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Speeches - Reports to the People, 1968
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Reagan, Ronald: Gubernatorial Papers,
1966-74: Press Unit
Folder Title: Speeches - Reports to the People, 1968
Box: P20
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
3/31/68
OFFICE OF THE GOVER
R
FOR RELEASE
5:00 P.M.
Sacramento, California
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1968
Contact:
Paul Beck
445-4571
3.29.68
PLEASE GUARD AGAINST PREMATURE
RELEASE
TRANSCRIPT OF GOVERNOR REAGAN'S REPORT TO THE PEOPLE OF 3/31/68
(Taxes)
My fellow Californians:
By April 15 most of you will have dipped into your savings or
gone to the bank for a loan in order to pay your share of California's
state income tax.
And most of you are going to be puzzled--and angry.
I have come to you today to tell you that I share your anger
that we had to raise taxes.
To tell you why we had to raise them.
And to assure you again that this administration is dedicated
to the proposition that government will operate efficiently and that
taxes will not be raised again.
In a few weeks I understand billboards will begin to appear
criticizing me for saying "taxes should hurt."
Those billboards will not carry the rest of the statement which
said, "taxes should hurt so that the people will be aware of what
government is costing them and will make it clear to their legislators
how big a tax burden they are willing to bear."
If indeed, you are angry, if, indeed, taxes have hurt you this
year, then it is time for us to begin demanding responsible, efficient
government at all levels.
I also want that. And I hope to help you get that message across.
Let me show you what has happened in California in the last 10
years.
Population has risen 39 percent.
But, the costs of welfare have jumped 247 percent. Higher
education costs have increased 138 percent. State support of schools
Altogether,
is up 98 percent. Other costs are up 88 percent.
/
the cost
of running your government has increased more than three times faster
than population. With your help we can reverse that trend,
Now, of course, we will have taxes as long as we have government--
and if we did not have a government to guarantee freedom, to preserve
order, to educate our children and help those who cannot help them-
selves, we would have something much worse than taxes.
-1-
But taxes, to be just, must be spread as evenly and fairly as
possible among all the people. It is equally important to ensure
that for each tax dollar, we all get a full dollar's worth of
services.
Even more important, in view of today's exorbitant taxes, neither
the Legislature nor the administration should attempt to adopt new
and expensive programs that will require even higher taxes. On the
contrary, we should sharply reduce the cost and extent of government,
wherever possible.
Let me talk for just a few moments about why your state income
taxes this year are so high.
When I took office, we found that spending for the year ending
last June would exceed revenues by $446 million.
We didn't have enough time, but even so, we reduced spending by
$125 million. Later, I bluepenciled $43 million that the Legislature
put back in the budget, and finally, I vetoed nearly $80 million more
in special appropriation bills passed by the Legislature. Despite all
these economies the General Fund, which handles most of the spending
of the state except highway costs, was still $194 million in debt.
We should all realize that 66 to 68 percent of our total spending
is fixed by the Constitution or by permanent statutes. This means
that most of the money the state spends to support public schools,
provide welfare (and our welfare programs are among the highest in
the nation), and build highways--all of these and more cannot be
reduced, nor be allocated for other purposes unless we change our
Constitution and many of our laws.
Because of these problems we were forced to seek new revenues.
And we concluded that good government practices required that we try
to balance our budget without tax gimmicks.
So we asked for a tax increase of about $900 million to pay off
our inherited debt, to meet the built-in and self-perpetuating cost
increases of our social welfare and education programs, to provide
property tax relief, and to cope with the spiralling costs of the
federal inflation.
The Legislature gave us that tax increase--and it has produced
enough revenue to keep the state in the black, to take care of the
legitimate needs of the people, and to give $155 million for local
property tax relief next year, plus $39 million more to local govern-
ments to enable them to reduce inventory taxes, and $22 million more
-2-
for tax relief for low income senior citizens.
Now, despite our fiscal problems and the fact that we cannot, by
law, permit expenditures to exceed income, there are those who insist
that we spend more. In fact, if every bill approved by Assembly and
Senate committees last year had become law, your taxes would have had
to go up another three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Fortunately, most of those bills failed when brought before the
entire Legislature. But it is important to note that there is an
increasing effort by some in government to get a bigger hand on your
pocketbook.
Meanwhile, another major problem has developed. We put into our
budget this year and next the amounts the Legislature told us would
be needed to pay for the new school bill. Unfortunately, they were
wrong in their estimates by about $152 million. To correct this,
we have asked the Legislature to reiterate its earlier intent and
put a ceiling on the state's share of public school spending in the
amount of 226, 000, 000-the amount the Legislature intended to be
spent. If they do not correct this mistake, then we have no other
logical choice under the law but to take the money from other state
services such as higher education, Medi-Cal, or funds for welfare.
Some have said we should abandon our goal of local property tax
relief, and instead permanently use the $155 million to make up for
this error. But I do not think the answer to mistakes of this kind
is to always take money from the people. I think we should correct
the mistakes.
We pledged local property tax relief and I intend to keep that
pledge.
Let me be crystal clear--I am not going to ask the Legislature
for more taxes--we have an ample state income and we will live within
it, while I am governor. In fact, I hope we can do better than that--
I hope we can not only reduce local taxes, but that we can look forward
to the day when state taxes themselves will be lower.
That would be the greatest tax reform of all--it is a reform we
will ceaselessly work for.
Meanwhile, there are many things we have done and can do to lower
the cost of state government, improve its administration and make it
more responsive. We have already made 265 changes in the operations
of our executive branch agencies with potential annual savings of
nearly $50 million.
