Remarks in Oklahoma City at the Opening of the State Fair

Mr. Gaylord, Senator Monroney, honored members of the Fair Association board of directors, Members of the great Oklahoma delegation in Congress, my fellow Americans:

As Mr. Gaylord was introducing Lady Bird, I was reminded how really old I am, because it was almost two decades ago when we met over in the piney woods of east Texas, and Mr. Gaylord's father came down to Lufkin, Tex., to help us establish our first newsprint mill.

It was an adventure for Texas to try to bring industry from Canada and from other sections of the United States to our own east Texas that bordered Arkansas and Louisiana. It was a great success financially for our public-spirited people in the press, and for that whole area of Texas.

So I am happy to be back here in Oklahoma today, Mr. Gaylord, returning that visit of your father many years ago. He came to our State to help us build industry. I have come to your State to help christen a dam and to watch industry move to Oklahoma.

This morning I stood with the President of Mexico and celebrated the peaceful settlement of a border dispute. Just a week ago I stood on the Canadian soil and, with the Prime Minister of Canada, celebrated an agreement or treaty that we had entered into with our neighbor, the nation of Canada. A few hours ago I dedicated the Eufaula Dam, part of the Arkansas River basin development which will open great opportunities for all the people of this great State of Oklahoma.

Peace between nations, and progress in Oklahoma, may seem like very different things. But they are not. They are both closely connected. You can't have peace in the world unless you have progress, and you can't have progress unless you have peace.

You are lucky enough and you are fortunate enough and you are blessed enough today to live in the most powerful nation in all the world. And it is only a prosperous nation that can maintain the mightiest military on earth, and I saw some of it at Tinker Field when I flew over it today. We are going to keep it there, and we are going to keep it growing and we are going to keep it moving, because it is only a growing America, it is only a thriving America, it is only an enlightened America that can maintain its commitments to other nations of the world.

Only an America which is solving its own problems can convince others that freedom's road, and not the Communist road, is the road to progress. Only an America which is true to its own principles--to justice and to freedom--can help lead other people in the world to follow those same principles.

It is by our deeds and not by our words that we lead the rest of the world in the cause of freedom.

You live in the wealthiest nation on earth. You enjoy the highest standard of living of any people. You eat more, you wear more, you live in the best houses, you have more luxuries than any people anywhere. Nature blessed us with a rich earth, and it blessed us with brave men to work it. But none of us must ever get the idea that success comes from circumstances and good luck.

It came from almost two centuries of partnership, partnership between Government and the people in the cause of a growing America, and, in recent years, as that partnership has become more effective, growth has been more rapid.

This is not a new idea. It is not a radical idea. It is as old as the American Nation. It was Thomas Jefferson who said: "The freedom and the happiness of man are the sole object of all legitimate government."

Seventy-five years ago, on an April morning, starting guns signaled the opening of this land. No one called it a "giveaway." It proved one of the greatest investments in freedom that we ever made. What came out of it? I will tell you what came out of it. It gave us Oklahoma.

And no one thought it would dull initiative. In fact, it set off one of the greatest demonstrations of individual enterprise in the history of the world. This city was settled between noon and sundown on a single day. This spirit has been sustained to this day.

An Oklahoman, Wiley Post, was the first to solo around the world. An Oklahoman, Gordon Cooper, was the latest American to orbit the globe, and, my, you ought to be proud of him. Jim Webb, whom I drafted from Kerr-McGee, now leads us in the exploration of the planets.

An Oklahoman, Will Rogers, captured the spirit of all America, and all Americans loved Will Rogers. And no man had more vision, more courage, more optimism, more faith, or did more to help build modern America than Robert S. Kerr.

If anyone thinks the partnership of Government and people is eroding our courage or erasing initiative, I say let them come here to the State Fair of Oklahoma and look into these happy faces.

I came here today to talk to happy people. I came here to talk about what is right. I didn't come here to talk about what is wrong. I am proud of America, and I am proud of Oklahoma, and I am proud of you.

