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P.T.A. Founders Day Banquet, Grand Rapids Civic Auditorium, February 17, 1954
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P.T.A. Founders Day Banquet, Grand Rapids Civic Auditorium, February 17, 1954
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D14, folder "P.T.A. Founders Day Banquet,
Grand Rapids Civic Auditorium, February 17, 1954" 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
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.
Spech by Representative And Jr.
P.T.A. Franders Day Bangnet
Hand Rapids Crice 7,6,17 1954
We Americans are a wealthy nation. We are wealthy not
only in material things, the natural resources with which we
have been blessed, and the high standard of living we have been
able to produce from them, but we are wealthy as well because
of the liberties we enjoy and the traditions of freedom which
are so essential a part of our national heritage, and which
have grown and strengthened in the one hundred and eighty years
of our independence.
The freedom of enterprise and initiative, the personal
liberties, and the freedom of election which we enjoy have been
so long a part of our way of life that we sometimes forget
that they are a part of our wealth, and that, like all articles
of value, they must be guarded and protected. We also sometimes
lose sight of the fact that he who possesses wealth also bears
a corresponding responsibility, and that this applies as well
& material assets
to our wealth of freedom as it does to our physical wealth.
It is about the responsibilities which our freedom imposes upon
us today, both as a nation and as individuals, that I would
like to discuss tonight.
There are men in the world today who envy and fear us.
They are jealous of our tremendous material wealth, but they
fear us far more because of our priceless freedom, for it is
that freedom which is the source of our strength, and which
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-- 2 -
constitutes the greatest threat to their power over hundreds
of millions of people, and their aspirations to ruthless world
dominance. The Communist nations possess the fertility of
soil and the metal and mineral deposits to feed, clothe, and
house themselves as well as we have, and to produce the other
comforts and luxuries which modern science and industry have
provided, but they have miserably failed to do SO. They have
failed solely because they are enslaved by a tyranny so all
pervading that it puts to shame any that have gone before.
The tyranical rulers of these nations, conscious of their
failure and inability to fulfill the promises by which they
led their people to forego freedom, have turned their unrest
and dissatisfaction toward the free world, and have entered
upon a colossal effort to destroy it. The leaders of the
Communist conspiracy know full well that the existence of
freedom is the most immediate and direct threat to their power,
for the longer their distressed people see before them the
magnificent achievements of free men, the more likely they
are to discover the true reason for their hardship and
suffering under tyranny, and to beeak the Kremlin imposed bonds
which prevent them from participating in those achievements.
-- 3 -
This threat to our security, unfortunate and unnecessary
as it appears to us, operates in large measure to define our
responsibilities as free men in the world today. The United
States, because it is spiritually and materially the wealthiest
nation on earth, is the principal object of this Communist
conspiracy, both from within and without, and consequently we
will be the center of the resistance to its plans for world
conquest. We are thus forced, against our will and desire,
into a concern for some material things which we might otherwise
avoid.
This then is our first responsibility as a nation under
freedom. We must survive, and to do so, we must build and
maintain our military strength so that we can defend ourselves
against any attack, and we must be prepared to retaliate so
surely and so destructively that our enemies will be convinced
that their aggression will be suicidal. In so preparing ourselves,
however, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are a
peaceful nation, and that our primary effort must be directed
toward maintenace and advancement of a standard of living
which is the wonder of the world. Our military program,
essential as it is, must not become the mainstay of our prosperity,
but must be adapted to an economy directed toward the improvement
of ourselves, and the sharing of our achievements with the less
fortunate peoples of the world.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 4 -
delicate
To do this we must strike an balance, and this can best
be accomplished by placing greater reliance upon the weapons
and equipment which modern science has given us. Of necessity
we must turn our attention and efforts to greater emphasis
upon the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb, and to the means of
delivering them to the target, for it is in these weapons that
we find the greatest deterrent to our enemy. It is almost
inconceivable that any national leader, even one in the Kremlin,
knowing the tremendous destructive power of these weapons,
would be so insane as to unleash them upon his people and bring
upon them the horror and suffering which they can produce. We
must expand our guided missile program, both in terms of
production and research, for in this device apparently lies
the key to the defense of our cities. You have all seen the
recent releases about "Nike", that classically named marvel of
electronics, almost unbelievable in its reactions, which when
once launched, can locate its objective, direct itself toward
it, and destroy it, all without human intervention. When we
remember this device is the product of only a relatively few
years of scientific research and technical effort, we can only
wonder at the achievements which lie before us.
/
By placing greater reliance upon these modern weapons,
costly as such a program may appear, we can achieve our objective
of a strong national defense while reducing its cost and its
- 5 -
effect upon our economy. We can thus reduce in some measure
the tax burden which we must all bear, leave our industry
largely free to produce the goods of peace, and limit the
number of young men we must take into the armed services.
If such a course accomplished nothing more, this last objective
would be well worth the cost, for the maintenance of a large
military force is the most expensive aspect of our defensive
effort, both in terms of dollars and in terms of its impact
upon the lives and careers of our sons. We cannot, and must not,
in the name of defense, spend ourself into bankruptcy and
nation's
mortgage our, future to such an extent that our enemy will achieve,
through our economic collapse, the victory he so ardently desires.
In developing and expanding our nuclear weapons we must
not forget that the basic forces which they employ have tremendous
and unforeseen potentialities for peaceful applications. In the
small beginnings which have been made in the use of radioactive
materials in medicine, we can see already the possibility of
discovering the cause and cure of many maladies which afflict
mankind and which have resisted our best efforts to control and
eliminate them. The great energies released in atomic fission
give promise of resources of power never even dreamed of a few
years ago, and open before us a view of a world in which starvation
and poverty have no place. In order to hasten the day when these
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 6 -
potentialities will be realized, we must as quickly and as
fully as military necessities will permit, open these new
fields to private initiative and enterprise. It was these
forces, operating free of governmental control and direction,
it makes sense that now
which brought us to our present high level, and 1 they should be
will accome to all mankind
given the new tools to work with. to see what practical benefits
We, of course, are not alone in our struggle against
world communism. There are other nations who enjoy freedom and
who cherish it as devotedly as we do. As President Eisenhower
has so aptly stated, "More closely than ever before, American
freedom is interlocked with the freedom of other people. In the
unity of the free world lies our best chance to reduce the
Communist threat without war. In the task of maintaining this
unity and strengthening all its parts, the greatest responsi-
bility falls to those who, like ourselves, retain the most
freedom and the most strength."
Our job, therefore, is to strengthen and extend those
alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty, in which we have joined
with other nations, and by which we present a united front to
common
our enemy. In doing so, however, we must not forget, that we
are a sovereign nation among sovereign nations. We cannot dictate,
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 7 -
but must lead and we must recognize that each of our allies
has its own background and problems which may result in
attitudes and opinions different from ours. We must be tolerant
of these differences, just as we are tolerant of differences
amongst ourselves, and we must seek by persuasion and compromise
to reach a common ground. To resort to any other course would
be to follow the pattern of the Communists who are so unsure
& dectate
of themselves that they cannot cooperate, but must conquer A to
even superpaial
ensure the loyalty of other peoples.
In dealing with our allies, however, we must insist upon
the mutuality of our obligations. Although we are the largest
and strongest of the free nations, our resources are not
unlimited, and we cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of
our common defense alone. To do so could only result in our
ultimate weakness, and in bringing about the disaster we have
united to prevent. Each nation must contribute to our mutual
defense according to its ability, and none must be permitted to
shirk its responsibility in this respect. By following this
course, we will develop the spiritual unity which comes from
sharing a common burden and our conviction of ultimate victory
will be strengthened.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
- 8 -
Unfortunately there are in the world some peoples
and their leaders who would stand aloof from the basic
struggle in which we are engaged. It is true some of these
people have only recently achieved national independence
and consequently are faced with domestic problems of over-
whelming magnitude, comparable to those which our nation
faced almost two centuries ago. To these we must extend
our friendship, and we must stand ready to offer any
reasonable material assistance that they need. This aid
and assistance, however, must be intelligently and con-
structively limited, for only by self-reliance can they
achieve the dignity of free men.
As concerned as we must be with the international
aspects of our responsibilities as free men, we must not
neglect our obligation to establish a strong and developing
economy at home. Indeed, unless we maintain a high measure
of domestic prosperity we cannot hope to achieve our inter-
national objectives, for it is that prosperity which supports
our military program and underlies our efforts to make peace
secure.
To achieve this goal, all segments of our people must
cooperate, and none must seek to gain unfair an, advantage at the
expense of another. While there are, and will be, differences
among us as to how our prosperity can best be obtained, and
these differences will in some measure reflect our station
in
life and the way we earn our living, we must never permit
GLEAT them LIBRARY
- 9 -
to become crystallized into class attitudes. It is the theory
of the class struggle, labor against capital, which underlies
the Marxian philosophy, and this is the tool by which the
modern Communist hopes to create dissension among us and to
weaken our cause.
We are a rich nation and we are better nourished, better
clothed, and better housed than any other people on earth. The
automobile, the radio and television, and the telephone, which
to us have become so commonplace, are still regarded as
luxuries by the ordinary citizen in many other countries, and even
the bathtub, to us a necessity, is as rare as a precious jewel
in many areas. Although we have slums in our large cities, and
some rural areas do not enjoy a full measure of modern comfort,
we can, and will, eliminate these deficiencies.
Our prosperity must be achieved through the medium of
private enterprise and initiative. It is because we have been
free to accumulate capital, and to risk it in new and untried
undertakings that we have been able to attain the high levels we
have reached, and it is this freedom upon which we must rely to
carry us forward. True progress can be made only if we are able,
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 10 -
through our own efforts, to make a little more than we need,
and to use this surplus to earn more of the worlds goods for
us. This freedom must be preserved and nurtured, for it is
the foundation upon which our entire structure of liberty rests.
