President Nixon 1970 State of the Union Address

mr. speaker the President of the United States [Applause] members of the Congress I have the great pleasure the high privilege and a distinct and personal honor of presenting to you the President of the United States [Applause] mr. speaker mr. president my colleagues and the Congress our distinguished guests and my fellow Americans to address the joint session of the Congress in this great chamber in which I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply grateful the State of the Union address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the president of what he is accomplished in the past what he wants the Congress to do in the future and in an election year to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the fall occasionally there comes a time when profound and far-reaching events command a break with tradition this is such a time I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday I say it because new knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our programs and our institutions in America need to be reformed the moment has arrived to harness the vast energies and abundance of this land to the creation of a new American experience and experience richer and deeper and more truly a reflection of the goodness and grace of the human spirit the 70s will be a time of new beginnings a time of exploring both on the earth and in the heavens a time of discovery but the time has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing what we have and of completing what man's genius has begun but left unfinished our land this land that is ours together is a great and a good land it is also an unfinished land and the challenge of perfecting it is the summons of the seventies it is in that spirit that I addressed myself for those gradations face our nation which are above partisanship when we speak of America's priorities the first priority must always be peace for America and the world the major immediate goal of our foreign policy is to bring an end to the war in Vietnam in a way that our generation will be remembered not so much as the generation that suffered in war but more for the fact that we had the courage and character to win the kind of a just piece that the next generation was able to keep we are making progress toward that goal the prospects for peace are far greater today than they were a year ago a major part of the credit for this development goes to the members of this Congress who despite their differences on the conduct of the war have overwhelmingly indicated their support of a just piece by this action you have completely demolished the enemy's hopes that they can gain in Washington the victory our fighting men have denied them in Vietnam [Applause] no goal could be greater than to make the next generation the first in this century in which America was at peace with every nation in the world I shall discuss in detail the new concepts and programs designed to achieve this goal in a separate report on foreign policy which I shall submit to the Congress at a later date today let me describe the directions of our new policies we have based our policies on an evaluation of the world as it is not as it was 25 years ago at the conclusion of world war ii many of the policies which were necessary and right then are obsolete today then because of America's overwhelming military and economic strength because of the weakness of other major free world power and the inability of scores of new lead independent nations to defend or even govern themselves America had to assume the major burden for the defense of freedom in the world in two wars first in Korea and now in Vietnam we furnished most of the money most of the arms most of the men to help other nations defend their freedom today the great industrial nations of Europe as well as Japan have regained our economic strength and the nations of Latin America and many of the nations who acquired their freedom from colonialism after World War Two in Asia and Africa have a new sense of pride and dignity and a determination to assume the responsibility for their own defence that is the basis of the doctrine I announce it while neither the defense nor the development of other nations can be exclusively or primarily an American undertaking the nations of each part of the world should assume the primary responsibility for their own well-being and they themselves should determine the terms of that well-being we shall be faithful to our treaty commitments but we shall reduce our involvement in our presence in other nations affairs to insist to insist that other nations play a role is not a retreat from responsibility it is a sharing of responsibility the result of this new policy has been not to weaken our alliances but to give them new life new strength a new sense of common purpose relations with our European allies are once again strong and healthy based on mutual consultation and mutual responsibility we have initiated a new approach to Latin America in which we deal with those nations as partners rather than patrons the new partnership concept has been welcomed in Asia we have developed an historic new basis for japanese-american friendship and cooperation which is the lynchpin for peace in the Pacific and if we are to have peace in the last third of the century a major factor will be the development of a new relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union I would not underestimate our differences but we are moving with precision and purpose from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiation our negotiations on strategic arms limitations and in other areas will have far greater chance for success if both sides enter them motivated by mutual self-interest rather than naive sentimentality it is with this this is the same spirit with which we have resumed discussion with Communist China in our talks at Warsaw our concern in our relations with both these nations is to avoid a catastrophic collision and to build a solid basis for peaceful settlement of our differences I would be the last to suggest that the road to peace is not difficult and dangerous but I believe our new policies have contributed to the prospect that America may have the best chance since World War two to enjoy a generation of uninterrupted peace and that chance will be enormous Lee increased if we continue to have a relationship between Congress and the executive in which despite differences in detail for the security of America and the peace of mankind our concern we act not as Republican it's not as Democrats but as America as we move into the decade of the 70s we have the greatest opportunity for progress at home of any people in world history our gross national product will increase by 500 billion dollars in the next 10 years this increase alone is greater than the entire growth of the American economy from 1790 to 1950 the critical question is not whether we will grow but how we will use that growth the decade of the 70 of the 60s was also a period of great growth economically but in that same 10-year period we witnessed the greatest growth of crime the greatest increase in inflation the greatest social