Remarks in Ocean Grove, New Jersey

Governor Cahill, Senator Case, all of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, my friend Nelson Gross, all of the other candidates on the platform, and ladies and gentlemen, my friends here in New Jersey:

As I stand in this hall, one which has such historic memories for the people of the United States, I particularly want you to know that I am honored by the fact that as I look back on the history of this country, in this century, I realize that no man has been elected President of the United States unless he had the support of New Jersey. I had it in 1968, and I'm glad we won it.

I am honored, too, to be here with my old friend Clifford Case with whom I served in the House, and with whom I also worked in the Senate. I am honored to be here with Bill Cahill, who had that great victory that encouraged us all last year and who has done such a fine job as Governor of the State of New Jersey. And I am honored here, to be with all the candidates.

I am going to speak primarily about Nelson Gross because of the enormous importance of the Senate races, but remember those House races are important. I see some signs around here, "Nixon Needs Dowd." ¹ Nixon needs every once of those candidates.

Ladies and gentlemen, would the Congressmen and all of the candidates for the House of Representatives please strand who are on the platform--and give them a hand.

It's a great team. Those that have been there I have worked with and those you're going to send there we will work with as well.

Also, I want you to know that I've been impressed by the size of this crowd. I remember my last visit to Monmouth County. Some of you may remember it. I got a little wet on that occasion, I mean outside, at least. But in any event, I remember it was at Eatontowm, at the shopping center, and it rained--it rained buckets. We were 3 hours late, and there were thousands of people there.

As we came into the auditorium today-and we're late because the crowds were so large, and we had to wait for the press to get in and set up their cameras and all the rest but as we came in I asked the police captain how many were inside. He said 10,000. He said there were also 10,000 outside. That's an enormous crowd. It means we're going to do well in New Jersey this year.

And incidentally, I know that in this crowd are people of both political parties, people of all ages, people from not only this county but other counties in the State, and, incidentally, some who may be rivals in other respects. I say when any meeting can bring together Asbury Park High School and Neptune High School, that has got to be a great meeting.

Incidentally, that truce is one we welcome. It will only last to the next football game, I can assure you.

And now, my friends, I want to come directly to the subject which I discussed in a previous meeting in New Jersey earlier today, one that I am going to talk to you about, and one that I'm going to cover in Pennsylvania later today, the question of the next United States Senate, what its membership will be, how important the .election of this one man may be in that Senate.

Let me tell you first what it's about. As you know, in the year 1968 because there was a division in the country, a third party and all the rest, we found that the Presidency did not carry with it, as is usually the case, the House and the Senate. This was not a disaster for the country, as some predicted. We have worked with the House and the Senate on some matters. We have been opposed on others. And I respect those who oppose.

But I think it is important in an election campaign for the people of the United States to know those who are going to stand with the President and those who are going to be against him. And in this case we have a man who will stand for him.

But the significant thing about this last Senate--in vote after vote when the issues were involved a majority of determined how they came out, A shift one vote in the Senate, and sometimes would determine whether the program of the administration went over or went down. And, so, this involves your vote, of course. It involves one Senator.

But more than that, what happens in New Jersey may determine the fate of policies that will determine peace, determine your pocketbook, determine all of those elements that you believe in for progress for this country in the years ahead.

And let me say in that respect that I want you to consider now my endorsement of Nelson Gross, not because I like him as a man, as I do because he was my man in 1968, not because we were born on the same day--he was born a few years afterwards, but on January 9 we celebrate the same birthday--not because he's a member of the same party, but because he stands for those policies that are best for America.

Let me come to the one that these young people over there are shouting about right now, "Peace Now." Let me talk about that for just a moment, and I think we should have an answer to that.

A young man stopped me outside the door as I came in and said, "Peace now, end the war, get out of Vietnam." And I said, "Have you been to Vietnam?" He said, "No." I said, "Those men are fighting so you won't have to go. That's why we're there."

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we came into office with a war that had no end in sight, with Americans going into Vietnam, with casualties running at 300 a week, and what have we done? Instead of sending more men in, we're bringing hundreds of thousands of men out of Vietnam. And it's going to continue.

