Tuesday, October 8, 1974. WIN

President Ford launched his "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) campaign. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, distinguished guests, my very dear friends: 

In his first inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, and I quote: The people of the United States have not failed .... They want direct, vigorous action, and they have asked for discipline and direction under our leadership. 

Today, though our economic difficulties do not approach the emergency of 1933, the message from the American people is exactly the same. I trust that you are getting the very same message that I am receiving: Our constituents want leadership, our constituents want action. 

All of us have heard much talk on this very floor about Congress recovering its rightful share of national leadership. I now intend to offer you that chance. 

The 73d Congress responded to FDR's appeal in five days. I am deeply grateful for the cooperation of the 93d Congress and the Conference on Inflation, which ended ten days ago. 

Mr. Speaker, many—but not all—of your recommendations on behalf of your party's caucus are reflected in some of my proposals here today. The distinguished majority leader of the Senate offered a nine-point program. I seriously studied all of them and adopted some of his suggestions. 

I might add, I have also listened very hard to many of our former colleagues in both bodies and of both the majority and the minority, and have been both persuaded and dissuaded. But in the end, I had to make the decision, I had to decide, as each of you do when the roll call is called. 

I will not take your time today with the discussion of the origins of inflation and its bad effect on the United States, but I do know where we want to be in 1976—on the 200th birthday of a United States of America that has not lost its way, nor its will, nor its sense of national purpose. 

During the meetings on inflation, I listened carefully to many valuable suggestions. Since the summit, I have evaluated literally hundreds of ideas, day and night. 

My conclusions are very simply stated. There is only one point on which all advisers have agreed: We must whip inflation right now. 

None of the remedies proposed, great or small, compulsory or voluntary, stands a chance unless they are combined in a considered package, in a concerted effort, in a grand design.

I have reviewed the past and the present efforts of our Federal Government to help the economy. They are simply not good enough, nor sufficiently broad, nor do they pack the punch that will turn America's economy on. 

A stable American economy cannot be sustained if the world's economy is in chaos. International cooperation is absolutely essential and vital. But while we seek agreements with other nations, let us put our own economic house in order. Today, I have identified 10 areas for our joint action, the executive and the legislative branches of our Government.

Number one: food. America is the world's champion producer of food. Food prices and petroleum prices in the United States are primary inflationary factors. America today partially depends on foreign sources for petroleum, but we can grow more than enough food for ourselves. 

To halt higher food prices, we must produce more food, and I call upon every farmer to produce to full capacity. And I say to you and to the farmers, they have done a magnificent job in the past, and we should be eternally grateful. 

This Government, however, will do all in its power to assure him—that farmer—he can sell his entire yield at reasonable prices. Accordingly, I ask the Congress to remove all remaining acreage limitations on rice, peanuts, and cotton. 

I also assure America's farmers here and now that I will allocate all the fuel and ask authority to allocate all the fertilizer they need to do this essential job. 

Agricultural marketing orders and other Federal regulations are being reviewed to eliminate or modify those responsible for inflated prices. 

I have directed our new Council on Wage and Price Stability to find and to expose all restrictive practices, public or private, which raise food prices. The Administration will also monitor food production, margins, pricing, and exports. We can and we shall have an adequate supply at home, and through cooperation, meet the needs of our trading partners abroad. 

Over this past weekend, we initiated a voluntary program to monitor grain exports. The Economic Policy Board will be responsible for determining the policy under this program.

In addition, in order to better allocate our supplies for export, I ask that a provision be added to Public Law 480 under which we ship food to the needy and friendly countries. The President needs authority to waive certain of the restrictions on shipments based on national interest or humanitarian grounds. 

Number two: energy. America's future depends heavily on oil, gas, coal, electricity, and other resources called energy. Make no mistake, we do have a real energy problem.

One-third of our oil—17 percent of America's total energy—now comes from foreign sources that we cannot control, at high cartel prices costing you and me $16 billion—$16 billion more than just a year ago. 

