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Remarks of the President at the Republican National Committee Luncheon [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7336126
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Remarks of the President at the Republican National Committee Luncheon [Ford Speech or Statement]
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1974
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Digitized from Box 2 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 16, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE LUNCHEON
MAYFLOWER HOTEL
12:13 P.M. EDT
Thank you very much, Nelson, Mary Louise,
Dick, George, Senator Bill Brock, Congressman Bob Michel,
members of the National Republican Committee, members of
the Finance Committee, and others.
It is really a great privilege and a high honor
to have the opportunity of participating with all of
you on this fine occasion.
At the outset, let me congratulate Mary Louise
on being unanimously selected this morning. That is a lot
better than I did before the Congress, and I suspect it
might be a little better than what Nelson will do. (Laughter)
I also wish to congratulate all of you on the
selection of Dick Obenshain. As Nelson said, it reflects
in this team the recognition that we wish to give as a
political party to the women throughout the country who
over the years have done as much, if not more, to make
our political system work by working in the grass roots,
unselfishly dedicating themselves to the necessary efforts
that had to be made the length and the breadth of our
country.
And Mary Louise, I am positive you will both
end up being an outstanding Chairman of the Republican
National Committee.
We have been a long time working on trying to
make the Republican Party a viable, effective party in
all fifty States. When I came to the Congress 26 years
ago, the Republican Party was practically prohibited
from having an impact politically in a number of our States
in the South.
Patiently, constructively, and effectively, today
the Republican Party is viable. It is constructive in
every one of our fifty States. And the Republican Party
can only expand and broaden that total effort by making
certain that the voices in that area of our country are
heard, and heard at the highest level.
MORE
Page 2
In Dick Obenshain we have a man who will
represent that overall viewpoint and represent it well,
as he has in the State of Virginia, where now we have a
second Republican Governor elected, one after another,
where we now have more Republican Congressmen on our side
of the aisle than the opposition does on their side of the
aisle.
We want this kind of effort made in every
State, and Mary Louise and Dick, in my judgment, make
that kind of a team.
But let me say, speaking of a team, I believe
that Nelson Rockefeller and myself will make a good
team, reflecting your views and the views of the Republicans
and independents, and I trust a good many Democrats, in
trying to head the Executive branch of the Government.
At the time I made the announcement of Nelson's
selection, I said I picked a strong man for a tough job.
And I am even more convinced today that his selection is
in the best interest of this country, and he will be a
great person.
The Governor is going to be given plenty of
work to do politically, within the Executive branch of the
Government, in the field of domestic as well as foreign
policy, and it is a pleasure for me to see the way it has
all worked so far, and I am sure this team will do the
best job we possibly can in the months ahead, primarily
for the country but also reflecting our political
philosophy.
May T. say also that the White House at the
present time has in my judgment one of the finest
members of the White House team to concentrate exclusively
on the problems relating to politics. Dean Burch, a
Counsellor with Cabinet status, is in charge of the White
House political activities and relationships.
A former Chairman of the National Committee,
an outstanding and long dedicated Republican, a person
who performed superbly on the Federal Communications
Commission; I think we are lucky to have Dean, and if you
have any political problems, talk to Dean. He has an
open door to my office and always will.
MORE
Page 3
Dean has an assistant, one of you from the
Republican National Committee, and here I speak of Gwen
Anderson, who was my political adviser while I was
Vice President.
So again, in Dean, from the great State of
Arizona, and Gwen, from the great State of Washington,
they make a broad and effective Republican organization,
operating in the White House.
Now, we all hate to say goodbye to
George Bush, our new U.S. representative to the
People's Republic of China. George, as all of you know,
was a hard campaigner when he was first campaigning for
the House of Representatives. He served extremely well
in the House. He was a strong representative of our
Government at the United Nations. He has been, I think,
an excellent National Chairman in a most difficult
time.
And so, with all that background, with all
the wonderful personality and talent that he has, along
with Barbara, our country will be extremely well represented
in the People's Republic of China, and I just know they
will enjoy it and do an extremely good job for all of us
in that great responsibility.
A few months ago, when Ray Bliss asked me
to come out to make a speech in Chicago to a regional
gathering of Republicans, I went and made some remarks
that I won't dwell on this morning, but I would like to
say that what I said there is the criteria by which
we will meet the campaign problems of 1976. The campaign
will be in the hands of the Republican National Committee.
But that is all I am going to say about
1976 because we have a more important job in 1974.
MORE
Page 4
A few months ago there were dire predictions
about the fate of the Republican candidates from Governor
down to local offices, from candidates for the United
States Senate, candidates for the House of Representatives
in the Federal Congress.
I can remember some great predictions by
some of our adversaries who said we were going to have
a net loss of 100 or a net loss of 50 and there was
great glee on the part of some of our adversaries that
they were going to have a veto-proof Congress.