But, there are two long-range goals we must reach if we are
ever to achieve any significant tax reduction in California:
First, the federal government must be persuaded to share its
revenues with the states. Right now, the federal government is
doling out $17 billion a year to the fifty states for programs it
thinks we ought to have. Let me cite one program.
Many demand matching funds from the state or locality, thus
sending your tax bill even higher. Currently 60 percent of the total
taxes you pay go to support the federal government and its programs.
Only about 20 percent goes to support all our state functions and
programs.
What I seek is an agreement that the federal government return
to California a small part of the income tax our citizens pay to
Washington, and I want it to come back free and unfettered--so that
we can spend it on the programs Californians think best--or even,
possibly, and I know this is revolutionary, use it to reduce state
taxes.
The only way we will achieve this is to persuade enough Congress-
men and Senators that it should be done. I intend to ask our
Congressmen, and other governors, to join with me to plan the continuous
strategy needed to get these federal tax moneys shared with the states.
Second, we must have more flexibility in making up our own
budgets. Until your governor and legislators can determine to a far
greater extent than is now possible what our tax moneys should be
spent for each year, we are almost inevitably doomed to even higher
budgets.
I believe that each year we should be able to determine what are
the highest priorities for the revenues we have, and to spend our
money accordingly.
Some preliminary studies of this problem have been completed, and
I will request the Legislature to study my recommendations with the
hope that suitable constitutional and statutory amendments can be
proposed next year to enable your elected officials to assign proper
spending priorities each year.
Otherwise, our present system virtually guarantees that the
Legislature will have to vote higher taxes every few years.
There are some immediate reforms which we hope can be adopted
shortly, such as a far more simplified state income tax return. How
simple it would be if a carbon copy of the federal tax return could
-4-
be filed as the st e income tax return. The ate tax would then be
figured as a percentage of the federal tax and many of the problems
we have encountered this year with tax credits instead of exemptions
would be solved. The voters in 1966 narrowly rejected a constitu-
tional amendment authorizing this. I hope if offered again such a
constitutional amendment will pass. Under this change we could
collect state income taxes at a substantially lower cost.
Another tax reform that would reduce costs and assure far greater
service to the taxpayers would be the creation of a Department of
Revenue. While it is not a new proposal, I am convinced it is
essential. It is impossible to justify the current dispersion of our
tax collecting and administering activities among three major state
agencies, with the attendant duplication, double harassment of the
taxpayers by double and sometimes triple audits, unnecessary personnel
and many other factors. A modern, streamlined Department of Revenue
organized as are other departments is clearly the answer. Such a
department has been recommended by every group that has looked into
the problem. The proposal needs no further study, but should be
enacted promptly.
There has been a great deal of discussion about withholding.
Most of the arguments in favor of withholding are based on the con-
venience to the government.
No question, of course, there's a certain convenience to the
individual in any installment paying. But obviously the greatest
convenience is to the state to have your tax payments early and to
have the employer act as tax collector. In addition, under with-
holding, the state actually takes more of your money than it does
under the present system.
But I believe we should consider the taxpayer first. I would
much prefer to return to the system in effect before 1964. Under it
taxpayers were allowed to pay their state income taxes for the prior
year in quarterly installments.
This privilege was taken away as another sleight-of-hand means
of trying to balance the budget without taxes. It cannot be restored
now because the state would simply not have enough cash on which to
operate. I hope that when we get our heads above water, we can go
back to installment payments. But in the meantime perhaps there is
a way to make the payment easier.
I have directed the Superintendent of Banks and the Savings and
Loan Commissioner to attempt to work out a voluntary system by which
-5-
the taxpayer could, if he wanted to, have an amount deducted from
his paycheck, as many do now with other payroll deduction plans, and
pay into a savings account of his own, similar to a Christmas savings
club, as a means of accumulating in advance the amount necessary to
pay the state income tax.
First the money remains in his possession. In the event some
emergency arises he can use it and at the same time he is getting
interest on his money to help pay his taxes.
If this can be done for the income tax, then I would strongly
recommend that similar arrangements be worked out for the real
pioperty taxpayer.
But ultimately, broader approaches must be applied to this whole
field of tax reform. We now have a piecemeal tax system which breeds
inequities, duplication and, basically, an unbalanced result, with
some taxpayers and some transactions bearing far too great a share of
the total tax burden, and othersescaping without bearing their fair
share.
One requirement is careful study of whether real property should
continue to be the principal tax supporting local government. Ideally,
taxes should be based upon benefits received as well as upon ability
to pay. Heavy taxation of real property frequently violates both of
these objectives. Even worse, too high real property taxes can and
do discourage the attraction of new capital to California. And with-
out new capital and new enterprise many of our proudest programs and
activities will have to end, because we will not have the broad tax
base and the jobs here to support them. There has not been a basic
study in California of public finance on a proper scale for more than
40 years.
We know, for example, that the property tax provides more than
40 percent of the cost of education in California and yet, there is
no clearly established relationship between the owner of property
and education as a function.
The property tax also supports about 50 percent of all our public
health services. Yet, again, there is no direct relationship between
the property tax, and these services.
Now, we have made our preliminary proposals. We are prepared to
share these with every level of government in California. Tonight I
call on the Legislature and our city and county governments to join
with me in this program so that we can have ready for the opening
-6-
of the next legislative session an omnibus tax reform bill for the
people of California. I would hope such a reform measure will move
us away from the over-reliance we have been putting on the property
tax.
