Address in Cleveland at a Rally in the Public Square

Mr. Chairman, and fellow Americans:

Cleveland has been a source of strength to the United States for generations and, certainly, to the administration I have headed for the last 8 years.

George Humphrey, for example, came to Washington and helped to restore to the American economy a dependable American dollar. Keith Glennan came to Washington and helped develop a space program that, in this field, has far outstripped the Soviet's performance. Chappy Rose came to Washington and animated everyone who met him with the enthusiasm of his responsible citizenship. And Frances Bolton and Bill Minshall have been towers of strength in supporting programs designed to speed the sound, forward progress of America.

Many others from this city and State, of like dedication and genius, have helped make the country more secure, more prosperous, more worthy of its own aspirations.

Of course, also, I always feel some personal satisfaction in coming to Cleveland--now an ocean port because of the St. Lawrence Seaway. That great project stood still, stock-still, through many years--even decades. Then during this administration--which some politicians, I understand, call a period of standing still--we did something about it; and it was carried to completion.

Now there is something almost amazing about the way some politicians can twist things up. Here is an example: within the last few days I have heard of a plan for forming a great corps of "workers for peace" abroad. The time given to this project by its members--for which the Federal Government would of course pay--would be a substitute for a tour of duty in the uniformed service. Now this plan is apparently intended as one of the new ideas that will help produce the New Frontier. But strangely enough, this brand new plan is amazingly similar to a proposal made in 1954 in a book by Heinz Rollman, who is not a member of the party whose spokesman made the recent announcement on November 2d. Mr. Rollman, the original author, is the Republican candidate for Congress from the 12th District of North Carolina. It makes us wonder how many other proposals are equally not original and not new, but are merely immature.

My principal purpose in this visit is to assure everyone in this State, which has given so many Presidents to the United States, that I am completely committed to the election to the Presidency of another Ohioan, once removed--Dick Nixon. Now for 8 years he has been immersed in the problems and the responsibilities of leadership. He is prepared now to take over national leadership next January. And I must remark that the White House is one place where we should not depend upon, and cannot afford, on-the-job training of the occupant.

I support Dick Nixon and Cabot Lodge because of deep-seated convictions about the source of American strength and the dangers that threaten it. These two men, I know, will amplify the sources of our strength. They will guard tirelessly against all threats to us, of whatever character.

THE SOURCE OF AMERICAN STRENGTH

America is the product of faith, deeply felt, religiously held. The builders of America, our forebears, were fired by faith in God; faith in themselves; faith in the American principles that proclaimed man's right to freedom and justice.

And that faith still endures. And its product is the world's mightiest temporal power, America. Now our Nation is dedicated--not to aggression or conquest or material aggrandizement--but to the fostering of human freedom; the promotion of human welfare; the achievement of a just peace; and the maintenance of a peace for all mankind.

Yet, the might and grandeur of the United States could be torn down by our own citizens. We can destroy ourselves, for example, by:

Trading faith in ourselves for faith in big government.

By division into voting blocs.

By abandonment of citizenship responsibility.

Now let me speak first on our faith in big government.

In this campaign, once again, we hear political candidates preach the false gospel of big government. They take it for granted, and imply, that we have lost faith in ourselves.

My friends, some of you are old enough to remember a man by the name of Coue, and Coue said, "Every day, day by day, we grow better and better." But we have got politicians today who are saying and repeating Mr. Coue in reverse, and say "Every day, each day, we are growing worse and worse." And on that premise they attempt to persuade us that only the Federal Government can solve our problems and they present vast programs for Federal action. They are going, they say, to solve every imaginable human problem; blithely they proclaim that their federalized wisdom will give to each of us a life of ease, security, and plenty.

But they don't tell us how the bills--running into additional billions-will be paid.

But they say they will save money by reducing the cost of the farm program. From what farmers, let us ask, will these savings come? Let them tell us specifically.

More money, they say, will be saved by military reorganization. I have heard the figure of $1 and $1 1/2 billion. Now where did this young genius acquire the knowledge, experience, and the wisdom through which he will make such vast improvements over the work of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the dedicated civilian and service men who have given their lives to this work?

And one of these men who so worked for you was your fellow Ohioan, Neil McElroy.

They will reduce, they say, the cost of servicing the national debt by reducing interest rates.

Now what individual among you wants his currency debased? Certainly not the man who is living on a pension or looking forward to receiving one. Certainly not the man who is buying an insurance policy, or putting his savings into a bank.