There are those among us who hold the view that our
industrial society has become so complex that we no longer
can afford to encourage private enterprise, but must look to
the federal government as somewhat of a parent whose duty it
is to feed and clothe its children, and to see that they are
all properly sheltered. With this theory I cannot agree.
We must remember that a parental government, once it undertakes
the colossal Job of directly clothing, feeding and sheltering
its brood, inevitably must restrict their freedom and direct
their day by day activities into rigid channels the all power-
ful government deems best for them. Our government, of course,
has its rightful responsibilities in the promotion of our
economic welfare, but its powers in this connection are, and
must continue to be restricted to certain areas of activity.
We must beware of, and avoid the tendency toward parental
government, for in that direction lies the end of our freedom.
In the troubled times in which we live, it is only
natural that the material aspects of our responsibilities
under freedom
- 11 -
should give us so much concern and demand so much of our
attention. Our entire way of life is under attack by an
enemy motivated and guided by a materialistic philosophy, and
we cannot afford to neglect those things in which he professes
to find his strength, and by which he seeks to dominate the
world. If we did otherwise we would fail to meet the challenge
which has been laid down to us.
Despite this urgency, however, we must not forget our
responsibilities to the spiritual and intellectual aspects of
our freedom. It is these which distinguish us from our enemy,
and which in the long run, constitute our greatest strength. The
Communist regards man as only a part of a machine which must
move in predetermined patterns dictated by the movements of
other parts, and by the will of thestate as the supreme operator.
We, on the other hand, profess and uphold the dignity of man
as an individual possessing a free will and capable of achieving
his goals in cooperation with other men. We insist that men
can determine what is best for themselves, only if they are
free to think about and discuss alternative courses of action,
and that there is no man, or group of men, so wise and so
ommiscient that they can lay down the objectives which should be
sought, and the paths which should be followed. It is because
FÜRD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 12 -
we adhere to these principles that we will ultimately triumph,
for it is these which constitute our strongest appeal to the
minds of men all over the world, and which will finally win
unteld millions
over the masses which the Communist rulers have enslaved.
To achieve this end, our first responsibility is to
strengthen our freedom here at home. We must preserve and
strengthen the right of every man to formulate and hold to his
own opinions on religious, political, and social questions,
and we must guarantee his right to speak and discuss them. The
problems which we face in these areas today, complex and vexing
though they are, are no different in their basic nature than
those which have troubled men since the time they first appeared
on this earth. They have continued to plague man only because
he was not free through the greater part of his history, to
discuss them, but labored under one kind of oppression or
another which forced him into patterns determined upon by
rulers who thought that they had found the answers. The fact
that these tyrannies passed away is clear proof that the tyrants
were wrong and the same fate awaits their modern day imitators.
Opinions and ideas, like commodities, receive their
greatest test in the free competition of the market place, and
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 13 -
it is only the best that can survive that competition. The
great and far-seeing men who drafted our Constitution, and
insisted upon inclusion of the Bill of Rights, recognized
this principle, and nothing which has occurred since that day
has weakened its truth. Man has enjoyed the rights of
freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the
press only for a relatively few years, and in that period has
made his greatest progress in his forward march. We must
continue that progress by guarding and preserving the liberties
which made it possible.
In order to formulate their opinions and ideas men
must have access to knowledge and information, and we must
encourage and develop the instrumentalities which disseminate
them. Perhaps the greatest developments of our industrial age
are
is to be found in the field of communication, and the facilities
dectation.
which we have created must be free from governmental authority.
The citizens who print our books and newspapers, and who operate
our radio and television stations must be free of unnecessary & unwise
control and censorhip lest these devices be the means of
imposing political oppression. In the hands of free men, these
facilities are the tools of freedom, but in the hands of tyrants
they are the means of establishing and maintaining power. The
tremendous
men who own and control them, of course, have the responsibility
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 14 -
of seeing that they serve their proper function and operate
in the public good. They must not be used in such a manner
that they promote sensationalism, hysteria, or crime. The
owners and producers, if they live up to their responsibilities
to society as a whole, will not seek temporary commercial
success at the expense of the public good. Furthermore, as
they must know, disregard for the public welfare will inevitably
result in local, state and federal governmental interference
in their day to day operations.
This access to knowledge, of course, must extend to all
fields and must include theories and viewpoints which may be
unpopular. Our scientists and scholars must be free to ex-
periment and to challenge established beliefs for it is
through such experimentation and challenge that we have made
our greatest strides forward. Furthermore, we must all be
given access to their findings and conclusions, for unless
they are available to all, they lose their value.
Liberty, of course, is not license, and to advocate and
defend freedom of speech and discussion does not mean that we
must not protect ourselves against those who naively or
willfully abuse them.
The leaders of world communism are ruthless and crafty
men. One of the principal techniques they have used to facilitate
GERALD FORD LIBEARY
- 15 -
their conquests is that of creating dissension among the citizens
of the nation they seek to overcome, and of having those among
them who share their views insinuate themselves into positions
of authority and power. In recent years, this has been one of
the most serious threats which we have faced.
Unfortunately, there are here in America, some who have
been so beguiled by the siren song of Communism that they
have enlisted in its cause and sought to overthrow the system
which nurtured them. Concealing their true motives and intentions,
they have risen to positions of authority and power in our
government, and by misguiding its policies and misdirecting its
actions, have sought to weaken and ultimately destroy it.
Many of these have been discovered and exposed to public view,
but we must be vigilant lest others take their places.
To do this is not to destroy freedom, but to preserve it,
for these people are the enemies of freedom. Professing a love
of liberty, they have used it as a shield to carry on their
insidious labors at the direction of a foreign power. This
we cannot permit!
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 16 --
But in exposing and destroying this evil we must be
careful. We must do it within the framework of the principles
and guaranties upon which we place such high value, and we must
not become like our enemy in our struggles against him. Our
efforts must be directed against the true adherents of Communism
and we must not be diverted to attacks upon the innocent simply
because they hold opinions opposed to our own, or behave in a
manner of which we do not approve. To do otherwise would permit
the guilty to escape and allow them to carry on their nefarious
work.
We are a diverse nation, composed of many different
racial groupings and embracing many different religious beliefs
and creeds. If we are to remain a free nation, each of us
must become tolerant of our neighbors; tolerant not in the sense
of putting up with something, as a parent is tolerant of a
fractious child, but tolerant in the sense of understanding.
While we all hold to our own beliefs and live up to them as
our conscience dictates, we must recognize and defend the rights
of others to pursue the same course. We must learn to value
and appreciate each man for what he is, and to judge him upon
the basis of what he has done, and we must oppose discriminations
based upon race, creed, or color. This must be done not only
FUR & LIBRARY GERALD
- 17 -
because it is fundamental to the principles we profess, but
because the existence of such discrimination in our midst,
small though it be, has been used by Communist propagandists
in their efforts to gain the adherence of some peoples whose
friendship we desire. But there is another and more positive
reason why we must do this. We are engaged in a colossal
task, and the problems which we face are almost overwhelming.
To achieve success, we must draw upon our human resources to
the fullest extent, and each of our citizens must be permitted
other
the
to contribute his share according to his abilities and unhindered
by artificial barriers. We cannot afford waste, and to deny a
man the privilege of contributing to our common effort because
of his color or religious beliefs is waste of the most inex-
cusable kind.
Another primary responsibility which is imposed upon us
as free men, and one which is particularly important today, is
that of educating our children in the ways of freedom. It is
primarily for them that we labor and strive to preserve our
heritage, * rand we must give them a full appreciation and under-
standing of the values which have made this nation great. The
youth of our nation is our greatest resource and we must not
ng lect it.
FORD i LIBRARY CERALD
- 18 -
In the last fifteen years, circumstances forced us to
devote the principal part of our energies to the winning of
a major war, and the preparation of our military defenses,
and we were not able to build the schools and other educa-
tional facilities which normally would have been constructed.
The fact that in this period our population has increased
tremendously has aggravated the inadequacy of our present
equipment. In almost every area of the country we find
schools that are old and dilapidated, classrooms that are
overcrowded, and playground facilities that are inadequate.
Our first step, then, must be to build new schools,
adequate to our present needs and the needs of the immediate
future. This, of course, is a matter of community and state
responsibility, and we as parents and teachers must see to it
that our local governments take the necessary measures to
remedy the situation. It is groups such as yours which must
take the initiative in planning and preparing programs, for
only you know best the needs of the community, and the means
by which they can be most expediently met. All of us can be
rightfully proud of the forward-looking action taken by our
citizens in this area in meeting the school facilities problem.
The results will pay big dividends in the years ahead and our
children can thank those responsible for having accomplished
the job within the community without interference or bureaucracy
diminished dollars from Washington.
But even more alarming, and less easy to overcome, than
the inadequacy of the physical equipment of our school systems,
- 19 -
is the shortage of teachers which exists throughout the nation.
most communities
The reasons for this are apparent. The salaries which we pay
our teachers have not kept pace with the rise in the cost of
living which has occurred over the past few years, and many
young men and women who otherwise might have entered the pro-
fession have understandably turned to more profitable fields
of endeavor. Regrettably many communities have neglected to
uphold the dignity of the profession and to accord it the high
respect it deserves. The teaching of our children is no menial
task. Individually we should give rightful credit to our
teachers who have played such an important part in shaping
in addition
our own lives and recognize the vital part they play in the
future of our Nation.
We entrust to our teachers the guardianship and guidance
of the minds of our children, and we must be sure that the men
and women who undertake these tasks are well-qualified, well-
paid and well-respected. Only by doing this can we be sure
that we will attract into teaching the number and quality of
men and women we so urgently need.
It is only through promoting and extending our public
school systems that we can hope to equip our children properly
for the tasks that lie before them in the atomic age which we
GEBALO, FORD JOHN
- 20 -
have created. Only if we can instill in them a profound
appreciation of the value of freedom can we prevent them from
becoming slaves of the materialism which now plagues and
threatens.us. This we must not fail to do.
