Conversation 426-026

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Despite these difficulties, we can be proud of the fact that we have achieved our goal of obtaining a region which provides peace with honor to Vietnam.

On this day,

Let us honor those who made this achievement possible, those who sacrificed their lives, those who were disabled, those who have made every one of us proud to be American as they return from years of conflict.

And every one of the two and a half million Americans who have served honorably in the nation's longest war never have meant to serve with great devotion and wealth with lesser power and support.

Let us provide these men with the various benefits and the opportunities they have earned.

Let us honor them with the respect they deserve.

And I say again tonight, let us not dishonor those who serve their country by granting ancestry to those who deserve it.

Tonight, I want to express an appreciation of the nation to others who helped make this day possible.

I agree with you.

The great majority of Americans listen to you now.

Despite an unprecedented barrage of criticism from a small but bold minority, it was good and firm to repeat the law.

I know it was not easy for you to do so.

We have been through some difficult times together.

I recall that on November 1969, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched on the web.

And on April 1970, when I found it necessary to order the destruction of communist bases

In the time of May 1972, I ordered the landing of hyphal and airstrikes on military targets in North Vietnam in order to stop a massive communist invasion of South Vietnam.

And then perhaps the hardest decision I have had to make is present.

On December 18th, 1970, when our hopes for peace were so high that North Vietnam made stone balls of the Nazis, I found it necessary to order more airstrikes on the military targets in North Vietnam to break that deadline.

On each of these occasions, the voices of opposition we heard in Washington were so loud, they at times appeared to be the majority.

But across America, the overwhelming majority stood firm against those who advocated peace at any price, even if the price was so high, even if the price would have been defeat and humiliation.

Thank you for bringing us home on our feet, rather than on our knees, instead of on our knees.

We turn now to some of our problems.

And I ask your support in the middle of that.

We can be thankful that this is not a battle of war.

But a battle we must win if we are to build a new prosperity without war, without inflation at all.

What I refer to as the battle of the budget.

Not just the battle of the budget, but even more important, the battle of your budget.

The family budget of every home in America.

One of the most terrible costs of war is inflation.

The cost of living is skyrocketing in every war.

We recognize this, and four years ago, we've taken strong action to deal with it.

with all of our policies, we have cut the rate of inflation in half since it reached its peak in 1969.

Today, our rate of inflation is the lowest of any major industrial nation in the world.

But these positive statistics are a small part of the event trying to make both ends meet.

And they are no comfort at all to the housewife who goes to the market and finds meat prices soaring higher and higher.

The major root spot on why we have inflation is in the heritage of wheat prices.

I have taken action to increase imports of broad and part-of-broad production.

This will increase the supply of meat in the months ahead, and will help break down prices later this year.

But what we need is action that will stop the rise in wheat prices now.

That is why I have today ordered the cost of living council to impose a ceiling on prices of beef, pork, and lamb.

The ceiling will remain in effect as long as it's necessary to do the job.

Beef prices must not go higher.

With the help of the housewife, the farmer, they can and should go down.

This ceiling will help our battle against inflation, but it is not a permanent condition.

We must back them all up.

Here is where the battle begins.

I have submitted to Congress for the next fiscal year the largest budget in our history, $268 billion.

The amount I have requested for this budget for domestic programs and such fields as health, housing, education, aid to the elderly, handicapped, and poor is twice as big as the amount it was in my first budget four years ago.

However, some members of Congress believe the budget in these areas should be even higher.

If I were to approve the increases in my budget that I have been proposing to Congress,

it would mean a 15% increase in your taxes or an increase in your prices.

That is why I shall veto the bills that would break the federal budget, which I understand.

Because if I do not veto these bills, increased prices or taxes would break the federal budget.

This is not a battle between Congress and the president.

It is your battle.

It is your money, your prices, your taxes that I'm trying to sell.

Twenty-five years ago, as a freshman congressman, I had President Truman sign.

I remember he had a sign on his desk.

It read, The buck stops here.

That meant, of course, the president can't pass the buck on to anyone else when a tough decision has been made.

It also means that your buck stops here.

If I do not act to stop the spending increase which Congress sends to my desk, you will have to pay the bill.

I admit that there's an honest difference of opinion on this matter of the federal budget.

If you're willing to pay the higher taxes or prices, it will resolve if we increase federal spending over the amount of higher income.

That's not a congressman's role.

You should ask your senators and your congressmen to override it, maybe.

But if you want to stop the rise in taxes and prices, then I have a suggestion.

I remember when I was a congressman in the Senate, I always seemed to hear

those who want government to spend more.

I seldom heard from the people who have paid a pill to tax payers.