The primary solution has to be at home. If you have forgotten the shortages of last winter, most Americans have not. I have ordered today the reorganization of our national energy effort and the creation of a national energy board. It will be chaired with developing-or I should say charged with developing a single national energy policy and program. And I think most of you will be glad to know that our former colleague, Rog Morton, our Secretary of Interior, will be the overall boss of our national energy program.

Rog Morton's marching orders are to reduce imports of foreign oil by 1 million barrels per day by the end of 1975, whether by savings here at home, or by increasing our own sources. 

Secretary Morton, along with his other responsibility, is also charged with increasing our domestic energy supply by promptly utilizing our coal resources and expanding recovery of domestic oil still in the grounds in old wells. 

New legislation will be sought after your recess to require use of cleaner coal processes and nuclear fuel in new electric plants, and the quick conversion of existing oil plants. I propose that we, together, set a target date of 1980 for eliminating oil-fired plants from the Nation's base-loaded electrical capacity. 

I will use the Defense Production Act to allocate scarce materials for energy development, and I will ask you, the House and Senate, for whatever amendments prove necessary.

I will meet with top management of the automobile industry to assure, either by agreement or by law, a firm program aimed at achieving a 40 percent increase in gasoline mileage within a 4-year development deadline. 

Priority legislation—action, I should say—to increase energy supply here at home requires the following: 

One, long-sought deregulation of natural gas supplies,

Number two, responsible use of our Naval petroleum reserves in California and Alaska,

Number three, amendments to the Clean Air Act; and

Four, passage of surface mining legislation to ensure an adequate supply with commonsense environmental protection. 

Now, if all of these steps fail to meet our current energy-saving goals, I will not hesitate to ask for tougher measures. For the long range, we must work harder on coal gasification. We must push with renewed vigor and talent research in the use of nonfossil fuels. The power of the atom, the heat of the sun and the steam stored deep in the Earth, the force of the winds and water must be main sources of energy for our grandchildren, and we can do it. 

Number three: restrictive practices. To increase productivity and contain prices, we must end restrictive and costly practices whether instituted by Government, industry, labor, or others. And I am determined to return to the vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws.

The Administration will zero in on more effective enforcement of laws against price fixing and bid rigging. For instance, non-competitive professional fee schedules and real estate settlement fees must be eliminated. Such violations will be prosecuted by the Department of Justice to the full extent of the law. 

Now, I ask Congress for prompt authority to increase maximum penalties for antitrust violations from $50,000 to $1 million for corporations, and from $50,000 to $100,000 for individual violators. 

At the Conference on Inflation we found, I would say, very broad agreement that the Federal Government imposes too many hidden and too many inflationary costs on our economy. As a result, I propose a four-point program aimed at a substantial purging process. 

Number one, I have ordered the Council on Wage and Price Stability to be the watchdog over inflationary costs of all governmental actions. 

Two, I ask the Congress to establish a National Commission on Regulatory Reform to undertake a long-overdue total reexamination of the independent regulatory agencies. It will be a joint effort by the Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector to identify and eliminate existing Federal rules and regulations that increase costs to the consumer without any good reason in today's economic climate. 

Three: Hereafter, I will require that all major legislative proposals, regulations, and rules emanating from the executive branch of the Government will include an inflation impact statement that certifies we have carefully weighed the effect on the Nation. I respectfully request that the Congress require a similar advance inflation impact statement for its own legislative initiatives. 

Finally, I urge State and local units of government to undertake similar programs to reduce inflationary effects of their regulatory activities. 

At this point, I thank the Congress for recently revitalizing the National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality. It will initially concentrate on problems of productivity in Government—Federal, State, and local. Outside of Government, it will develop meaningful blueprints for labor-management cooperation at the plant level. It should look particularly at the construction and the health service industries. 

The Council on Wage and Price Stability will, of course, monitor wage and price increases in the private sector. Monitoring will include public hearings to justify either price or wage increases. I emphasize, in fact reemphasize, that this is not a compulsory wage and price control agency. 

Now, I know many Americans see Federal controls as the answer. But I believe from past experience controls show us that they never really stop inflation—not the last time, not even during and immediately after World War II when, as I recall, prices rose despite severe and enforceable wartime rationing. 