Finally, there is one other responsibility which we
must not forget. This is the responsibility of faith. We may
build the strongest defense, acquire the greatest wealth, and
prosper in all material things, but our accomplishments will have
little meaning if they do not rest upon a firm spiritual founda-
tion. It was strength of spirit which made possible the founding
of this nation, and it was that strength which supported it
through its adversities and brought it victory in the wars it
has fought. We must renew and replenish that strength. With
faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in our freedom, we
will surmount the obstacles which lie before us and establish
a secure peace in a world where free men may work and live
without fear.
Speech delivered to Grand Rapids P.T.A. Council
Civic Auditorium - - Wednesday, February 17th, 1954
Mrs. Robert McBain - - Chairman.
We Americans are a wealthy nation. We are wealthy not only
in material things, the natural resources with which we have been blessed
and. the high standard of living we have been able to produce from them,
but we are wealthy as well because of the liberties we enjoy and the
traditions of freedom which are so essential a part of our national
heritage and which have grown and strengthened in the one hundred and
eighty years of our independence.
The freedom of enterprise and initiative, the personal
liberties, and the freedom of election which we enjoy have been so
long a part of our way of life that we sometimes forget that they are
a part of our wealth and that, like all articles of value they must be
guarded and protected. We also sometimes lose sight of the fact that
beare a corresponding
he who possesses wealth also possesses responsibility and that this
applies as well to our wealth of freedom as it does to our physical
wealth. It is about the responsibilities which our freedom imposes
upon us today, both as a nation and as individuals, that I would like
to talk to you,
discuss Tonight
There are men in the world today who envy and fear us.
tremendous
They are jealous of our material wealth, but they fear us far more
priciless
because of our freedom, for it is that freedom which is the source of
our strength and which constitutes the greatest threat to their power
ruthless
over hundreds of millions of people, and their aspirations to world
dominance. The Communist nations possess the fertility of soil and
the metal and mineral deposits to feed, clothe, and house themselves
as well as we have, and to produce the other comforts and luxuries
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 2 -
museadly
which modern science and industry have provided, but they have failed
A
to do so. They have failed solely because they are enslaved by a tyranny
so all pervading that it puts to shame any that have gone before. The tyranical
rulers of these nations, conscious of their failure and inability to
fulfill the promises by which they led their people to forego freedom,
have turned their unrest and dissatisfaction toward the free world and
have entered upon a colossal effort to destroy it. The leaders of the
Communist conspiracy know full well that the existence of freedom is
the most immediate and direct threat to their power, for the longer
distressed of destitute
their people see before them the magnificent achievements of free men,
the more likely they are to discover the true reason for their hard-
Kremlin imposed
ship and suffering under tyranny, and to break the bonds which prevent
1
them from participating in those achievements.
This threat to our security, unfortunate and unnecessary
as it appears to us, operates in large measure to define our responsi-
bilities as free men in the world today. The United States, because
it is spiritually and materially the wealthiest nation on earth, is
both from wrttin + without
the principal object of this Communist conspiracy 1 andVmust be the conter
consequently we will
of the resistance to its plans for world conquest. We are thus forced,
against our will and desire, into a concern for some material things
which we might otherwise avoid.
This then is our first responsibility as a nation under
freedom. We must survive and to do 80 we must build and maintain our
military strength so that we can defend ourselves against any attack,
and we must be prepared to retaliate so surely and 80 destructively
GERALA FORD LIBRARY
- 3 -
that our enemies will be convinced that their aggression will be suicidal.
In so preparing ourselves, however, we must not lose sight of the fact
that we are a peaceful nation and that our primary effort must be directed
toward maintenance and advancement of a standard of living which is the
wonder of the world. Our military program, essential as it is, must
not become the mainstay of our presperity, but must be adapted to an
economy directed toward the improvement of ourselves and the sharing
of our achievements with the less fortunate peoples of the world.
To do this we must strike a balance, and this can best be
accomplished by placing greater reliance upon the weapons and equipment
which modern science has given us. Offecer We must turn our attention and efforts
to greater emphasis upon the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb and to the
means of delivering them to the target, for it is in these weapons that
we find the greatest deterrent to our enemy. It is almost inconceivable
even one The Kremlin
that any national leader, knowing the tremendous destructive power of
insane
these weapons, would be so mad as to unleash them upon his people and
bring upon them the horror and suffering which they can produce. We
must expand our guided missile program, both in terms of production and
research, for in this device apparently lies the key to the defense of
our cities. You have all seen the recent releases about "Nike", that
classically named marvel of electronics, almost unbelievable in its
reactions, which when once launched, can locate its objective, direct
itself toward it, and destrey it, all without human intervention. When
we remember this device is the productt of only a relatively few years
of scientific research and technical effort, we can only wonder at the
achievements which lie before us.
GERALD FORD IBRAR
- 4 -
By placing greater reliance upon these modern weapons,
costly as such a program may appear, we can achieve our objective of
a strong national defense while reducing its cost and its effect upon
our economy. We can thus reduce in some measure the tax burden which
we must all bear, leave our industry largely free to produce the goods
of peace, and limit the number of young men we must take into the armed
services. If such a course accomplished nothing more, this last objective
would be well worth the cost, for the maintenance of a large military
force is the most expensive aspect of our defensive effort, both in terms
of dollars and in terms of its impact upon the lives and careers of
our sons. We cannot and must not, in the name of defense, spend our-
self into bankruptcy and mortgage our future to such an extent that our
economic
enemy will achieve, through our collapse, the victory he so ardently
desires.
In developing and expanding our nuclear weapons we must not
forget that the basic forces which they employ have tremendous and
unforeseen potentialities for peaceful applications. In the small
beginnings which have been made in the use of radioactive materials
in medicine we can see already the possibility of discovering the cause
and cure of many maladies which afflict mankind and which have resisted
our best efforts to control and eliminate them. The great energies
released in atomic fission give promise of resources of power never
even dreamed of a few years ago, and open before us a view of a world
in which starvation and poverty have no place. In order to hasten the
day when these potentialities will be realized, we must as quickly and
as fully as military necessities will permit, open these new fields to
GERALD
- 5 -
to private initiative and enterprise. It was these forces, operating
free of governmental control and direction, which brought us to our
present high level and they should be given the new tools to work with.
We, of course, are not alone in our struggle against world
communism. There are other nations who enjoy freedom and who cherish
it as devotedly as we do. As President Eisenhower has so aptly stated:
и More closely than ever before, American freedom is interlocked with
the freedom of other people. In the unity of the free world lies our
best chance to reduce the Communist threat without war. In the task of
maintaining this unity and strengthening all its parts, the greatest
responsibility falls to those who, like ourselves, retain the most
freedom and the most strength."
Our job, therefore, is to strengthen and extend those
alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty, in which we have joined with
other nations and by which we present a united front to our enemy.
In doing so, however, we must not forget that we are a sovereign nation
among sovereign nations. We cannot dictate, but must lead and we must
recognize that each of our allies has its own background and problems
which may result in attitudes and opinions different from ours. We
must be tolerant of these differences, just as we are tolerant of
differences amongst ourselves, and we must seek by persuasion and
compromise to reach a common ground. To resort to any other course
would be to follow the pattern of the Communists who are so unsure of
themselves that they cannot co-operate, but must conquer to ensure the
loyalty of other peoples.
GETAL CORD
- 6 -
In dealing with our allies, however, we must insist upon
the mutuality of our obligations. Although we are the largest and strongest
of the free nations our resources are not unlimited and we cannot be
expected to shoulder the burden of our common defense alone. To do so
could only result in our ultimate weakness and in bringing about the
disaster we have united to prevent. Each nation must contribute to our
mutual defense according to its ability and none must be permitted to
shirk its responsibility in this respect. By following this course,
we will develop the spiritual unity which comes from sharing a common
burden and our conviction of ultimate victory will be strengthened.
There are in the world many peoples who would stand aloof
from the struggle in which we are engaged. Some of these have only
recently achieved national independence and are faced with domestic
problems of overwhelming magnitude, comparable to those which our nation
faced almost two centuries ago. To these we must extend our friendship
and we must stand ready to offer the material assistance that they need.
This aid, however, must be limited for only by self-reliance can they
achieve the dignity of free men.
As concerned as we must be with the international aspects
of our responsibilities as free men, we must not neglect our obligation
to establish a strong and developing economy at home. Indeed, unless
we maintain a high measure of domestic prosperity we cannot hope to
achieve our international objectives for it is that prosperity which
supports our military program and underlies our efforts to make peace
secure.
- 7 -
To achieve this goal, all segments of our people must co-
operate and none must seek to gain an advantage at the expense of an-
other. While there are, and will be, differences among us as to how
our prosperity can best be obtained and these differences will in some
measure reflect our station in life and the way we earn our living, we
must never permit them to become crystallized into class attitudes.
It is the theory of the class struggle, labor against capital, which
underlies the Marxian philosophy and this is the tool by which the modern
Communist hopes to create dissension among us and to weaken our cause.
We are a rich nation and we are better nourished, better
clothed, and better housed than any other people on earth. The
automobile, the radio and television, and the telephone, which to
us have become so commonplace, are still regarded as luxuries by the
ordinary citizen in many other countries and even the bathtub, to us
a necessity, is as rare as a precious jewel in many areas. Although
we have slums in our large cities and some rural areas do not enjoy
a full measure of modern comfort, we can, and will, eliminate
these deficiencies.
Our prosperity must be achieved through the mediam of
private enterprise and initiative. It is because we have been free
to accumulate capital and to risk it in new and untried undertakings
that we have been able to attain the high levels we have reached, and
it is this freedom upon which we must rely to carry us forward. True
progress can be made only if we are able, through our own efforts, to
make a little more than we need and to use this surplus to earn more
of the worlds goods for us. This freedom must be preserved and nurtured
for it is the foundation upon which our entire structure of liberty rests.
