the capital of a Communist country,
(c) enunciated the Nixon doctrine calling for a new kind of partnership
for peace and security, (d) won two important legislative victories when the
Congress approved both his surtax and ABM proposals, and (e) presented
one of the most dramatic packages of domestic reforms in the history of
America -- one which included his widely heralded welfare, manpower
training and revenue sharing proposals.
A great deal happened very quickly during these two periods and they
stand out for that reason. They are simply illustrations of the evidence
of fundamental reform that set the pattern throughout the first year of the
Nixon Administration. It was a year in which the American people saw
this pattern, reflected the sense of orderliness in the government and
appreciated the fact that there was really someone in charge.
NEW DIRECTION IN FOREIGN POLICY
In the last year of the old decade, the Nixon Administration developed
the outlines of a new foreign policy for the 1970s. Its new international
strategy placed added emphasis on the interrelationship of world problems,
a fact that requires close coordination of a vareity of American decisions.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-4-
This understanding was reflected in reforms of the machinery by which
foreign policy is formulated, including the revival of the National Security
Council.
Perhaps the most important common denominator in the Nixon approach
to various countries and continents in 1969 was the new spirit of partner-
ship to which the President gave continuing attention. It was a spirit, the
President said, that would call on the United States to lecture less and
listen more, to decide more questions in concert with other nations and to
undertake fewer responsibilities on a unilateral basis. The President
traveled to fourteen foreign countries in 1969 to give substance to this
new spirit of partnership and, in that same spirit, he officially welcomed
thirteen heads of government and heads of state to this country.
One of the most dramatic expressions of the new approach came on
the island of Guam in mid-summer when the President enunciated the
Nixon doctrine. While promising continued American assistance, the
President called upon Asian nations to assume greater responsibility for
their own protection and progress. "For if domination by the aggressor
can destroy the freedom of a nation, 11 he said, "too much dependence on
a protector can eventually erode its dignity. 11
The strong Pacific partnership which the President seeks received
further impetus in November when Prime Minister Sato of Japan visited
Washington and completed an agreement that will return control of
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Okinawa to his country during 1972.
A closer partnership of co-equal nations was also the President's
theme when he visited five European nations in February and when he
spoke at the meeting which celebrated the twentieth anniversary of NATO
in April. His proposal to broaden the horizons of the Alliance was
realized when the first meeting of the Committee on the Challenges of
Modern Society was held in December. And even as he worked to
strengthen the Western alliance, he also reached out to the nations of
Eastern Europe when he visited Bucharest in Communist Romania as part
of his trip around the world. There he was received with such enthusiasm
and acclaim on the part of the people that he later described the visit
as the "most moving experience that I have had in traveling to over sixty
countries in the world.
11
The President's October address on Latin America emphasized a
new partnership motif in reaffirming our special hemispheric relationship.
In that address he unveiled a number of specific proposals for building
an inter-American system "in which all voices are heard and none is
predominant. 11 The President's action initiatives grew out of a long and
intensive review of Latin American policy, one which had its origins
when he received as his first official White House visitor on January 21,
Galo Plaza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States.
The October speech represented an historic shift of emphasis toward
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
6
greater encouragement of Latin American initiatives. It was historic
in another sense, too: It was the first occasion on which an American
president spoke on live television to the nations of the Western hemisphere.
Immediately upon assuming office, the President directed the most
urgent and vigorous efforts to relieve the suffering of starving civilians
in the war between Nigeria and Biafra. The result has been that the
United States has contributed more than half the world total of relief,
provided the bulk of transport capacity for food and medicine, and led
neutral efforts -- through the President's Special Relief Coordinator --
to mediate problems blocking expanded relief to Biafra.
In the Middle East, the Administration launched a broad range of
consultations -- bilaterally, in the Four Power talks, and in discussions
with the Soviet Union -- in an attempt to construct a diplomatic alterna-
tive to the present course of events there.
