Richard Nixon photo

Remarks at East Tennessee State University

October 20, 1970

Senator Baker, Congressman Brock, Congressman Quillen, Mr. Mayor, President Culp, the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, Winfield Dunn, all of the distinguished guests on the platform and this very great audience here on the campus of East Tennessee State University:

I want you to know, first, that I am very privileged to be here on this great university campus. I am privileged to be here, and I want to express my thanks to the university administration for allowing us to use the facilities of this quadrangle for this meeting. I want to express my thanks., too, for the magnificent marching band for their music when they played a moment ago.

And I understand the Buccaneers have been doing pretty well, too, here.

The next thing I want to do is to extend my thanks to all of you. I see this great audience stretching out as far as the eye can see. And I heard what was said a moment ago, something to the effect that this was the best Nixon country in the whole United States. All I can say is if I talk too long, some of you are going to get pneumonia. I don't want that to happen so I won't talk too long.

But I have a message that can be brought to you very briefly and very directly in the language that I know that you in Tennessee, and particularly in east Tennessee, like. You like it straight from the shoulder. You like it in the great tradition of those in the political field in this State, some have been Democrats, some have been Republicans through the years. This State has furnished three Presidents of the United States. It has furnished great Senators and great Congressmen.

And I am very privileged to appear here in this State speaking in this critical year, 1970.

And first, I am proud to endorse the candidacy of Winfield Dunn, who will be the first Republican to be Governor of this State in 50 years.

And he will be Governor not simply because he got Republican votes, but because Democrats and Independents, too, realize that at this time, it is important to have a man in the Governor's chair who knows the responsibility that he has to think before any money is spent, that every dollar he spends comes out of the pocket of the taxpayers. He is not a high flyer. He is not a big spender. He should be the Governor of the State of Tennessee.

I am very privileged here, of course, to speak in the State where Howard Baker has represented it so well in the United States Senate, one of the bright, young, new stars in the American political galaxy, one of my closest advisers.
I am proud to be here with him. Jimmy Quillen--I saw some billboards for him on the way and I just wondered why he had them--he got 87 percent last time. I think he wants to get all the votes this time. Well, I hope he does. He ought to have them.

And now I come to the Senate race. That is the race, of course, along with the Governor's race, that is being watched all over the country. The Senate race is being watched because--and let me get it very directly, straight from the shoulder just like you like to have it--there is a majority of one at the present time in the United States Senate. I do not refer to party against party. I refer to issues that cross party lines, issues involving war and peace, issues involving the value of your dollar, issues involving whether or not we're going to have laws that will be effective to control crime, issues that involve whether we're going to have judges who will interpret those laws in a way that will be effective in controlling crime.

Those are the great issues that have come before the Senate in these last 2 years. Those are the great issues in which the two candidates for the Senate in this State have a very honest difference of opinion.

I say honest difference of opinion. I do not question the honesty, the integrity of any man who happens to vote against programs that I, as President of the United States, recommend. But it is my duty, having had the votes of ,the State of Tennessee in '52, in '56, in 1960, and in 1968--every time I have been on the national ticket, I have carried Tennessee; I think that I represent the views of the majority of Tennessee--I think it is my duty to say this: I think that the President that Tennessee voted for should have a man in the United States Senate who votes with him and not against him on the great issues before the American people.

And on the major critical issues, on these great issues that I have described, we have a clear-cut choice: One man, Bill Brock, will vote for; the other man will vote against.

Let me describe it, however, in terms that are more direct. I am not suggesting here that you should support Bill Brock because he is my personal friend, which he is; that he is a Republican, which he is. I am not suggesting that you vote for him because he is for me almost all the time, which he is. I respect him when he disagrees, and I do when Howard Baker disagrees. We don't expect 100 percent conformity all the time.

I say, though, that what you ought to do is to think of what is best for America and see whether or not what Bill Brock stands for and what I stand for, is best for America and best for Tennessee and best for you. If it is, then he deserves your vote.

Let's take the great issues. One of the first--and I heard a few young people in the back and we hear it in every one of the meetings, say something about peace now--one of the first issues, the most important issue, before the American people is peace.

We all want peace. It isn't a question of being for peace. It is a question of getting it. And let's come down to what we have found and what we have done.

When we came into office in 1969, January, there were 550,000 Americans in Vietnam. There was no plan to bring them home. Three hundred were getting killed every week. There was no peace plan on the conference table in Pads. What have we done?

Well, instead of sending more men to Vietnam, as was the case for 5 years before we came there, we have been bringing them home by the tens of thousands and they are going to continue to come home.

Second, instead of casualties going up, they have been coming down. They are the lowest in 4 ½ years and they are going to continue to go down.

And third, we have put on the peace table in Paris the most comprehensive, the most generous peace proposal that possibly could have been considered: a cease-fire, a conference for all of Indochina on peace, a conference which would settle the political questions, and one--and this is enormously important--even though we have far more prisoners of theirs than they have of ours, we say, "Let's release the prisoners immediately as a humanitarian gesture." These are the things that we have offered.