Well, we took on that challenge and we
pointed out what a veto-proof Congress would mean. It
would mean a Congress that would spend more and more --
and I repeatedly alerted people around the country that
if we had a veto-proof Congress they better tighten their
seat belts because they were going right through the sky
in spending. They backed off from that, and we on the
other side, I think, have coined a better campaign slogan
because it involves our number one public enemy domestically,
inflation.
What we want to elect to Congress, Senators
and Members of the House, is an inflation-proof Congress,
and we will get it with Republican candidates.
And I am quite frank to tell you that those
Members of Congress who support our effort to win the
battle against inflation will get my wholehearted endorse-
ment.
But we need strong and tall candidates who will
stand up and fight the battle of inflation in fiscal
policy and in any other of those policies that involve
saving this country from the ravages of inflation.
So urge your incumbents who are running for
reelection, urge your candidates who are seeking the
high office of the Congress, to campaign, to vote for
economy, for strength in our battle against inflation.
You can have a big impact. Your influence can
be significant and we have got some tough votes coming
up right soon in the Senate and in the House. Let them
hear from you, that you want them to vote for economy,
to hold down the lid.
And if we win some of these battles -- and I
hope we can -- with the help of Republicans, the help of
a necessary number of Democrats, then I think we will
have defeated our public enemy number one.
MORE
Page 5
But there are some other issues which I think
we can affirmatively talk about. We can honestly say
that we have turned a great deal of the power that was
accumulating in Washington away and sent it back to our
local units of Government, to our States.
We have revenue sharing. It is a most important
part of new Federalism. I can remember five, six, seven
years ago, maybe longer, talking to Nelson Rockefeller when
he was Governor, working with him when he was active in
the Governors' Conference.
I can recall vividly working with Bill Brock
and Bob Michel and other Members of Congress on trying
to get the Congress to undertake a general revenue
sharing program.
It is now law. It is about halfway through.
Approximately $16 billion of Federal money has gone back
to States and local units of Government so that they
can establish at the local or State level that priorities
that vary from New York to California, or Michigan to
Florida, or communities in one State or another, have
totally different problems.
And this vast amount of Federal money going
without restriction for decision-making at the local and
State levels I think is a great achievement for a
Republican Administration. And this Administration is
going to continue it.
We want the legislation extended so that this
effort will get even stronger in the months ahead.
So I think we can take credit as Republicans
for a program that is very meaningful and very substantial.
But there are other things that have to be done and they
involve the area of foreign policy.
I always said and I believed then that America
and the world was fortunate to have a great statesman in
Henry Kissinger as our Secretary of State. And I have
learned to an even greater degree how effective, how able,
what a great teammate he is as he and I work on the
problems involving peace throughout the world.
We have peace at the present time. We have
peace for several reasons. One, we have peace because
the United States is strong militarily. And we are
not going to weaken our national security, despite the
pressure from some sources.
MORE
Page 6
Peace is related to strength. Weakness
inevitably brings on war. History tells us that
story.
In the interim while we are keeping strong,
we are going to make conscientious efforts to negotiate
with the Soviet Union, broadening our detente, seeking
to make our total effort one of negotiations, not
necessarily confrontation.
We are going to be working intimately with
the problems of the Middle East, trying to move forward
the successful efforts of disengagement which took place
last fall.
MORE
Page 7
We will concentrate in seeking to obtain a
just and durable peace in that very difficult area of the
world, but that is not the only area where we must
concentrate. The Pacific, where over a period of about
18 years almost 60,000 Americans lost their lives, that
was a great sacrifice, a sacrifice for an objective that
many Administrations, not just one, felt was in the best
interest of the United States and the world at large.
We cannot afford to throw away the sacrifices
of those people. So, we must maintain our own strength
and help our allies who are trying to retain the gains
that were made in Vietnam and elsewhere in the Pacific.
We have the problem of Western Europe. The
key to peace in the minds of many is the strengthening
of NATO. We are working to keep better cooperation,
stronger military and economic policies moving ahead.
I am encouraged, and we are going to be
meeting from time to time, Secretary Kissinger and
others, with those who can have a meaningful impact on
the NATO organization, keeping it strong militarily,
economically, diplomatically, and otherwise.
When you look at the other areas, Latin
America, we are not going to neglect Latin America. We
are going to work for greater cooperation there, and
the activities of Dr. Kissinger in this area in the last
five or six months have been significant.
We are not going to neglect Africa. We
have and we will continue to work with those nations
in that area of the world.
So, anyplace you go, our broad policy of
global peace will get our first and top attention
because if we are going to keep peace, we can solve more
easily our problems at home.
As I close, let me just thank all of you
for the wonderful job you did in endorsing Mary Louise
and Dick. Let me thank George for his tireless efforts,
effective ones, and let me thank the Republican leader-
ship in the House, Hugh Scott, John Rhodes, and their
associates, and let me express to my staff that have
been so helpful to me that I am grateful and we are
moving, and we are going to move with the Republican
workers throughout the country. It is vital for us to
carry our banner high, because I think we can do a great
job for the country as a whole.
Thank you very kindly.
END
(AT 12:33 P.M. EDT)