Second, instead of casualties going up, we wound down the war so that casualties are their lowest in 4 1/2 years, and they're going to go lower.

Third, instead of having no plan for peace, we have set forth last week--you heard it on television--a plan for peace, a plan which would provide for a cease-fire, for a negotiation at the conference table, for an exchange of prisoners, all of the elements that should lead to a peaceful settlement. And I can say to you now we are ending the war. We shall have peace in Vietnam.

But now let me come to the key point. Why not now? Why not just bring them home? I'll tell you why. My friends, it's very easy to end the war, but do you realize what has happened to America in this century? Look back. I can remember, you can remember, we've had four wars in this century. We ended World War I. We ended World War II. We ended Korea. But not one generation in this century has had one generation of peace.

It isn't ending the war. It's ending a war in a way that we win the peace, and I say let's win the peace as we end the war in Vietnam. And that is what we are doing. We are ending the war in a way that will discourage that kind of aggression in the future. We are ending the war so that the younger brothers and the sons of those fighting in Vietnam won't have to be fighting in some other Vietnam sometime in the future.

Now there's your choice. That kind of responsible policy Nelson Gross supports, and that is the kind of support that we need in the United States Senate.

Let's go further. Vietnam is not the only danger spot. We have avoided a war in the Mideast, and we trust that we can continue to avoid it. We have a cease-fire. We hope that we can continue it. We're negotiating with the Soviet Union far the limitation of arms.

And as we go on with those negotiations, may I say, and I make this statement to this great audience in this historic hall with full knowledge of what it means: My friends, I think that with the fight leadership---leadership that is courageous, leadership that is sound, leadership that will not say just peace for the next election but peace for the next generation--with that kind of leadership we have the best chance since World War II to have a generation of peace. Give us the men that will support that kind of leadership. Give us Nelson Gross.

Let's turn to the issues at home. I know that--as I look over this audience I see a lot of men, I see a lot of women. And I know you'll be shopping later in the day and you'll be looking at those price tags-up. And you know that when we came into office that we had this economy so heated up that the prices were on an escalating wave which had to be stopped. And we had to move on it, and we did.

We recognized that we had to stop the increases of spending in Washington so that you'd have more to spend at home, and we need the men that will support that kind of policy.

Let me put it more directly. You know, it's very difficult for a Congressman or a Senator to have a bill come up and for him to say, "Well, this will spend money for here, and there, and someplace else." After all, it isn't his money. It's the taxpayers' money. And it's very difficult for him not to vote for it.

But I tell you what we need: We need men in the House and the Senate who have the courage to vote against huge spending programs in Washington that may benefit some people but that will raise prices and taxes for all people. That's the kind of man you have in Nelson Gross.

And then there's one other thing that we need. This administration has submitted the most historic program for reform of the institutions of American Government in history: reform of our welfare program, reform of our tax program, revenue sharing for the States, which is of such vital interest to this State, to men like Bill Cahill who are having an increasingly difficult problem in attempting to balance their State budgets and deal with State needs.

Let me give you one example of it, and here is a clear choice. It's a choice between the old approach and the new, between the old politics and the new politics. The old politics simply says spend more and more and more for the same old programs; and the new politics, what we stand for, the reform politics, says no, let's quit putting good money into bad programs or otherwise we're going to end up with bad money and bad programs, and let's not have that happen in America.

I give you an example of it: The welfare program. Everybody in this room wants to be sure that any individual who is unable to work has proper assistance, and he should have, without the demeaning qualifications that we have in our present welfare system.

But let's look at that welfare system. It continues to grow, and people continue to go on the list. And we find that at the present time this system has these problems. I can put it to you quite directly: I say to you when any system makes it more profitable for a man not to work than to work, it's time to get rid of that system and get another one in its place.

I say to you when any system encourages a man to desert his .family rather than stay with his family and support it, that system ought to be changed. That is why our family assistance program, which provides for help for anybody who is unable to work, but which has work incentives and the requirement of work, wet think that is the right approach. Let's re-I form this system. This is the kind of a program that Nelson Gross--his support, as well as that of Cliff Case, it's that kind of support that we need, because I submitted it over a year ago and they still haven't acted on it. Now let's get some men down there that will act on it. You can do it with Nelson Gross.