For 30 years--step by step and year by year and vote by vote--the men of both parties have worked to build the solid structure of partnership which is the foundation of our present prosperity. There have been deeply felt disagreements on particular programs. We don't always see everything alike. If we did, we would all want the same wife. But there has been broad agreement on the great goals, and there has been broad agreement that it is the duty of the Government to act as an ally of the free enterprise system.

There is one more thing. Once the disagreements were settled, once our course was set, once the structure was built, no leader of any party has tried to tear it down. They knew that far too much depended on it. Those who attack this structure of partnership assault an American tradition as old as this Nation.

And I intend, as long as I am President, to make sure that the American Government is a model of prudence and economy, and that doesn't mean that we are going to neglect the sick or forget the unemployed, repeal social security, or turn our farmers out to the pasture. It means that we are going to have faith in the people, and with the people together work to build a better democracy.

It does not mean that we are going to have a labor Government. It does not mean that we are going to have a business Government. It means that we are going to ask labor and business to join hands and to have a democratic Government. I am determined that Government discharge its solemn duty to cooperate in strengthening our free enterprise system, and to give all the freedom possible to all Americans.

And the fact is that all of the programs of your Government have a single aim: the freedom and the happiness of our people and the vitality of our great free enterprise system which has made America what it is today.

There are two philosophies at each others throat in the world--the Democratic philosophy and the Communist philosophy. If we win, if we survive, if freedom prevails, it is not going to be because we have more people than they do, it is not going to be because we have more acres than they do, because they have several times more tillable acres than we have and they have many millions more people than we have.

It is not going to be because we have more resources than they have. It is going to be because we have a system of government that is better than theirs. It is going to be because our people do not believe in regimentation and centralization and socialization.

Our people believe that a capitalist ought to be able to take his dollar and invest it, that he ought to be allowed a reasonable return on that dollar without fear of having it confiscated; that a manager ought to come along and help invest that dollar in a producing enterprise; and that the manager that gets up at daylight and stays up until midnight and develops stomach ulcers while he is doing it, he is entitled to a 2-week vacation, a bonus once in a while, a little profit sharing, and social security when he is 65.

With that capitalist who invests his dollar, and with that manager who manages, we have the worker who produces. He gets on the assembly line and every 27 seconds he puts the rivets in the top of a car, and on every one that comes by. And if he doesn't get them all in in 27 seconds, and it takes 28 to put them in, then that car goes out without a rivet. He does that all day long.

But he is the greatest producer in all the world--the American workingman. He doesn't ask much either. He wants a little vacation. He would like to have a little sick leave, he hopes he has a little medical care, he has some things that he wants, he wants a rug on the floor, and a picture on the wall, and a little music in the house. He wants a church that he can worship in according to the dictates of his own conscience. He wants a school that he can send his children to and he hopes they get better education than he got. He doesn't ask for the world with a fence around it. All he wants is to make America a better land.

I am here to tell you that if we all--Democrats, Republicans, and whatnots--do what is best for America, it will be best for us. I want all of you to do everything you can here at home because we have enough to do in Washington without your coming up there and asking our help. I know you don't believe in the Federal Government doing much anyway. But when I come flying into these places, I fly into an airport built with Federal funds, I get on an interstate highway built with Federal funds, and I go downtown and talk States' rights. And I hear about them, too.

We have on the platform today two Governors from our two States, Oklahoma and your neighbor. One of them is a Democrat, John Connally, and the other is a Republican, Governor Bellmon. But we want to work with both of them to make America stronger and better and richer for all of our people. And don't ever get so selfish but what you forget that what is good for your country is good for you.

And let's put aside the slogans and the false warnings. Let's look at the facts. Let's see what your Government actually does.

First, more than half of our national budget, $52.5 billion, is used to defend you. This is the ultimate protector of your freedom. It is what permits you to go to bed at night without fear that somebody will rap on your door at midnight and order you into the hoosegow. I want to tell you as long as I am President, I intend to keep our defenses the best in all the world.

Second, more than 10 percent of our national budget goes directly to help States and communities meet their own problems on the local level. I will talk to you about a few of them, some of your Hill-Burton hospitals, some of your highways, some of your airports, some of your farm programs.

Third, your Government has programs of cooperation and partnership with private enterprise. The Small Business Administration has made more than 20,000 loans to thousands of struggling small businesses. It has created more than 400,000 jobs. The area redevelopment program helped to rebuild stricken parts of our country so that business could come and prosper and men could find new jobs.