- 8 -
There are those among us who hold the view that our
industrial society has become 80 complex that we no longer can afford
to encourage private enterprise, but must look to the federal
government as somewhat of a parent whose duty it is to feed and clothe
its children and to see that they are all properly sheltered. With
this theory I cannot agree and I remind its adherents that while a parent
has certain duties, he also has the right to discipline his children,
to restrict their freedom and to direct their activities into the
channels he deems best for them. Our government, of course, has its
responsibilities in the promotion of our economic welfare, but its
powers in this connection are, and must continue to be restricted to
certain areas of activity. We must beware of, and avoid the tendency
toward parental government for in that direction lies the end of our
freedom.
In the troubled times in which we live, it is only natural
that the material aspects of our responsibilities under freedom should
give us so much concern and demand so much of our attention. Our
entire way of life is under attack by an onemy motivated and guided by
a materialistic philosophy and we cannot afford to neglect those things
in which he professes to find his strength and by which he seeks to
dominate the world. If we did otherwise we would fail to meet the challenge
which has been laid down to us.
Despite this urgency, however, we must not forget our
responsibilities to the spiritual and intellectual aspects of our
freedom. It is these which distinguish us from our enemy, and which,
- 9 -
in the long run, constitute our greatest strength. The Communist
regards man as only a part of a machine which must move in predetermined
patterns dictated by the movements of other parts, and by the will of
the state as the supreme operator. We, on the other hand, profess and
uphold the dignity of man as an individual possessing a free will and
capable of achieving his goals in co-operation with other men. We
insist that men can determine what is best for themselves, only if they
are free to think about and discuss alternative courses of action and
that there is no man, or group of men, so wise and 80 omniscient that
they can lay down the objectives which should be sought, and the paths
which whould be followed. It is because we adhere to these principles
that we will ultimately triumph for it is these which constitute our
strongest appeal to the minds of man all over the world, and which
will finally win over the masses which the communist rulers have enslaved.
To achieve this end, our first responsibility is to
strengthen our freedom here at home. We must preserve and strengthen
the right of every man to formulate and hold to his own opinions on
religious, political, and social questions, and we must guarantee his
right to speak and discuss them. The problems which we face in these
areas today, complex and vexing though they are, are no different in
their basic nature than those which have troubled men since the time
they first appeared on this earth. They have continued to plague man
only because he was not free through the greater part of his history,
to discuss them, but labored under one kind of oppression or another
which forced him into patterns determined upon by rulers who thought
that they had found the answers. The fact that these tyrannies passed
i
FORD
GERALD
- 10 -
away is clear proof that the tyrants were wrong and the same fate awaits
their modern day imitators.
Opinions and ideas, like commodities, receive their
greatest test in the free competition of the market place, and it
is only the best that can survive that competition. The great and
far seeing men who drafted our Constitution and insisted upon inclusion
of the Bill of Rights, recognized this principle and nothing which
has occurred since that day has weakened its truth. Man has enjoyed
the rights of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of
the press only for a relatively few years and in that period has made
his greatest progress in his forward march. We must continue that
progress by guarding and preserving the liberties which made it
possible.
In order to formulate their opinions and ideas men must
have access to knowledge and information and we must encourage and de-
velop the instrumentalities which disseminate them. Perhaps the greatest
developments of our industrial age is to be found in the field of
communication and the facilities which we have created must be free
from governmental authority. The citizens who print our books and news-
papers and who operate our radio and television stations must be free
of unnecessary control and censorship lest these devices be the means
of imposing political oppression. In the hands of free men, these facil-
ities are the tools of freedom, but in the hands of tyrants they are
the means of establishing and maintaining power. The men who own and
control them, of course, have the responsibility of seeing that they
- 11 -
serve their proper function and operate in the public good. They must
not be used in such a manner that they promote sensationalism,
hysteria, or crime, but the avoidance of this evil must be largely
left to the owners themselves who must judge the worth of their
product by the extent to which it finds acceptance in the market place.
This access to knowledge, of course, must extend to all
fields and must include theories and viewpoints which may be un-
popular. Our scientists and scholars must be free to experiment and
to challenge established beliefs for it is through such experimentation
and challenge that we have made our greatest strides forward. Further-
more, we must all be given access to their findings and conclusions,
for unless they are available to all, they lose their value.
Liberty, of course, is not license and to advocate and
defend freedom of speech and discussion does not mean that we must
not protect ourselves against those who abuse them.
The leaders of world communism are ruthless and crafty
men. One of the principal techniques they have used to facilitate their
conquests is that of creating dissension among the citizens of the
nation they seek to overcome and of having those among them who share
their views insinuate themselves into positions of authority and power.
In recent years, this has been one of the most serious threats which
we have faced.
Unfortunately, there are here in America, some who have
been 80 beguiled by the siren song of communism that they have enlisted
CRACO R. FORD
- 12 -
in its cause and sought to overthrow the system which nurtured them.
Concealing their true motives and intentions, they have risen to
positions of authority and power in our government and by misguiding
its policies and misdirecting its actions have sought to weaken and
ultimately destroy it. Many of these have been discovered and ex-
posed to public view, but we must be vigilant lest others take
their places.
To do this is not to destroy freedom, but to preserve it,
for these people are the enemies of freedom. Professing a love of
liberty, they have used it as a shield to carry on their insidious
labors at the direction of a foreign power. Whis we cannot permit!
But in exposing and destroying this evil we must be careful.
We must do it within the framework of the principles and guaranties
upon which we place such high value, and we must not become like our
enemy in our struggles against him. Our efforts must be directed
against the true adherents of communism and we must not be diverted
to attacks upon the innocent simply because they hold opinions
opposed to our own, or behave in a manner of which we do not approve.
To do otherwise would permit the guilty to escape and allow them to
carry on their nefarious work.
We are a diverse nation, composed of many different
racial groupings and embracing many different religious beliefs and
creeds. If we are to remain a free nation, each of us must become tol-
erant of our neighbors; tolerant not in the sense of putting up with
GERALD TUVRBIT FORD
- 13 -
something, as a parent is tolerant of a fractious child, but tolerant
in the sense of understanding. While we all hold to our own beliefs
and live up to them as our conscience dictates, we must recognize and
defend the rights of others to pursue the same course. We must learn
to value and appreciate each man for what he is and to judge him upon
the basis of what he has done, and we must oppose discriminations based
upon race, creed, or color. This must be done not only because it is
fundamental to the principles we profess, but because the existence
of such discrimination in our midst, small though it be, has been
used by communist propagandists in their efforts to gain the adherence
of some peoples whose friendship we desire. But there is another and
more positive reason why we must do this. We are engaged in a colossal
task and the problems which we face are almost owerwhelming. To
achieve success, we must draw upon our human resources to the fullest
extent and each of our citizens must be permitted to contribute his
share according to his abilities and unhindered by artificial barriers.
We cannot afford waste, and to deny a man the privilege of contributing
to our common effort because of his color or religious beliefs is waste
of the most inexcusable kind.
Another primary responsibility which is imposed upon us
as free men, and one which is particularly important today, is that
of educating our children in the ways of freedom. It is primarily for
them that we labor and strive to preserve our heritage, and we must
give them a full appreciation and understanding of the values which have
made this nation great. The youth of our nation is our greatest resource
and we must not neglect it.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
- 14 -
In the last fifteen years, circumstances forced us to
devote the principal part of our energies to the winning of a major
war and the preparation of our military defenses and we were not able
to build the schools and other educational facilities which normally
would have been constructed. The fact that in this period our pop-
ulation has increased tremendously has enhanced the inadequacy of our
present equipment. In almost every area of the country we find schools
that are old and dilapidated, classrooms that are overcrowded, and
playground facilities that are inadequate.
Our first step, then, must be to build new schools, adequate
to our present needs and the needs of the immediate future. This, of
course, is a matter of community and state responsibility and we as
parents and teachers must see to it that our local governments take
the necessary measures to remedy the situation. It is groups such as
yours which must take the initiative in planning and preparing programs,
for only you know best the needs of your community and the means by
which they can be most expediently met.
But even more alarming, and less easy to overcome, than
the inadequacy of the physical equipment of our school systems, is
the shortage of teachers which exists throughout the nation. The
reasons for this are apparent. The salaries which we pay our teachers
have not kept pace with the rise in the cost of living which has
occurred over the past few years and the young men and women who
otherwise might have entered the profession have turned to more
profitable fields of endeavor. Many communities, furthermore, have
FORD
neglected to uphold the dignity of the profession and to accord it the
GERALD
- 15 -
respect it deserves. Regrettably, in some areas teaching is today
looked upon as a menial task and those who engage in it are held in
low esteem.
We must move, and move quickly, to remedy this situation.
We entrust to our teachers the guardianship and guidance of the minds
of our children and we must be sure that the men and women who under-
take these tasks are well@qualified, well-paid, and well-respected.
Only by doing this can we be sure that we will attract into teaching the
number and quality of men and women we so urgently need.
It is only through promoting and extending our public
school systems that we can hope to equip our children properly for
the tasks that lie before them in the atomic age which we have created.
Only if we can instill in them a prefound appreciation of the value of
freedom can we prevent them from becoming slaves of the materialiam
which now plagues and threatens us. This we must not fail to do.
Finally, there is one other responsibility which we must
not forget. That is the responsibility of faith. We may build the
strongest defense, acquire the greatest wealth, and prosper in all
material things, but our accomplishments will have little meaning if
they do not rest upon a firm spiritual foundation. It was strength of
spirit which made possible the founding of this nation and it was
that strength which supported it through its adversities and brought
it victory in the wars it has fought. We must renew and replenish
that strength. With faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in our
FORD
freedom, we will surmount the obstacles which lie before us and establish
a secure peace in a world where free men may work and live without fear.