At the United Nations on September 18, President Nixon suggested
that the UN take up critical questions ranging from the safety of air
travel to the creation of a new international voluntary service, from
economic development and population control to environmental protection
and "internationalizing man's epic venture into space. " Once again, he
gave specific content to his ongoing concern with building a spirit of
international partnership.
The President began in 1969 to propose new directions for the U.S.
Reproduced at the Richard, Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-7-
foreign aid program. He called on other nations to assume a greater
share of the international aid effort, indicated his intention to channel
more aid through multilateral institutions, and stressed the importance
of private investment and technical assistance. He proposed organizational
changes to implement some of these new approaches. In addition, he
appointed a distinguished task force of private citizens, under the
chairmanship of Rudolph Peterson, to recommend sweeping changes in
all aspects of the U. S. aid effort for the 1970s.
The President also proposed reforms in U. S. trade policy which
will enable the United States to continue to move toward freer trade
while achieving fair treatment for its own industries.
During its first year, the Nixon Administration asked the Senate
to approve the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
obtained that approval, and ratified this historic agreement. Negotiations
with the Soviet Union on the question of limiting strategic arms received
extensive diplomatic attention throughout the year, leading finally to
the SALT in Helsinki. The United States also participated in the dis-
armament conference in Geneva and developed an agreement with the
Soviet Union to keep nuclear arms out of the seabeds. In November,
the President announced the formal renunciation by the United States of
all biological warfare weapons and at the same time extended the nation's
ban on the first use of lethal chemical weapons to include incapacitating
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- -8-
chemical weapons.
One of the hopes of the new Administration as it came into office
in January was that it could dissipate the spirit of constant crisis and
concentrate instead on anticipating and preventing crisis situations. A
mark of its success was the remarkable absence of acute crises in 1969.
A situation which might have developed into a full-fledged crisis -- the
shooting down of an American plane by the North Koreans -- was handled
without damage to our basic interests and in such an orderly and effec-
tive fashion that the American public had virtually forgotten about it by
year's end.
NEW DIRECTION IN VIETNAM
The commitment to fundamental reform, and particularly the com-
mitment to a greater sharing of burdens with our international partners,
had their most significant application as the President approached Amer-
ica's most troubling problem, the war in Vietnam. First, the President
pressed forward with the negotiations in Paris -- both public and secret
-- and with other private contacts with the enemy. He developed and
announced a substantially more detailed and more generous American
negotiating position. In two major television addresses, in his journeys
to Midway and to Saigon, in his speech at the UN and on many other
occasions, he rallied American and world opinion in support of his new
position. And at the same time, he introduced a new policy in Vietnam,
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-9-
the policy of Vietnamization.
The fruits of Vietnamization are already abundantly evident. After
seven years of growing American involvement and rising American
casualties, the reverse is now true. In June and again in September,
the President was able to announce significant reductions in the level of
American forces in Southeast Asia, reductions which now total over
60, 000 men and which include 20 percent of our combat forces. As
Americans made the training of South Vietnamese troops their primary
mission, American casualties declined to their lowest point in three
years. Most importantly, the President was able to announce on
November 3rd that all American combat ground forces would be with-
drawn from Vietnam on an orderly scheduled timetable and that he was
more optimistic about the rate of American withdrawal than he had
been in June - - when the withdrawal program started.
NEW DIRECTION IN DEFENSE POLICY
Despite widespread predictions that no Selective Service reform
would be possible before 1970, the President won decisive Congressional
approval -- from both parties in both Houses -- for his new draft lottery
system. The lottery itself, the first since 1942, was held on the first day
of December.
Here, again, reform has been the watchword. The President's new
system reduces from seven years to one year the period of draft
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-10-
vulnerability for any young man. Moreover, it lets him know in his 19th
year the degree of likelihood that he will be drafted, so that he can plan
his life accordingly. It also distributes the risk of call more equitably
than did the old system. In a further measure the President ordered that
graduate students called to service be allowed to complete a full year of
school before being inducted. He eliminated entirely the draft calls for
November and December, calls which would have involved some 50,000
men, and sharply cut the call for January.
