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Remarks of the Vice President at the New York Republican State Dinner [Speeches by Others]
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7344573
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Remarks of the Vice President at the New York Republican State Dinner [Speeches by Others]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976
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Digitized from Box 27 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 1976
Office of the Vice President
(New York, New York)
REMARKS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT THE
NEW YORK REPUBLICAN STATE DINNER
GRAND BALLROOM, WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
AT 10:00 P.M. EDT
Thank you, Dick. I would like to just say,
Betty Ford and Mary Louise Smith and Happy and Polly Gordon
and Caroline Amory and Dorothy McHugh and Eunice Whittlesey
and Phyllis Kelly and gentlemen --
(Laughter)
That "gentlemen" includes Malcolm and our
distinguished Senators and all of the other distinguished
leaders we have here who have helped support these women in
the wonderful job they do.
(Laughter, applause)
I think, ladies and gentlemen, this is a night to
get things straightened out here. I have to say that I
don't know when I have listened to more wonderful speeches
than we have heard tonight. I think they have been
fabulous, every one of them. I am deeply grateful.
To me, ladies and gentlemen, this is an evening
we have a great deal to be grateful for, thankful for, and
first is the fact that the First Lady is here and that she
has done us the honor of coming.
And I have to say that while we are deeply grate-
ful to Al Gordon and to Dorothy and all of you who worked
on this dinner, I have got to say I think Betty Ford has a
lot to do with the fact that you are here, so I want to
thank her first. We love her, we admire her. And I must
say, how she has been able to take on the responsibilities
which she has in the short time of just a little over two
years -- while she knew Washington, had been there and under-
stood the workings of the government, but to assume the
position of First Lady and then to allow her own true self
to come out in a way that could be felt by the American
people, respected, admired and loved is an extraordinary
evolution in the short period of two years. And this
country is lucky in having such a wonderful First Lady.
And to have the First Lady of the Party here,
Mary Louise Smith, too, also is a very significant thing for
us.
I have to say parenthetically that we have got to
give Jerry Ford a great deal of credit, because he is really
responsible for both of them.
(Laughter)
MORE
Page 2
He was fortunate enough to marry Betty, and he
appointed Mary Louise Smith, so we have got to give him
credit for these two wonderful women who are here.
If anyone wants to feel the pulse and feel the
strength and the dynamism and the enthusiasm of the leader-
ship of the Republican Party, all they have to do is listen
to Mary Louise's speech. You see her perception, her deep
belief in this country, her belief in equality for all. And
I want to tell you she is a leader that we are so fortunate
to have in a period when people are looking for integrity
and honesty and courage and faith and deep belief in the
fundamental. values on which this country was founded. She
has got them and she can express them.
So these two wonderful people have encouraged
this great gathering to come out this evening.
Now I would like to thank all of you, because your
presence here is the major reason that our party is in such
good shape as tonight, that is, financially. So I want to
thank you because, frankly, if it weren't for people like
yourselves who were willing to assume that sense of
responsibility for the support of the Party in a country
which depends on a two-party system for its basic vitality
and the strength of freedom -- it depends on the two-party
system, and you people are here because you believe in this
system and you go on to support the party of your choice.
So I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for
your support and being here this evening and making this
possible. We have got to give a hand to the audience.
Now, I would like to say next that I think we are
very fortunate and we have a great deal to be thankful for
in the leadership of the Republican Party, and we have got
to start with Dick here. As I said at lunch, a modest
fellow who is a little shy, and sometimes he won't step
forward and take responsibility, but theencouragement -- And
Eunice and Phyllis have done a great deal to bring him out.
(Laughter)
We have, ladies and gentlemen, tremendous leader-
ship in this Party, which has a deep conviction, just in the
case of "Mary Louise Smith. And I think the meeting today of
the State Committee is a wonderful example of the strength
and leadership of the Republican Party in New York State,
selecting an outstanding Senator, Jim Buckley, virtually
unanimously by the delegation as our candidate. To me,
ladies and gentlemen, this shows the tremendous perception
and strength of this party in New York and the fact that
we represent and believe in the American people, not just
a small limited group of people here or there or there.
We want all of the people to come into our party
to join with us and so we stretch out our arms and we find
Jake Javits and Jim Buckley, and we have got everybody
right between them in the party.
(Laughter, applause)
I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that is what we
stand for. We stand for America, and America is for people
MORE
Page 3
who believe in things deeply. And we may not agree with
them, but that is not important. They are entitled to their
own beliefs. And the strength of this Party is that we have
this broad spectrum, and therefore, when we debate and
discuss within the Party, we can come to conclusions and then
the majority wins. Those who lose in the vote have a chance
to come back next time. And this, I think, is why the
Republican Party has had the long record of leadership in
the legislature, Republican control for so many years in the
Executive Branch.
And I would like to say that Jake Javits, who I
had the pleasure of running with on various occasions, has
got to be one of the most articulate, one of the most
respected, one of the most brilliant public servants that
is in Washington today, and we are deeply grateful to Jake
Javits.
I have a part-time job, ladies and gentlemen, which
is presiding over the Senate. In fact, that is my only
Constitutional job. Of course, I am not allowed to speak
without unanimous consent, and they don't give it to me, so
I can't speak. So if I talk a little long tonight, you
will understand I haven't had an opportunity like this in
quite a while.