GERALO
Speech by -
REPRESENTATIVE GERALD R. FORD, JR.
P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet
Grand Rapids Civic Autidorium, February 17, 1954
We Americans are a wealthy nation. We are wealthy not only in material
things, the natural resources with which we have been blessed, and the high
standard of living we have been able to produce from them, but we are wealthy as
well because of the liberties we enjoy and the traditions of freedom which are so
essential a part of our national heritage, and which have grown and strengthened
in the one hundred and eighty years of our independence.
The freedom of enterprise and initiative, the personal liberties, and the
freedom of election which we enjoy have been so long a part of our way of life
that we sometimes forget that they are a part of our wealth, and that, like all
articles of value, they must be guarded and protected. We also sometimes lose
sight of the fact that he who possesses wealth also bears a corresponding respon-
sibility, and that this applies as well to our wealth of freedom as it does to
our physical and material assets. It is about the responsibilities which our freedom
imposes upon us today, both as a nation and as individuals, that I would like to
discuss tonight.
There are men in the world today who envy and fear us. They are jealous
of our tremendous material wealth, but they fear us far more because of our price-
less freedom, for it is that freedom which is the source of our strength, and which
constitutes the greatest threat to their power over hundreds of millions of people
and their aspirations to ruthless world dominance. The Communist nations possess
the fertility of soil and the metal and mineral deposits to feed, clothe, and
house themselves as well as we have, and to produce the other comforts and luxuries
which modern science and industry have provided, but they have miserably failed to
do so. They have failed solely because they are enslaved by a tyranny so all
pervading that it puts to shame any that have gone before. The tyranical rulers
of these nations, conscious of their failure and inability to fulfill the promises
by which they led their people to forego freedom, have turned their unrest and dis-
satisfaction toward the free world, and have entered upon a colossal effort to
destroy it. The leaders of the Communist conspiracy know full well that the exis-
tence of freedom is the most immediate and direct threat to their power, for the
longer their distressed people see before them the magnificent achievements of
free men, the more likely they are to discover the true reason for their hardship
and suffering under tyranny, and to break the Kremlin-imposed bonds which prevent
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
them from participating in those achievements.
Speesh - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-2-
This threat to our security, unfortunate and unnecessary as it appears to
us, operates in large measure to define our responsibilities as free men in the
world today. The United States, because it is spiritually and materially the
wealthiest nation on earth, is the principal object of this Communist conspiracy,
both from within and without, and consequently we will be the center of the re-
sistance to its plans for world conquest. We are thus forced, against our will
and desire, into a concern for some material things which we might otherwise avoid.
This then is our first responsibility as a nation under freedom. We must
survive, and to do so, we must build and maintain our military strength so that
we can defend ourselves against any attack, and we must be prepared to retaliate
so surely and so destructively that our enemies will be convinced that their aggres-
sion will be suicidal. In so preparing ourselves, however, we must not lose sight
of the fact that we are a peaceful nation, and that our primary effort must be
directed toward maintenance and advancement of a standard of living which is the
wonder of the world. Our military program, essential as it is, must not become the
mainstay of our prosperity, but must be adapted to an economy directed toward the
improvement of ourselves, and the sharing of our achievements with the less fortu-
nate peoples of the world.
To do this we must strike a delicate balance, and this can best be accomplished
by placing greater reliance upon the weapons and equipment which modern science has
given us. Of necessity we must turn our attention and efforts to greater emphasis
upon the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb, and to the means of delivering them to the
target, for it is in these weapons that we find the greatest deterrent to our enemy.
It is almost inconceivable that any national leader, even one in the Kremlin,
knowing the tremendous destructive power of these weapons, would be so insane as
to unleash them upon his people and bring upon them the horror and suffering which
they can produce. We must expand our guided missile program, both in terms of
production and research, for in this device apparently lies the key to the defense
of our cities. You have all seen the recent releases about "Nike", that classically
named marvel of electronics, almost unbelievable in its reactions, which when once
launched, can locate its objective, direct itself toward it, and destroy it, all
without human intervention. When we remember this device is the produce of only a
relatively few years of scientific research and technical effort, we can only
wonder at the achievements which lie before us.
GERALD FORD FRANT
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-3-
By placing greater reliance upon these modern weapons, costly as such a
program may appear, we can achieve our objective of a strong national defense while
reducing its cost and its effect upon our economy. We can thus reduce in some
measure the tax burden which we must all bear, leave our industry largely free to
produce the goods of peace, and limit the number of young men we must take into the
armed services. If such a course accomplished nothing more, this last objective
would be well worth the cost, for the maintenance of a large military force is the
most expensive aspect of our defensive effort, both in terms of dollars and in terms
of its impact upon the lives and careers of our sons. We cannot, and must not,
in the name of defense, spend ourself into bankruptcy and mortgage our nation's
future to such an extent that our enemy will achieve, through our economic collapse,
the victory he so ardently desires.
In developing and expanding our nuclear weapons we must not forget that the
basic forces which they employ have tremendous and unforeseen potentialities for
peaceful applications. In the small beginnings which have been made in the use of
radioactive materials in medicine, we can see already the possibility of discovering
the cause and cure of many maladies which afflict mankind and which have resisted
our best efforts to control and eliminate them. The great energies released in atomic
fission give promise of resources of power never even dreamed of a few years ago,
and open before us a view of a world in which starvation and poverty have no place.
In order to hasten the day when these potentialities will be realized, we must as
quickly and as fully as military necessities will permit, open these new fields to
private initiative and enterprise. It was these forces, operating free of govern-
mental control and direction, which brought us to our present high level, and it
makes sense that now they should be given the new tools to work with, to see what
practical benefits will accrue to all mankind.
We, of course, are not alone in our struggle against world communism. There
are other nations who enjoy freedom and who cherish it as devotedly as we do. As
President Eisenhower has so aptly stated, "More closely than ever before, American
freedom is interlocked with the freedom of other people. In the unity of the free
world lies our best chance to reduce the Communist threat without war. In the task
of maintaining this unity and strengthening all its parts, the greatest responsibility
falls to those who, like ourselves, retain the most freedom and the most strength."
Our job, therefore, is to strengthen and extend those alliances like the
North Atlantic Treaty, in which we have joined with other nations, and by which
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
present a united front to our common enemy. In doing so, however, we must not forget
Speach - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-4-
that we are a sovereign nation among sovereign nations. We cannot dictate, but must
lead and we must recognize that each of our allies has its own background and problems
which may result in attitudes and opinions different from ours. We must be tolerant
of these differences, just as we are tolerant of differences amongst ourselves,
and we must seek by persuasion and compromise to reach a common ground. To resort
to any other course would be to follow the pattern of the Communists who are so
unsure of themselves that they cannot cooperate, but must conquer and dictate to
ensure even superficial loyalty of other peoples.
In dealing with our allies, however, we must insist upon the mutuality of
our obligations. Although we are the largest and strongest of the free nations, our
resources are not unlimited, and we cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of
our common defense alone. To do so could only result in our ultimate weakness, and
in bringing about the disaster we have united to prevent. Each nation must contri-
bute to our mutual defense according to its ability, and none must be permitted to
shirk its responsibility in this respect. By following this course, we will
develop the spiritual unity which comes from sharing a common burden and our con-
viction of ultimate victory will be strengthened.
Unfortunately there are in the world some peoples and their leaders who would
stand aloof from the basic struggle in which we are engaged. It is true some of
these people have only recently achieved national independence and consequently are
faced with domestic problems of overwhelming magnitude, comparable to those which
our nation faced almost two centuries ago, To these we must extend our friendship,
and we must stand ready to offer any reasonable material assistance that they need.
This aid and assistance, however, must be intelligently and constructively limited,
for only by self-reliance can they achieve the dignity of free men.
As concerned as we must be with the international aspects of our responsibi-
lities as free men, we must not neglect our obligation to establish a strong and
developing economy at home. Indeed, unless we maintain a high measure of domestic
prosperity we cannot hope to achieve our international objectives, for it is that
prosperity which supports our military program and underlies our efforts to make
peace secure.
To achieve this goal, all segments of our people must cooperate, and none
must seek to gain an unfair advantage at the expense of another. While there are,
and will be, differences among us as to how our prosperity can best be obtained,
and these differences will in some measure reflect our station in life and the way
we earn our living, we must never permit them to become crystallized into class
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-5-
attitudes. It is the theory of the class struggle, labor against capital, which
underlies the Marxian philosophy, and this is the tool by which the modern Communist
hopes to create dissension among us and to weaken our cause.
We are a rich nation and we are better nourished, better clothed, and better
housed than any other people on earth. The automobile, the radio and television,
and the telephone, which to us have become so commonplace, are still regarded as
luxuries by the ordinary citizen in many other countries, and even the bathtub,
to us a necessity, is as rare as a precious jewel in many areas. Although we have
slums in our large cities, and somerural areas do not enjoy a full measure of
modern comfort, we can, and will eliminate these deficiencies.
Our prosperity must be achieved through the medium of private enterprise and
initiative. It is because we have been free to accumulate capital, and to risk it
in new and untried undertakings that we have been able to attain the high levels
we have reached, and it is this freedom upon which we must rely to carry us forward.
True progress can be made only if we are able, through our own efforts, to make a
little more than we need, and to use this surplus to earn more of the world's goods
for us. This freedom must be preserved and nurtured, for it is the foundation upon
which our entire structure of liberty rests.
There are those among us who hold the view that our industrial society has
become so complex that we no longer can afford to encourage private enterprise, but
must look to the federal government as somewhat of a parent whose duty it is to
feed and clothe its children, and to see that they are all properly sheltered. With
this theory I cannot agree. We must remember that a parental government, once it
undertakes the colossal job of directly clothing, feeding and sheltering its brood,
inevitably must restrict their freedom and direct their day by day activities into
rigid channels the all-powerful government deems best for them. Our government,
of course, has its rightful responsibilities in the promotion of our economic
welfare, but its powers in this connection are, and must continue to be restricted
to certain areas of activity. We must beware of, and avoid the tendency toward
parental government, for in that direction lies the end of our freedom.