I also hope that the Legislature will consider and make rec-
commendations concerning our whole budgetary process. Far too often,
the supposed needs of government are considered first, and taxes are
then raised to support these needs. I believethis process should be
reversed. I believe we should make up our budgets with a knowledge
of what revenues the existing tax system will produce, and that we
should then bring the cost of government into line with the existing
tax base. This is the way you run your own affairs. You spend
according to what you earn. By the same token, then, government
should not spend above the amount the tax base will support. For
that reason I believe government should not be allowed to increase
your taxes except by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.
Such a two-thirds vote would be additional insurance that the
people's money is spent wisely and carefully. I recommend it strongly.
In the Executive Branch, we are pushing ahead with the establish-
ment of the program budget. Such a budget involves the presentation
of actual cost of the programs that the state government is engaged
in, and it will give the Legislature and the Executive Branch a far
better idea not only of the cost of each individual program but,
more important, whether we should continue to spend the amount of
spending
money we are/oñ a particular program. The present budget only tells
us how much each department costs each year, and whether one depart-
ment is getting more typewriters or employees than it had last year.
It does not tell us how effective its work is compared to its cost,
nor does it tell U.S. what we are spending on activities that cross
departmental lines.
We have been told that such a budget cannot be operating until
1971. It is my hope that we can put it at least partly into effect
next year.
We hold the same hope that the Legislature will act in those
areas I mentioned previously.
I have already sent letters to the leadership of both parties
asking them to meet with me to discuss not only these measures, but
also to help iron out the problem of overpayment to the school
districts.
-7-
This is a legislative problem and only the Legislature can
solve it. I will strongly urge it not to attempt to solve it by
taking away from the taxpayers the 155 million dollars we have
promised them. I would not, and I am sure they would not want to be
in the position of having to explain away such a breach of faith.
I am sure that members of both parties can and will sit down
and work together to solve the problems of California in a way that
is of the most benefit to all our citizens.
Tonight I have been discussing with you the taxes which bear
down upon us as the citizens of California. But taxes are just a
symptom of society and one of the measures of government is its cost,
its efficiency, its quality. The simple facts are we are over-
taxed, over-spent and over-budgeted.
As I said a few minutes ago, by April 15th there will be a lot
of angry taxpayers in California. And this is as it should be.
Because, an angry taxpayer is the strongest weapon we have, you and
I, in the fight for good government. I intend to carry on that fight.
#
#
#
-8-
PB
at
39/m/4
OFFICE OF THE GOVERN
RELEASE: 5:(
P.M., SUNDAY, JULY 14
Sacramento, California
Contact: Paul Beck
PLEASE GUARD AGAINST PREMATURE
445-4571
7.12.68
RELEASE
TRANSCRIPT OF GOVERNOR REAGAN'S REPORT TO THE PEOPLE OF 7-14-68
(Equal Opportunity)
This is Ronald Reagan.
For the next half hour I want to talk to you and show you how
your state government is working with the independent sector and with
the minority communities to solve the unique problems within those
communities.
This administration has a commitment to all Californians to work
toward the goal of assuring every Californian the opportunities and the
rights guaranteed him by our system of government.
I have a great faith in all the citizens of California and in their
ability and desire to live together in harmony. I have faith, too, that
our system can provide justice and equal opportunity for all. But for
some, especially our Negro citizens and Americans of Mexican descent, the
road to opportunity and prosperity has been difficult.
Many of our minority citizens have legitimate grievances. It is
imperative- and it is morally right that we attend to these grievances;
that we correct whatever injustices may exist; that we remove unnatural
barriers; and that we guarantee equal rights to all of our citizens
regardless of color or creed. And this administration- working with
people of the minority communities--with business, with labor, and with
other levels of government--this administration will do all that it can
to see that every citizen has the opportunity to become whatever his
manhood and his vision can combine to make him.
We cannot guarantee every citizen success, but we must guarantee
every citizen an equal place at the starting line and his right to try
to succeed.
We have discovered that it takes more than a memorandum from the
head of the company to insure that hiring policies will reflect his
sincere desire to provide increased employment opportunities for minority
members. He has to see that shop stewards and foremen, that every level
of his company is aware of his concern in this matter.
We have learned this is true of state government as well. We have
also learned that we must be on guard for that occasional instance of
outright discrimination.
-1-
A man, one of Lose working to help find jows in a minority area,
took a young Negro boy to one of our state offices to fill out an
application. Outside, after they had filled out the papers, the
instructor asked the boy if he had put down certain things that would
be helpful. The boy admitted he had forgotten. They went back. Only
ten minutes had elapsed, but they couldn't find the application. On a
hunch, the man walked over to the wastebasket and there it was.
I am sure this isn't widespread, but we cannot afford even one
such violation of a citizen's rights. A lot of effort has been put
forth by well-meaning people who would have us be our brother's keeper.
It is time we became our brother's brother. He needs a hand up---not not
a handout.
Failure to solve the problems of human misery is not due to lack
of effort. Billions have been expended in a multiplicity of programs,
but somehow there has been misdirection, and a great deal of social
and as the promises
tinkering. Hopes have been raised by glowing promises/failed of ful-
fillment, frustration resulted.
Other well intended legislation has hurt, not helped. Urban
renewal promised new and better housing for the poor. But it destroyed
homes and failed to provide new ones they could afford.
There was a vast difference all too often between the amount
budgeted for poverty programs and the amount that actually benefited
those who needed it.
More than half of many programs goes for administration and over-
head; others teach outmoded skills or are mere leaf-raking projects.
Welfare should be salvaging people instead of perpetuating poverty
and institutionalizing it into a kind of permanent degredation. The
third and fourth generations of some families are now on welfare. They
know no other life. It's a story of too much promised
too little
delivered a story of ineptitude and bungling and in some cases,
deliberate deception.