My friends, we are going to press for that offer. But simply, I want to tell you this: We are working for peace in Vietnam. We are ending this war. We are ending it in a way--and this is the critical difference between Bill Brock and his opponent-we are ending this war in a way that we can win the peace.

Let me describe what that means. I see a lot of young people here in this audience. And I think of you and your future. I see, also, a lot of older people in this audience that will remember back, as I do, to World War I, World War II, Korea. We have never had problems insofar as ending war is concerned when the time came. We ended World War I. We ended World War II. We ended Korea.

But do you realize, and I say this particularly to the younger generation, that in this century, even though we have ended three wars, we have never had a generation of peace. One war has been followed by another one and that is why our program, the program that I support, the program that Bill Brock supports, says, end the war, but end it in a way that will discourage the aggressors rather than encourage them, end it in a way that will win the peace rather than lose the peace.

I had it brought home to me very well the other day in New Jersey. A young man came up to me. He said, "Bring the boys home from Vietnam right away." I said, "Have you been there?" He said, "No." I said, "Those boys are fighting out there so you won't have to go."

And that is really what the problem is right now. We are going to end this war, but we are going to end it in a way that we can win peace, not just for the next election, but for the next generation.

That is what you want and that is what Bill Brock stands for.

I mentioned the issue of spending. And I know that this is one that when you think of the billions of dollars that we read about in the papers every day, you wonder, well, really, is there anything we can do about it. And I see all the women here that will go shopping later in the day. And I think of what you are going to say when you look at those grocery prices going up, when you look at the housing and everything else that seems to be going up.

Just let me say this: That was the problem that we found when we came in. I want to tell you why it happened.

It happened because we had an administration in Washington, D.C., that spent billions more than the tax system in this country would produce at full employment and that always leads to inflation. We have tried to change that. I say tried. We have changed it to an extent. We have reduced the rate of inflation. We have not licked it yet.

But I saw a figure in the paper this morning. A joint committee, including both Democrats and Republicans of the House and the Senate, just made a report about the present Congress of the United States. You know what it said?

That report said that this Congress already has made appropriations in authorizations almost $6 billion more than the President has asked for. That sounds very good, doesn't it? You think, well, the Congress is appropriating billions of dollars for me, for this program or that one or the other one.

Just let me say this: I favor appropriations, as all of us favor appropriations, for those particular items which will be in the best interests of this State and this Nation, for a great project, for example, like the TVA.

I favor appropriations for human resources and we have turned the budget around. Rather than spending more for military purposes, we are spending more for human resources for the first time in 20 years.

But, my friends, let us remember this: Whenever your Government in Washing. ton, D.C., has runaway spending at Washington, it means you have got runaway prices at home.

What we need are Senators who will have the courage to vote for what is right, but the courage to vote against those spending programs that might benefit this special interest or that, benefit some of the people, but would raise prices and taxes for all the people. Let's start thinking of the taxpayers and start thinking of the people who will have their prices raised.

Then we have the great issue of progress in this country. And here, again, it is a clear-cut division. Do we go back to the old policies of the past, just putting more and more billions of dollars in programs of failure? Or do we go to new programs, do we reform American Government? I say let's reform it.

I say we have put too much good money into bad programs and when we do that we are going to end up with bad money and bad programs, so let's change it.

I say to you, my friends, for that reason we are reforming the welfare system. I say to you that when any system makes it more advantageous for a man not to work than to work, when it rewards a man for deserting his family rather than staying with his family, we ought to get rid of that system and get another one in its place.

I say to you that in this great, rich country, we are very fortunate that I could recommend to the Congress a program in which under family assistance we will provide aid for every family in this country that needs assistance and is unable to help itself; but, on the other hand, a program which says that if a man is able-bodied, if a man is trained for a job, and then a man is offered a job and he refuses to work, then the taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize him for loafing.

That is the kind of a program we stand for. And so it is in other areas, the issue of the environment. I look at this magnificent countryside, the Great Smokies. I think of the future again. It is going to be great for the next 10 years, the next 15. What about 25 years from now?

Are we going to despoil not only the air and the water in our cities, but are we going to ruin our countryside? Let's pass down to the children of the future the great heritage that we have of a beautiful country. Bill Brock stands firmly in the forefront for progress on our environmental program and that is another reason I am for him for the United States Senate.

Then there is another issue I want to talk about. It was brought home to me this morning. I was in Kansas City. I got up a little earlier than I was planning to, because I had heard that there were two police officers who were in the hospital. The chief of police told me about them.

Three days ago, these police officers who were working in a program that was very important, working with young people to get them to respect the law and the rest--these two police officers were the victims of a bomb plot. They were badly injured. One has lost the use of one finger in his hand. Another has a deep cut here [indicating], glass, wood, splinters in them. They are both going to get well.