In the troubled times in which we live, it is only natural that the material
aspects of our responsibilities under freedom should give us so much concern and
demand so much of our attention. Our entire way of life is under attack by an enemy
motivated and guided by a materialistic philosophy, and we cannot afford to neglect
those things in which he professes to find his strength, and by which he seeks to
dominate the world. If we did otherwise we would fail to meet the challenge which
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-6-
has been laid down to us.
Despite this urgency, however, we must not forget our responsibilities to the
spiritual and intellectual aspects of our freedom. It is these which distinguish
us from our enemy, and which in the long run, constitute our greatest strength. The
Communist regards man as only a part of a machine which must move in predetermined
patterns dictated by the movements of other parts, and by the will of the state as
the supreme operator. We, on the other hand, profess and uphold the dignity of man
as an individual possessing a free will and capable of achieving his goals in coopera-
tion with other men. We insist that men can determine what is best for themselves,
only if they are free to think about and discuss alternative courses of action, and
that there is no man, or group of men, so wise and so omniscient that they can lay
down the objectives which should be sought, and the paths which should be followed.
It is because we adhere to these principles that we will ultimately triumph, for it
is these which constitute our strongest appeal to the minds of men all over the world,
and which will finally win over the untold millions which the Communist rulers have
enslaved.
To achieve this end, our first responsibility is to strengthen our freedom
here at home. We must preserve and strengthen the right of every man to formulate
and
hold to his own opinions on religious, political, and social questions, and
we must guarantee his right to speak and discuss them. The problems which we face
in these areas today, complex and vexing though they are, are no different in their
basic nature than those which have troubled men since the time they first appeared
on this earth. They have continued to plague man only because he was not free through
the greater part of his history, to discuss them, but labored under one kind of oppre-
ssion or another which forced him into patterns determined upon by rulers who thought
that they had found the answers. The fact that these tyrannies passed away is clear
proof that the tyrants were wrong and the same fate awaits their modern day imitators.
Opinions and ideas, like commodities, receive their greatest test in the free
competition of the market place, and it is only the best that can survive that com-
petition. The great and far-seeing men who drafted our Constitution, and insisted
upon inclusion of the Bill of Rights, recognized this principle, and nothing which
has occurred since that day has weakened its truth. Man has enjoyed the rights of
freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press only for a relatively
few years, and in that period has made his greatest progress in his forward march.
We must continue that progress by guarding and preserving the liberties which made
GENALD FORD LIBRARY
it possible.
Speech - P. T. A. Fo nders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-7-
In order to formulate their opinions and ideas men must have access to
knowledge and information, and we must encourage and develop the instrumentalities
which disseminate them. Perhaps the greatest developments of our industrial age
are to be found in the field of communication, and the facilities which we have
created must be free from governmental dictation. The citizens who print our books
and newspapers, and who operate our radio and television stations must be free of
unnecessary and unwise control and censorship lest these devices be the means of
imposing political oppression. In the hands of free men, these facilities are the
tools of freedom, but in the hands of tyrants they are the means of establishing
and maintaining power. The men who own and control them, of course, have the
tremendous responsibility of seeing that they serve their proper function and
operate in the public good. They must not be used in such a manner that they promote
sensationalism, hysteria, or crime. The owners and producers, if they live up to
their responsibilities to society as a whole, will not seek temporary commercial
success at the expense of the public good. Furthermore, as they must know, dis-
regard for the public welfare will inevitably result in local, state and federal
governmental interference in their day to day operations.
This access to knowledge, of course, must extend to all fields and must
include theories and viewpoints which may be unpopular. Our scientists and scholars
must be free to experiment and to challenge established beliefs for it is through
such experimentation and challenge that we have made our greatest strides forward.
Furthermore, we must all be given access to their findings and conclusions, for
unless they are available to all, they lose their value.
Liberty, of course, is not license, and to advocate and defend freedom of
speech and discussion does not mean that we must not protect ourselves against those
who naively or willfully abuse them.
The leaders of world communism are ruthless and crafty men. One of the
principal techniques they have used to facilitate their conquests is that of creating
dissension among the citizens of the nation they seek to overcome, and of having
those among them who share their views insinuate themselves into positions of
authority and power. In recent years, this has been one of the most serious threats
which we have faced.
Unfortunately, there are here in America, some who have been so beguiled by
the siren song of Communism that they have enlisted in its cause and sought to over-
throw the system which nurtured them. Concealing their true motives and intentions
GENALD FORD LIBRARY
they have risen to positions of authority and power in our government, and by
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-8-
misguiding its policies and misdirecting its actions, have sought to weaken and
ultimately destroy it. Many of these have been discovered and exposed to public view,
but we must be vigilant lest others take their places.
To do this is not to destroy freedom, but to preserve it, for these people
are the enemies of freedom. Professing a love of liberty, they have used it as a
shield to carry on their insidious labors at the direction of a foreign power. This
we cannot permit!
But in exposing and destroying this evil we must be careful. We must do it
within the framework of the principles and guaranties upon which we place such high
value, and we must not become like our enemy in our struggles against him. Our efforts
must be directed against the true adherents of Communism and we must not be diverted
to attacks upon the innocent simply because they hold opinions opposed to our own,
or behave in a manner of which we do not approve. To do otherwise would permit
the guilty to escape and allow them to carry on their nefarious work.
We are a diverse nation, composed of many different racial groupings and
embracing many different religious beliefs and creeds. If we are to remain a free
nation, each of us must become tolerant of our neighbors; tolerant not in the sense
of putting up with something, as a parent is tolerant of a fractious child, but
tolerant in the sense of understanding. While we all hold to our own beliefs and
live up to them as our conscience dictates, we must recognize and defend the rights
of others to pursue the same course. We must learn to value and appreciate each
man for what he is, and to judge him upon the basis of what he has done, and we must
oppose discriminations based upon race, creed, or color. This must be done not only
because it is fundamental to the principles we profess, but because the existence
of such discrimination in our midst, small though it be, has been used by Communist
propogandists in their efforts to gain the adherence of some peoples whose friendship
we desire. But there is another and more positive reason why we must do this. We
are engaged in a colossal task, and the problems which we face are almost overwhelming.
To aehieve success, we must draw upon our human resources to the fullest extend, and
each of our citizens must be permitted to contribute his share according to his
abilities and unhindered by artificial barriers. We cannot afford waste, and to
deny a man the privilege of contributing to our common effort because of his color
or religious beliefs is waste of the most inexcusable kind.
Another primary responsibility which is imposed upon us as free men, and one
which is particularly important today, is that of educating our children in the ways
of freedom. It is primarily for them that we labor and strive to preserve our heri-
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-9-
tage and we must give them a full appreciation and understanding of the values which
have made this nation great. The youth of our nation is our greatest resource and
we must not neglect it.
In the last fifteen years, circumstances forced us to devote the principal
part of our energies to the winning of a major war, and the preparation of our mili-
tary defenses, and we were not able to build the schools and other educational faci-
lities which normally would have been constructed. The fact that in this period our
population has increased tremendously has aggravated the inadequacy of our present
equipment. In almost every area of the country we find schods that are old and di-
lapidated, classrooms that are overcrowded, and playground facilities that are in-
adequate.
Our first step, then, must be to build new schools, adequate to our present
needs and the needs of the immediate future. This, of course, is a matter of community
and state responsibility, and we as parents and teachers must see to it that our
local governments take the necessary measures to remedy the situation. It is groups
such as yours which must take the initiative in planning and preparing programs, for
only you know best the needs of the community, and the means by which they can be
most expediently met. All of us can be rightfully proud of the forward-looking action
taken by our citizens in this area in meeting the school facilities problem. The
results will pay big dividends in the years ahead and our children can thank those
responsible for having accomplished the job within the community without interference
or bureaucracy-diminished dollars from Washington.
But even more alarming, and less easy to overcome, than the inadequacy of
the physical equipment of our school systems, is the shortage of teachers which exists
throughout the nation. The reasons for this are apparent. The salaries which most
communities pay our teachers have not kept pace with the rise in the cost of living
which has occurred over the past few years, and many young men and women who otherwise
might have entered the profession have understandably turned to more profitable fields
of endeavor. Regrettably many communities have neglected to uphold the dignity of
the profession and to accord it the high respect it deserves. The teaching of our
children is no menial task. Individually we should give rightful credit to our
teachers who have played such an important part in shaping our own lives and in
addition recognize the vital part they play in the future of our nation.
We entrust to our teachers the guardianship and guidance of the minds of our
children, and we must be sure that the men and women who undertake these tasks are
well-qualified, well paid and well-respected. Only by doing this can we be sure that
we will attract into teaching the number. and quality of men and women we so urgently
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-10-
need.
It is only through promoting and extending our school systems that we can
hope to equip our children properly for the tasks that lie before them in the atomic
age which we have created. Only if we can instill in them a profound appreciation of
the value of freedom can we prevent them from becoming slaves of the materialism
which now plagues and threatens us. This we must not fail to do.
Finally, there is one other responsibility which we must not forget. This is
the responsibility of faith. We may build the strongest defense, acquire the greatest
wealth, and prosper in all material things, but our accomplishments will have little
meaning if they do not rest upon a firm spiritual foundation. It was strength of
spirit which made possible the founding of this nation, and it was that strength
which supported it through its adversities and brought it victory in the wars it
has fought. We must renew and replenish that strength. With faith in God, faith in
ourselves, and faith in our freedom, we will surmount the obstacles which lie before
us and establish a secure peace in a world where free men may work and live without
fear.