It is the goal of this administration to see to it that the
promise of America can be a reality for all our citizens. It is our
belief that the proper function of government is to lead, not delude,
to produce, not to promise.
We can and we intend to provide adequate education, including
special education for our Spanish-speaking children, and job training
and jobs for our youth and our untrained adults. Lack of these things
has meant second class economic citizenship for many.
-2-
In Bob's work sund the state--and through. our own meetings at
the neighborhood level--it has become increasingly apparent as I said
before that the main problem has to do with jobs. We have set up a
greatly revamped and streamlined system in key minority and unemployment
areas which brings under one roof the many diversified and specialized
services which the state offers those in need of assistance. We call
these our neighborhood service centers.
In charge of this program--and working very closely with Bob
Keyes--is Robert Collins. We caught Bob on his way into our Venice,
California service center the other day and asked him why the service
centers are set up as they are. (filmed interview)
These community centers also provide an important local contact
for the people with a direct representative of my office. We feel that
this is one of the most important steps any state or federal agency has
taken toward bridging the expectation and communications gaps. One of
the requests we heard most often in our meetings was for more communica-
tions with the governor's office, and a greater awareness of their
problems.
That is why I have appointed--from the local community--personal
representatives in each of our six community service centers.
Hopefully, this will also help break down the barriers that exist in
any bureaucracy.
With me here in my office are two of the most recent such
appointees. Working out of Sacramento is Sal Espana, and working
directly out of my office in Los Angeles is Rudy Castro. Operating out
of our San Diego service center is Ted Patrick. In East Los Angeles,
we have Ralph Morales. In Richmond, Bill Thompson serves as my personal
representative with the people of the community. In Venice, working out
of that service center, we have John Alston whom we see here assisting
a young man to find a better job. Working out of the San Francisco
center is Charlie Booker whom we see outside of the Hunter's Point
cooperative market which we will talk about a little later. And in
South Central Los Angeles serving the Watts area is Ray Parr whom you
met earlier. (filmed interview)
Again, I want to emphasize that these are my personal represents-
tives. They are working in the community and they serve as a direct
line of communications from the people to the governor's office.
-5-
There are four ajor forces whose interest and involvement in the
problems of the minority communities are essential. There is you and
your family. There is the private sector---business and labor. There
is government--local, state and federal. And there is the minority
community itself, a community comprised of individuals who must want
to help the other three forces that seek to help them prepare for,
obtain and hold jobs.
You have a right to ask what this administration is doing to help
provide jobs for qualified minority members and insure against job
prejudice. To begin with, we have appointed more members of minorities
to executive and policy making positions than any other administration
in the history of California. And while this has been mentioned once
or twice recently, this is the first public announcement that has been
made about this.
A career opportunities development program has been formed to
develop new employment opportunities for the disadvantaged. We feel
this is an important and long needed step by the state as a major
But to me,
employer- to help the disadvantaged to better help themselves. /one
of the most exciting things going on in California is a program headed
by Mr. H. C. "Chad" McClellan in which more than 20,000 industrialists
in 16 urban areas have banded together in a job training and placement
program to put hard core unemployed in private enterprise jobs.
Chad McClellan started this program immediately after the Watts
disturbance in 1965. In the next year and a half, 17,800 unemployed
were put to work. The day after the election I asked him if he would
take on the job statewide, and he did. In San Diego, the program has
just placed its 1000th man in a job. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach
area where the program has been operating longest, the unemployment
ratio between whites and non-whites is now 1½ to 1. Nationwide, it is
2½ to 1. And to prove that the walls of the ghetto are indeed economic,
nearly 30 percent of those placed in jobs from the Watts area have
moved, many of them nearer to their new jobs.
We are pushing for greater participation by industry and labor in
apprenticeship programs. And we are urging students in high school to
remain in school, to learn, and thus to qualify for these apprentice-
ship programs which pay well and, in turn, lead to even better jobs.
-6-
I don't deny t place of necessary legis tion, but it does not
do much good to pass bills with a big fanfare that they will open doors
of opportunity if the person they are supposed to help can't afford
the ticket to go through that door.
Let us direct our effort toward making it possible for him to earn
the price of admission to a share in California's prosperity.
But while recognizing that there are problems and legitimate
grievances to all of our citizens, let me say this. Just as it is the
function of government to lead in solving problems, so it is the
responsibility of government to keep order and maintain the law.
Abraham Lincoln said, "There is no grievance that is a fit object of
redress by mob law." Mobs do not generate progress; they retard it.
Mobs do not establish rights; they trample them. No mob will ever
build a better California, or a better world. And those who would lead
a mob are double-crossing the very people they pretent they are trying
to help.
Society can have law and order without freedom. But no society--
and no man--can have real freedom without law and order. Every law
abiding citizen--regardless of color--has the right to expect that his
government will insure the safety of his person, his home and his
family. And every homeowner, every businessman, every resident of every
community has the right to expect his government to protect his property
against the criminal, the arsonist, the rioter and the looter. No man
should be above the law, and no man should be beneath it.
And I know that at least 98 percent of our minority citizens feel
the same way have the same desire to feel safe and protected on the
street and in their homes. They are responsible and law abiding. Here,
for example, are typical answers given to my representative in Watts,
Ray Parr, when in front of our service center there he asked, "Is
violence the way to solve the problems?"
(filmed interview)
We have not done all that can be done or all that must be done,
but we are going to keep faith with these men and women.
But we are not going to grandstand with the kind of grandiloquent
promises that have misled them in the past; promises that cannot possibly
be kept.
