Remarks in the Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio

Governor DiSalle, Senator Lausche, Senator Young, Congressman Mike Feighan, Congressman Chadie Vanik, Grant Keys, Senator Ocasek, fellow Democrats--and Republicans who are passing through the Square for lunch:

I want to express my pleasure in coming back to Cleveland and to say that--well, I don't know about the rest of Ohio--Cleveland has always been extremely generous to me, and I'm delighted to come back here on this occasion to take part in the campaign of November 1962.

I hope that all of you understand, as I'm sure you do, that it is most appropriate and important that a President of the United States who is not a candidate take part in this campaign for the House, for the Senate, and for the various gubernatorial candidates in this State. Now the reason f do that is very simple. The President of the United States does not write the Nation's laws. Those laws are written by the House and by the Senate. Under the Constitution of the United States the President has the responsibility of executing the laws. So as I am most concerned about the passage of those laws which I believe to be essential for the progress of the United States, I come to Ohio and I come to other parts of the country, and I ask for support for Democratic candidates.

I know that there are those who feel that the best thing the Government can do is do nothing, that the real function of the Government is not to govern, and that if we withdraw our efforts from the national and State arenas, that the country will move along. But I don't hold that view at all. The fact of the matter is that there isn't one person in this square, be they Republicans or Democrats or Independents, who have not been directly affected by the actions that the National Government has taken in the last 30 years. You don't buy a house which isn't guaranteed by the FHA or the Veterans Administration. Every deposit that you have in a bank is guaranteed by the National Government. If you work in a retail store as a clerk, you are covered by the national minimum wage. If your child is in vocational school, the National Government contributes to that.

In this effort by the city of Cleveland to provide for urban renewal, the National Government has been the stimulator of that program. In your effort to cleanse the Ohio River, the National Government's water pollution program, with the partnership of the State, plays a part in it. You may say that everything the Government has to do has been done, but do you know that seven-eighths of the research done on diseases in this country is done by .programs sponsored by the National Government? Do you know that every hospital in your home town is built in part by funds provided by the National Government?

Now the question is whether these programs which were once regarded as so radical, whether they should be matched by programs in the sixties. And that's why I'm here, because I believe they should. I believe, for example, that the best way to take care of 17 million Americans over 65 who may have overwhelming hospital bills is through medical care under social security. Let's say you're not 65 but you're 45, and you're supporting a child or two children in school, and you have a middle income bracket, and your mother or father gets sick. In 1 month or 2 months they can eat up 1, 2, 3, or 4 thousand dollars. If you have no money or if you're very rich, you can get taken care of. But if you're in a 'middle income group or a lower middle income group, you have to put your house on the market to pay the bills if your mother or father gets sick at the time you're educating your child. For 25 cents a week under social security--and both of the Senators from this State supported it, Frank Lausche and Steve Young--we can do something about that problem.

You want to send your child to college. By 1970 there'11 be 7,500,000 boys and girls trying to get into our colleges, twice as many as today. We had a program to assist our colleges. It lost by 28 votes. That's why this election is important, and that's why the election of Democratic Senators and Democratic Congressmen and a Democratic Governor is important, because these programs must be passed.

Do you know today in the United States, that 3 percent of the children in this country are born and grow up mentally retarded? Do you know how many there are in Sweden? One percent. Because they have better care before the child is born. They grow up under better circumstances. They have teachers specially trained. Do you imagine that 2 percent of our children live in mental retardation who could be saved if we had the programs and the recognition of the need? And your Governor is the Chairman of the Governor's committee on this program, and those of us who have seen children live in the shadows know that a country as rich as ours can't possibly justify this neglect.

So these are the issues of this campaign-housing, jobs, the kind of tax program we write in the coming session, the kind of assistance we provide for education, the kind of assistance for health, the kind of jobs we provide. When I assumed the office of Presidency in January 1961, over 8 percent of the people of the State of Ohio were out of work. Now it's under 5 percent and it's still too high. But that's my answer to those who say that this election is not important, that there are no longer any major issues, that everything that had to be done was done in the thirties or the forties or the fifties, and that it's our job in the 1960's to sit still. I don't believe it at all.

Therefore, I come to this city and I come to this State, and I ask for the election of a distinguished Governor, Mike DiSalle, who recognizes the problems of this State and country, and wants to do something about it; and of Frank Lausche, your candidate for the United States Senate who has served as Governor of this State; and of your Congressman. In fact, ladies and gentlemen--and I hate to break the news to some of the people standing in this Square--there is no question but that the right decision in 1962, and as it was, if I may say so, the right decision, is Democratic.

Thank you.