Senator Schweiker, my distinguished friends on the platform, all of you wonderful people from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey:
On July 4 I was in Philadelphia to participate in our Bicentennial birthday anniversary. I came back to Philadelphia today for a new experience. I didn't come back to write history; I came back to talk about what we're going to do to make a better America in the next 4 years under a Ford administration.
Q. [Inaudible].
THE PRESIDENT. I don't know, because I haven't seen all of the polls, but from what I've heard we did all right in that debate. And when we get to the next one, which talks about national defense and foreign policy, we'll do even better.
We have a turning point in this campaign. The polls are going our way, the momentum is on our side. The basic reason is that in the last 2 years, under most difficult circumstances, we have done a good job for America, and in the next 4 years we will do a better job.
The issues are with us. The American people know that we have established a base for a healthy, prosperous economy. The American people know that we have achieved the peace and that we have the military skill and the diplomatic capability to keep the peace. They know that we have restored trust in the White House. The American people want 4 more years of Ford.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware are key States. We want to win those States and all 47 other States, and we're going to do it.
Thank you all for what you have done, thank you for what you are doing, and thank you for what you are going to do. We'll win November 2.
Note: The President spoke at 11:53 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel. The reception was sponsored by the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware President Ford Committees.
In his opening remarks, the President referred to Senator Richard S. Schweiker of Pennsylvania.
Gerald R. Ford, Remarks at a President Ford Committee Reception in Philadelphia. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241325