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    "label": "Where Do We Go From Here?, August 1954?",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Where Do We Go From Here?, August 1954?",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4525713",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
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        "Soviet Union",
        "Communism",
        "National security"
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D14, folder \"Where Do We Go From Here?,\nAugust 1954?\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the\nGerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nDigitized from Box D14 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n[ca.Ang.1954] [ca.\nWHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?\nI den't mind admitting that when I first began to consider\nwhat I was going to talk about today I was semewhat puzaled by the announced\ntitle of my speech. It seemed to me to be somewhat ambigueus and in its\nnarrowest interpretation to call for some rather specific ferecasting. While\nthere are people who believe that they can tell you what the steck-market\nis going to de and when it is going to do it or just exactly how little\npresperity we are going to have six months or a year from new, I must confess\nthat I am not one of these and that I de not possess the clairveyance to make\nsuch specific predictions.\nAfter some reflection, however, I came to the conclusion that\nthere was a breader appreach to the subject and that I didn't have to\nberrow a crystal ball after all. We can, by standing aside for the moment\nfrom the tumult of our daily lives and avoiding the confusion of our immediate\naffairs, perceive at work certain deeper forces which in some measure pertend\nlive\nthe future and define the kind of world we may expect to/haxa in and the abli-\ngations we will have to meet. It is this approach I would like to follow today.\nOn the National Archives Building in Washington there is engraved\nthe motto \"What is past is prolegue.\" In theee werds is to be found the\nguiding principle for any one who undertakes the difficult task of trying\nto picture even the breadest outlines of the future. Only by reviewing what\nhas gene before and understanding what is going on now can we gain any insight\ninto what is to come. To answer the question Where de we 80 from hereM we\nmust begin by finding out where we are.\nWhether we like it or net, the mest significant facter in the\nworld today is the Cemmunist drive twward world demination. The leaders of\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n- 2 -\nthis evil censpiracy having conselidated their position in Russia, are embarked\nupon a program of expansion, aggression, and subversion which has as its goal\nthe subjection of the entire world to their dreadful tyranny. While the\nintensity of their effort may ebb and flow and the direction of their path\nmay change from time to time they never lose sight of the ultimate objective\nlaid down for them by their false prephets and all of their activities are\ndirected to this end. Indeed, the variation in pressure and the zigzag course\ntheir\nare an integral part of the strategy at prescribed by Lenin,/this master planner.\nThe men in the Kremlin are net motivated by a desire for\nterriterial aggrandizement alone, but are guided by a philosophy which abjures\nall of the religious, meral, and secial values of the free world and which\ndenies the validity of the fundamental principles upon which these values are\nbased. They covet net only the land and wealth of the free nations; they seek\nalso to destrey the civilization achieved by these nations and to replace\nit with a way of life melded in their own disterted pattern. They would\nreplace eurbaith in God and our belief in man's salvation with their mater-\nA\nialistic atheism; they would subsitute for our devetion to the principles of\ntruth and hener among men the amerality of their belief that the end justifies\nany means; and they would supplant our reliance upon freedem and ce-eperation\nwith their dependence upon force and cenformity. In the view of the Communist\nleaders, the nations they rule and those they would conquer are not composed\nof individuals endowed with an immertal soul and capable of living in freedem,\nbut are merely masses to be hold in jubjection and regulated in every phase\nof their lives.\nBecause the final objective of this menstrous conspiracy is the\ntesal destruction of freedom overywhere and the enslavement of all mankind, its\nattack is all-encempassing and there is no limit to the tactics and weapons\nit employs. It attacks in all spheres - diplematic, economic, and Ailitary.\nGERALD LIBRARY 4. FORD\n- 3-\nThe prepagandist, the spy, the traiter and the subversive are its servants and\nwhen these are not enough it turns to the seldier to advance its conquests.