GERALD FORD GURRAZ
Speech by -
REPRESENTATIVE GERALD R. FORD, JR.
P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet
Grand Rapids Civic Autidorium, February 17, 1954
We Americans are a wealthy nation. We are wealthy not only in material
things, the natural resources with which we have been blessed, and the high
standard of living we have been able to produce from them, but we are wealthy as
well because of the liberties we enjoy and the traditions of freedom which are 50
essential a part of our national heritage, and which have grown and strengthened
in the one hundred and eighty years of our independence.
The freedom of enterprise and initiative, the personal liberties, and the
freedom of election which we enjoy have been so long a part of our way of life
that we sometimes forget that they are a part of our wealth, and that, like all
articles of value, they must be guarded and protected. We also sometimes lose
sight of the fact that he who possesses wealth also bears a corresponding respon-
sibility, and that this applies as well to our wealth of freedom as it does to
our physical and material assets. It is about the responsibilities which our freedom
imposes upon us today, both as a nation and as individuals, that I would like to
discuss tonight.
There are men in the world today who envy and fear us. They are jealous
of our tremendous material wealth, but they fear us far more because of our price-
less freedom, for it is that freedom which is the source of our strength, and which
constitutes the greatest threat to their power over hundreds of millions of people
and their aspirations to ruthless world dominance. The Communist nations possess
the fertility of soil and the metal and mineral deposits to feed, clothe, and
house themselves as well as we have, and to produce the other comforts and luxuries
which modern science and industry have provided, but they have miserably failed to
do so. They have failed solely because they are enslaved by a tyranny so all
pervading that it puts to shame any that have gone before. The tyranical rulers
of these nations, conscious of their failure and inability to fulfill the promises
by which they led their people to forego freedom, have turned their unrest and dis-
satisfaction toward the free world, and have entered upon a colossal effort to
destroy it. The leaders of the Communist conspiracy know full well that the exis-
tence of freedom is the most immediate and direct threat to their power, for the
longer their distressed people see before them the magnificent achievements of
free men, the more likely they are to discover the true reason for their hardship
and suffering under tyranny, and to break the Kremlin-imposed bonds which prevent
GER FORD LIBRAR.
them from participating in those achievements.
Speesh - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-2-
This threat to our security, unfortunate and unnecessary as it appears to
us, operates in large measure to define our responsibilities as free men in the
world today. The United States, because it is spiritually and materially the
wealthiest nation on earth, is the principal object of this Communist conspiracy,
both from within and without, and consequently we will be the center of the re-
sistance to its plans for world conquest. We are thus forced, against our will
and desire, into a concern for some material things which we might otherwise avoid.
This then is our first responsibility as a nation under freedom. We must
survive, and to do so, we must build and maintain our military strength so that
we can defend ourselves against any attack, and we must be prepared to retaliate
so surely and so destructively that our enemies will be convinced that their aggres-
sion will be suicidal. In so preparing ourselves, however, we must not lose sight
of the fact that we are a peaceful nation, and that our primary effort must be
directed toward maintenance and advancement of a standard of living which is the
wonder of the world. Our military program, essential as it is, must not become the
mainstay of our prosperity, but must be adapted to an economy directed toward the
improvement of ourselves, and the sharing of our achievements with the less fortu-
nate peoples of the world.
To do this we must strike a delicate balance, and this can best be accomplished
by placing greater reliance upon the weapons and equipment which modern science has
given us. Of necessity we must turn our attention and efforts to greater emphasis
upon the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb, and to the means of delivering them to the
target, for it is in these weapons that we find the greatest deterrent to our enemy.
It is almost inconceivable that any national leader, even one in the Kremlin,
knowing the tremendous destructive power of these weapons, would be so insane as
to unleash them upon his people and bring upon them the horror and suffering which
they can produce. We must expand our guided missile program, both in terms of
production and research, for in this device apparently lies the key to the defense
of our cities. You have all seen the recent releases about "Nike", that classically
named marvel of electronics, almost unbelievable in its reactions, which when once
launched, can locate its objective, direct itself toward it, and destroy it, all
without human intervention. When we remember this device is the produce of only a
relatively few years of scientific research and technical effort, we can only
wonder at the achievements which lie before us.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-3-
By placing greater reliance upon these modern weapons, costly as such a
program may appear, we can achieve our objective of a strong national defense while
reducing its cost and its effect upon our economy. We can thus reduce in some
measure the tax burden which we must all bear, leave our industry largely free to
produce the goods of peace, and limit the number of young men we must take into the
armed services. If such a course accomplished nothing more, this last objective
would be well worth the cost, for the maintenance of a large military force is the
most expensive aspect of our defensive effort, both in terms of dollars and in terms
of its impact upon the lives and careers of our sons. We cannot, and must not,
in the name of defense, spend ourself into bankruptcy and mortgage our nation's
future to such an extent that our enemy will achieve, through our economic collapse,
the victory he so ardently desires.
In developing and expanding our nuclear weapons we must not forget that the
basic forces which they employ have tremendous and unforeseen potentialities for
peaceful applications. In the small beginnings which have been made in the use of
radioactive materials in medicine, we can see already the possibility of discovering
the cause and cure of many maladies which afflict mankind and which have resisted
our best efforts to control and eliminate them. The great energies released in atomic
fission give promise of resources of power never even dreamed of a few years ago,
and open before us a view of a world in which starvation and poverty have no place.
In order to hasten the day when these potentialities will be realized, we must as
quickly and as fully as military necessities will permit, open these new fields to
private initiative and enterprise. It was these forces, operating free of govern-
mental control and direction, which brought us to our present high level, and it
makes sense that now they should be given the new tools to work with, to see what
practical benefits will accrue to all mankind.
We, of course, are not alone in our struggle against world communism. There
are other nations who enjoy freedom and who cherish it as devotedly as we do. As
President Eisenhower has so aptly stated, "More closely than ever before, American
freedom is interlocked with the freedom of other people. In the unity of the free
world lies our best chance to reduce the Communist threat without war. In the task
of maintaining this unity and strengthening all its parts, the greatest responsibility
falls to those who, like ourselves, retain the most freedom and the most strength."
Our job, therefore, is to strengthen and extend those alliances like the
North Atlantic Treaty, in which we have joined with other nations, and by which we
present a united front to our common enemy. In doing so, however, we must not forget
Speach - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-4-
that we are a sovereign nation among sovereign nations. We cannot dictate, but must
lead and we must recognize that each of our allies has its own background and problems
which may result in attitudes and opinions different from ours. We must be tolerant
of these differences, just as we are tolerant of differences amongst ourselves,
and we must seek by persuasion and compromise to reach a common ground. To resort
to any other course would be to follow the pattern of the Communists who are so
unsure of themselves that they cannot cooperate, but must conquer and dictate to
ensure even superficial loyalty of other peoples.
In dealing with our allies, however, we must insist upon the mutuality of
our obligations. Although we are the largest and strongest of the free nations, our
resources are not unlimited, and we cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of
our common defense alone. To do so could only result in our ultimate weakness, and
in bringing about the disaster we have united to prevent. Each nation must contri-
bute to our mutual defense according to its ability, and none must be permitted to
shirk its responsibility in this respect. By following this course, we will
develop the spiritual unity which comes from sharing a common burden and our con-
viction of ultimate victory will be strengthened.
Unfortunately there are in the world some peoples and their leaders who would
stand aloof from the basic struggle in which we are engaged. It is true some of
these people have only recently achieved national independence and consequently are
faced with domestic problems of overwhelming magnitude, comparable to those which
our nation faced almost two centuries ago. To these we must extend our friendship,
and we must stand ready to offer any reasonable material assistance that they need.
This aid and assistance, however, must be intelligently and constructively limited,
for only by self-reliance can they achieve the dignity of free men.
As concerned as we must be with the international aspects of our responsibi-
lities as free men, we must not neglect our obligation to establish a strong and
developing economy at home. Indeed, unless we maintain a high measure of domestic
prosperity we cannot hope to achieve our international objectives, for it is that
prosperity which supports our military program and underlies our efforts to make
peace secure.
To achieve this goal, all segments of our people must cooperate, and none
must seek to gain an unfair advantage at the expense of another. While there are,
and will be, differences among us as to how our prosperity can best be obtained,
33 FORD LIBRARY
and these differences will in some measure reflect our station in life and the way
we earn our living, we must never permit them to become crystallized into class
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-5-
attitudes. It is the theory of the class struggle, labor against capital, which
underlies the Marxian philosophy, and this is the tool by which the modern Communist
hopes to create dissension among us and to weaken our cause.
We are a rich nation and we are better nourished, better clothed, and better
housed than any other people on earth. The automobile, the radio and television,
and the telephone, which to us have become so commonplace, are still regarded as
luxuries by the ordinary citizen in many other countries, and even the bathtub,
to us a necessity, is as rare as a precious jewel in many areas. Although we have
slums in our large cities, and somerural areas do not enjoy a full measure of
modern comfort, we can, and will eliminate these deficiencies.
Our prosperity must be achieved through the medium of private enterprise and
initiative. It is because we have been free to accumulate capital, and to risk it
in new and untried undertakings that we have been able to attain the high levels
we have reached, and it is this freedom upon which we must rely to carry us forward.
True progress can be made only if we are able, through our own efforts, to make a
little more than we need, and to use this surplus to earn more of the world's goods
for us. This freedom must be preserved and nurtured, for it is the foundation upon
which our entire structure of liberty rests.
There are those among us who hold the view that our industrial society has
become so complex that we no longer can afford to encourage private enterprise, but
must look to the federal government as somewhat of a parent whose duty it is to
feed and clothe its children, and to see that they are all properly sheltered. With
this theory I cannot agree. We must remember that a parental government, once it
undertakes the colossal job of directly clothing, feeding and sheltering its brood,
inevitably must restrict their freedom and direct their day by day activities into
rigid channels the all-powerful government deems best for them. Our government,
of course, has its rightful responsibilities in the promotion of our economic
welfare, but its powers in this connection are, and must continue to be restricted
to certain areas of activity. We must beware of, and avoid the tendency toward
parental government, for in that direction lies the end of our freedom.
