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San Bernadino, CA, May 16, 1966
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4525938
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San Bernadino, CA, May 16, 1966
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D20, folder "San Bernadino, CA, May 16, 1966"
of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
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.
Digitized from Box D20 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M.
MONDAY, MAY 16, 1966
SPEECH EXCERPTS--BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN, AT SAN BERNADINO, CALIFORNIA.
In the language of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, charges of Vietnam
military shortages are "baloney."
Most recently he dismissed evidence of fraudulent disposal of Army equipment
badly needed in Vietnam by saying Senate investigators apparently wanted United
States servicemen to fight with "junk."
McNamara tossed off his "junk" comment despite the expert testimony of a team
of 15 investigators sent to Southeast Asia by a Senate subcommittee headed by a
Democrat, Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska.
An impartial--I repeat, impartial--observer confided to me: "They've really
got the goods on the Defense Department on this one. They've got all this stuff
down cold, and it's dynamite."
The testimony of the investigators clearly showed that such Army-owned items
as cranes, bulldozers, generators, fuel tanks, and electrical equipment vitally
needed by our men in Vietnam were sold or given away through the Agency for
International Development (AID).
The explanation given by the Army is that it would have cost too much to repair
this equipment. But the investigators showed that the repair estimates included
transportation costs back to the United States and labor charges which exceeded the
actual cost by 1,000 per cent.
The investigators established the fact that our field commanders in Vietnam
were crying for this equipment but it was sold as surplus at 15 per cent of its
cost in the same general area of operations.
The subcommittee concluded that much of this equipment which was practically
given away should have been repaired in the Far East and quickly sent to our troops
in Vietnam.
If a Republican had charged the Defense Department with wasting hundreds of
millions of dollars in this fashion, he would have been assailed on all sides as
being partisan during time of war. But it is a Democrat who is laying this piece
of mismanagement at Secretary McNamara's door. I commend him for it. I believe
Sen. Gruening has done the country a service by bringing such ridiculous waste to
light,
(MORE)
-2-
SPEECH EXCERPTS
***
President Johnson wants to export his "Great Society" to Asia.
I, too, firmly believe that we must win "the other war" in Vietnam--the
war on the social and economic front. It would be tragic if the South Vietnamese
should embrace the Vietcong and Ho Chi Minh after thousands of Americans have
spilled their blood to thwart Communist aggression in Vietnam.
But the grandiose talk of President Johnson at the Honolulu conference in
February describes a wild dream that bears little or no resemblance to reality.
Meanwhile, Vice President Humphrey talks starry-eyed about "realizing the
dream of the Great Society in the great area of Asia, not just here at home;"
free-spending Democrats in Congress add billions to the President's fiscal
1967 budget; and inflationary pressures continue to mount.
It is foolish to dream about building a Great Society in Asia when the
nation is beset by wartime stresses and strains at home.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Humphrey are great talkers. It is too bad their
performances don't measure up to their words.
They talk about greatly stepped up economic aid to Vietnam although ships
sent there with aid cargoes are stacked up for weeks while demurrage charges
soar into millions of dollars.
They talk about greatly stepped up economic aid to Vietnam despite indications
that the Vietcong gets more of its supplies from the black market and other South
Vietnam sources than through the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail.
They talk about stepped upeconomic aid to Vietnam although, according to
reliable reports, it is American AID dollars that make it possible for the black
market in Saigon to flourish and thus help the enemy.
It's time they stopped talking and went about the business of bringing peace
to Vietnam.
###
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT. 6:30 P.M.
MONDAY, MAY 16, 1966
SPEECH EXCERPTS--BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN, AT SAN BERNADINO, CALIFORNIA.
In the language of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, charges of Vietnam
military shortages are "baloney."
Most recently he dismissed evidence of fraudulent disposal of Army equipment
badly needed in Vietnam by saying Senate investigators apparently wanted United
States servicemen to fight with "junk."
McNamara tossed off his "junk" comment despite the expert testimony of a team
of 15 investigators sent to Southeast Asia by a Senate subcommittee headed by a
Democrat, Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska.
An impartial--I repeat, impartial--observer confided to me: "They've really
got the goods on the Defense Department on this one. They've got all this stuff
down cold, and it's dynamite."
The testimony of the investigators clearly showed that such Army-owned items
as cranes, bulldozers, generators, fuel tanks, and electrical equipment vitally
needed by our men in Vietnam were sold or given away through the Agency for
International Development (AID).
The explanation given by the Army is that it would have cost too much to repair
this equipment. But the investigators showed that the repair estimates included
transportation costs back to the United States and labor charges which exceeded the
actual cost by 1,000 per cent.
The investigators established the fact that our field commanders in Vietnam
were crying for this equipment but it was sold as surplus at 15 per cent of its
cost in the same general area of operations.
The subcommittee concluded that much of this equipment which was practically
given away should have been repaired in the Far East and quickly sent to our troops
in Vietnam.
If a Republican had charged the Defense Department with wasting hundreds of
millions of dollars in this fashion, he would have been assailed on all sides as
being partisan during time of war. But it is a Democrat who is laying this piece
of mismanagement at Secretary McNamara's door. I commend him for it. I believe
Sen. Gruening has done the country a service by bringing such ridiculous waste to
light,
(MORE)
-2-
SPEECH EXCERPTS
***
President Johnson wants to export his "Great Society" to Asia.
I, too, firmly believe that we must win "the other war" in Vietnam--the
war on the social and economic front. It would be tragic if the South Vietnamese
should embrace the Vietcong and Ho Chi Minh after thousands of Americans have
spilled their blood to thwart Communist aggression in Vietnam.
But the grandiose talk of President Johnson at the Honolulu conference in
February describes a wild dream that bears little or no resemblance to reality.
Meanwhile, Vice President Humphrey talks starry-eyed about "realizing the
dream of the Great Society in the great area of Asia, not just here at home;"
free-spending Democrats in Congress add billions to the President's fiscal
1967 budget; and inflationary pressures continue to mount.
It is foolish to dream about building a Great Society in Asia when the
nation is beset by wartime stresses and strains at home.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Humphrey are great talkers. It is too bad their
performances don't measure up to their words.
They talk about greatly stepped up economic aid to Vietnam although ships
sent there with aid cargoes are stacked up for weeks while demurrage charges
soar into millions of dollars.
They talk about greatly stepped up economic aid to Vietnam despite indications
that the Vietcong gets more of its supplies from the black market and other South
Vietnam sources than through the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail.
They talk about stepped upeconomic aid to Vietnam although, according to
reliable reports, it is American AID dollars that make it possible for the black
market in Saigon to flourish and thus help the enemy.
It's time they stopped talking and went about the business of bringing peace
to Vietnam.
###