His success in obtaining substantial reform did not dilute the Presi-
dent's strong commitment to an eventual elimination of the draft and its
replacement by an all-volunteer army. He appointed a Presidential
Commission to advise him on means of obtaining that goal. He also
created a program of youth advisers to the Selective Service System,
asking them to recommend further reforms in the operation of the draft.
He indicated that he would ask the new Director of the Selective Service
System to consider further improvements when he takes office next year
so that the draft, as long as it is necessary, will be as fair as possible.
In a year in which military expenditures came under severe criticism,
the President neither cut the defense budget recklessly nor protected it
thoughtlessly. The President began the pročess of limiting the burden
of defense spending on the American economy, by reducing the overall
size of the defense program by $3 billion. He ordered a reduction in
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-11-
American personnel overseas which will affect 14, 937 military jobs
and 5, 100 civilian positions in addition to the Vietnam cutbacks.
Most importantly, on March 14, 1969, the President announced
that he had decided to proceed with the development and construction of
the Safeguard Ballistic Missile Defense System in a carefully phased
program. He believes that he must act now to buy those options for
constructing ballistic missile defense which will enable him to counter
successfully the threats we now foresee. To delay would mean a sig-
nificant lag before such defense could become operational, thus exposing
this country to potentially dangerous risks. He won acceptance for his
new "Safeguard" proposal from both Houses of Congress.
NEW DIRECTION IN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
The crisis which President Nixon faced when he took office in
January was in many respects a crisis of confidence in government,
born of the apparent sluggishness of problem-solving mechanisms. The
public's complaint was not so much that government was not trying, but
that it was not performing. Men did not argue that it was insensitive,
but that it was impotent. It was big, they contended, but it was not
strong. It was expensive, but it was not effective. It could plan and
promise, but in a growing number of cases, it could not deliver.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-12-
A central task of the new Nixon Administration was to reduce this
"performance gap," to make the government work again. The new President
gave considerable attention, therefore, to reforming the machinery of
government.
The emphasis on this phase of reform was evident in the very first
week of the new Administration when the President revived the National
Security Council and established the Urban Affairs Council as a Cabinet
level forum for developing new policies and coordinating their implemen-
tation. Later in the year he added a new Cabinet Committee on Economic
Policy, an Environmental Quality Council, and a Rural Affairs Council
to carry out similar functions in areas of special importance.
To aid him in his restructuring efforts, President Nixon set up a
new President's Advisory Council on Executive Organization, a group
which has been conducting the first overall review of Federal organiza-
tion since the Hoover Commission. He created a blue-ribbon panel to
study the organization of the Defense Department and set up a National
Goals Research Staff in the White House to advise him on long-term
planning. He asked the Congress to establish a new Commission on
Population Growth and the American Future to help in that same effort
and called for a new Commission to plan for a transition to Home Rule
in the District of Columbia -- a goal which he strongly endorsed. The
President presented his own plan for reforming the way we elect our
Presidents -- later giving his support to a direct popular election system
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-13-
after the House approved that plan.
One of the less noticed but most significant changes in government
structures came in March when the President established common re-
gional boundaries and common regional headquarters for the field
operations of the major domestic departments. This change, which
previous administrations had put off for years, will make it easier for
Federal officials to delegate authority to the regional level, to coordinate
various Federal operations and to cooperate with State and local govern-
ments. It will greatly simplify the tasks of Governors, Mayors and
other local officials in dealing with Federal agencies. The President
has also asked Congress for authority to consolidate closely related
grant programs into single entities which can be administered with far
greater efficiency and effectiveness. He requested and received from
the Congress an extension of the Government Reorganization Act, and
under it he has already made important reforms in the operations of the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
Most of the Cabinet Departments and other executive agencies have
experienced significant structural alterations in this first year of the
new Administration. In some cases, whole new offices have been
created, such as the Office of Child Development at the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare. This Office will implement the Adminis-
tration's landmark commitment to enriching the first five years of life.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-14-
In other cases, old offices have been substantially revamped, such as
the Manpower Administration at the Department of Labor. And there are
still other cases, such as the Office of Economic Opportunity, where an
entire organizational chart has been redrawn. The President has asked
a reorganized OEO to function as the "research and development" arm
for social policy, experimenting with new ideas and spinning off its
most successful programs to established agencies.