The agricultural programs have given our farmers the confidence in the future which lets them invest and modernize. We have not solved all of our farm problems, but we have come a long way from 1933 when they were throwing men out of windows -when they tried to foreclose all of our farms.

I don't think anyone seriously believes that we have destroyed the will to work or the will to produce. The truth is that we have the most abundant, free agricultural economy in the history of the world. And I am somewhat proud of the fact that our farmers did such a good job that they had all we needed to feed all the American people, and the Communists had to come over here to buy wheat to make bread for their own people.

Fourth, for our entire history we have worked with local government and private enterprise to develop the power and the water, the roads and the canals which are really the foundation of industry in this country. And as long as I am your President, your Government is going to devote full energy in developing all of these resources, and one of them that we are now developing is the Arkansas River.

Fifth, research and technology have made possible the modern aircraft industry, the atomic power industry, and the nitrates on which agriculture depends.

Sixth, we have an investment partnership in human resources, in education, in skill training, in health. Think about what has been done with polio alone. Think about how every mother in this country dreaded and feared spring and summer to come because they were afraid their children would wind up crippled. And think about how their dreams of some day finding a medicine, a vaccine, that would prevent all of this terrible suffering. And those dreams have now come to pass.

All of these programs are designed to provide America with protection, designed to provide America with the skilled people that it needs, designed to give people a chance to take a productive role in the Nation. And that is why your forefathers set up a system of public education. A great President of the Republic of Texas before we came into the Union once said, "An educated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free men recognize, and it is the only ruler that free men design."

So a system of public education, every dollar invested in education today, brings a return of 10 to 12 percent in national wealth, and that is a pretty good return on a dollar invested--10 to 12 percent.

Seventh, we have a system of Government protection designed to liberate free enterprise for growth. The SEC that was born during the Roosevelt administration has helped make all of us a nation of capitalists. Insurance for your hard-earned savings in your savings and loans, in your banks, has protected the greatest banking system in all the world, and they are not popping like firecrackers as they once were. Antitrust legislation has made it possible for smaller businesses to survive and for competition to flourish.

The drug laws and the food laws have given the consumer the confidence on which rising sales depend. Other laws, by eliminating abuses, have made it unnecessary to adopt measures which might strangle the workings of our market economy.

Eighth, programs--from the food stamp program to unemployment compensation to social security give people a better chance to stand on their own feet, to help themselves in our own free enterprise tradition.

I remember as a young man standing in the corridors of the Congress back in the early 1930's, when I heard one Congressman that was a friend of mine say that he was seriously considering voting against social security because they used some horrible name about it--they called it socialistic and socialism, and it was changing our form of government. But it is mighty hard to find a man today--you have to travel north, south, east, and west to find one--that would repeal our social security system.

Yes, Americans recognize the duty of a rich and compassionate nation to assist the old, to assist the sick, and to assist the helpless. All of us were taught to follow the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And that is what your Government is going to do as long as J am your President.

These are the facts and not the slogans.

I just wish that we had as good a chance for rain down home as you have here. We have been caking our old cows all summer, and we are out of pears down there.

But these are the facts and not the slogans. It contributes to the vitality of our free enterprise system and the freedom of the individual.

The fact is that never in our American history has your American business been more alive, been more growing, been filled with greater opportunity than it is now. And I think that you know in your heart that that is right.

And all you have to do is turn on your television, or buy your morning or afternoon paper, or listen to your neighbor down the street, to realize that never in our history have Americans been freer to criticize or to pursue their ambitions, or to live as they want to live, as they are today. And I think that you know in your heart that that is right.

Well, these are the fruits of the partnership that we have built, that your father and mother and your granddaddy helped us build. And this is the partnership we are going to continue between the Government and the people as long as I am your President. And I think you know in your heart that we have so much to be thankful for, so much to protect, so much to preserve.

So let's go home tonight and let's don't weep on our pillow. Let's say our prayers and thank our good Lord Almighty that we are as lucky as we are, and that we enjoy the blessings that are ours.

Goodby and good luck.