I thought of those officers. I understand that here on this campus, Dr. Gulp, you are building a new science laboratory. In my home State of California, just 10 miles from where I live, yesterday, a bomb blast destroyed an environmental science laboratory.

When we came into office we found that crime had gone up 150 percent in the past 8 years. We found, also, that in the District of Columbia that it had become what was in effect the crime capital of the world, in the opinion of many observers. So we decided to do something about it.

So I asked the Congress for laws 18 months ago. The first action that I took was to ask for legislation in the field of organized crime, in the field of stopping drugs and narcotics, and also to stop the pornography and the filth and the obscenity 'that is being mailed into the homes of the children of America.

And, my friends, what has happened? For 18 months we had to wait before we began to get any action. The organized crime bill finally came to my desk and I signed it. We hope this next week to sign the narcotics bill. The obscenity bill is still waiting.

But in addition to the laws--and we need more laws and we need Senators who will vote for them--we need judges in ever), court of the land, on the Supreme Court and in the district court, and up and down the line, who will recognize the importance of interpreting the law in a way that will strengthen the peace forces as against the criminal forces in this country. That is the kind of judges that we need.

Now we have the issue very clearly. Everybody is against crime. I don't question whether the opponents of our people that are running here, whether they are against it.

The question is when are you against it and what are you going to do about it? What we need in the United States Senate is another Senator like Howard Baker who votes for the laws and works for the laws that will give the President the power that is needed to stop the rise in crime and make our cities safe again throughout this country,.

What we need in the United States Senate is another Senator who will not cancel out his vote on those kinds of laws. And also what we need in the United States Senate is one who will confirm the President of the United States when he sends to the Senate a judge who is dedicated to the proposition of enforcing the laws and a strict interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, and not cancel out his vote. It is a clear issue.

Let me say we need a man that will speak out, not only by his votes and not only by his confirmations of the President's recommendations on judges, but one that will speak out clearly not just in the few weeks before election but in 52 weeks all year round.

If we are going to stop the rise of crime and terrorism in this country, it is a year-round job, and Bill Brock, like Howard Baker and Jimmy Quillen, will work year round on the job and not just in election time.

Now, finally, on this great university campus, I do not want to miss the opportunity to speak briefly on another subject that concerns many Americans. You see it nightly, virtually nightly, on your television screens: the problems of what they call student protest. And usually what you see is violence or students shouting four-letter obscenities or students engaging in illegal protests, shouting down schools and the rest.

And as you see that, you get the impression sometimes from listening to the commentary that these young people are representative of most young people in America today, and that they are the leaders of America tomorrow.

I have news for you. They are not a majority of youth today and they are not going to be the leaders of America tomorrow.

My friends, let us understand the clearly. I would not want a younger generation that did not question the decisions made by government officials. I would not want a younger generation that did not want progress and change. That is the greatness of America, that our young people do think progressively, that they want change, and this younger generation-and to its great credit is interested in peace, is interested in the disadvantaged people. Let's give them credit for that.

But I find on campus after campus, at Kansas State, at Ohio State, in New Jersey, in Vermont, in Wisconsin, every place I go students come up and say, "Look, those people you see on the television screen, they don't represent us. We believe in change, but let it be peaceful change and not violent change."

Now I make the final point. All the voting people here are going to say, Mr. President, what can we do about all this?" And particularly I have been asked the question---when some people had to walk through a group of students at Kansas City last night that were pretty rough and shouting their obscenities and the rest--"What can we do about those people?"

I said, "I will tell you what you can do. You have got to answer them. And the way to answer them is to stand up for America and to speak up for America. And the way to speak up for America is not to answer in kind; don't engage in violence. You don't have to shout any four-letter words and obscenities. But the way to answer them is with the most powerful action that a free people had ever devised."

On November 3d you are going to walk into that polling booth and you are going to make a decision. You will think that, well, that only involves one person out of millions of people. But it could make the difference about that majority of one in the United States Senate.

And as you make that decision, remember that vote, that vote is the answer to those who resort to .the kind of activities that I have referred to.

And so as you vote, I suggest, on November 3d vote for a man who will stand with the President rather than against him where the interest of America, you believe, will be best served, who will stand for a just peace and a lasting peace in Vietnam and the world, who will stand for spending your money in Washington only when he feels that it can better be spent there than be spent by you back here in Tennessee, for a man who will be for reform and progress for this country and for the future of this country, and for a man who will stand foursquare and firm for law and order and justice, not just during the election campaign but 52 weeks of the year.

The man is Bill Brock, and vote for him on November 3d.

Note: The President spoke at 1:18 p.m. at the university campus in Johnson City, Tenn.

Richard F. Machamer was mayor of Johnson City and Delos P. Gulp was president of the university.

Richard Nixon, Remarks at East Tennessee State University Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240016

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