unrest in America in 100 years never has a nation seemed to have had more and enjoyed it less at heart the issue is the effectiveness of government ours has become as it continues to be and should remain the Society of large expectations government helped to generate those expectations it undertook to meet them yet increasingly it proved unable to do so as the people we had too many visions and too little vision now as we enter the 70s we should enter also a great age of reform of the institutions of American government our purpose in this period should not be simply better management of the programs of the past the time has come for a new quest a quest not for a greater quantity of what we have but for a new quality of life in America a major part of the substance for an unprecedented advance and this nation's approach to its problems and opportunities is contained in more than to score legislative proposals which I sent to the Congress last year and which still await an actor I will offer at least a dozen more major programs in the course of this session at this point I do not intend to go through a detailed listing of what I have proposed or will propose but I would like to mention three areas in which urgent priorities demand that we move and move now first we cannot delay longer in accomplishing a total reform of our welfare system when a system penn Eliza's work breaks up homes robs recipients of dignity there is no alternative to abolishing that system and adopting in its place the program of income support job training and work incentives which I recommended to the Congress last year second the time has come to assess and reform all of our institutions of government at the federal state and local level it is time for a new federalism in which after a hundred and ninety years of power flowing from the people and local and state governments to Washington DC it will begin to flow from Washington back to the states and to the people of the United States good we must adopt reforms which will expand the range of opportunities for all Americans we can fulfill the American dream only when each person has a fair chance to fulfill his own dreams this means equal voting rights equal employment opportunity and new opportunities for expanded ownership because in order to be secure in their human rights people need access to property rights I could go similar examples of the need for reform in our programs for health education housing transportation as well as other critical areas which directly affect the well-being of millions of Americans the people of the United States should wait no longer for these reforms that would so deeply enhance the quality of their life when I speak of actions which would be beneficial to the American people I can think of none more important than for the Congress to join this administration in the battle to stop the rise in the cost of living now I realize it is tempting to blame someone else for inflation some blame business for raising prices and some blame unions for asking for more wages but a review of the start fiscal facts of the 1960's clearly demonstrates where the primary blame for rising prices must be placed in the decade of the 60s the federal government spent fifty seven billion dollars more than it took in in taxes in that same decade the American people paid the bill for that deficit in price increases which raised the cost of living for the average family of four by $200 per month in America now millions of Americans are forced to go into debt today because the federal government decided to go into debt yesterday we must balance our federal budget so that American families will have a better chance to balance their family only with the cooperation of the Congress and we meet this highest prior already objective of responsible government we're on the right track we had a balanced budget in 1969 this administration cut more than seven billion dollars out of spending plans in order to produce a surplus in 1970 and in spite of the fact that Congress reduced revenues by three billion dollars I shall recommend a balanced budget for 1971 but I can assure you that not only to present but to stay within a balanced budget requires some very hard to see it means rejecting spending programs which would benefit some of the people when their net effect would result in price increases for all the people it is time to quitting it is time to quit putting good money into bad programs otherwise we will end up with bad money and bad program I recognize the political popularity of spending programs and particularly in an election year but unless we stop the rise in prices the cost of living for millions of American families will become unbearable and government's ability to plan programs for progress for the future will become impossible in referring to budget cuts there is one area where I have ordered an increase rather than a cut and that is the requests of those agencies with the responsibilities for law enforcement we've heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric we've heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric during the 60s in which the word war has perhaps too often been used the war on poverty the war on misery the war on disease the war on hunger but if there is one area where the word war is appropriate it is in the fight against crime we must declare and win the war against the criminal elements which increasingly threatened our cities our homes and our lives we have a tragic example of this problem in the nation's capital for whose safety the Congress and the executive have the primary responsibility I doubt if many members of this Congress who live more than a few blocks from here would dare leave their cars in the Capitol garage and walk home alone tonight this year this administration sent to the Congress 13 separate pieces of legislation dealing with organized crime for non dirty street crime narcotics crime in the District of Columbia none of these bills have reached my desk for signature I am confident that the Congress will act now to adopt the legislation I placed before you last year we in the executive have done everything we can under existing law but new and stronger weapons are needed in that fight while it is true that state and local law enforcement agencies are the cutting edge in the effort to eliminate street crime burglaries murder my proposals to you have embodied my belief that the federal government should play a greater role in working in partnership with these agencies that is why 1971 federal spending for local law enforcement will double that budgeted for 1970 the primary responsibility for crimes that affect individually individuals is with local and state rather than with federal government but in the field of organized crime narcotics pornography the federal government has a special responsibility it should fulfill and we should make Washington DC where we have the primary responsibility an example to the nation and the world of respect for law rather than lawlessness I now turn to a subject which next to our desire for peace may well become the major concern of the American people in the decade of the 70s in the next ten years we shall