The Nixon Answer: Southern Town Hall

tonight from Atlanta live and in color the Nixon answer tonight Richard Nixon in person is going to face a panel of citizens asking the questions they want answered the panel members are reg Murphy editor of the editorial page of the Atlanta Constitution adrian harden a farmer from Zebulon john Canet jr a businessman from columbus reverend roland smith the minister from atlanta mrs. Sylvia Cato a textile worker from Moultrie Morgan Stanford a lawyer from Atlanta Charles kinsman a grocery store owner from Columbus that's our panel for tonight and here is your moderator but Wilkinson thank you good evening I'm pleased to play a part in this unusual television event Richard Nixon in a live telecast answering questions put to him by a panel of Georgia citizens I'd like to stress the point that the program is live no one has any idea of what questions will be asked mr. Nixon cannot possibly know his answers must be immediate and direct and our panel is representative it includes a dairy operator an editor a farmer a grocer a lawyer a minister and a garment textile worker some are Democrats some Republicans and some supporters of the third party and now it's my pleasure to introduce a man that I have known respected and admired for many years Richard Nixon I hi thank you very much Becky actually thank you very much but well consider and thank all of you in the studio audience for your warm welcome and can i express through the medium of this television broadcast my appreciation to all the people who welcomed us so graciously and in such a warm way to Atlanta today I know that this broadcast is being carried through the whole number of southern states but certainly coming to Atlanta was a wonderful experience and were delighted to finish the day with this broadcast originating from an Atlanta station before we go to the questions I know there will be many I think you'd like to know something about our moderator of course all of you who are sports fans will know what Wilkinson I know him so well that I don't think he's introduction but as you recall he was the great coach at the University of Oklahoma one of the winningest coaches of all and I'm just trying to get the winning habit for but that's why in addition in addition to helping us in our campaign but now as you know does the commentating for the college football games and so new football fans can now see a real celebrity here in a political context and then over on the other side of the room here we have some other visitors to Atlanta today my wife the best campaigner in the family messes an old friend one who is also in Atlanta here visiting his crusade office today Billy Graham and mrs. Graham right when I attended a Billy Graham crusade up in Pittsburgh Billy was remarking about the fact that we had met on the golf car several times and this gives me a chance to get back at him a little about my dog the other day you know you see a lot of interesting signs when you campaign people carry the summer against you and summer for you I know both I can assure you but any event I saw one up in Pittsburgh the other day I mean in in Philadelphia old lady sitting in a wheelchair I found out later she was 85 years of age was carrying a great big sign said sohcahtoa dick and then the other day over in Chattanooga there was somebody a girl was holding a college girl was holding a sign that said putt Nixon in the White House PU TT Mellie I'm sure you'll agree with this I just hope my campaigning is a lot better my putty and also I would like to introduce some in the back row there in the next row my daughter Patricia and my daughter Julie sitting between them a great baseball fan David Eisenhower maybe Julie we're lucky they got to see that first game of the World Series and I haven't seen anyone television do I understand now it's a split and they're going back to st. Louis that's the one question incidentally the members of the panel I will not comment upon I've been to st. Louis I've been to Detroit and I will not take a position as to which one will or should win they said I can't make a twin that way and so we'll start over on this side with mr. Murphy from Atlanta mr. Nixon general Curtis Lemay's became governor Wallace is running late today and he immediately said that it would use a nuclear bomb if he had to to win in Vietnam how do you feel about the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam or elsewhere I do not believe that nuclear bombs or nuclear weapons should be used in Vietnam I do not think they're necessary to be used in Vietnam and I think nuclear weapons should be reserved only for what we hope will never come and which I think great diplomacy and it will have to be great diplomacy can't avoid and that is a confrontation with a nuclear power whenever you use the ultimate weapon in a small war like this you inevitably run the risk of its being escalating into a major war with either Communist China which now has some nuclear capability or the Soviet Union being involved and so under the circumstances in order to bring this war to a conclusion what we should do is terms of our military power and it means not only military power but diplomatic and economic and a lot of other things have to be used as well but in terms of military power we should limit our efforts to the use of conventional weapons that's all that is needed and we should not risk a nuclear war in Vietnam by any matter than means I disagree completely with Curtis LeMay on this point hi I'd like to say mr. Murphy when I say too I disagree with curtis lemay i have great respect for mr. LeMay as a general as an Air Force general when he was a head of sac but this kind of reaction shows why I think it's so important that in the White House you have a man who recognizes that you must have civilian control over the military the military solutions are not always the right solutions for those who are seeking peace and peace without surrender that's really what point I'm trying to make mr. connect mrs. Nixon many businessmen and individuals are concerned about the people in this country who are living in poverty but yet we also have reservations that the so-called poverty program isn't the solution what are your thoughts about the ways to help the best ways to help the so called hard-core unemployed Oh mr. cadet I think the reason that what what is called the poverty program has failed and failed in most instances in most of the cities in which it has been tried is that it has resorted