There are a few gaps to be closed---an expectation gap for one,
a chasm between what is and what should be. There is a communications
gap between the majority and minority communities. We are trying to
close both of these gaps, not with promises, but with action and
programs.
-3-
Over the last 1 / months now, I have been tiavelling up and down
California meeting with neighborhood leaders in our minority
communities. You didn't read about this because the press was not
notified. Publicity was not the purpose of these meetings.
I used the term leaders a moment ago, but I do not necessarily
mean the names that you have heard about or read about. I mean those
men and women who are dealing first hand with the problems of their
neighborhoods and attempting to solve them.
I went mainly to listen and I heard suggestions, complaints, hopes
and frustrations. I did not hear any requests for more welfare, but I
did hear about the need for jobs---self respect-building jobs in our
productive economy. I did not hear anything about bussing school
children, but I did hear requests for better education and discipline
in the schools their children are now attending. I have learned how
our educational system has failed them; how in too many instances, we
are passing their children from grade to grade simply because they
have reached the end of the term, until eventually handed a certificate--
or a diploma--which is meaningless, because no knowledge goes with it.
They are unable even to read and comprehend the directions at the
beginning of a job training program.
In these meetings I have heard how our economic system has too
often failed to extend its bounties, as it should, to all who are
willing to make an honest effort. I listened as one man told me: "We
would pull ourselves up by our own boot straps, but we have no boots."
I have heard and seen and experienced their disillusionment with
programs promising an instant tomorrow, but designed too often with
political opportunism and expediency in mind.
Yes, we have learned from these meetings--both sides have
learned--and the meetings will continue. And we will continue to learn.
And based on this expanded communication, we will continue programs that
this administration has undertaken to help the people of our minority
communities help themselves. The problems won't be solved overnight.
The road is long and hard, but between us, we can find the answers.
Playing an active and highly important role in our overall human
relations program is Secretary for Human Affairs Robert Keyes. Bob was
out in the field, working with the minority community as we were pre-
paring this report, so here, in one of our community service centers,
is Bob who will briefly describe his activities and area of
responsibility. (filmed interview)
-4-
In addition to yreatly expanding their own ,ob programs for
minorities, such major employers as Kaiser Industries, Montgomery Ward,
Pacific Telephone, Transamerica Title, Wells Fargo, Bank of America,
Bank of California,
/Shell Development, Lockheed and others are also using $117 thousand
of their own money, plus personnel and equipment--in a most unique--and
practical program. Conceived originally by the students and principal
at McClyman's High School in Oakland, this is a program which enables
young people to gain first hand knowledge of the type of work involved
in a variety of career fields in which they may be interested, and then
customize their educational program to courses which provide the specific
knowledge and know-how for a given specialty or career. This program
also enables them to see just where and how they will use the knowledge
they gain from their courses in the line of work in which they are
interested. Pooling their money and technical assistance with some
$30 thousand in elementary, secondary education act and neighborhood
youth group funds, these companies--working with the University of
California, the Oakland and Alameda schools, the West Oakland community,
and many others--are making a major contribution in helping to reshape
the education and future employment picture for young people in the
minority community.
An economically failing food Coop in the Hunter's Point area has
had new economic breath pumped into it by a competitor--Safeway Stores--
whose president, Bob McGowan, brought in top Safeway personnel as well
as financial assistance, so that local citizens could be hired and
trained to operate the store on a sound businesslike basis.
Lockheed, in Sunnyvale, has not only expanded its employment
opportunities--as have other major California employers--but has set up
special training programs where minority members and others can learn
new skills to qualify them for better paying jobs.
These are just a few examples of progress, by the private sector,
working with community organizations, school boards, neighborhood groups,
local and state government, and with the people of the minority com-
munities.
Meanwhile, we in Sacramento are attempting to correct inequitable
laws and back up--with legislation--programs and policies which we find
must be developed.
-7-
In the last se. ion of the state legislatu- over 200 bills were
signed into law dealing with minorities and others in low income levels.
The individual, working as an individual, as part of a family,
and as an active member of a church, school, neighborhood or local
government action program, is also helping to build a better community
and to make community relations programs succeed.
Project Focus in Fresno is one example of an attempt at total
involvement of representative groups of the entire community in an
effort to identify community needs, their scope, degree of severity,
persons affected, and then to develop specific, programs to resolve
these problems. This is part of a great community effort, using the
combined talents of all levels of government and the active participation
of the local community.
In our community service centers and elsewhere throughout
California, state employees and volunteers work with minority and low
income families to help them stretch their food dollar and thus help
them to get the best value for their money.
Community leaders from all walks of life, including men like
former light-heavy weight boxing champion Archie Moore and his
assistant Loy Lake, are giving time and talents to teach minority
community youngsters to develop their physical skills and to use them
properly in addition to learning rules of good sportsmanship, and how
to be good citizens.
Through local community chapters of girls clubs and boys clubs
and in parks and recreation programs, youngsters also learn athletic
skills and the value of good sportsmanship, under the supervision of
staff and volunteer local residents from the community.
Ownership of property and the acceptance of responsibility are
closely linked. In this self help housing program in Yolo County, each
family spends an average of 1,000 hours building its own home under
supervision of a construction foreman hired by self help housing.
Financed from the Farmer's Home Administration, the loans are at five
percent for 33 years. This money--combined with do-it-yourself
construction--makes it possible for these families to own decent homes.
Under our "Operation Sandlot" program, temporary surplus state
land is leased to a local community for $1 a year providing that the
community, through service clubs, local action groups, community
organizations, will use it for recreational purposes during the time
it is available.
