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Ford Press Releases - Extremism, 1966
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Ford Press Releases - Extremism, 1966
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This file contains john Birch Society.
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D7, folder "Ford Press Releases - Extremism,
1966" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File 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. The Council 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
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copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D7 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
RELEASE
I
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
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 is LIBRARY GERALD
THE FOLLOWING EXCHANGE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN,
AND MR. J. EDWARD MARTIN OF LOS ANGELES WAS RELEASED TO THE PRESS AT 11 A.M. ON
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1966:
COPY
September 27, 1966
Hon. Gerald R. Ford
House Office Building
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Ford:
Your investigator, Mr. John Buckley, has spent a number
of hours with me ascertaining the basic facts surrounding
a political contribution made by Mr. and Mrs. J. Edward
Martin in the amount of $6,000. You will recall that this
incident came to national attention by virtue of our being
members of the John Birch Society and my being a member
of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee,
together with the fact that the architectural-engineering
firm of which I am a partner is a design contractor to the
Veterans Administration.
I had requested from the Executive Secretary of the
President's Club that the names of Mrs. Martin and me be
stricken from their rolls, since our contribution was made
to the Democratic National Committee and not to the
President's Club. A Democratic Congressman from Southern
California, Mr. Cameron, demanded that the money be
returned. They have returned the $6,000 to Mr. and Mrs.
Martin. So much for background.
You have demanded legislation establishing a Congressional
investigating committee chaired by a prominent member of
the Minority Party and with a majority representation by
that Minority Party. You have asked that that committee be
adequately staffed and financed to do a thorough, compre-
hensive job of policing the actions of the Executive Depart-
ment and the members of the Senate and House. The political
facts are well known to you--how economic coercion can be
exercised by political parties. You know full well the
essential need for the legislation you have proposed. We
congratulate you for your understanding and your zeal. The
action you propose is clearly affirmative and has the
capability of correcting a serious deficiency in our govern-
mental system. I believe it to be essential if Republicans
are to survive in the jungle of political influence.
One of your contemporaries in Congress chose a different
approach. He chose to deprecate the individual Republican
who contributed to the Democratic National Committee, rather
than attacking the Democratic National Committee itself. It
is analagous to criticizing the victim of a holdup for yielding
his few dollars to the bandit. His type of leadership will
only perpetuate the system of political shakedowns that exists.
Mrs. Martin and I would like to make a political contribution
of $1,000 to the Republican National Committee through you,
with the express provision that you recognize in receipt of
the contribution that:
1. We are Republicans who believe the nation needs
the above legislation.
2. We are members of the John Birch Society, which
we believe encourages its membership to be active
in the political party of their choice, which believes
(MORE)
-2-
COPY
that there is an abundance of corruption in govern-
ment, and which believes that the individual citizen
must be responsible and must pursue his conviction
regardless of the consequence.
I hope you find the contribution acceptable to the Republican
National Committee under these terms and that you will have
the judgment to objectively investigate the John Birch Society
before you disclaim it any further, and that, should you
believe you have cause to make some derogatory observations,
you will be specific in the area of your charges.
Conservatives use the John Birch Society as a rallying point,
and when other Republicans attack the Birch Society and tell us
we should not belong to it, we have no other rallying point.
Certainly a party under the leadership of Nelson Rockefeller
or George Romney or some of the other liberal Republicans
could not be such a rallying point. We are members of the
JBS because we know of no other group to join that is
bi-partisan and pro-American, which believes in a nation
of responsible citizens, and which believes that this is a
Christian nation and not the agnostic nation that the Supreme
Court would create by misinterpretation of the Constitution.
Very truly yours,
(Signed)
Mr. and Mrs. J. Edward Martin
by J. Edward Martin
JEM:mm
Enclosure
REPLY TO ABOVE LETTER
COPY
September 29, 1966
Mr. J. Edward Martin
1127 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90017
Dear Mr. Martin:
I am returning herewith your check for $1,000 enclosed with your
letter of September 27.
I cannot accept this contribution, or any contribution, which is
accompanied by terms or conditions other than the general under-
standing that it will be used to promote Republican principles
and elect Republican candidates.
With or without any contribution, I and my Republican colleagues
in the House of Representatives will continue our efforts to enact
a fair and comprehensive election reform law that will put a stop
to what you describe as "the system of political shakedowns that
exists" and of which you represent yourself as a victim.
I must add that I cannot accept your criticism of my Governor,
George Romney, Gov. Rockefeller of New York, or the unidentified
Congressional contemporary to whom you allude, although you are
entitled to your views like any other American.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:hlr
Enclosure
###