Remarks on Arrival in Memphis, Tennessee.

THANK YOU very much. We want to thank you for your very warm welcome here to Memphis. When I got off the airplane just a few minutes ago, Congressman Dan Kuykendall pointed out the last time I was here in Memphis in 1966 it rained, and I suppose it is going to rain again, but that is a good sign. We think that means that here in this great Volunteer State, and here particularly in Memphis, that we have a lot of good friends, and we appreciate your coming out, even though you expected some rain.

You saw Mrs. Nixon a moment ago, and I know you need no introduction to the others, but certainly you should see the Governor and the First Lady of the State of Tennessee--stand up here, Governor Dunn--and your Congressman, Dan Kuykendall.

Let me say that I am particularly happy to see so many very young people here, and as I speak to a group like this, I always think of the future of ourselves, but your future, too. And I think how much better your future looks now than it did when I came into office. I remember then that there were 300 Americans being killed every week in Vietnam. One of the men over here spoke about it, and he said, "Thank you for getting us that war over." There he is, right there.

And I recall then that we had over 500 men who had been prisoners of war, some of them as long as 5 years, and they didn't get out until it was 8 years, and I remember that 25,000 Americans every month were being drafted for the armed services. And I am very proud of the fact that as a result of our policies, that America is at peace throughout the world, that there is no American being drafted anyplace. He can serve in the armed services, volunteer, and I hope a lot of you do, because it is a proud profession.

I know we are all glad that our prisoners of war are home. I am glad that we have the lowest unemployment in peacetime that we have had in 18 years. We have got some problems. They are serious problems in terms of our energy, but 'that is a problem that exists all over the world, and all that I can say is the greatness about America is that when we've got problems, we just get out and solve them. And by the time 1980 comes around, this Nation, which has half the coal of the world, which has lots of oil and lots of gas, which also was the first in developing nuclear energy, let's make sure that we have by that time--and that is only 7 years away--that we have total independence, so that America hasn't to depend on any other nation in the world for the energy we need for our jobs and the rest.

So to all of you, we are glad we have a peace, the end of the war in Vietnam. We are glad that we have avoided a war in the Mideast. We also are building what we hope will be a peace that will last for all of these young people in the years to come. But most of all, let me say there is nothing that warms our hearts more than to come out here to this part of Tennessee, which has so much history behind it, which has so much strength and vitality within it, and to receive such a wonderfully warm welcome. You have made our day. Thank you very much.

I see this last sign: "I believe in Nixon and America." Let me tell you, I believe in you, every one of you. Thank you.