If your conference or senator has encouraged you to vote against more spending so that you won't have to pay higher taxes or pay, then let him know you support him.

Winning the battle to hold down the federal budget is a section that we are able to achieve our goal of a new prosperity.

Prosperity with a common goal and a common goal.

I ask them not to be your support, but be the witness to this vital and important matter.

Let me turn finally to another great challenge.

As we end America's longest war, let us resolve that we shall not lose the peace.

During the past year, we have made great progress for our goal of generating a peace for America's glory.

The war we have now has been ended.

After 20 years of hostility and confrontation, we have opened a constructive new relationship with the People's Republic of China, one for all the people of our country.

We negotiated last year with the Soviet Union a number of important agreements, including an agreement which makes a major step in linking Libya to Iran.

There are some who say, if we do all this progress toward peace, why not cut our defense funding?

Let's look at the fact.

Our defense budget today takes the lowest percentage of our gross national product in 20 years.

There's nothing I would like better than to be able to reduce it further.

But we must never forget that we would not have made the progress for our lasting peace that we have made in the past year unless we had the military strength that commanded us back.

This year, we've gotten into a new negotiation with the Soviets for further limitations.

Participating later in the year in negotiations for mutual reduction of forces in Europe.

If prior to these negotiations, we unilaterally reduce our investment or reduce our forces in Europe, any chance for successful negotiations for a mutual reduction of forces or limitation of arms will be destroyed.

There's one indispensable rule in international policy.

You can't get something in a negotiation unless you have something to give it.

If we cut our defenses before negotiations begin, any incentive for other nations to cut better will go right on the line.

If the United States reduces its defenses and others do not, it increases the danger of war.

Only a mutual reduction of forces will reduce the danger of war.

We must maintain our strength.

After we get a agreement, under which we must maintain our strength.

Do we get agreements under which our nations, under which other nations, will join us in reducing the burden on us?

What is at stake is whether the United States should become the second strongest nation in the world.

If that day should ever come, the chances for building a new structure of peace in the world would be irreparably damaged and free nations everywhere would be living in mortal danger.

A strong United States is not a threat to peace.

It is the free world's indispensable guardian of peace and freedom.

I ask for your support in that, therefore, for keeping the strength which enabled us to make such great progress toward where we are in the past year, and which is indispensable as we continue our whole new initiative to increase and increase.

As we consider some of our problems tonight, let us never forget how fortunate we are to be living in our island at this time.

We have had the longest and most difficult war in our history.

in a way to maintain the trust of our allies and the respect of our ancestors.

We are his promise to the most prosperous nation in the world.

Because of our strength, America has the magnanimous opportunity to play the leading role of bringing down the laws of hostility that divide nations and people in the world, and reducing the burden of armaments in the world, and building a structure of lasting peace in the world.

And because of our wealth,

We have the means to move forward at home in exciting new programs for the province, which will provide better environment, education, housing, and health care for all Americans, and which will enable us to be more generous to the poor and the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged.

These are girls who pick their goals, work, and dream.

Let us, therefore, put aside those modest differences about the war with the diviners,

and dedicate ourselves to meet the great challenges of peace.

It's about war and to divide us, and dedicate ourselves to meet the great challenges of peace, which can be nice.

But as we do, let us not rule the third element.

More importantly, even the military might or economic power, which is essential for greatness in the nation.

This room is a wreckage of patience.

fell by the wayside at the height of their strength and wealth, because their people became weak, soft, and self-indulgent, and lost the character and spirit which had led to their freedom.

As I speak, you and I have had confidence that this will not happen forever.

My confidence has been increased for the fact that a war which cost America so much in lives, money, and division and hope has, as it ended, provided an opportunity for millions of Americans to see again

the spirit and character which made our country a great nation.

A few days ago in this room, I talked to a man who had spent almost eight years in a communist prison cell on our beach.

For over four years, he was in solitary confinement.

During those four years, he never talked to a single person except his captain.

He had only two meals a day, a piece of bread, a little vegetable soup,

He lived on two meals a day, a piece of bread, usually a piece of bread, so that he could sleep.

All he was given to read was comments about the game.

All he could hear and read was comments about the game.

I asked him how he was able to survive and come home standing tall, proud, saluted by the game.

It was a long time for him.

Then he said, it isn't easy for me to answer you.

I'm not very good at words.

But all I can say is faith.

Faith in God.

Men who have suffered, men who have suffered so much for God, can have such faith.

Let us, who have received so much, renew our faith.

Our faith in God, our faith in our faith, and our faith in ourselves.

If we meet the great challenges of peace that we have a lot ahead of us,

With this kind of thing, it will be written in history that this was America's prime time.