Remarks to President Ford Committee Volunteers in Green Bay

I just love to come to Green Bay for several reasons. One, I have a great interest in, and have always had a wonderful affection for, the Green Bay Packers, but I also have always had a great time up here. I visited Green Bay on a number of occasions with one of my closest and dearest friends, Johnny Byrnes, who was your Congressman for so many years.

You know, I knew Gary Dilweg's¹ father back in Washington, D.C., so I am very familiar with the Dilweg name. And it is just wonderful that they have worked as the chairmen here and working with all of you to help my candidacy next Tuesday and again in November of 1976.

Let me make one or two comments. From the very day that I was sworn in, I decided that I was not going to promise to do more than I could produce, and I was going to produce everything that I promised, and that is the policy, basically, that we have in this administration. We are going to be straightshooters, we are going to be candid, we are going to be honest, and I think that is the only way for us to be successful. And it is certainly the only way to create the kind of trust that I think is needed and necessary between a President and the American people.

We had our share of troubles beginning in August of 1974 up until a few months ago. We had very difficult economic conditions. We had to face up to them. We had rising unemployment, we had decreasing employment, we had inflationary problems, but we kept our cool, we didn't panic. We decided that a steady, firm, constructive course of action was right, and, by gosh, it has turned out to be right because things are getting better.

As I think we all recognize, there had been a great distrust developing between the people and government. And it has been a slow process of trying to rebuild that necessary trust, so that government and people work together. But I see strong signs all over the country that people and government are working together because they trust one another a lot more. We are going to keep that up.

Then, we have had some challenges from abroad. Some of our allies in the last year and a half have wondered whether the United States would stand by its commitments, whether the United States really wanted to continue to be a leader in the world. And some of our adversaries, I think, might have been tempted to try and challenge our capability. But, you know, the main thing is our allies today know that we can be trusted, they know that we have the strength to work with them to achieve what we all want, and our adversaries have not challenged us because they know we are strong in capability and strong in will.

Let me just make one final comment. Some people have alleged, some people have challenged whether the United States is number one. Let me put it this way: The United States is unsurpassed in military capability; the United States has the greatest industrial capability in the history of the world; our agriculture out-produces any other nation in the history of mankind; we are ahead in science and technology. But the most important thing is that the American people--plus all of these other things--we have a deep conviction morally, spiritually, and religiously. And when you put all of this in one package, America is number one, and those that challenge us don't know what the facts are.

I want to thank every one of you. We have got a big ballgame Tuesday, and you up here in Green Bay know what you mean by a big ballgame. It is a game that we have got to win, but it is a game we are going to win, and it will be the kickoff for a great victory November 2 of this year. And, boy, at the end of that we can all say we're proud to be Americans, and we're proud of America.

Thank you very much.