Remarks at the Republican Victory Dinner

Senator Tower, all of the distinguished guests in the audience:

I can assure you, first, that that book will have a very special place in my library, and the names of everyone in that book will have a very special place in my heart and in the hearts of our family, because we know that without the support of those in this room we could not be where we are today.

I speak now of the whole new family that is in Washington. Not only the family that is living in the White House, but the Cabinet officers and all the rest. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what you have done and what you are doing tonight, and for all those things you will do in the future, for the cause which was so well described by Everett Dirksen and Jerry Ford before.

As all the introductions were being made, and particularly as the members of the Cabinet were being introduced, I thought how much had changed in Washington just as a result of an election. That change seems to have infected the whole city.

It has been really the most beautiful spring, they tell me, we have had in Washington for many years. And thanks to Bill Middendorf [Treasurer of the Republican National Committee] we have tulips, which are an indication of that spring. Those tulips I see, incidentally, every day in the Rose Garden of the White House. I look out on them and realize what that change means to me.

Also it has really infected other segments of the society in Washington. The Washington Senators are doing better.

I am a baseball fan, and you prove it by being for the Senators, believe me.

I was reminded of the fact that they may be doing better primarily because they have a new manager. And I was also reminded of the fact before I came in here that that new manager almost didn't make it. Everett Dirksen was going to stop him in the Senate.

When Ev heard that some fellow by the name of Ted was going to take over his Senators, his hair stood right on end.¹ [Laughter]

But it did occur to me tonight that in all the introductions that were made, there was one part that was missed, and I have the privilege of participating in that introduction. The Congressmen, the Senators, the members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished guests were introduced, but those that were not introduced were those who make it possible for all of us to be where we are; the ones who campaigned with us, who listened to our speeches, who encouraged us when we were down, and who kept us moving forward when we were moving too slowly.

I think we would like to see tonight, too, those in every family, our great Republican family here, who have participated in the victory that we celebrate tonight.

I would like, first, to suggest that all of the wives of the Members of Congress please stand so that we can applaud you.

Now if all of the wives of the Members of the Senate would please stand so that we can applaud you.

And now, a very special group of women, as far as my official family is concerned. Will all of the wives of the members of the Cabinet please stand?

And two very special people--Mrs. Ray Bliss and Mrs. Rogers Morton.² Will you please stand, right up here at table five?

I have been speaking about the changes in Washington. I can assure you there have been some changes in the decorations at the White House. The chief decorator, Pat Nixon, will you please stand?

Now the script calls for me to talk. Just like Ev Dirksen and Jerry Ford, I am limited to 4 minutes, but they doubled my time. And I will not impose upon your time too long, but there are some things I would like to say with regard to some of the problems we are confronting, have confronted, and that we hope to have action on in the years ahead.

I did not have as much time to prepare as I would have liked this evening. The days have been long. As you have noted from the appointments schedule, it has been rather heavy this week.

Just before coming over here, I made a call over to an old friend in the Cabinet who has had some political experience, Bob Finch, and asked if he had any ideas. He said that he would be glad to send me over some guidelines. [Laughter] I told him not to bother; I would just use my own outline.

But nevertheless, I do want you to know that I realize that you have been reading in the papers and hearing on television and radio about the fact that we have passed the first 100 days of this administration and that we are well along toward the first 4 months.

Naturally, and understandably, there are those who are impatient about what has happened. Some believe we should have moved faster in some areas--for example on appointments--and others think that we should have moved faster in finding the solutions to the great problems with which we were confronted.

Tonight I want to tell you how I look at this situation. We deliberately have not attempted to make the kind of a record that looked awfully good in the headlines of today and that made very bad history in the books 3 or 4 years from now. We want a solid achievement we can all be proud of.

It would have been very easy, I can assure you, on the first day after the inauguration, for me to have announced that we were immediately going to bring all the men home from Vietnam; that immediately the solution of the problem of inflation and others that we had inherited were to be found.

I could not say that. I could not say that because I knew we could not produce.

I can assure you of one thing: We will make our mistakes. We have made some, and we will make some more in the future. But as far as this administration is concerned, we are going to lay it on the line with the American people. We are never going to promise something we cannot produce. I think that is the kind of government that you want.

Now, I think Ev Dirksen and Jerry Ford have well described the great issues that brought us here. There are really three that stand out above all the others, the ones that stood out during the election campaign, and the ones that are on the minds and in the hearts of every person in this audience.

The first is peace, the desire to have the kind of a peace that will give us a chance not only to end the war in which we presently are engaged, but a chance to avoid other wars of that type, or any type, in the years ahead. So that goal, the goal of peace--the American people who have not known peace for 4 years--is one that they want the new administration to achieve.