Now, peacetime controls actually, we know from recent experience, create shortages, hamper production, stifle growth, and limit jobs. I do not ask for such powers, however politically tempting, as such a program could cause the fixer and the black marketeer to flourish while decent citizens face empty shelves and stand in long waiting lines. 

Number four: We need more capital. We cannot "eat up our seed corn." Our free enterprise system depends on orderly capital markets through which the savings of our people become productively used. Today, our capital markets are in total disarray. We must restore their vitality. Prudent monetary restraint is essential. 

You and the American people should know, however, that I have personally been assured by the Chairman of the independent Federal Reserve Board that the supply of money and credit will expand sufficiently to meet the needs of our economy and that in no event will a credit crunch occur. 

The prime lending rate is going down. To help industry to buy more machines and create more jobs, I am recommending a liberalized 10 percent investment tax credit. This credit should be especially helpful to capital-intensive industries such as primary metals, public utilities, where capacity shortages have developed. 

I am asking Congress to enact tax legislation to provide that all dividends on preferred stocks issued for cash be fully deductible by the issuing company. This should bring in more capital, especially for energy-producing utilities. It will also help other industries shift from debt to equity, providing a sounder capital structure.

Capital gains tax legislation must be liberalized as proposed by the tax reform bill currently before the Committee on Ways and Means. I endorse this approach and hope that it will pass promptly.

Number five: Helping the casualties. And this is a very important part of the overall speech. The Conference on Inflation made everybody even more aware of who is suffering most from inflation. Foremost are those who are jobless through no fault of their own.

Three weeks ago, I released funds which, with earlier actions, provide public service employment for some 170,000 who need work. I now propose to the Congress a two-step program to augment this action 

First, 13 weeks of special unemployment insurance benefits would be provided to those who have exhausted their regular and extended unemployment insurance benefits, and 26 weeks of special unemployment insurance benefits to those who qualify but are not now covered by regular unemployment insurance programs. Funding in this case would come from the general treasury, not from taxes on employers as is the case with the established unemployment programs. 

Second, I ask the Congress to create a brand new Community Improvement Corps to provide work for the unemployed through short-term useful work projects to improve, beautify, and enhance the environment of our cities, our towns, and our countryside.

This standby program would come alive whenever unemployment exceeds 6 percent nationally. It would be stopped when unemployment drops below 6 percent. Local labor markets would each qualify for grants whenever their unemployment rate exceeds 6.5 percent. 

State and local government contractors would supervise these projects and could hire only those who had exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits. The goal of this new program is to provide more constructive work for all Americans, young or old, who cannot find a job. 

The purpose really follows this formula: Short-term problems require short-term remedies. I therefore request that these programs be for a 1-year period. 

Now, I know that low- and middle-income Americans have been hardest hit by inflation. Their budgets are most vulnerable because a larger part of their income goes for the highly inflated costs of food, fuel, and medical care. 

The tax reform bill now in the House Committee on Ways and Means, which I favor, already provides approximately $1.6 billion of tax relief to these groups. Compensating new revenues are provided in this prospective legislation by a windfall tax, profits tax on oil producers, and by closing other loopholes. If enacted, this will be a major contribution by the Congress in our common effort to make our tax system fairer to all. 

Number six: stimulating housing. Without question, credit is the lifeblood of housing. The United States, unfortunately, is suffering the longest and the most severe housing recession since the end of World War II. Unemployment in the construction trades is twice the national average. 

One of my first acts as President was to sign the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. I have since concluded that still more help is needed, help that can be delivered very quickly and with minimum inflationary impact. 

I urge the Congress to enact before recess additional legislation to make most home mortgages eligible for purchase by an agency of the Federal Government. As the law stands now, only FHA or VA home mortgages, one-fifth of the total, are covered. 

I am very glad that the Senate, thanks to the leadership of Senator Brooke and Senator Cranston, has already made substantial progress on this legislation. As soon as it comes to me, I will make at least $3 billion immediately available for mortgage purchases, enough to finance about 100,000 more American homes. 