(Laughter)
I do get a chance to observe, see, and I observe
Jake Javits, and I would like to say to you he is the most
astute parliamentarian in the United States Senate, just
as Malcolm Wilson is the most astute parliamentarian in the
New York State Senate.
I often wish, as I sit there and whisper what I
should say next to the advisor that I have, I were the
parliamentarian which I mentioned Malcolm is. Then I
wouldn't have to ask. I would just know.
With those big words I would have made a tremen-
dous impression on them in our Senate in Washington had I
been you.
(Laughter)
But here is a party that stands for the best that
is American and believes in it. And we have got two great
leaders here from our legislature. Warren Anderson, as I
said already, is carrying a tremendous responsibility and
a tremendous load and trying to balance out the factors and
preserve the values that we deeply believe in in this State.
He is doing an extraordinary job, to the gratitude and
the respect of everybody in the State from all parties.
And we just hope that after the elections this
fall Perry Duryea is going to be back as speaker so he can
do the same thing there, and we will have both of them.
I have talked about this wonderful group of
leaders, and I want to mention now the man who has probably
been elected for a longer period of time in this State than
any of those others who are here in office today, because
MORE
Page 4
of his deep devotion to humanity and their hopes and aspira-
tions, their concerns, their well-being, their opportunity,
and that is that great Attorney General of ours, Louis
Lefkowitz.
As Louis often says, we didn't grow up together,
but we have become very good friends.
(Laughter)
And that is the truth. I learned more from Louis
than anyone else.
How, ladies and gentlemen, so much for New York
and the Republican Party here. We are just one of 50 States,
and we are very glad that we are a part of the United States
and that we have the good fortune of being here. But,
ladies and gentlemen, our life as a State, our well-being,
our security, our opportunities depend on the Federal Govern-
ment and what happens in Washington.
All we have to do is to go back two years ago and
think of what was happening in this country -- the disarray,
the loss of confidence in government; the oncoming recession
that went into a depression; inflation that was eating away,
the corrosive force that undermined those who could least
afford to deal with the impact of inflation; then unemploy-
ment, a loss of position in the world. That was two years
ago.
A man who had been chosen as Vice President, the
first person to be chosen under the 25th Amendment, approved
by the Congress, became President of the United States. He
hadn't sought the office, probably never thought about
seeking the office. In that short space of time, ladies and
gentlemen, this Congressman and now our President has
restored the respect and confidence of the American people
in government, a man of tremendous integrity and courage
who has had the ability and the patience and the deep
devotion to our country to spend the time on the key issues,
to understand the problems.
When he was satisfied what was in the best
interests, the best long-term interests of the American
people, that was what he did, regardless of the political
implications. That is the kind of leadership this country
needs.
Now, had he done nothing else than restore
confidence, we would have said, "Thank the Lord for this
leadership." But let's take a look at the economy. The
world preachers of doom, who thought we were going into a
long depression, who thought that only government spending
could be the solution -- and what happened? President
Ford believed in the American enterprise system as being
the basic strength from which opportunity grows for American
citizens, based on initiative, creativity, imagination and
drive. He wanted to give that a chance to come back, and
he did.
He vetoed more popular measures probably than
any President ever has. That took guts, and he has got it.
MORE
Page 5
And what is happening, ladies and gentlemen?
Inflation has been cut in half. It is no longer the issue.
Nobody thought that inflation could be stopped and employ-
ment achieved at the same time. That miracle has happened.
In the last 12 months, ladies and gentlemen,
there are 2,600,000 new jobs in America. We have got a
growth of about 1.6 million jobs needed every year. We lost
two-and-a-half million jobs in the depression. We caught up
on two-and-a-half of the loss, and if we can now catch up
on the two-and-a-half more that were needed during that
period of growth, we are going to be back to normal.
And at the present growth rate, 8.5 percent growth
in GNP -- and I don't think that can be maintained and I
don't think it can be maintained without pressures growing
on inflation, so it is going to have to slow down some. But
even at 7.5 employment is going to gain and we are going to
get back to normal.
I am going to tell you, nobody, not even the best
optimists, thought that could be achieved in this period.
And President Ford has done it, ladies and gentlemen.
Now, those are two tremendous accomplishments,
and we would say that his position in history would be made
just on the basis of those two. But we go to a third, and
that is in the international field. The world is at peace,
ladies and gentlemen. For the first time in a long time
our country isn't fighting. And I want to tell you, there
has never been a more difficult or delicate period than the
one we are going through right now.
His patience, his skill, his strength of character
and his courage, with the tremendously able assistance of
the Secretary of State and his great negotiating ability,
have woven their way through these difficult, delicate
situations. As a result, the United States' position in
the world today is stronger than it has been in years.
People respect this country now again, ladies and gentlemen.
This conference the President has called that is
going to be held in Puerto Rico on free world economic unity
and action, facing common problems, is going to be one of
the most significant for the future -- not only of the
industrial nations but the developing nations.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I would just like to say
this: When you have really got something awfully good and
when the opportunities are greater today, in my opinion,
than they have ever been at any moment in history to achieve
new breakthroughs, new goals, new opportunities -- not only
for our country but for the world -- and you have got the
leadership that knows how to do it, all I can say, ladies
and gentlemen, is why change that leadership in November?
And I don't think the American people are going to.
Thank you very much.
END
AT 10:20 P.M. EDT