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Remarks of the President on the Boardwalk in Front of the Haddon Hall Hotel [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7346473
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Remarks of the President on the Boardwalk in Front of the Haddon Hall Hotel [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976-10-27
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1976
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Digitized from Box 33 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 27, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Atlantic City, New Jersey)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
ON THE BOARDWALK
IN FRONT OF THE
HADDON HALL HOTEL
12:00 NOON EDT
Fritz Haneman, Senator Case, Mayor Lazarow:
May I say I am deeply grateful to Dorothy and
her warm welcome. She comes from Minnesota. That is Gopher
country. I come from Michigan and that is Wolverine country.
And when a Gopher and a Wolverine get together, boy, you
can't beat 'em.
But I do want to recognize Charlie Sandman,
Tom Kean, Web Todd. And I have two very close and very
dear friends who have been traveling with me for the
last several days, people you know, people you respect,
and people that I admire, respect and appreciate. First,
I want to introduce to you Joe Garagiola.
I was going to introduce former Democratic
Congressman Edith Green, who was I think one of the
outstanding Members of the House of Representatives for
19 years. While we were in the Congress together she
was on the Democratic side and I was on the Republican
side, but I understand that somewhere between the plane
and here Edith didn't quite make it. I understand that
she is not feeling well. But she has been campaigning
with us and, believe me, to have that kind of superb
support from a really outstanding Member of the Congress
on the Democratic side, I am deeply grateful and very
appreciative.
Now let me say it is great to be back in New
Jersey. I was here a week or 10 days ago. When I was
here several weeks ago I saw a sign that said "Jersey Loves
Jerry". It has gotten bigger since I was here before.
(Laughter) But let me say that Jerry loves Jersey, and
I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
It seems that the enthusiasm in New Jersey
has gotten even greater than it was when I was here
a few weeks ago. But let me give you all a special
invitation because I know that we are going to carry
New Jersey, we are going to win the election, but I invite
each and every one of you to come to Washington on January
20, 1977 to be there for the inauguration of Jerry
Ford and Bob Dole.
MORE
Page 2
As we come to the final days, really, of this
great campaign, I want to reiterate where I stand. I
stand on your side for limited Government, for fiscal
responsibility, for rising prosperity, for lower taxes,
for military strength that will keep the peace in the
world. And may I say with great emphasis, not a single
young American is fighting or dying on foreign soil today,
and we are proud of it.
After so many years where the defense of this
country was shortchanged by the Congress, I proposed the
two largest defense appropriations in the history of the
United States, and I convinced the Congress in this last
year that it was good policy, that it was necessary, so
that when the United States meets any challenge in
negotiation or otherwise we have the capability, we have
the wherewithal so that the United States is number one.
It is today, and we are going to keep it that way.
After so many years of runaway inflation, let
me say that we have made significant progress. We have
reduced the rate of inflation from over 12 percent to less
than 6 percent, and I pledge to you in the next four years,
we are going to do better and we are really going to win
the battle against inflation in this Government.
After so many years of runaway growth in
Federal spending, I submitted a budget last January that
cut the rate of growth in Federal spending by over 50
percent. I held the line on Government spending with 66
vetoes, and saved you, the hard-pressed taxpayers of this
country, about $9 billion-plus, which means for each
family a $200 saving in Federal spending, and that is
progress.
Because I haven't been afraid to say no to
those who want to spend and spend, it will be possible
for me to submit in 1978 a balanced Federal budget, and
we will have another tax reduction at the same time.
I think you in the great State of New Jersey
know how risky it is when a candidate says one thing on
the campaign trail and then does something else when he
gets in public office, in reference to taxes. You learned
what it is like when a candidate faces the voters with
a promise and then turns his back on them after the
election and after the inauguration. You will learn
with every dollar that you pay for your State income tax
here in the State of New Jersey.
There is a good alternative to that kind of
political acrobatics. You know where I stand. I am for
the little taxpayer and I am against the big tax spender.
My idea of tax reform is tax reduction. I proposed
last year an increase in the personal exemption from $750
to $1,000. What does that mean for a family of five --
three children, husband and wife? If Congress had had
the wisdom to go along with it, you as taxpayers next
April would have been able to sit down when you make out
that return, and that family of five would have been able
to have a $1,250 increase in your personal exemption. Now,
Congress wasn't smart enough to do anything about it.
MORE
Page 3
But let me tell you, I am going to submit
that to the Congress next year, and if they don't do it
next year we will go back at them again, and if they
don't do it in 1978 we will go to the voters of America
and we will beat those people who won't give you that
kind of a tax reduction.
The middle income taxpayer in this country for
too long a time has been shortchanged, and we are going
to change that in the Congress beginning in January of
1977.
Now, let me say, we have faced the worst
recession in the last 40 years in the last 18 months.
We have had unemployment that was far too high. But at
the same time, let me say on the affirmative side, we
have created 4 million more jobs and we have 88 million
American people working today -- an all-time high -- and
we have achieved this not by deadend taxpayer-paid jobs
but by jobs primarily in the private sector where five
out of the six jobs are today. And as we move ahead in
the next few months under the Ford Administration, we are
going to have more jobs. We are going to have more jobs
in the private sector, because we are going to stimulate
the economy with tax reductions for you and for business,
and that is the way we are going to make America prosperous,
the way you want it.
Two years ago, the American people suffered
a tragic betrayal of public trust. America, I think we
can say with full confidence, has had its faith restored
in the White House. My Administration has been open,
candid, forthright, speaking right straight from the
shoulder, and I promise you, I pledge to you, we are
going to keep it that way in the next four years.
In every field America is on the move, on the
march. This Nation is sound, this Nation is secure, this
Nation has an opportunity for a better quality of life,
and this Administration has earned the trust of the
American people for the next four years. I can say with
a clear conscience, my record is one of promise -- progress,
not platitudes; performance, not promises.
Yes, we have had our problems, but in the
last two years we have come a long, long way. At home
as well as abroad we are putting our old differences
aside, we are putting our old problems behind us, healing
our wounds, and I am proud to be a citizen of this great
country. And I look around this wonderful audience and
I think every one of you are proud to be an American right
now.
So, as we come to the final countdown, give
me your mandate and we will reduce the rate of growth
of the Federal Government.
MORE
Page 4
Give me your mandate and we will insure the
integrity of our Social Security system. We will improve
Medicare so that our older citizens can enjoy the health
and the happiness that they have so richly earned. There
is no reason why they should have to go broke just to get
well, and they won't under the Ford Administration.
Give me your mandate and we will create a
tax structure that is fair to all, that will preserve
the family home, the family business, the family farm,
that will give business the tax incentives to build new
plants, to modernize, to create more jobs for America.
Give me your mandate on November 2 and we will
lead this country on the paths of peace through strength,
and we will live in peace and freedom in the United States
of America in the first four years of our third century.
I have no fear for the future of the United
States. For America the future is a friend. And as we
go forward together, I promise you once more, as I promised
you before, to uphold the Constitution, to do what is
right as God gives me the right to see the right, and to
do the very best that I can for America.
God helping me, I won't let you down.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 12:10 P.M. EDT)