Number seven: thrift institutions. Savings and loan and similar institutions are hard hit by inflation and high interest rates. They no longer attract, unfortunately, adequate deposits. The executive branch, in my judgment, must join with the Congress in giving critically needed attention to the structure and the operation of our thrift institutions which now find themselves for the third time in 8 years in another period of serious mortgage credit scarcity. 

Passage of the pending financial institution bill will help, but no single measure has yet appeared, as I see it, to solve feast or famine in mortgage credit. However, I promise to work with you individually and collectively to develop additional specific programs in this area in the future. 

Number eight: international interdependency. The United States has a responsibility not only to maintain a healthy economy at home, but also to seek policies which complement rather than disrupt the constructive efforts of others. 

Essential to U.S. initiatives is the early passage of an acceptable trade reform bill. My Special Representative for Trade Negotiations departed earlier this afternoon to Canada, Europe, Japan, to brief foreign friends on my proposals. 

We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems. 

Number nine: Federal taxes and spending. To support programs, to increase production and share inflation-produced hardships, we need additional tax revenues. 

I am aware that any proposal for new taxes just four weeks before a national election is, to put it mildly, considered politically unwise. And I am frank to say that I have been earnestly advised to wait and talk about taxes anytime after November 5. But I do say in sincerity that I will not play politics with America's future. 

Our present inflation to a considerable degree comes from many years of enacting expensive programs without raising enough revenues to pay for them. The truth is that 19 out of the 25 years I had the honor and the privilege to serve in this Chamber, the Federal Government ended up with Federal deficits. That is not a very good batting average.

By now, almost everybody—almost everybody else, I should say—has stated my position on Federal gasoline taxes. This time I will do it myself. I am not-emphasizing not—asking you for any increase in gas taxes. 

I am—I am asking you to approve a l-year temporary tax surcharge of 5 percent on corporate and upper-level individual incomes. This would generally exclude from the surcharge those families with gross incomes below $15,000 a year. The estimated $5 billion in extra revenue to be raised by this inflation-fighting tax should pay for the new programs I have recommended in this message. 

I think, and I suspect each of you know, this is the acid test of our joint determination to whip inflation in America. I would not ask this if major loopholes were not now being closed by the Committee on Ways and Means' tax reform bill. 

I urge you to join me before your recess, in addition to what I have said before, to join me by voting to set a target spending limit—let me emphasize it—a target spending limit of $300 billion for the Federal fiscal budget of 1975. 

When Congress agrees to this spending target, I will submit a package of budget deferrals and rescissions to meet this goal. I will do the tough job of designating for Congressional action, on your return, those areas which I believe can and must be reduced. These will be hard choices and every one of you in this Chamber know it as well as I. They will be hard choices, but no Federal agency, including the Defense Department, will be untouchable.

It is my judgment that fiscal discipline is a necessary weapon in any fight against inflation. While this spending target is a small step, it is a step in the right direction, and we need to get on that course without any further delay. I do not think that any of us in this Chamber today can ask the American people to tighten their belts if Uncle Sam is unwilling to tighten his belt first. 

And now, if I might, I would like to say a few words directly to your constituents and, incidentally, mine. 

My fellow Americans, 10 days ago I asked you to get things started by making a list of 10 ways to fight inflation and save energy, to exchange your list with your neighbors, and to send me a copy. 

I have personally read scores of the thousands of letters received at the White House, and incidentally, I have made my economic experts read some of them, too. We all benefited, at least I did, and I thank each and every one of you for this cooperation. 

Some of the good ideas from your home to mine have been cranked into the recommendations I have just made to the Congress and the steps I am taking as President to whip inflation right now. There were also firm warnings on what Government must not do, and I appreciated those, too. Your best suggestions for voluntary restraint and self-discipline showed me that a great degree of patriotic determination and unanimity already exists in this great land. 

I have asked Congress for urgent specific actions it alone can take. I advised Congress of the initial steps that I am taking as President. Here is what only you can do: Unless every able American pitches in, Congress and I cannot do the job. Winning our fight against inflation and waste involves total mobilization of America's greatest resources—the brains, the skills, and the willpower of the American people. 