increase our wealth by 50% the profound question is does this mean we will be 50% richer in a real sense 50% better off 50% happier or does it mean that in the year 1980 the president standing in this place will look back on a decade in which 70% of our people lived in metropolitan areas choked by traffic suffocated by smog poisoned by water deafened by noise and terrorized by crime these are not the great questions that concern world leaders at Summit conferences but people do not live at the summit they live in the foothills of every day experience and it is time for all of us to concern ourselves with the way real people live and realize the great question of the 70s is shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air to our lab and to our water restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions it has become a common cause of all the people of this country it is a cause of particular concern to young Americans because they more than we will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later clean air clean water open spaces these should once again be the birthright of every American if we act now they can do we still think of air as free but clean air is not free and neither is clean water the price tag on Pollution Control is high through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature and now that debt is being called the program I shall propose to Congress will be the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in America's history it is not a program for just one year a year's plan in this field is no plan at all this is a time to look ahead not a year but five years or ten years whatever time is required to do the job I shall propose to this Congress a ten billion dollar nationwide clean waters program to put modern municipal waste treatment plants in every place in America where they are needed to make our waters clean again and do it now we have the industrial capacity if we begin now to build them all within 5 years this program will get them built within 5 years as our cities and suburbs relentlessly expand those priceless open spaces needed for recreation areas accessible to their people are swallowed up often forever unless we preserve these spaces while they are still available we will have none to preserve therefore I shall propose new financing methods for a purchasing open space and parkland now before they are lost to us the automobile is our worst polluter the air adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition we shall intensify our research set increasingly strict standards and strengthen enforcement procedures and we shall do it now we can no longer afford the consider air and water common property free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences instead we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard this requires comprehensive new regulation it also requires that to the extent possible the price of goods should be made to include the cost of producing and disposing of them without damage to the environment now I realize that the argument is often made that there's a fundamental contradiction between economic growth and the quality of life so that they have one we must forsake the other the answer is not to abandon growth but to read beat but to redirect it for example we should turn toward ending congestion and eliminating smog the same reservoir of invented genius that created them in the first place continued vigorous economic growth provides us with the means to enrich life itself and to enhance our planet as a place hospitable the man each individual must enlist in this fight if it is to be won it has been said that no matter how many national parks and historical monuments we buy and develop the truly significant environment for each of us is that in which we spend 80 percent of our time in our homes in our places of work the streets over which we travel street letter run down parking strips and yards the lappa dated fences broken windows smoking automobiles dingy working places all should be the object of our fresh Beauty we have been too tolerant of our surround and too willing to leave it to others to clean up our environment it is time for those who make massive demands on society to make some minimal demands on themselves each of us must resolve that each day he will leave his home his property the public places of the city or town a little cleaner a little better a little more pleasant for himself and those around it with the help of people we can do anything and without their help we can do nothing in this spirit together we can reclaim our land for ours and generations to come between now and the year 2000 over 100 million children will be born in the United States where they grow up and how will more than any one thing major the quality of American life in these years ahead this should be a warning to us for the past 30 years our population has also been growing and shifting the result is exemplified in the vast areas of rural America emptying out of people and of promise two hundred years ago this was a new nation of three million people weak military poor economic but America meant something to the world in which could not be measured in dollars something far more important than military money listen to President Thomas Jefferson in eighteen two we act not for ourselves alone but for the whole human race we had a spiritual quality then which caught the imagination of millions of people in the world today when we are the richest and strongest nation in the world let it not be recorded that we lack the moral and spiritual idealism which made us the hope of the world at the time of our birth the demands of us in nineteen seventy six or even greater than 1776 it's no longer enough to live and let live now we must live and helpless we need a fresh climate in America one in which a person can breathe freely and breathe in freedom our recognition of the truth that wealth and Happiness are not the same thing requires us to measure success or failure by new criteria even more than the program I have described the day what this nation needs is an example from its elected leaders in providing the spiritual and moral leadership which no programs for material progress can satisfy above all let us inspire young Americans with a sense of excitement a sense of destiny a sense of involvement in meeting the challenges we face in this great period of our history only then are they going to have any sense of satisfaction in their lives the greatest privilege and individual from hand just to serve in a cause bigger than itself we have such a cause how we seize the opportunities I have described the day will determine not only our future but the future of peace and freedom in this world in the last third of the century may God give us the wisdom the strength and above all the idealism to be worthy of that child so that America can fulfill its destiny of being the world's best hope for Liberty for opportunity for progress in peace for all people [Applause]

Channel: Richard Nixon Presidential Library

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Length: 41min 37sec (2497 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020