-8-
We only had to menti
the idea to the service
lbs throughout the
state and they were off and running. The extent of development, of
course, depends on how long the land will be available before being put
to its ultimate use, but in all cases where land is turned over to
Operation Sandlot, it will be available to the community for at least
two years.
In other areas, such as here in San Diego, local city government,
working with and through the community, provides important recreational
facilities for all the children of the community. In addition to
learning to swim, these youngsters learn to get along and to grow up
together, not as Negroes, Mexican Americans and Whites, but as
Californians, as Americans, who can learn to live and work together while
they play together.
During this half hour, I have attempted to put into a little
clearer perspective what we--and that means all of us--are doing, can
do and must continue to do in this important area of community relations.
What it perhaps boils down to is that we are coming to a realization
that those who look only to government for the answers have failed for
some years to recognize the great potential force for good among those
who instead have placed their faith in the doctrine of the individual.
The American dream that we have nursed for so long in this
country and neglected so much lately is not that every man must be on
the same level with every other man, but that every man has the right
to live, to be himself and to become whatever thing his manhood and
his vision can combine to make him. that he will be free to be whatever
God intended he should be.
The restoration and the perpetuation of that dream is the
greatest challenge confronting every one of us today.
# # #
-9-
39/2/21
21
RELEASE:
6:30
p.m.
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Sunday, December 8.
Sacramento, California
Contact:
Paul Beck
445-4571
12-7-68
TRANSCRIPT OF GOVERNOR RONALD REAGAN'S REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
12-8-68
(Higher Education)
The following stations will carry a Report to the People on the
subject of higher education by Governor Ronald Reagan on Sunday evening,
December 8:
Bakersfield
KERO
8:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Chico-Redding
KRCR
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
KFRE
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Fresno
Eureka
KIEM
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Los Angeles
KHJ
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Palm Springs
KPLM
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Sacramento
KCRA
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Salinas-San Luis Obispo
KSBW
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
KSBY
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Santa Barbara
KEYT
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
San Jose
KNTV
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
San Diego
KFMB
7:30 - 8:00 p.m.
San Francisco
KTVU
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
KPIX
11:30 - 12 Midnight
Here are the Governor's remarks:
Devotion to learning, teaching, scholarship and recognition of
learning's importance to the full manner of life this should be
the preoccupation of our schools and colleges.
Good evening. Tonight I want to discuss a subject with you
which I know is of great interest and concern to all of us
the
state of our University and college campuses.
This report is for all Californians:
The great silent majority of students on our campuses
you
ladies and gentlemen who support these institutions and pay the
salaries of those who administer and teach in them the dedicated
educators who share our common concern over the disruption of classes
and the shattering of the atmosphere of tranquility and intellectual
pursuit
and those of you who for whatever reasons motivate you are
intent on taking over or destroying one of the great University and
state college systems in the world, often hiding behind academic
freedom, this report is for all of you.
The people of California founded and generously support what
has become the finest system of public higher education in the land.
Within this system there are now nine University campuses, nine-
teen state college campuses and eighty-one community colleges, plus
many fine independent colleges and universities which are also
supported, for the most part, by the people of California,
1 -
The system has worked well.
Graduates of our colleges and universities have made great
contributions to the world and to our society. Alumni include nobel
prize winners, captains of industry and labor, world and national lea-
ders
and
closer to home hundreds of thousands of thoughtful, hard-
working men and women who quietly and effectively contribute so much
to society by the way they do their jobs
raise their families
participate in community affairs
and set a good example for their
children and others to follow.
Yes, on these campuses, generations of Californians have pursued
knowledge within the widest range of disciplines. They have sampled
widely of man's knowledge of man, of the history of his ideas and of
what he knows of the world around him.
This is the role of higher education in California. At least
this has been the case up until recently.
Within the past five or six years something new has been added
a violent, strident something that has disturbed all of us
a
something whose admitted purpose is to destroy or to capture and use
society's institutions for its own purpose
I say whose admitted
purpose because the leadership minces no words. It is boastful,
arrogant and threatening.
Consider these words from a campus teacher:
"I think we agree that the revolution is necessary and that you
don't conduct a revolution by attacking the strongest enemy first.
You take care of your business at home first, then you move abroad.
Thus we must make the University the home of the revolution." "
From the capture of a police car and negotiations conducted in
an atmosphere of intimidation, threats and fear, we went from free
speech to filthy speech.
The movement spread to other campuses. There has been general
incitement against properly constituted law enforcement authorities,
and the general trampling of the will, the rights and freedom of
movement of the majority, by the organized, militant and highly vocal
minority.
Though the causes were cloaked in the dignity of academic and
other freedoms, they are in fact a lusting for power. Some protestors
even marched under banners that ranged from the black flag of anarchy
the
red
flag
of
revolution
to the flags of enemies engaged in killing
young Americans
the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
2
What is so traç is that it all begins wit this kind of
exhortation and ends up with the physical takeover of buildings and
property belonging to the Universities and state colleges and there-
fore to the people of California.
The tactics change and they will continue to change. But from
SDS, PLP, BSU, YSL and other radical organizations, we find a common
design:
1--Find a few core people on a campus;
2--Train them in the tactics of insurrection;
3--Have them find the issues of potential strain on their
particular campus-whether it's the food in the cafeteria, campus
rules regarding the use of facilities, or visitation rights in
dormitories;
4--Seek out support in strategic places in the community;
5--Push constantly for just a little more than is allowed;
6--Harass the local administrators verbally, as well;
7--Wait for the mistake you produce;
8--Paint the administrators as rigid and authoritarian;
9--Be prepared to win either way--you either win the building
or you point to police brutality if you are removed from it;
10--Be willing to nibble, because each success makes easier
the next one.