Here is what we must do, what each and every one of you can do: To help increase food and lower prices, grow more and waste less; to help save scarce fuel in the energy crisis, drive less, heat less. Every housewife knows almost exactly how much she spent for food last week. If you cannot spare a penny from your food budget—and I know there are many—surely you can cut the food that you waste by 5 percent. 

Every American motorist knows exactly how many miles he or she drives to work or to school every day and about how much mileage she or he runs up each year. If we all drive at least 5 percent fewer miles, we can save, almost unbelievably, 250,000 barrels of foreign oil per day. By the end of 1975, most of us can do better than 5 percent by carpooling, taking the bus, riding bikes, or just plain walking. We can save enough gas by self-discipline to meet our 1 million barrels per day goal. 

I think there is one final thing that all Americans can do, rich or poor, and that is share with others. We can share burdens as we can share blessings. Sharing is not easy, not easy to measure like mileage and family budgets, but I am sure that 5 percent more is not nearly enough to ask, so I ask you to share everything you can and a little bit more. And it will strengthen our spirits as well as our economy. 

Today I will not take more of the time of this busy Congress, for I vividly remember the rush before every recess, and the clock is already running on my specific and urgent requests for legislative action. I also remember how much Congress can get done when it puts its shoulder to the wheel. 

One week from tonight I have a long-standing invitation in Kansas City to address the Future Farmers of America, a fine organization of wonderful young people whose help, with millions of others, is vital in this battle. I will elaborate then how volunteer inflation fighters and energy savers can further mobilize their total efforts. 

Since asking Miss Sylvia Porter, the well-known financial writer, to help me organize an all-out nationwide volunteer mobilization, I have named a White House coordinator and have enlisted the enthusiastic support and services of some 17 other distinguished Americans to help plan for citizen and private group participation.

There will be no big Federal bureaucracy set up for this crash program. Through the courtesy of such volunteers from the communication and media fields, a very simple enlistment form will appear in many of tomorrow's newspapers along with the symbol of this new mobilization, which I am wearing on my lapel. It bears the single word WIN. I think that tells it all. I will call upon every American to join in this massive mobilization and stick with it until we do win as a nation and as a people. 

Mr. Speaker and Mr. President, I stand on a spot hallowed by history. Many Presidents have come here many times to solicit, to scold, to flatter, to exhort the Congress to support them in their leadership. Once in a great while, Presidents have stood here and truly inspired the most skeptical and the most sophisticated audience of their co-equal partners in Government. Perhaps once or twice in a generation is there such a joint session. I don't expect this one to be. 

Only two of my predecessors have come in person to call upon Congress for a declaration of war, and I shall not do that. But I say to you with all sincerity that our inflation, our public enemy number one, will, unless whipped, destroy our country, our homes, our liberties, our property, and finally our national pride, as surely as any well-armed wartime enemy. 

I concede there will be no sudden Pearl Harbor to shock us into unity and to sacrifice, but I think we have had enough early warnings. The time to intercept is right now. The time to intercept is almost gone. 

My friends and former colleagues, will you enlist now? My friends and fellow Americans, will you enlist now? Together with discipline and determination, we will win.

I thank you very much.

There are some very serious lessons from The Great Inflation that have been largely forgotten, not the least of which is that running the massive deficits we currently are inevitably will feed into an inflationary cycle.  Neither party, nor the American public in general, have any fiscal restraint.

The campaign was a failure.  High inflation would persist until the Reagan administration intentionally through the economy into a recession, which cured it.

Pins with WIN were offered for free.

The Franklin National Bank on Long Island failed, the largest bank failure in U.S. History. 

Baja California Sur as its 30th state and Quintana Roo were added as the 30th and 31st Mexican states.

Last edition

Monday, September 16, 1974. Letting the evaders and deserters off, somewhat.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, 1977, Conscription, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Vietnam War

Monday, September 16, 1974. Letting the evaders and deserters off, somewhat.

President Ford issued a conditional amnesty to American draft evaders and military deserters provided that they agree to work for 24 months in alternative service.

In my view, this was a mistake.

President Carter would compound the mistake in 1977 by issuing a general pardon to most evaders, but not deserters.