\nThe sciences, the arts, the prefessions, and even religion are not regarded\nas independent spheres of activity with their own goals, but are considered\nmerely techniques to be used in the premetion of this awful tyranny. All\nphases of human endeaver, regardless of their Agnificance in the total scheme\nof things must be directed to the service of this evil cause.\nThe threat of world communism, furthermere, is net a temporary\none. Its leaders plan not for decades or even centumies, but for an entire\nhistsmical era. They recegnize the leng drawn-eut character of the struggle\nthey have initiated and are preparing themselves accerdingly. They may be\nexpected to centinue in their chesen course until they are made to realize that\nthe light of freedom cannet be extinguished and that further aggression on\ntheir part will only lead to their destruction.\nThis, then, is the nature of the threat which we now face and\nwhich we are likely to face for some time to come. The United States is the\nrichest and freest nation on earth and as such we epitemize all that the\nCommunists fear and despise. Pessessing only six percent of the world's\npepulation we have acquired almost fifty percent of its wealth and we have\ndeveloped the highest standard of living ever achieved by mankind. Following\nthe ways of freedom, our people as a whole enjoy a degree of comfort and\npersonal security which even the mightiest in the Communist hierarchy cannet\nhope to achieve.\nBecause this is so, we are the principal obstacle in the path\nof the would be world rulers in the Kremlin and we are the main object of\ntheir attack. They envy our wealth, of course, but more importantly they fear\nFORD i LIBRARY 07V830\n- 4 -\nand despise our freedom for it stands in sharp centrast to the system of\nslavery they have imposed upen their own people and these they have cenquered\nand helds out to their subjects the premise of a better way of life if they\nbut destroy the evil tyyanny that has overwhelmed them.\nThe mantle of leadership of the free world has thus been thrust\nupon the United States and we are the bulwark of its resistance to the awful\nthreat which it faces. A substantial partef our attention and effort in the\ndays to come, therefore, will have to be deveted to the problems of strength-\nening our national security and to achieving unity among the nations which\nare on our side in this celessal struggle.\nFirst and feremest, we will have to maintain and develop our\nmilitary strength to meet tha whatever form of aggression our enemy may\nundertake. We will have to continue to manufacture atomic and hydregen\nbembs and to build the aircraft capable of delivering them to the targets for\nc\nonly by being ready and able to retaliate with even greater force,an we hope\nto avoid an attack upon us with these herrible weapons of mass destruction.\nSlim though this hope may be, w8 must rely upon it for to neglect our prepara-\ntion in this respect would leave us without any fully effective means of\navoiding the ultimate attack. While history has shown that the power# of\nretaliation has often failed to deter aggressien, it must be recognized that\nnever before has that power been so sure and SO complete, and it is incenceivable\nthat even the leaders of Soviet Russia, bent as they are upon world rule,\nwould be willing to destroy themselves and their people to achieve their\ngoal.\nIn preparing for total war, however, we must recegnize that it\nthe\nis also a part of A tactics/the leaders of world communism to engage in lecalized\nFORD is LIBRARY GENALD\n- 5 -\nattacks, such as these which were launched in Kerea and Inde-China, whereby\nthey seek to bring within their realm peoples and resources now outside of\nthe Iron Curtain. This preceneal gnawing at the free world must be resisted\nand to do so we will have to maintain the numerical strength of our armed\nferces and centimue to equip them with the conventional weapons of warfare.\nThis means, of course, that military training will centinue to be the lot\nof our youfng men and we must be prepared to expand this obligation if and\nwhen circumstances require such action. We must also develop and maintain\nour reserves and establish adequate pregrams of training, for only be deing\nso can we build the strength and flexibility which our armed services require.