One of the boldest manifestations of the President's commitment
to reorganization can be seen in his suggestions for reforming the Post
Office. For almost two centuries men have questioned whether politically
appointed postmasters could consistently achieve sound mail service.
But President Nixon is the first president actually to take postmaster-
ships out of politics. More than that, he recommended in May that the
Post Office Department be converted into a government corporation, with
modernized policies for employment and management.
NEW DIRECTION IN FEDERAL-STATE-LOCAL RELATIONS
Government reorganization focused not only on what happens within
the Federal government but also on how the Federal government relates
to other governing units. And just as the dominant theme in foreign policy
was a new spirit of partnership with other nations, so it can be said that
the dominant theme on the domestic front was a new spirit of partnership
with the States and localities. Power must stop flowing to the central
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-15-
government in Washington, the President repeatedly declared, and begin
flowing in the opposite direction.
With the help of the new Office of Intergovernmental Relations,
the Administration nurtured close ties with State and local officials;
the President spoke at a Governors Conference late in the summer and
welcomed the Governors to the White House in December. And the
Administration backed up these gestures with deeds, as it recommended
again and again, in program after program, that additional prerogatives
and responsibilities be delegated to levels of government which are closer
to the people.
A notable example of this decentralization strategy can be seen
in the President's manpower training proposals. For the first time, a
President suggested that responsibility for a major Federal program,
one which involves about three billion Federal dollars, be turned over
to State and local authorities as they show themselves able to meet
objective standards of exemplary performance. The President outlined
a method of gradual transition from Federal to State management and
demonstrated that the goals of manpower training could be achieved
more effectively in a decentralized system.
The centerpiece of the New Federalism proposals, however, is the
President's program for the unconditional sharing of Federal tax revenues
with State and local governments. Under this plan, the amount of money
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-16-
returned to the States without Federal strings would grow to $5 billion
by Fiscal Year 1976. This program would help correct the "fiscal
mismatch" which results when revenues grow fastest at the Federal level
while expenses climb most rapidly at the State and local level. The
President described the proposal as one which "marks a turning point in
Federal-State relations,' and one which could significantly alter the
political landscape of America by the end of the coming decade.
NEW DIRECTION IN WELFARE
"Nowhere has the failure of government been more tragically
apparent than in its efforts to help the poor, especially in its system
of public welfare," the President said in his speech to the nation on
August 8. And nowhere was the President's commitment to far-reaching,
fundamental reform more apparent than in his "new and drastically
different" approach to the welfare problem.
In place of a system of welfare payments which vary widely from
State to State and city to city, the President called for a new Federally-
supported floor under the incomes of American families wherever in
America they live. In place of a system which provides a disincentive
for recipients to go to work, particularly if the work is part-time or
low-paying, the President presented a scale of benefits under which it
would always pay a welfare recipient to take employment. In place of
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a system which offers an incentive for the breaking up of families, the
President proposed a plan which encourages families to remain together.
And finally, the President's program requires recipients to take a job
or enlist in a job training program if one is available. This "family
assistance plan" was widely praised as the most important conceptual
reform in welfare in well over a generation. Clearly, it was an approach
which dealt with the causes -- and not just the effects -- of past welfare
failures. The President's goal, as he put it, is to move the needy from
welfare rolls to payrolls.