This is the strategy of takeover.
One of the great tragedies in all of this is that an entire
generation--a a great educational system--are being indicted---and
I believe most unfairly.
I know, and I feel it imperative that all of you watching tonight
know, that the chaos on our campuses is not caused nor approved by
the great majority of our young men and women. In fact, 87 percent
of the students on our college and University campuses have recently
been found to reject the coercive tactics of the organized and highly
vocal minority.
If these young people are guilty of anything, it is that they are
silent
as are the great majority of dedicated educators who--like
the majority of students--are being deprived of their rights and--if
you will--their academic freedom--by the destroyers.
Perhaps this silent non involvement is natural in an academic
atmosphere where the true student and the true educator are simply not
used to violence, force and confrontation politics.
3 1 I
I want to make it crystal clear that I--and the majority of
your fellow Californians--even those of us over thirty--have a great
respect for you and the problems you are going through,
We also know that yours is a time of life when you must seek
knowledge and truth and express yourself on your opinions.
It is tragic, then, that too often you--as individuals and as
a generation--are put into the same bag with those who are actually
depriving you not only of your reputation and your just place in the
sun, but of your rights, privileges and freedom as well.
Just as it is tragic that a great University and college system
is, likewise, painted with the same brush.
There are a number of issues and opinions which at first may
appear to divide us.
Yet in our differences of opinion, lies our strength and unity
of purpose if we are sincere about preserving the Universities and
colleges and protecting true academic freedom.
Let us remember that the real purpose of higher education is
to transfer the intellectual treasure of mankind.
There are many things to be learned in our colleges and
Universities and there are other things which can best be learned in
other places in hospitals, in the slums, in the artist's studio, in
factories or business offices, in church
and in the home.
There are some very important truths that come only with
experience in life
and I submit that it is not the purposes of our
higher education system to duplicate these forms of learning.
Which brings us directly to the subject of academic freedom,
the true meaning of which we must fully understand. For as we have
seen, many who wrap themselves in the mantle of defenders of academic
freedom are, in reality, those who would destroy it.
Academic freedom is that commodity which is so precious to the
pursuit of knowledge.
In the first part of its formal statement on academic freedom,
regulation number 5, the University of California sums it up so very
well:
"Essentially the freedom of a university is the freedom of a
University of competent persons in the classroom. In or der to protect
this freedom, the university assumes the right to prevent exploitation
of its prestige by unqualified persons, or by those who would use it
as a platform for propaganda."
- 4 -
It therefore ta' S great care in the appointment of its teachers:
it must take corresponding care with respect to others who wish to
speak in its name.
The University respects personal belief as the private concern of
the individual. It equally respects the constitutional rights of the
citizen. It insists only that its teachers shall likewise always
respect--and not exploit--their University connections.
True academic freedom has served free men well; it has served
best and been held in highest esteem, when those who claimed it for
their own have kept constantly in mind that they are, in fact, scholars.
Where, then, is our heritage of good taste when a faculty senate
demands the continuation of plays so vile and so obscene as to be
absolutely without any redeeming social importance? Where is the quest
for education in classes that are disbanded because the professor is
out leading a demonstration? Where are our high academic standards
when a faculty senate approves the use of foul-mouthed felons as
lecturers even for credit?
Where is our leadership--and for that matter, the overall rights
and freedom of the majority of students and faculty on a campus closed
down because of the militant demands of a violent minority protesting
the firing of a faculty member who urged his students to bring guns to
school.
Academic freedom is one of the important freedoms to go in the
new order envisioned by the New Left. There was no academic freedom in
Hitler's Germany.
There is no academic freedom in Mao's China or Castro's Cuba.
And there is no academic freedom in the philosophies or the actions of
the George Murrays, the Eldridge Cleavers or the Jerry Rubins.
It is therefore most imperative that the great and thoughtful
majority of citizens--of all races--keep our perspective. We must
recognize the manipulations being carried out to frustrate our common
interest in living together with dignity in one American society.
And we must also recognize that those who exercise violence must
be held accountable for their actions and held equally accountable
regardless of their color.
The State College Trustees and Acting President Paul Blomgren
were appropriately color blind--and correct--when they took decisive
action, regardless of who was involved against militants at San
Fernando State College last month, as were the Trustees and Chancellor
- 5 -
Dumke in their recent decision regarding the termination of Mr. George
Murray's relationship as a graduate student and instructor at San
Francisco State College.
But here again, we must ask ourselves, where is the true freedom--
the freedom of all of us, black and white. Those on the faculty and in
the student body must work not only to preserve, but to improve their
fine institutions
but within the lines of authority and responsibility
of that institution. Never can we capitulate
surrender
to the
vocal, abusive minority of militants, thus completely closing down an
entire depriving the majority of students the education they
seek and are entitled to--and depriving the vast majority of responsible
faculty of their rights to exercise true academic freedom.
Yet we continue to hear demands that the universities and colleges
should be run by the students--the academic senate--a coalition of the
two.
The people of this state--through due process of the law--have
established a Board of Regents to govern the University of California.
This is a body of 24 members.
A Board of Trustees was established to govern the California State
Colleges. This board consists of 21 members. A majority of the
members of each board are appointed by governors
I say governors
because the terms of Regents are 16 years and of Trustees, eight
years
simply to insure that no governor will be able to exercise too
much influence over either board.
For example, my own appointments to the Regents have been two
and to the Trustees, three. The balance of the boards were appointed
by Governors Warren, Knight and Brown.