\nWhile the Cemmunist attack is centered upon the United States,\nwe are not alene in this struggle for survival and there are other nations\nwhose liberty and independence are as much at stake as eurs. In the days\nto ceme, much of our attention will have to be devoted to uniting these nations\nwith ourselves into a solid blec in opposition to Communist ambitions. Of\ncourse, we are cencerned as 2 matter of principle in maintaining the integrity\nwhich share\nand well-being of these countries our devetion to freedem and who\nseek to work out their own destinies, but we must also recegnize that they\nbring to our cause resources and manpower which we vitally need to match\nthe strength of our enemy and that they provide bases which substantially\nincrease the effectiveness of our air power. Our pregrams of military I\nassistance and economic and cannot be judged solely in humanitarian terms\nbut must be censidered also as expenditures for our defense, for in building\nthe strength of our friends and helping in the maintenance of their presperity we\nare centributing to our own national security as well as to theirs.\nIn recent weeks our efforts to build the collective security\nof the free world have received seme setbacks which have given encouragement\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n- 6 -\nto these who would have us reverse our policy and \"go it alone.\" We must\nremember, in evaluating events like the unhappy settlement in Inde-China\nand the failure of France to ratify the European Defense Treaty, that,\nunlike our onemy who achieves unity through conquest, we are striving for\nthe unity of severeign nations through ce-eperation and we must not lose hope\nbecause our progress is not always uninterrupted. Our rele is one of lead-\nership, net compulsion, and we must demenstrate our capacity for that\nleadership by finding new bases for agreement when a proposed course of\naction fails to receive the necessary approval of our allies. The task\nbefore us is indeed difficult, but we must net diminish our efforts lest\nthe Communist aggressers achieve that division in the free world se essential\nto their victory.\nIt appears, then, that matters of national defense and fereign\naffairs are likely to abserb much of our attention in the fereseeable future,\nto defent their evil designs. Important as these matters are, however, they\nmust not become our sole concern -and they must not deter us from maintaining\na strong economy devoted principally to the preduction of the goods of\npeace and advancing the standard of living of all our citizens. Indeed,\nin achieving these objectives we will be ferging our strengest weapon against\nthe Red tyrants, for by showing what can be achieved by free men working\nwithout fear we will demenstrate the falseness of the dectrines they preach\nand hold forth to their subjects the premise of participating in a better\nlife if they but threw off the despetism which restrains them.\nBut what are our prespects in this connection? Do we face the\ndepression and cellapse which have been predicted by some since the end of\nWorld War II or de we stand at the threshheld of a period of expansion and\npresperity never even dreamed of a few short years ago? What course must\nFORD i LIBRARY\n- 7 -\nwe follow to avoid the one and achieve the other?\nI could attempt to provide an answer to these questions\nby talking about such things as changes in the gross national product, the\nEEE rise and fall of disposable personal income, and similar statestical\nmeasurements, but I den't think it would be very helpful. There are some who\nplace great store in the past perfermances of our economy in its various aspects\nand who profess to find the key to the future in comparisons of last month's\nor last quarter's results with results in the same period last year. While\nI do not wish to find fault with this technique or to underrate the importance\nof statistics of this sert, I should like to point out that the conclusions\nwhich are drawn from these comparisens all too frequently depend upon the\npredilections and the pelitical philsesphy of the one who draws them and that\nthe same set of figures are often quoted in support of ******* diametrically\nopposed views. It also seems to me that this appreach deals with effects\nrather than causes and tends to emphasize the deaails which overleeking some\nof the underlying, and sometimes qualitative, factors which are operating\nto share our economic future.\nLet us look at some of these factors:\nare\nFirst, there is the tremendous production capacity\nwhich this country possesses. We have the facilities, tools, and equipment\nto manufacture more steel, copper, and aluminum than any other natien and\nto fabricate these basic metals into mere automobiles, heusehold appliances,\nand the other consumers' goods which are necessities to us but luxuries\nelsewhere. ,and we can, and do, produce more feed and clething than any other\ncountry.\nwe\nGERALD LIBRARY ? FORD\nIn some quarters our great preduction capacity is leeked\n- 8 -\nupon with misgiving and regarded as a burden upon the orderly functioning\nof our economy. I am wheleheartedly and unqualifiedly in disagreement with\nthis point of view. It seems to me that there is a twisted legic in the\nargument that we are unfortunate because we are able to produce so many of the\nnecessidies and comforts of life. Our machines and toos are not like a\nmiser's coin to be cherished for themselves, but find their justification\nonly in the goods which they can produce and their very existence created\na pressure for their use. They are the reason for our ever increasing pre-\nductivity and a necessary cendition to the advancement of our standard of\nliving.