Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7345877
label
Remarks of the President at Beach Park [Ford Speech or Statement]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7345877
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Remarks of the President at Beach Park [Ford Speech or Statement]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7345877
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
26
logicalDate
1976-09-26
month
9
year
1976
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
48cd4e0e5668fcf8
ocrText
Digitized from Box 31 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 26, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT
BEACH PARK
6:05 P.M. CDT
Trent, Bill Colmer, Jack, Mr. Levy -- we have
got a couple of good Alabamans here, Jack Edwards and
Bear Bryant -- it is great to have them and we are
going into Alabama very shortly.
Let me say to the people of Mississippi we
started in Bay St. Louis, we went to Gulfport, we went
to Biloxi, and we are now here in Pascagoula. It has
been a wonderful day.
At the Convention in Kansas City I said that
we would not concede a single State, we would not concede
a single vote, and that we would campaign from the
snowy banks of Minnesota to the sandy soil of Georgia,
and we are here and we are here to win.
It has been a great experience coming along
the coast to see all the wonderful recreation areas that
you have where you can fish, where you can hunt, where
you can really spend a wonderful time after you work and
go to school.
But, speaking of hunting, I want to make one
comment because I think it is vitally important for
all of us who have a great dedication to the Constitution.
No law-abiding citizen should be deprived of the right
to have a gun in his possession under our Constition.
Let me talk for just a minute, if I might, about
where we have been and where we are going. Two years
ago, when I became President, August 9, 1974, this
country was in tough shape. I recall vividly, as I
think you do, the American people -- for understandable
reasons -- had lost faith and trust in the White House.
The American people were faced with economic conditions
which were very difficult. The cost of living was 12
percent or more. We were on the brink of a serious
recession, and we were still involved in Vietnam.
MORE
(OVER)
Page 2
That was a tough time. But, something
really wonderful happened in this country. We got
together. We realized what a blessing we had in the
kind of Government we have and instead of the division
we had among our people, we began to heal and the net
result is that two years later we have .made an
incredible come-back and vie are going to do better and
better.
But, let's talk about the future because that is
what we really are all here about. I appreciate your
coming. I am grateful for you to give me the opportunity
to talk affirmatively.
What do we have in mind for the future? We
want a better quality of life now that we have taken
care of the immediate problems. What we want is a job
for everybody who wants a job, for everybody who wants
to work a meaningful job, and I won't be satisfied
until we have a job for everybody who wants à job and
who will look for a job.
I don't mean a dead-end job for the Government.
I mean a job where you have got an opportunity for
advancement, where you can make yourself a career.
We also want everybody who will work and save,
to have a home in a decent neighborhood and under the next
four years of this Administration that is what we will
get.
We want to get rid of crime on our streets. We
want to give people the kind of health care that they
can afford. Nobody should have to go broke just to
get well.
Now let me talk just a minute about the national
security. This is my third visit to Pascagoula. I came
down here in 1962 with my wife, Betty. She commissioned
a new submarine over here in the Ingalls shipbuilding
yard.
Let me talk about the Navy and what the
Ingalls shipbuilding yard means to the kind of a Navy
that we have to have. We are being challenged by the Soviet
Union on the sea. We have had our Navy gradually go down
in ship numbers, although we have done very well in
tonnage. You have a big shipbuilding contract out here
in Ingalls shipbuilding. I understand 27,000 people
work here building those fine ships.
I compliment you, but let me say this: We need
a first-class Air Force; we have got one. We need a
suburb, first-class Army; we have one. We need an out-
standing Marine Corps; we have got one. We have got a
swell, first-class Navy, and you are a big part of it.
MORE
Page 3
I am very proud of the fact that I sent to the
Congress in the last two years the two largest defense
budgets in the history of the United States, and I
will submit one next year that will be the third largest
military budget in the history of the United States.
I am not going to cut the defense budget just to appeal
to some people. Anybody who says you can cut $5 to
$7, or $10, or $15 billion out of the defense budget
does not know what he is talking about.
The United States is number one, and under the
Ford Administration we are going to keep it number one,
period.
One final comment. I will bet all of you in
Pascagoula had a tremendous Fourth of July celebration
when we celebrated our nation's 200th birthday. Wasn't
it a great day? Wasn't it wonderful?
Well, we are now in our third century, and we
have got a new spirit. We are going on the offensive.
That is what Bear knows how to do with those good ball
teams he has.
But, let me say this: We are healed. We are
going forward. We are on the upbeat. America is going
someplace and it is all to the good. Let's work to
build a better America in our third century.
Now let me ask one question -- one question.
I have had a wonderful day in Mississippi. I am looking
forward to going to Alabama. You people in Mississippi
have such a strong patriotism. I love being down here.
It has been a great day.
Let me ask one favor of you. Will you vote for
Jerry Ford On November 2? All right, that is a compact.
You vote for me -- I won't let you down.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 6:14 P.M. CDT)