I could cover other programs--an historic recommendation for the environment. We need to clean up the air, and clean up the water. We need better programs in transit, in health, in education. But let's don't continue to put good money into bad programs.

This administration offers a new approach, a new approach to the problems, one of reform, one of restoring the beauty of America, one of renewal of the American spirit. That is the spirit in which I address you today.

Then, finally, this point needs to be made to this audience and before every audience in America today. I spoke about the necessity to have a program that would bring peace abroad. If America is going to provide the leadership that will bring peace abroad, we have to demonstrate that we can keep the peace at home. That means, my friends, that as we look across America today we see some problems, we see the fact, for example, that last year, up to this point in 1970, I should say, 66 policemen had been killed, hundreds had been wounded.

We have seen also an unprecedented wave of violence. We have seen indications on many sides that there has been a growth of crime. This administration recognized this in 1968, and we submitted to the Congress the most comprehensive proposals in terms of a crime program that had ever been submitted, organized crime, dealing with pornography and obscenity, dealing with the problem of drugs and narcotics.

The Congress has been slow to act. We just got the organized crime bill last week. And the others, many of them, are still languishing in committees and in Congress.

We need a man who understands this problem. Nelson Gross understands it. He knows law enforcement.

And, incidentally, he will not simply be one who's for law enforcement during an election campaign. He'll be for it year round. That's the kind of a man we need in the United States Senate.

I could go on, but you have been here a long time.

I conclude my remarks simply again with an historical reference, with regard to this country, what it means to all of us and how we can make it an even greater country.

Some of you know I returned recently from a trip abroad. It took me to a Communist country, Yugoslavia, to Spain, to Italy, to England, to Ireland. And I was enormously moved by the fact that whether it was in Yugoslavia, Spain, or in Ireland, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to welcome me, not as a person but because they were trying to say something about America.

We hear these days about what's wrong with America, and there are things wrong. But let us never forget that because we are so strong, because we have the wealth that we have, we're able to correct the things that are wrong. And just remember this: To millions of people in this world today, America is the hope of the world. It's the hope of the world for peace, for freedom, for opportunity, and, believe me, let us live up to that hope; let us not disappoint it here in the United States of America.

This is a great country and a good country. I have flown over it; I have visited its towns and its cities. I respect those who may have different points of views, as you do. But I also want to say this--there is a small group in this country, a small group that shouts obscenities, as they did at the last meeting, that throws rocks, as they did at a meeting earlier today in Vermont; a group of people that always tear America down; a group of people that hate this country, actually, in terms of what it presently stands for; who see nothing right with America. And those people night after night appear on our television screens, and people here in the United States get the impression that that, if it is not the present of America, may be the future.

Let me tell you what the facts are: That is a minority today. It is not going to be a majority in the future because the majority are the people that I see standing in front of me here in this audience.

And I want to tell you now as I leave what you can do. How do you answer those that shout obscenities and shout speakers down, or try to? How do you answer those that throw rocks, engage in violence? How do you answer those that have nothing but invective and refuse to listen to the other side?

Don't answer in kind. Don't engage in violence. You don't have to use the epithets. The way to answer them I can tell you--and it's time for the great silent majority to speak out--the way to answer them is with the most powerful voice known in the history of man. That is the voice of the vote, at the ballot box.

On November 3d you can walk into that polling booth and in the quiet of that polling booth you, the majority, can vote for what you believe is right about America. You, the majority, can vote for those policies, and for a man who will support those policies, that will bring lasting peace to America, that will provide reform for the institutions of America, that will provide the opportunity for all of these young people that I see here and these bands, not only to live in a period of peace but in a period of progress and opportunity and freedom in which the air can be clean, and the water can be pure, and the parks and the living spaces can be as they once were in this country. And that can happen. That's the promise of America. That's what we stand for. That's what we're trying to work for.

But, my friends, we cannot do it unless we have support in the Congress, and Nelson Gross is the man that can help us. Give him that chance.

Thank you.