\nA second important element pertending our future is\nto be found in the rapid rate at which our pepulation is rising. I remember\nwhen I was in college not se many years age seme of our secielogists viewed\nwith great alarm the trends which they purported to find in our census figures\nand predicted a dire future for the United States as a decadent and declining\nnation. These prephets of doom gust be embarrassed, to say the least, by\nthe fact that today we are a country of over 162 million people, that our\npepulation is growing at a faster rate than it over has before, and that for\nthe past six years it has grown at a faster rate than it did in the previous\nferty years.\nThis increasing pepulation, of course, means/grewing\nmarket for the houses, the automobiles, and the other goods which we are\ncapable of turning out and will insure the utilization of our present\nproduction capacity and more.\nA third basic facter, and one which is not capable of\nstatistical measurement, in lies in the genius of our scientists and inventess\nGERALD LIBERTY FORD\n- 9 -\nand in the organizing ability of our industrial engineers. These men are\nconstantly developing new products to satisfy our wants and defising new\ntechniques for preducing our goods more efficiently, and developments in the\natemic sciences have opened to them new vistas which were beyond comprehension\nonly a decade age. After centemplating the premendous power generated in\natomic fission, the miracles of television and radar, and the wender of\nsupersonic speed, who is beld enough to predict what new products and\ntechnological advances will come out of our laberatories in the years which\nlike lie ahead?\nThese three factors tremendeus productive capacity,\nan expanding market, and a talent for invention and organization - give\npromis of an era of unlimited expansion and presperity for all. An era\nin which we can conquer all of the ills which beset us and provide a standard\nof living which transcends our imagination.\nYes, the basic ingredients for tremendous advancement\nare present today and we need only provide the \"climate\" necessary to enable\nthese forces to bring to actuality the premise which they hold forth.\nWe must never forget that we have reached our present\nhigh estate and have built the basis for our future progress only because\nwe have been able to accumulate our savings and have been free to risk our\ncapital in expanding old and building new enterprises. Freedom of\nenterprise, individual initiative, and competition are the basie forces which\nhave breught us to where we are and they are the only means by which we can\nhope to move ferward to the heights before us.\nIf proof of this be needed, we have only to censider\nFORD i LIBRARY GERALD\nthe conditions prevailing in Seviet Russia today to find it. Despite their\n- 10 - -\ntremendous man power and material resources, the Communists have achieved\ncemparatively little improvement in the standard of living of the people they\nrule and they continue to live in conditions of poverty and wretchedness.\nThe preductivity of their agricultural and industrial labor is at a very low ±\nlevel and they lack not only the comferts but even the necessities that medern\ntechnolegy is capable of previding. Because these people have not been\nfree but have labored under an overwhelming bureaucracy which has regulated\nevery phase of their lives and dictated the direction of all their activities,,\nthey have been able to realize virtually none of the gains which lay within\ntheir power.\nThe warning in their experience is clear to us. Our\ncitizens must be able to work and risk their savings free of government reg-\nulation and their capital must not be consumed in support of a burdenseme\nand unproductive bureaucracy. Only by adhering to and developing the economic\nfreedom which made this nation great can we hope to retain the pelitical and\ncivil liberties which we cherish and achieve the Wealth and security ***** which\nis available to us.\nWe live in difficult times and the path before us is\nsteep and tertueus, but we must not lose sight of the goals which lie before\nus. We stand not at the end of our greatness, but at the beginning of an\nera of opportunity for advancement heretofere undreamed of and if we strengthen\nour freedom and maintain our faith in God and ourselves we will surmeunt\nthe obstacles and reach the heights.\nFORD i LIBRARY GERALD"
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