His proposals for reforming the nation's manpower training pro-
grams are another essential part of that effort. The President also
asked that a National Computerized Job Bank be established to match job
seekers with job vacancies. He expanded from 50 to 131 cities the joint
private and Federal JOBS program which trains and places disadvantaged
workers. The Job Corps was revamped so that it provides for more
centers in city neighborhoods and fewer remote rural camps. A new
national system of job vacancy statistics was developed and legislation
was suggested which would place farm workers under the National Labor
Relations Act.
One special feature of the President's Manpower program lies in
the provision which would automatically expand its scope in times of
high unemployment. This same feature also characterizes the Presi-
dent's new unemployment insurance proposals, which represent the most
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fundamental reform in that program since it began in the 1930s. The
President has asked that unemployment compensation be extended to
more workers, that the size of benefits be increased, and that payments
be made to workers who are in retraining as well as to those who are
idle. In a related measure, the President asked that Federal taxes be
eliminated entirely or reduced significantly for some 17 million low
income persons.
The Nixon Administration has worked to provide seriously needed
low income housing through its "Operation Breakthrough. 11 This program
is fostering new building methods, new sources and methods of finance
and new building codes and work rules so that housing can be produced
faster and less expensively than at present. At the same time, the
Model Cities Program has been revised so as to eliminate artificial
restrictions on local governments and over $200 million has been desig-
nated for the rebuilding of riot-damaged neighborhoods, including one
which President Nixon visited in the District of Columbia in January.
The Administration has also called for fundamental reforms in
government food programs -- changing from an approach which was
oriented toward the disposal of surplus commodities to one which is
oriented toward human needs. For the first time, a President of the
United States has proposed that every American family be guaranteed
access to a minimum nutritious diet. The President recommended a
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reformed and greatly expanded food stamp program, including free food
stamps for the very poor, and his new budget doubled the size of the
nutrition education program and more than doubled the budget of the
National Nutrition Survey. The Administration also organized the first
White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health.
To a significant degree, the problems of poverty in America are
tied to problems of race. It is important to note, therefore, that the
Nixon Administration has made especially strong efforts to expand
economic opportunities for members of minority groups. Through the
Office of Federal Contract Compliance, the government can require a fair
level of minority group employment by those who hold Federal contracts.
The OFCC has replaced the informal methods of the past administration
with strong new plans of affirmative action, plans which include step-
by-step blueprints for bringing nonwhites into the work force which
perform the contract. The most highly developed form of the new affirmative
action emphasis is the "Philadelphia Plan" in which specific numerical goals
for minority employment are established as a prerequisite for a construc-
tion company to receive a government contract. With the strong support
of the President, this approach is being extended to nine other cities.
Even employers who do not hold government contracts often come
under the jurisdiction of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The Nixon Administration has reorganized and expanded the efforts of
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the EEOC and has proposed to Congress that it be strengthened so that
it can bring suit in its own name against employers who practice racial
discrimination. (Under present law, the EEOC can investigate and
mediate but only aggrieved individuals can seek court enforcement.)
The Justice Department has complemented these efforts by bringing
suit against employers and unions that engage in discriminatory em-
ployment practices -- and the President has asked each Federal Depart-
ment and agency to develop its own affirmative action plans to increase
minority group employment.
The campaign to encourage employers to hire more members of
minority groups has been accompanied by moves to help more members
of minority groups become employers. A new Office of Minority Business
Enterprise was established in the Department of Commerce to coordin-
ate the 116 Federal programs in this area, and a high level Advisory
Council was appointed to guide its activities. A number of "Black
Capitalism" projects have already been launched, including an Institute
for Minority Business Education at Howard University, and a Voluntary
Credit Corporation to provide financial assistance to minority owned or
operated enterprises. Small Business Administration loans to minority
enterprises doubled in the first half of fiscal 1970.
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NEW DIRECTION IN OTHER DOMESTIC PROGRAMS
1.
