Remarks at Greensboro, North Carolina

Bill [Stevens], my former colleagues in the House of Representatives, Governor Jim Holshouser, our other candidates for the Congress, Jim Carson, the candidate for the Attorney General's office, and all of you who are here:

It is just great to be in Greensboro, and you are wonderful. I love it, and I appreciate it. Thank you very, very much.

Let me start out by saying I am no stranger to North Carolina. I was down here a couple of months ago and played golf. For your safety's sake, I want you to know I didn't bring my golf clubs. [Laughter]

But anyhow, I have been here a good many times. I served here for 9 months in the Navy. I went to law school here one summer. I have been down here to make a good many political campaign speeches. I had one son that went to Wake Forest University. I had another one that was entered in Duke this year, but decided he wanted to go out and be a ranch hand for 12 months, so he may come back.

But anyhow, I like North Carolina, and I am proud of my association with it.

This is a great crowd, but I want to warn you, this morning we started bright and early from Washington, D.C. We flew to Spartanburg, and then to Anderson, South Carolina, Rock Hill, and then to Greenville. They had anywhere from 7,000 to 12,000 people down there to see a Republican President, and believe me, they are on the move, and so are you in North Carolina.

Why do I say that? You have a great crowd here, and most of you, I am sure, would rather be out watching a good football game or doing something else.

But here is what you have done in the short span of time that I was in the Congress about 25 years. You have now a Republican Governor in Jim Holshouser, and he is a first-class chief executive.

And you have in Jesse Helms an outstanding Member of the United States Senate. You should be proud of him.

And I can speak with some considerable authority about the great people you have in the House of Representatives--Jim Broyhill, Earl Ruth, "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, Jim Martin, and pretty soon, about November 5, you are going to have Steve Ritchie and Ward Purrington.¹ And if you don't, gee, I will be disappointed.

With all this power you have got here, you ought to make certain and positive that somebody as able as Steve and somebody as able as Ward takes the oath of office on January 3 in the House of Representatives. They will save you money, they will win the battle against inflation, they will give you good representation, and you will be darned proud of both of them. Do your best.

Now let's talk about the United States Senate. In Bill Stevens you have got an opportunity to put a fellow in that high office to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Jesse Helms. Isn't that what you want? Somebody who is going to be strong, determined, dedicated? And I will be so pleased if the great State of North Carolina sends that kind of Member to the United States Senate.

Now let me make two or three points. I know it is a little chilly, but nevertheless I want to talk heart-to-heart, straight-to-straight to you. I have gotten a lot of advice in recent weeks that I ought to sit in Washington, D.C., as President of the United States, read the polls and get discouraged and wring my hands and, you know, look out the window of the Oval Office and say, "Gee, things are terrible."

I think that is a lousy approach to the responsibilities of the President of the United States. I know all these experts are saying these things, that you can't change the results, and if I tried and I lost, then my Presidency for the next 2 years will go down the drain. I don't believe that. It is a lot better for me to be out talking to you in Greensboro than sitting around the Oval Office and wringing my hands.

I don't understand people who want to admit defeat. I have got a WIN button on, not a loser's button.

You know, the first election I ever participated in, boy, it taught me a good lesson, and it wasn't a lesson taught me by a Republican. It was a lesson that I learned from a good Democrat, Harry Truman. He was man enough, strong enough, convinced enough to come out here and fight for what he believed was right, and we are.

Harry Truman didn't win in 1948 by sitting in the Oval Office looking at all the polls. He came out here and fought and won. And America, under his leadership, had a great, great next 4 years.

I want your help right here in Greensboro, and I want your help in Charlotte, in Raleigh, and I want it everyplace else, in Winston-Salem. You have got an obligation, and so do I, and we don't achieve it by sitting on our hands and wringing our hands and saying, "Gentlemen, the polls look terrible." What is the matter with us? Have we lost that old fighting spirit? Have you?

All right, now let's talk about the issues. The issue is very clear. We have got a problem in the economy. We have got inflation that is too high, resulting from spending too much money for the last 20 years.
Look, the sun is even coming out!

We spent too much money for the last 20 years, and if my figures are right, you know who controlled the Congress for 19 out of the last 25 years? Our Democratic friends. They are the ones that made all the money available to be spent, and if we spent too much money, it is on their shoulders, not on ours.

But let's be reasonable and responsible about what we ought to do about it. I presented to the Congress about 10 days ago a good economic package that will whip inflation and keep our economy growing and constructive so young people will have jobs and older people will be taken care of. Now, how can you beat that?

Now the problem is on the shoulders and on the backs of Congress. I have heard some criticism of my plan, but I haven't heard any solution. You know, a lot of talk is cheap, but a program presented for action will save America, and a lot of talk won't do much good.

And so, I urge you to put pressure on the Congress--Democrats and a few Republicans, too. They have to step up and bite the bullet, because the chips are too high. The chips are so high for the future and the preservation of this country.

We have got to lick inflation. If we don't, it will tear our Government asunder. It will destroy all the principles we believe in. It will weaken us in our resolution to keep peace abroad.

We have a great, great responsibility, individually and collectively. We can't just brush it off. We can't back away and say it is somebody else's responsibility. We, individually and collectively, have to stand up and fight for what we know is right.

Now, I am confident, I am optimistic, I believe in Bill Stevens, Ward Purrington, Steve Ritchie, Jim Broyhill, Jim Martin, Earl Ruth, "Vinegar Bend" Mizell--those are strong, fine people. They are good and they will do what is right for North Carolina.

They will do what is right for the country, and therefore, I leave this great State with a conviction that instead of a veto-proof Congress, that some of the power-hungry people want, a veto-proof Congress, we are going to end up with an inflation-proof Congress, and that is pretty darned good for America

One final point, if I might. About 200 years ago our forefathers put together the greatest document for the governing of people in the history of mankind. How well it has done for us. We have got freedom, we have opportunity, we have done pretty well materialistically. We are blessed, we are so blessed. And a basic ingredient of that is balance--balance, a system of checks and balances that doesn't let any one political party, any one President, any one Congress be the dictator. Americans don't like dictators.

But the people who want a veto-proof Congress in effect want a legislative dictatorship. They want one branch of the Federal Government to dominate and control all other branches of the Federal Government, and that is completely opposite of the fundamental concept of our Constitution.

And so, the best way I think you can avoid that legislative dictatorship is to make sure that you keep our Members of the House that I have mentioned-Jim Broyhill, "Vinegar Bend," Jim Martin, and Earl Ruth--and add to them so that we avoid the veto-proof Congress, that is, a legislative dictatorship, and that we give to America a balance which is the basic ingredient that has contributed to our progress and our growth and our freedom and our liberties and opportunities.

Really, I look in your eyes and I plead with your hearts and I beg with your mind that you maximize your efforts in the next 10 days, 2 weeks, or 2 weeks and a half, because the stakes are very, very high.

And what you do, each one of you, can make a difference--your own vote and the votes that you can convince--that America doesn't want a legislative dictatorship; America wants a sound economic program, America wants good candidates like the ones we have serving them in the Congress.

Yes, I plead with you, I beg of you, not for yourselves, not for me, but for our country: Do your best.

Thank you very much.