Our entire system of government is based on the premise that the
people are the ultimate authority that government has only such power
as is delegated to it by the people. This great university and college
system belongs to the people. The Regents and Trustees are the agents
of the people.
As a matter of good administration, the Regents and Trustees have
authorized the administrators of each campus
and through them the
faculty and students
to make decisions with regard to academic
matters curriculum, appointments, etc. But the responsibility for
those decisions must be borne by the Regents and Trustees who are
accountable to the people.
- 6 -
Authority can
delegated
and should be.
Responsibility cannot.
We must trust the people as the source of all power.
And if there is any question as to how the people feel on this,
let the Regents and the Trustees and any other college administrator-
come to Sacramento and read my mail.
I am but one member of the Board of Regents of the University of
California and the Board of Trustees of the State College system. I
will do everything in my power as a Regent and a Trustee to communicate
your thoughts and wishes to the others for they, as I, am responsible
to you
the people of California.
As your governor, I also have another responsibility that of
upholding the law, maintaining order and insuring the safety and
freedom of the people of this state.
And for the record, let me state here and now that I intend to
uphold this responsibility
be it on a campus of the University of
California, a state college, a private university or a neighborhood
street.
Anarchy will not prevail.
I would also like to say this to all of you
and especially to
our young people.
There is an artificial separation between you as students and
the youth of this state and what is referred to as the public interest.
Let me stress that this is an artificial separation. It really
does not exist.
The majority of Californians want justice
so do you. You want
relevance in education as you want relevance and meaning in every other
phase of your life. So do the majority of Californians. You support
true academic freedom and oppose anarchy and tyranny SO does the
majority of your fellow citizens of all ages.
You want your campuses free of strife, threats and violence
so do the majority of Californians.
Your interest is the public interest.
I wonder if you don't agree, in order to protect true academic
freedom and assure the continuation of our heritage, that disorders
which disturb or disrupt the work and educational activities of any
university or college campus can no longer be tolerated.
- 7 -
It reasonapie to see that the chier campus officer and all
other persons in aut rity on any campus, upon arning of any incident
which causes or threatens to cause the disruption or disturbance of any
activity on the campus, shall immediately notify the campus police and
any other law enforcement agencies necessary to restore and maintain
order--a normal classroom atmosphere--promptly and to insist that all
campus officials cooperate fully with any law enforcement authorities
in carrying out this order.
Nationwide, experience has shown that prompt dealing with
disturbances leads to peace. That hesitation, vacillation and appease-
ment leads to greater disorder.
Isn't it logical, in view of past experience, to ask that no
campus official negotiate or hold conferences with any individual or
group while such individual or group is disturbing or disrupting campus
activities, violating any rule or regulation of the campus or its
governing board, or committing any criminal offense.
And likewise, to insist that there shall be no consideration
of the demands or requests of any such individual or group while their
disruptive or disorderly conduct continues.
And, finally, isn't it time to demand that when individuals
have been arrested as a result of their participation in the disturb-
ances and disorders, the chief campus officer--or such other person
designated by him--shall sign a criminal complaint against such
persons and shall cooperate in the prosecution of those individuals
and shall immediately suspend them from the University.
Aren't such steps not only reasonable and proper, but absolutely
necessary if we are to preserve our system of higher education in
California and truly carry out our responsibilities for our young people
who, after all, are our great hope for the future.
These institutions of higher learning represent man's value
for preserving and communicating the knowledge he has acquired through
the ages
and for pushing ever forward the frontiers of knowledge
through continuous inquiry and research
research which has upgraded
hard stoop labor jobs and improved working conditions while providing
more and better food
research which is helping to preserve the lives
of our highly mobile citizens on our highways, beginning with our
children
research on smog for a healthier atmosphere for all Cali-
fornians
research in our colleges and Universities, in the field of
medicine for the overall betterment of our society and all of our
citizens. These are just a few examples of the great progress that is
being made through University and college research projects.
That is why we are doing everything we can to preserve these
institutions, why higher education gets a greater share of the state
budget than any other single group, why this year's budget for higher
education in California represents a 21.2% increase over last year's
expanded budget. We are spending more for higher education per student
than any other previous administration. And that's why your help is
needed to see that these campuses are preserved for today's young
people
for their children and their children's children.
From these campuses have come many great Americans. And from
these campuses will come tomorrow's leaders. Future Presidents of
the United States, future Nobel Prize winners, scientists, writers,
Senators, and even a Governor or two are now attending classes on
these campuses.
From which group will we--and really, from which group will
you young people now going to college--elect your future leaders?
Will it be from the few, but militapt, anarchists and others
now trying to control and run our campuses or will we elect our
future leaders from the majority of fine young men and women dedicated
to justice, order and the full development of the true individual.
At this moment in history we have a great responsibility. The
people of the nation and the world--equally concerned with true demo-
cracy, academic freedom, relevant education and the freedom and
individuality of man--look to us for leadership. But what is perhaps
even more important is that our young people look to us. Are we
responding? Or do we leave them alone and easy pickings for the
violent few? For one tick of history's clock we gave the world a
shining, golden hope. Now the door is closing on that hope, on the
great challenges to our generation and to tomorrow's generation. Can
we hold open the door to that shining golden tomorrow?
Can we afford not to! Let it never be asked in the years to come,
where were you when we called for leadership. What were you doing
that was more important than the survival of our great educational
system
and the fate of this society.
Thank you, and good night.
# # #
(The above text may vary slightly from the actual televised report,
however, Governor Reagan will stand by the above.)
-9-