The second goal is the goal closely related to the problem of peace abroad, and that is the problem of peace at home. The American people want to stop the rise in crime, as Ev Dirksen and Jerry Ford indicated, and they want to restore respect for law in this country. That was the second great issue of the last campaign.

Then the third goal that the American people want achieved by their new administration is to stop the rise in taxes and the rise in prices, and to have the orderly progress, prosperity without inflation, that the American people are entitled to.

Now there are other issues, of course, local issues and some national. But these are the three great issues that seemed to be on the minds of most of the people during the campaign, and from my mail and from my discussions with Congressmen and Senators, these are the issues that the American people are going to judge the new administration by.

I want to tell you about these various issue's. If I could paraphrase Winston Churchill, I cannot tell you tonight that in finding a solution to the problem of peace abroad and peace at home, and restoration of respect for law, and stopping inflation, that we had reached the point where we could say that it was the beginning of the end of those problems, but I can say that we have reached the point that it is the end of the beginning.

We have had the opportunity--an opportunity that we think we have used well--to get control of this Government, of the vast administrative machinery; to develop the plans and the programs over these past 3½ months which will enable us to make progress on these issues.

Now that it is the end of the beginning, I think the American people will begin to see the results of that progress. I mean results in terms not of a flashy headline, not of a promise that cannot be kept, but results in the kind of progress that is solid, that is achievable, and that the American people can count on.

On that score, I want to tell all of you that when you get together, as I am sure most of you will, a year from now, in this room, I want you to look back on this year. I want you to look at what this administration has achieved, and I think you will find that in terms of bringing peace abroad, in terms of restoring respect for law at home, in terms of stopping inflation and stopping the rise in taxes, this administration will have made the progress that you wanted. This we can do and this we pledge to you.

Now, that brings me to a very sensitive point. As I was signing autographs here a few moments ago, and meeting people from all over the country, I thought of those many hundreds of invitations that I have been unable to accept to address fund-raising dinners and political meetings all over the country. I would like to do it.

As I am sure some of you recall, going back over 22 years, I have been in virtually every city in this country on some occasion or another. I have not been able to in these first 3½ months. As a matter of fact, this is one of the first major political meetings that I have attended, and I must tell you that I will not be able to in the next few months because, I think that as far as this group is concerned, what you want from the new President of the United States is his complete dedication and devotion to solving these problems so that the money that you are putting up will bring the dividends.

So I pledge to you we will provide that devotion and that dedication. We will provide some good speakers for you, too, from our Cabinet team, and from among the Senators and the House Members, but above everything else, we want to give you a record which you can be proud of, a record that our candidates for the House and Senate and Governors will be proud to run on. This is what we are working toward, and believe me, every effort will be made to achieve that goal and not to disappoint you.

Then one final thought. Three hours ago at the White House, I received in the Rose Garden the members of the finance committee of the Republican National Committee, about 150 people. What a splendid group of people they were. I looked across that group there standing in that garden and I saw people who, going back over 20 years, have raised money for this party in good years and bad, for my campaigns, but more than that, for the campaigns of Republicans every place, and I regretted the fact that time was such, that my appointments schedule was so heavy, that even with that small a group I was unable to thank each one of them personally for what he had done. Here tonight, 1,600 people, $ 1,000 a plate. Believe me, if you don't think there is inflation, think of that price! But nevertheless, my wife and I are able only to thank a few of you.

I just want you to know as I stand here and as I see this great sea of faces before me, I am deeply grateful, we are all deeply grateful, those of us who are in Washington because of what you have done, for the contributions you have made, for your support of this dinner.

Speaking in a very personal sense, I know, as the one who was described by Jerry Ford a few moments ago--a little boy in California, growing up in Yorba Linda, listening to the one train a day go by--I know that in those contests that I had to participate in--as did so many Members of the House, first for the House, and then for the Senate, then the Vice Presidency and then the Presidency-that it all would not have been possible without the help of hundreds of people that I know, but thousands of people like yourselves who contributed, that I have never really had a chance to speak to and to thank adequately.

I hope over the years that we are here in Washington we can express our personal appreciation to each and every one of you, but tonight I can tell you this is a great moment for us, a great moment for Pat, my wife, and for myself. We know that in this room are the people without whose support we could not have achieved the goal which we finally realized.

We can assure you that in the years that we are here, we will always remember what you have done; and we will do everything in our power not only not to let you down, but to make you proud of what you have done, to make you proud of our party, but more than that, proud of our country and proud of the great role that America can and will play in the world for the rest of this century.

Thank you.