None of this should have been granted.  People died in the place of those who deserted and evaded. If a person had a genuine objection, and more than a few did, the honorable thing would have been to refuse to serve and to take the consequences.  Muhammed Ali provides an example of this, as does Walt Whitman from an earlier era.

The legacy of the Vietnam War in this regard continues to haunt us.  The same generation that reviled their parents, went on to brand their parents "the Greatest Generation", and never made peace with the largescale evadence of the call of duty.  Examples of course, abound, including Donald Trump, who was excused priority in the draft due to shin splints, and Joe Biden, who had multiple deferments including health related ones.

The first female Royal Canadian Mounted Police began training.

The Provisional IRA assassinated Martin McBirney QC, 56, and Rory Conaghan, 54, both judges in Northern Ireland.

Argentinian terrorist set off fifty bombs, killing four people.

The Bay Area Underwater Rapid Transit Tube, the first tunnel underneath the San Francisco Bay, opened to the public.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 19, 1974. Recognizing independence.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Africa, Colonialism, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Portugese Guinea, Portuguese Empire

Blog Mirror: September 8, 1974: President Ford Pardons Former President

September 8, 1974: President Ford Pardons Former President Nixon

If Nixon had faced prosecution, and had been convicted, and had served time -- even if it was just "house arrest," being confined to his house in San Clemente, California, with only occasional visits from family, and no one else, for a few years -- the message would have been sent to every President, and every would-be President, thereafter: Do not do things like this, because you will get caught, and you will be punished.

Ford's pardon of Nixon sent the opposite message: As President, you are above the law. Or, as Nixon told David Frost in his 1977 interview, "Well, when the President does it, that means it is not illegal."

Absolutely correct.

The pardon of Richard Nixon set us up for Donald Trump.

Last edition:

Saturday. September 7, 1974. Independence for Mozambique.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Communism, Mozambique, Portugal, Portuguese Mozambique, Socialism, Zambia

Wednesday, September 4, 1974. Recognizing East Germany.

The United States established diplomatic relations with East Germany.

Gen. Creighton Abrams, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, died at age 59 due to complications following a lung removal surgery.  He was a heavy cigar smoker.

Abrams had entered the Army following West Point as a cavalry officer.  He was a highly successful commander under Patton during the Second World War.  His tenure as commander in Vietnam was less successful.  Following that, he was appointed Chief of Staff by President Nixon.

All three sons of the general and his wife became Army general officers and all three daughters married Army officers.  Raised as a Methodist, he converted to Catholicism in Vietnam.

President Ford appointed George H. W. Bush to be the Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China.

Last edition:

Monday, August 19, 1974. Gerald Ford on the cover of Time and Newsweek.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Gerald Ford, press, Watergate

Monday, August 19, 1974. Gerald Ford on the cover of Time and Newsweek.

Time captioned its cover "The Healing Begins.

Last edition:

Friday, August 16, 1974. Gerald Ford hosted King Hussein of Jordan in his first state dinner.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Diplomacy, Gerald Ford, Jordan, Monarchy

Friday, August 16, 1974. Gerald Ford hosted King Hussein of Jordan in his first state dinner.

Last edition:

Thursday August 15, 1974. An attempted South Korean assassination.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Korea, North Korea, South Korea

Friday, August 9, 1974. President Nixon Resigns.

Lex Anteinternet: Today In Wyoming's History: August 9, 1974. Presi...: 

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9, 1974. President Nixon resigns and the 60s end.

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9: 1974    Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.  Ford has a connection with Wyoming in that his father was part of a family that had shipping and commercial interest in Wyoming and Nebraska.  Ford was born on Omaha Nebraska as Leslie Lynch King, and his parents divorced almost immediately after his birth.

Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974.

Just the other day I posted an entry here titled Growing Up in the 1960s.  In that I defined the 60s as ending on this date (which I was a day off on, for some reason), when I stated:

So I was in school in the last three years of the decadal 1960s, but in reality I was in school for most of the 1960s, as the 1960s really ran from our commitment of ground forces to Vietnam until Nixon's resignation on August 8, 1974

For whatever reason, that we were near the 45th anniversary of that date, didn't occur to me at the time (the original linked in post here was obviously from five years ago, now we're at the 50th).