In the troubled times in which we live, it is only natural that the material
aspects of our responsibilities under freedom should give us so much concern and
demand so much of our attention. Our entire way of life is under attack by an enemy
motivated and guided by a materialistic philosophy, and we cannot afford to neglect
those things in which he professes to find his strength, and by which he seeks to
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
dominate the world. If we did otherwise we would fail to meet the challenge which
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-6-
has been laid down to us.
Despite this urgency, however, we must not forget our responsibilities to the
spiritual and intellectual aspects of our freedom. It is these which distinguish
us from our enemy, and which in the long run, constitute our greatest strength. The
Communist regards man as only a part of a machine which must move in predetermined
patterns dictated by the movements of other parts, and by the will of the state as
the supreme operator. We, on the other hand, profess and uphold the dignity of man
as an individual possessing a free will and capable of achieving his goals in coopera-
tion with other men. We insist that men can determine what is best for themselves,
only if they are free to think about and discuss alternative courses of action, and
that there is no man, or group of men, so wise and so omniscient that they can lay
down the objectives which should be sought, and the paths which should be followed.
It is because we adhere to these principles that we will ultimately triumph, for it
is these which constitute our strongest appeal to the minds of men all over the world,
and which will finally win over the untold millions which the Communist rulers have
enslaved.
To achieve this end, our first responsibility is to strengthen our freedom
here at home. We must preserve and strengthen the right of every man to formulate
and
hold to his own opinions on religious, political, and social questions, and
we must guarantee his right to speak and discuss them. The problems which we face
in these areas today, complex and vexing though they are, are no different in their
basic nature than those which have troubled men since the time they first appeared
on this earth. They have continued to plague man only because he was not free through
the greater part of his history, to discuss them, but labored under one kind of oppre-
ssion or another which forced him into patterns determined upon by rulers who thought
that they had found the answers. The fact that these tyrannies passed away is clear
proof that the tyrants were wrong and the same fate awaits their modern day imitators.
Opinions and ideas, like commodities, receive their greatest test in the free
competition of the market place, and it is only the best that can survive that com-
petition. The great and far-seeing men who drafted our Constitution, and insisted
upon inclusion of the Bill of Rights, recognized this principle, and nothing which
has occurred since that day has weakened its truth. Man has enjoyed the rights of
freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press only for a relatively
few years, and in that period has made his greatest progress in his forward march
We must continue that progress by guarding and preserving the liberties which made
BEROLD FORD LIBRARY
it possible.
Speech - P. T. A. Fo nders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-7-
In order to formulate their opinions and ideas men must have access to
knowledge and information, and we must encourage and develop the instrumentalities
which disseminate them. Perhaps the greatest developments of our industrial age
are to be found in the field of communication, and the facilities which we have
created must be free from governmental dictation. The citizens who print our books
and newspapers, and who operate our radio and television stations must be free of
unnecessary and unwise control and censorship lest these devices be the means of
imposing political oppression. In the hands of free men, these facilities are the
tools of freedom, but in the hands of tyrants they are the means of establishing
and maintaining power. The men who own and control them, of course, have the
tremendous responsibility of seeing that they serve their proper function and
operate in the public good. They must not be used in such a manner that they promote
sensationalism, hysteria, or crime. The owners and producers, if they live up to
their responsibilities to society as a whole, will not seek temporary commercial
success at the expense of the public good. Furthermore, as they must know, dis-
regard for the public welfare will inevitably result in local, state and federal
governmental interference in their day to day operations.
This access to knowledge, of course, must extend to all fields and must
include theories and viewpoints which may be unpopular. Our scientists and scholars
must be free to experiment and to challenge established beliefs for it is through
such experimentation and challenge that we have made our greatest strides forward.
Furthermore, we must all be given access to their findings and conclusions, for
unless they are available to all, they lose their value.
Liberty, of course, is not license, and to advocate and defend freedom of
speech and discussion does not mean that we must not protect ourselves against those
who naively or willfully abuse them.
The leaders of world communism are ruthless and crafty men. One of the
principal techniques they have used to facilitate their conquests is that of creating
dissension among the citizens of the nation they seek to overcome, and of having
those among them who share their views insinuate themselves into positions of
authority and power. In recent years, this has been one of the most serious threats
which we have faced.
Unfortunately, there are here in America, some who have been so beguiled by
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
the siren song of Communism that they have enlisted in its cause and sought to over-
throw the system which nurtured them. Concealing their true motives and intentions,
they have risen to positions of authority and power in our government, and by
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-8-
misguiding its policies and misdirecting its actions, have sought to weaken and
ultimately destroy it. Many of these have been discovered and exposed to public view,
but we must be vigilant lest others take their places.
To do this is not to destroy freedom, but to preserve it, for these people
are the enemies of freedom. Professing a love of liberty, they have used it as a
shield to carry on their insidious labors at the direction of a foreign power. This
we cannot permit!
But in exposing and destroying this evil we must be careful. We must do it
within the framework of the principles and guaranties upon which we place such high
value, and we must not become like our enemy in our struggles against him. Our efforts
must be directed against the true adherents of Communism and we must not be diverted
to attacks upon the innocent simply because they hold opinions opposed to our own,
or behave in a manner of which we do not approve. To do otherwise would permit
the guilty to escape and allow them to carry on their nefarious work.
We are a diverse nation, composed of many different racial groupings and
embracing many different religious beliefs and creeds. If we are to remain a free
nation, each of us must become tolerant of our neighbors; tolerant not in the sense
of putting up with something, as a parent is tolerant of a fractious child, but
tolerant in the sense of understanding. While we all hold to our own beliefs and
live up to them as our conscience dictates, we must recognize and defend the rights
of others to pursue the same course. We must learn to value and appreciate each
man for what he is, and to judge him upon the basis of what he has done, and we must
oppose discriminations based upon race, creed, or color. This must be done not only
because it is fundamental to the principles we profess, but because the existence
of such discrimination in our midst, small though it be, has been used by Communist
propogandists in their efforts to gain the adherence of some peoples whose friendship
we desire. But there is another and more positive reason why we must do this. We
are engaged in a colossal task, and the problems which we face are almost overwhelming.
To aehieve success, we must draw upon our human resources to the fullest extend, and
each of our citizens must be permitted to contribute his share according to his
abilities and unhindered by artificial barriers. We cannot afford waste, and to
deny a man the privilege of contributing to our common effort because of his color
or religious beliefs is waste of the most inexcusable kind.
GERALD FORD GRART
Another primary responsibility which is imposed upon us as free men, and one
which is particularly important today, is that of educating our children in the ways
of freedom. It is primarily for them that we labor and strive to preserve our heri-
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-9-
tage and we must give them a full appreciation and understanding of the values which
have made this nation great. The youth of our nation is our greatest resource and
we must not neglect it.
In the last fifteen years, circumstances forced us to devote the principal
part of our energies to the winning of a major war, and the preparation of our mili-
tary defenses, and we were not able to build the schools and other educational faci-
lities which normally would have been constructed. The fact that in this period our
population has increased tremendously has aggravated the inadequacy of our present
equipment. In almost every area of the country we find schods that are old and di-
lapidated, classrooms that are overcrowded, and playground facilities that are in-
adequate.
Our first step, then, must be to build new schools, adequate to our present
needs and the needs of the immediate future. This, of course, is a matter of community
and state responsibility, and we as parents and teachers must see to it that our
local governments take the necessary measures to remedy the situation. It is groups
such as yours which must take the initiative in planning and preparing programs, for
only you know best the needs of the community, and the means by which they can be
most expediently met. All of us can be rightfully proud of the forward-looking action
taken by our citizens in this area in meeting the school facilities problem. The
results will pay big dividends in the years ahead and our children can thank those
responsible for having accomplished the job within the community without interference
or bureaucracy-diminished dollars from Washington.
But even more alarming, and less easy to overcome, than the inadequacy of
the physical equipment of our school systems, is the shortage of teachers which exists
throughout the nation. The reasons for this are apparent. The salaries which most
communities pay our teachers have not kept pace with the rise in the cost of living
which has occurred over the past few years, and many young men and women who otherwise
might have entered the profession have understandably turned to more profitable fields
of endeavor. Regrettably many communities have neglected to uphold the dignity of
the profession and to accord it the high respect it deserves. The teaching of our
children is no menial task. Individually we should give rightful credit to our
teachers who have played such an important part in shaping our own lives and in
addition recognize the vital part they play in the future of our nation.
We entrust to our teachers the guardianship and guidance of the minds of our
children, and we must be sure that the men and women who undertake these tasks are
well-qualified, well paid and well-respected. Only by doing this can we be sure that
we will attract into teaching the number and quality of men and women we so urgently
Speech - P. T. A. Founders Day Banquet, February 17, 1954
-10-
need.
It is only through promoting and extending our school systems that we can
hope to equip our children properly for the tasks that lie before them in the atomic
age which we have created. Only if we can instill in them a profound appreciation of
the value of freedom can we prevent them from becoming slaves of the materialism
which now plagues and threatens us. This we must not fail to do.
Finally, there is one other responsibility which we must not forget. This is
the responsibility of faith. We may build the strongest defense, acquire the greatest
wealth, and prosper in all material things, but our accomplishments will have little
meaning if they do not rest upon a firm spiritual foundation. It was strength of
spirit which made possible the founding of this nation, and it was that strength
which supported it through its adversities and brought it victory in the wars it
has fought. We must renew and replenish that strength. With faith in God, faith in
ourselves, and faith in our freedom, we will surmount the obstacles which lie before
us and establish a secure peace in a world where free men may work and live without
fear.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD