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Press Conference of the Vice President at the McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kansas
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7341651
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Press Conference of the Vice President at the McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kansas
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1975-11-20
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1975
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Digitized from Box 18 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 20, 1975
Office of the Vice President
(Wichita, Kansas)
PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT THE INCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE
WICHITA, KANSAS
(AT 6:25 P.M. CST)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It is a pleasure to be here
with you. I want to apologize for being late. I am just
glad to be back in Kansas two times within a week and to
have the opportunity of being with you on this significant
historic moment with 14 Republican Governors as we
celebrate our 200th anniversary of the 13 founding States.
QUESTION: What do you think of the entry of
Ronald Reagan into the race?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It is not exactly a
surprise. But I am sure he is taking this thing very
seriously.
QUESTION: Do you take it seriously?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, of course, I am
supporting President Ford, and I have every confidence
he is going to be the nominee of the party.
QUESTION: Do you think Ronald Reagan has a chance
of winning the nomination?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Personally I don't.
QUESTION: If he should win the nomination, would
you support him?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, that is the kind of
speculation I am not going to make because I am supporting
President Ford; and if I answered your question, it would
give credence to the concept that he might win, which I
don't think is a possibility.
QUESTION: If you don't answer the question, you
will leave open the possibility you might not support him.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, because I want to
support Ford.
QUESTION: Will it hurt the party?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't really think SO.
QUESTION: Will you support the nominee of the
ticket, whoever it is?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It is going to be Mr. Ford.
It is going to be him. That is my candidate.
QUESTION: But if it is not Mr. Ford. Will it be
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Page 2
bad for the country if Mr. Ford is not reelected?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir. I think SO. I
think he is great.
QUESTION: Would it be bad for the party if any-
body but Mr. Ford becomes a nominee?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I will tell you. I
think that the two-party -- I believe very deeply in the
two-party system. I think the great strength -- and I am
going to talk about this tomorrow here with the Republican
Governors -- the great strength of the Republican Party and
the Democratic Party is the fact that we have been
representative of a broad spectrum of political thought,
of social problems, economic problems; and I think the
Republican Party, to be effective and to win in elections,
has got to be in the middle.
Therefore, you can't get caught up with a
minority of a minority. You can't get into cults of
personalities.
QUESTION: Mr. Ford is in the middle?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, I think SO.
QUESTION: DO you think that Ronald Reagan will
at least cause the President problems?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No. I think now that I am
out, I don't believe it will cause him any problems.
QUESTION: You don't think that he has anything
to worry about as far as the nomination is concerned?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, if you are
running, you are always worried. That is a healthy thing.
You don't want to take life for granted. If you do, that
is a bad sign. Let's say he has a healthy tension. Let's
put it that way.
QUESTION: You have talked about the restriction
the new campaign law puts on your campaign.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That is the truth.
in a good word for the President out here?
QUESTION: Is that going to keep you from putting
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I have not answered any
question you might ask. But I am not campaigning. I
can't campaign because I can only spend a thousand dollars.
QUESTION Bo Callaway is here and others are here.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That is wonderful.
QUESTION: Is that going to bar you from
participating in any subtle politicking out here?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to tell you, I
am very careful to live within the law. So when you say
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Page 3
subtle, I don't know whether you are trying to imply that I
evade the law, which I wouldn't.
QUESTION: I withdraw that; bar you from
participating in any politicking.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It will not bar me from
supporting Republicans and raising funds for Republicans.
But I cannot spend both in time and money more than a
thousand dollars' worth in terms of expenses for the
President until he is nominated, unless it is paid for
by the Ford Campaign Committee.
QUESTION: What does that mean out here? Does
that literally mean you can't go up to somebody and say,
"I would like to have you stay with the President"?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Absolutely not. I cannot
say that.
QUESTION: Do you think the President is going
to help bail out New York at the last moment?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Nobody is going to bail out
New York. Just forget that word bail out. If New York
City balances its budget and restores fiscal integrity,
then they have got a three-year -- but they can't do it
until 1978 -- then they have that bridge period of three
years to pay off those short-term notes, translate them
into long-term notes.
They are going to need some kind of Federal
help, in my opinion, to form a guarantee or whatever it is,
if you do that. Now the President has not been sure they
are going to do that. Therefore, he said you had better
change the bankruptcy laws.
He is the only one that has had the guts to say
that. Everybody else has been coming down with bills, the
Mayor, the Governor, to Washington and passing out bills to
the Congressmen saying, "We have to change the bankruptcy
laws because they only apply to corporations and not to
municipalities."
The President came out openly and said it. I
think it was healthy. We just cannot have the Federal
Government step in and take over the responsibilities of
municipalities where they spend more money than they
have. Otherwise, every municipality in the country would
say, "Why should we worry? The Federal Government just
takes up our check."
QUESTION: Mr. Vice President, the Election
Committee said today until January 1, the Republican
National Committee could pick up President Ford's travel
bills for party building.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Great.
QUESTION: Does that give you a license to speak
out for him?
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Page 4
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It has nothing to do with
me. Unfortunately for me, the Vice President being less
important was not included in the legislation. They seem
to have overlooked him. So that the legislation is rather
silent on the subject of the Vice President.
But it does say that as a citizen -- as a
citizen -- no citizen can spend more than a thousand dollars
in support of a candidate for the President during the
nomination period.
QUESTION: Does it frustrate you?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, not in the slightest.
No, sir. I can say that in talking about the issues and
his position on the issues, as I have, that I am delighted
to do it. This is substantive discussion.
I have been going around the country on these
Domestic Council hearings and we have been discussing
issues.
QUESTION: Is that it?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Listen, I read the law and
I stick within the law. You have got no problem.
QUESTION: Would you, in your First Amendment
rights, express your opinion?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Listen, after I have been
through what I did in getting confirmed, I don't feel I
have any rights left. Five hundred FBI agents investigating
me for six months, forget it.
QUESTION: Just let me ask you, is the Republican
Party going to be hurting if anybody but Gerald Ford is
the nominee?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think he is the best
nominee for the Republican Party, and he has got the best
chance of being elected, and I think it is important he
should be.
QUESTION: What if he doesn't make it?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think the others are
going to be elected.
QUESTION: Mr. Vice President, if President Ford
should falter --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Falter, what does that mean?
What do you mean by falter?
QUESTION: If he is beaten by Ronald Reagan.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think there is a
possibility. Idle speculation.
QUESTION: Would you oppose Ronald Reagan as
Mr. Ford's running mate?
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Page 5
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I wouldn't oppose anybody
as his running mate. That is his privilege. I have said
for nine months, ten months, however long I have been there,
that I was not a candidate. The President should have the
right, when he is nominated by the party, as I expect he
will be, then he should say whom he would like to have as
his running mate, because he would then select him on the
basis of who he felt could be most helpful, most useful to
the country and him. Whoever that is, that is his choice.
QUESTION: You have always said that the party
should broaden its base.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I still mean that.
QUESTION: But Ronald Reagan as President Ford's
running mate would not be doing that.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: You know it. It has a big
impact in Hollywood, or the late night shows.
QUESTION: But wouldn't you say that having a
conservative as Ford's running mate would not be
especially good for the President?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, in terms of broadening
the base, I think you have got something.
QUESTION: Do you think Senator Percy was correct
when he said Governor Reagan just wasn't competent to be
President?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No. I think that is going
a little far. I mean, who knows? Who knows? We have
selected a lot of interesting people to be President of the
United States. One really didn't know about their back-
ground. They have risen to the opportunity and the
responsibility, so one could not judge ahead of time.
That is the democratic system.
QUESTION: Kansas operates on a cash flow basis.
Do you think that will get closer for the 1976 --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Who knows? Take it as it
comes.
QUESTION: One other thing, Mr. Vice President.
You saw an opening statement about the decriminalization
of marijuana.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.
QUESTION: How do you feel about that?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: As I said, I think that if
the founding fathers had been on marijuana, this country
would never have been founded. I think it is debilitating.
It takes the drive, the creativity, the enthusiasm out of
people who use it, and it doesn't affect other people, but --
END
(AT 6:40 P.M. CST)