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on Presidential Immunity, I frankly think Nixon could have stayed in office.  Of course, the Court at that time wouldn't have reached that horrific result.

Last edition:

Monday, August 5, 1974. Inescapable conclusions.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Cartoons, Crime, Richard Nixon, Watergate

August 8, 1974. Nixon announces his resignation.

Good evening.

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.

In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.

In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.

But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.

I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interest of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations.

From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the Nation would require.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.

To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.

Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.

As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next 21/2 years. But in turning over direction of the Government to Vice President Ford, I know, as I told the Nation when I nominated him for that office 10 months ago, that the leadership of America will be in good hands.

In passing this office to the Vice President, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow and, therefore, of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all Americans.

As he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve the help and the support of all of us. As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this Nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us, and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people.

By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.

I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my Judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the Nation.

To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.

And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ.

So, let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new President succeed for the benefit of all Americans.

I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your President for the past 51/2 years. These years have been a momentous time in the history of our Nation and the world. They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the Administration, the Congress, and the people.

But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Congress and the people working in cooperation with the new Administration.

We have ended America's longest war, but in the work of securing a lasting peace in the world, the goals ahead are even more far-reaching and more difficult. We must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation of Americans, by the people of all nations, not only that we ended one war but that we prevented future wars.

We have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the People's Republic of China.

We must now ensure that the one quarter of the world's people who live in the People's Republic of China will be and remain not our enemies but our friends.

In the Middle East, 100 million people in the Arab countries, many of whom have considered us their enemy for nearly 20 years, now look on us as their friends. We must continue to build on that friendship so that peace can settle at last over the Middle East and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave.

Together with the Soviet Union we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of limiting nuclear arms. But we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons so that they cannot destroy civilization and so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world and the people.

We have opened the new relation with the Soviet Union. We must continue to develop and expand that new relationship so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation.

Around the world, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty, even starvation. We must keep as our goal turning away from production for war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent life.

Here in America, we are fortunate that most of our people have not only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and, by the world's standards, even abundant lives. We must press on, however, toward a goal of not only more and better jobs but of full opportunity for every American and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, prosperity without inflation.

For more than a quarter of a century in public life I have shared in the turbulent history of this era. I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue in that spirit. I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a Congressman, a Senator, a Vice President, and President, the cause of peace not just for America but among all nations, prosperity, justice, and opportunity for all of our people.

There is one cause above all to which I have been devoted and to which I shall always be devoted for as long as I live.

When I first took the oath of office as President 51/2 years ago, I made this sacred commitment, to "consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations."

I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge. As a result of these efforts, I am confident that the world is a safer place today, not only for the people of America but for the people of all nations, and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace rather than dying in war.

This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the Presidency. This, more than anything, is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the Presidency.

To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every American. In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.

It's interesting that this comes just as President Biden has announced that he's not confident that there shall be a peaceful transfer of power this year, due to the presence of Donald Trump, who will not do what Nixon did for the good of the country.

A Japanese/American climbing team found seven out of eight of the deceased members of an all female Soviet mountain climbing team that had perished on Lenin Peak.

The peak is now on the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border and is the highest peak in both countries. There have been proposals to rename it rather than have its name attach to the vile, as it currently does.

Last edition:

Monday, August 5, 1974. Inescapable conclusions.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Cartoons, Crime, Richard Nixon, Watergate

Tuesday, November 27, 1973. Gerald Ford sworn in as Vice President.

Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn into that office.  Only three votes were cast against his appointment.

The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act was signed into law in order to allocate petroleum distribution and control prices. This came about, of course, due to the Arab Oil Embargo.

The effort at price control and allocation would prove to be a failure, as generally such measures prove to be.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to put the US on Daylight Savings Time year around.  A similar bill recently passed the Senate, and then went nowhere.

This act passed and went into effect in 1974, and very rapidly it went from being popular to unpopular.  I can remember the reason why.  As a kid, we now went to school in darkness.

It escapes me why these bills always choose Daylight Savings Time over natural time.