Remarks at the Airport in Muskegon, Michigan

Governor; Neil Staebler, who is the Democratic candidate for Congressman at Large in the State of Michigan--1 hope he will stand up; and Donald Jennings, who is running as the Democratic candidate in this district--his picture is over there [indicating] and he is right here, will he stand up; ladies and gentlemen:

I want to express our thanks to all of you coming on a Saturday afternoon, coming to this airport. We have been campaigning in the State of Michigan today and we do it for a very simple reason, and that is that in the next 4 weeks, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, the people of the United States are going to choose the entire membership of the House of Representatives, and one-third of the United States Senate. That Congress will meet in January 1963, and it will bear, in 1963 and 1964, it will bear in its hands the power of judgment on whether this country passes legislation on taxes, on industrial development, on a whole host of measures which will determine whether this country moves ahead.

That's why we come to this community today, to ask your help in electing in this State a Democratic Congressman at Large, and electing in this district a Democratic Congressman. Let's not make any mistake about it. On issue after issue of importance to the people of this district and country and State, I believe the Democratic Party, on the whole, has stood for progress, and I believe that the record indicates that the Republican Party as a whole has stood against it.

Let's look at that record. Let's look at the figures. On a bill to provide for area redevelopment assistance--that is, a program to assist those communities of high unemployment, and in January 1961 unemployment in this district, this community, was 16, 17, and 18 percent; today it is less than 4 percent--area redevelopment, 82 percent of the Republicans from this State voted against it.

Last year we passed the most comprehensive housing bill, certainly, since the Housing Act of 1949, housing for the middle income, housing for the aged. Eighty-two percent of the Republicans from this State voted against it.

In the Senate we proposed a bill for medical care for the aged. You may say that you're not aged, but you're going to be, or your mother may be, or your father may be. You may say that you have the means to take care of them. You may own your own house and you may have three or four thousand dollars in the bank, and you may be trying to educate your children, and your mother or your father may be in the hospital for weeks. Have you seen how fast that can disappear? We proposed a bill for medical assistance under social security. Seven-eighths of the Republican members of the United States Senate voted against it, just as their fathers in the 1930's had voted against social security itself.

That's why we're out here today, on Saturday, campaigning in this State, because I've seen too many bills either go up or down by 3 or 4 or 5 votes. So I come to this district and ask you to elect a Democratic Congressman, and I come to this State and ask the State to send us men and women who will support progressive legislation so that we can keep this community and other communities moving ahead. That's what this election is all about.

We proposed and carried through an increase in the minimum wage. Do you know how much it was? One dollar and twenty-five cents an hour. That's $50 a week for anyone who works in a company which does an annual business of a million dollars a year or more. That does not seem very much. Ninety-one percent of the Republican Congressmen from the State of Michigan voted against it--$1.25 an hour. Eighty-one percent of all the Republican Congressmen in the House voted against it.

Now you have to decide, living in this community, having experienced, as this community has, cold winds as well as warm winds, hard days as well as good days, whether housing and urban renewal, and minimum wage, and medical care for the aged, and aid for education--all these measures which make it possible for a great, dynamic economy to move forward, whether we're going to have them or whether we're going to lose.

In January 1961 we won a crucial vote to permit these bills to come to the floor in the Rules Committee by 5 votes. That same measure will come up in January 1963. Are we going to lose that one? Are we going to insure that the Congress of the United States, regardless of what we propose in the field of domestic legislation, is going to lose, is going to stand still, is going to say "no," or are we going to elect Congressmen and Senators across this State and country who are committed to progress? That's the question, and that is what you must decide in November of 1962.

I am not a candidate for office, but after having been in the office of the Presidency for 20 months, I know how important it is that the President, the Executive, the House and the Senate work together for legislation which advances the common interest. You in this State of Michigan have had the experience of serving with a distinguished Governor, John Swainson. We passed a bill some months ago to provide for retraining for workers who were unemployed and couldn't find a job in their traditional occupation. The first State in the Union to pass a program to take advantage of job retraining was the State of Michigan, and what is true of retraining has been true of area redevelopment, food stamp programs, and all the others. This State, which once had an unemployment rate two and a half times the national average when he became Governor, now has an unemployment rate still high, but less than the national average. And what is true of the State is especially true of this community.

John Swainson has been a distinguished and courageous Governor who has demonstrated in his own life the same purposeful sense of progress for which our party stands. So I come to this airport not just engaged in a political tour, but because these decisions which you make next month are going to be decisions which govern the movement of our country for 2 years.

And I ask you, as on time and time again the people of Michigan have responded, to join us and say "yes" to progress in 1962. I ask your support in this effort.

Thank you.