And then they tell us all of these things are going to be paid by growth. And how are we going to get the growth? Why, easy!--more Federal spending, out of your pockets.

The growth of the United States is the product of the hearts and hands and minds of the workers of the United States, working in the fields and the factories and the offices. Wherever we need productive work, there is where our growth is coming from, and not from some magic Federal program of spending.

These people can't pay these enormous bills with any or all of such phony schemes as this, and so we can only presume that they intend a return to deficit spending and resultant inflation, the kind which we slowed down 8 years ago and brought to a virtual stop.

In no more sure way than by deficit spending and currency debasement can we destroy the individual initiative and enterprise which have been responsible for America's growth.

In no more sure way can the economic strength of the Republic be destroyed, because inflation removes the individual's assurance against financial catastrophe. Let me give you an example.

Some of you are retired people living on monthly checks that constitute your principal or only income. And all of us expect to be retired some day.

In many cases--probably for most of you--these payments will not increase regardless of whether inflation occurs or not. But if inflation occurs, this simply means that the value of each dollar goes down, or stated another way, that the price of everything you pay for goes up-your rent, your groceries, your heating bill, your utilities, every other kind of service--goes up.

If you are barely making ends meet now at the end of each month, this means that with inflation you will be unable to pay your living costs out of your retirement income. But as we fight against the debasement of our currency, as we have been doing since 1953, then your retired income and purchasing power will be preserved. You will have nothing to fear. My conscience would give me no rest without making it clear that this is the choice you will be making next Tuesday: an inflation fired by deficit spending, or sticking with the sound fiscal policies of this administration.

And, my friends, for those who are working actively, steady inflation would be almost equally hopeless. In runaway inflation, wage increases rarely keep up with the soaring cost of living. The dollars added to a paycheck will be devoured by the increase in prices of every item in the family market basket. There is no profit whatsoever in a pay increase of $5.00 a week when living costs go up to $6.00 a week.

Just that was happening to us when you--you people--stepped in and stopped it by electing the present administration in 1952. It will stay stopped if you vote for Dick Nixon and Cabot Lodge on Tuesday, because these men will sustain fiscal sanity in the operation of the Federal Government. By this I mean they will not pile upon our huge national debt still more debt. They will eliminate excessive spending and will make sure that income exceeds expenditures. And this is one great contribution the Federal Government can make to preserving the value of your money.

Then again, in this campaign, we witness a deliberate appeal to Americans, not as Americans but as members of specific groups. This can only promote an intolerable antagonism between economic and social elements of our country. In that, there is no profit for anyone. No group in our sort of society can for long prosper unless all groups prosper.

When we cease to recognize ourselves as full and equal citizens of the United States and act as selfish members of a selfish group concerned only with our own interests, we fragmentize America.

When we are more concerned with the profit or the honor or the strength of one faction or group or party than we are with the profit and honor and strength of America, the lessons of history tell us that we are engaged in self-destruction.

When you go in a voting booth you are responsible only to your own conscience and convictions. No matter what label you may wear, in what party you are now registered, what voting habits you have observed, you are in that booth to do your part in making America's future be what you think it should be.

You should, at that moment, think only of America, not a part of it. Your decision should be your own--no one else's. Because in that booth you are alone, alone with your own conscience and facing yourself, what you think of the policies and the projects and the programs of the two parties--and the character and the standing and the experience of the people for whom you vote.

Now just a word about this matter of abandonment of citizen responsibility:

America is strong today because men and women--the families of America--strive in their homes, on their jobs, in their communities, in the world beyond our shores, to live by their faith as Americans. They are self-starters in making this country a better place for human living. When they cannot do a job by themselves alone, they go into partnership with government. But they don't need and they don't want government as a boss. The miracle of American progress during the past 8 years is the product of individuals working on their own and in an atmosphere fostered by government.

We are told, however, that the world of today is far too big and complex for the individual to accomplish anything. Only mass effort, organized and controlled by government, can have any effective impact, they say. They want us, it seems to me, to abandon citizen responsibility.

But only responsible citizenship makes America great and increases her prestige. It encourages ever-greater achievement by individuals following leaders they respect because of their character, ability, and experience.

My friends, a sound, progressive government, a Nation with a constantly expanding economy, and a people dedicated to the pursuit of a just world peace in freedom--these are the basic aspirations that should guide the voting of all of us on November 8th. They are the basis of the platform on which Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge stand. And it is for this reason that I shall cast my vote for these two men.

Thank you very much.