Fiscal Reform -- Fighting Inflation
Inflation constitutes the most unfair of taxes, huring most severely
the poor, the elderly, and others who live on fixed incomes. It was clear
at the outset of the new Administration, however, that to combat effec-
tively the advanced inflation of the late 1960s would require a new spirit
of self-discipline in government. A willingness to make hard choices and
to enforce a strict sense of priorities in order to create a budgetary
surplus.
Again and again in 1969 the President showed that he was willing
"to crack the whip" and, as a result, he won his battle to limit Federal
spending. Low priority programs have been deferred, much waste has
been eliminated, and methods are being developed for controlling "run-
away" government costs such as those which have plagued the medicare
program. There have been significant cutbacks in Federal construction
and Federal employment. Altogether, Federal spending plans for the
current fiscal year have been reduced by more than $7 billion.
At the same time, the Administration has proposed significant
reforms in the way the government raises its money. It has called for
the gradual phasing out of the 10 percent surtax, reducing it to 5 percent
in January of 1970, and eliminating it entirely by next June. The Presi-
dent also presented a package of substantive tax reforms, including some
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of the most significant changes in the history of the income tax. He
asked that many tax loopholes be closed, that a minimum tax be imposed
on very high incomes and that taxes for poorer Americans be eliminated.
Altogether, the President's disciplined approach to fiscal policy
appears to have been successful. Economic indicators show that the
overheated economy has begun to cool off; "the medicine has begun to
work," as the President said in his radio speech to the nation on October
17th. Having set the government's house in order, the President has
gone on to ask that citizens now show appropriate restraint in their own
economic behavior.
An important reform specifically designed to protect the victims of
inflation was the suggested revision of the Social Security System. The
President recommended a 10 percent increase in benefits, but he did not
limit himself to this symptomatic level. He went on to ask that benefits
henceforward be tied to changes in the cost of living, building into the
program a permanent, automatic defense against inflation. The Presi-
dent also asked that the Social Security earnings limit be raised so as to
encourage more older people to remain economically active.
2.
Law Enforcement Reform - -- Fighting Crime
The Nixon Administration has asked for more money for crime
fighting by the Justice Department; an additional $4 million last fiscal
year and some $16.6 million this fiscal year. It has also assigned more
people to this area. But, again, its efforts to enhance public safety
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have involved qualitative reforms as well as quantitative expansion.
New anti-racketeering field offices have been set up across the country
and the nation's first Federal-State Racket Squad has been established in
New York. The Administration has asked for new laws to combat
organized crime, including an immunity of witnesses statute to aid in
information gathering and prosecution and new anti-gambling laws to
enhance Federal efforts to police large scale gambling operations. The
use of wiretapping -- under carefully controlled circumstances -- was
also authorized as part of the fight against racketeering.
The Administration has asked the Congress for new crime control
legislation in the District of Columbia, including a sweeping reorganiza-
tion of the court system, new bail laws to cut back on crimes committed
while offenders are awaiting trial, and an increase in court facilities and
law enforcement officials. In other messages to Congress, the President
called for stricter controls on obscene and pornographic materials and
on narcotics and dangerous drugs. The latter subject received the
President's special attention as he launched a nationwide educational
campaign on the dangers of drug abuse. The Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs substantially increased its enforcement activities.
Pointing out that 40 percent of those who are released from confinement
later return to prison, the President sent to the Attorney General a
thirteen-point directive for reforming the Federal corrections system.
The Federal program, the President contended, should become a model
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for State and local rehabilitative efforts.
3.
Reform in Transportation Programs
Urban mass transit, airlines and airports, merchant shipping --
each was the topic of a special Presidential message in 1969 and in each
case the President asked that year-by-year improvisation be replaced
by careful, long-range planning. His $10 billion, twelve-year mass
transit program is far and away the largest such request of any
administration in the nation's history. His $2.5 billion, ten-year
program to improve airway facilities and equipment will meet a prob-
lem which has long been neglected. The President has also called for
the building of a supersonic transport and for immediate substantial
increases in the number of air traffic controllers. Finally, President
Nixon has asked Congress for the first comprehensive reform of mer-
chant shipping legislation in over thirty years, including a ten-year
building program which would encourage substantially greater ship
production at significantly lower prices.
4.
Reform for a Better Life
The President's message on consumer protection suggested a
number of measures for enforcing what it described as the "Buyers'
Bill of Rights. 11 The long list of proposals includes a new Office of
Consumer Affairs in the White House and a new Division of Consumer
Protection in the Justice Department, new laws to enable both the
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Federal government and private citizens to bring unfair or deceptive
tradesmen into court, and a number of steps to strengthen the Federal
Trade Commission. In related efforts, the Administration acted to
protect the public against pesticides and other potentially dangerous
materials which are added -- intentionally and unintentionally -- to the
nation's food supply.
In his message on Occupational Safety and Health in August, the
President called for a new national board to promulgate clear health
and safety standards for the workplace and to determine when they have
been violated. The President's new approach to this problem would
make maximum use of the expertise of private standard-setting organiza-
tions and would give major support and responsibility to State programs
when it is clear that they give workers adequate protection.
On July 18th - - for the first time in history -- a Presidential
message was sent to Congress on the subject of the population explosion.
In addition to calling for more research and education, President Nixon
declared "that we should establish as a national goal the provision of
adequate family planning services within the next five years to all those
who want but cannot afford them. 11 He emphasized, however, that popu-
lation problems will be with us even with a lowered birth rate and that
the country must plan now for an increase in its population of some
100 million persons by the end of the century. He- called for the establish-
ment of a special commission to take the lead in this planning.
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Other Administration initiatives in the safety and health area
include its strong Coal Mine Safety Bill -- with mandatory national
standards, its Federal assistance programs for hospital construction
and for expanding medical school enrollment, new regulations governing
oil and gas leases, improvements in waste treatment and water resource
programs, and a highly successful advance effort to prevent damage from
heavy flooding last Spring.
President Nixon's efforts to improve the quality of life in every
region and community of the land took another big step forward when
he sent to the Congress his message on the arts and humanities. In it
he proposed a three-year extension of the National Foundation on the
Arts and the Humanities and called for a virtual doubling of its funds.
*****
The list could go on and on. Examples of additional first year
accomplishments include the Justice Department's strong enforcement
of anti-trust laws, the Treasury Department's proposed legislation to
regulate one-bank holding companies, and the Administration's careful
efforts to help resolve labor disputes, including a new Construction
Industry Collective Bargaining Commission and a new approach to
collective bargaining with Federal employees. In addition to sponsoring
the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health, the
Administration called and began to plan two future White House Conferences,
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one on Children and Youth and the other on problems of the Aging.
Important revisions were made in the space program and a new nonprofit,
nonpartisan National Center for Voluntary Action was established.
"The next President,' Richard Nixon said during his 1968 campaign,
"must take an activist view of his office." From the day of his inaugura-
tion, President Nixon has been a most active Chief Executive. He has
sent some thirty messages to the Congress calling for a whole new
approach to domestic policy. He has traveled to all parts of the world
in the pursuit of peace. His administration has appointed some 2, 122
persons to Federal offices, including a new Chief Justice. He has taken
a firm grip on the reins of government.
The first year of the Nixon Administration was the last year of
the 1960s. It was a year of change - -- change in the nation's mood, its
priorities, its institutions, its programs. It was a year in which a new
President earned the increasing confidence of the American people - - a
fact which was evidenced by his 68 percent positive rating in a mid-
November Gallup Poll.
As the end of the first year approached, the President could
accurately say that reform has been the "watchword" of his Adminis-
tration. And because 1969 was a year of fundamental reform, the Nation
could look forward to the beginning of a new decade with increased hope
and confidence.
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