to what I call the solutions of the 30s for the problems that are not relevant to the 30s are the problems of today what we have done in other words is to pour billions of dollars into federal big federal government programs for federal housing and for federal jobs and for federal welfare and the result is that not only by using those programs and then over-promising we have reaped frustration we have reaped not a solution of poverty but we reap the riots that have torn 300 cities apart resulted in 200 dead and seven thousand injured throughout this country now what is the answer the answer it seems to me is to move from the federal government approach rather than pouring more money into those big federal programs which Hubert Humphrey says he would do he says more of the same the answer is to move to that area of the American economy which is has always been best for training the unemployed for building our cities and what is it the government didn't build the cities of America the government didn't train the best skilled labor force that the world has ever seen in America private enterprise did that is why my programs what by tax credits for private enterprise to train the unemployed tax credits for private enterprise to build housing in the hard core cities that people can own rather than live in as tenants basically of the government because let me show you this when a person owns his house or owns his apartment he has the dignity and the pride and he's going to stand up for it and finally I think we ought to have tax credits which will bring private enterprise into our core cities for the purpose of providing the new jobs and the opportunity for people in those cities to become owners and managers rather than just workers and I add one other ingredient to it you use the term cities I should point out that there is more poverty today and more unemployment and underemployment and what is called rural America than there is in urban America I think rural America hasn't received the attention it has received and I'm not just referring to the Appalachian region I mean the whole part of America the 50 million people that live in rural America so what I would do I would apply these programs of using government tax credits and government financing to bring private enterprise also to bring the new business into rural America that will raise the quality of life there that's the kind of a solution I have in other words we've tried the big government way now let's try the private enterprise people way in order to get progress for America that's my solution mrs. kato i understand you're very successful in private enterprise i'm glad to come to your next mr. nixon how do you feel about a change in the federal taxation laws which would bring revenues from the religious organizations and the labor organizations are under the same tax structure as the cooperations which they are competing I don't mean churches are buildings in which religious service says are held or where union members meet for their meetings well I think what you what you may be referring to is the question of cooperatives organizations or foundations and cooperatives and others that are that are financed by tax-free organizations and that then compete with what what are called private organizations that pay taxes my general attitude on that is that we have to be very careful to draw the line that you indicated in the last part of your question I do not want to have any kind of a proposal at this time in in the United States that will do anything to weaken our religious organizations frankly to be perfectly frank with you if a if a church a religious organization is able to make some money out of a out of a legitimate private enterprise activity I'm for it because the churches need money I want to see religion grow in this country and I don't want to tax it in any way that we could possibly can if on the other hand we have a situation where it's strictly a case of some organization other than a religious organization competing with a private enterprise and having a special status attacks a tax advantage then you ought to have legislation which will balance that off I have studied this over a period of years and I think the new tax reform that we will have in the next administration will look at these situations and remove the inequities but when it comes to the religious organizations I feel very strongly that there would be a step in the wrong direction to move over here and make it impossible for religious organizations to get the funds that is necessary for them to expand their missionary and other works mrs. mr. Kenneth thank you mr. Mixon what would you do as president to bring law and order back to them America and what is your definition of law and order let me start with the definition first by law and order I mean law and order for everybody and let me lay one thing right on the line at the beginning I I know that it has been suggested that law and order is a code word for racism I don't buy that at all let's understand that as far as law and order is concerned that black Americans have just as great a stake in law and orders white Americans have fear stalks the ghettos as well as its stalks the suburbs and we have to remember that when we think of organized crime for example it preys on the poor the people poor people for example they are the victims of the narcotics and they're the victims of the numbers and all the other things which organized crime engages in so when we see crime going up nine times as fast as population as it has in these last eight years and that's three times as fast as it went up during the Eisenhower years when we see and this is the create a critical point that if we don't have a change a new policy by a new Attorney General and a new attitude toward the enforcement of law and order new laws and new strengthening of the peace forces in this country do you realize that if the same trend continues that crime in the United States will double in the next four years by the big in end of the next term of the next president now I think we can stop the rise of crime and what we have to recognize first is that law and order is something that everybody wants but if you're going to have law and order it must be just it must apply justly to everybody as I said in my acceptance speech at Miami we've got to have respect for law but if laws if they're to be respected they must deserve respect and we go third to the point that if you're going to have law and order you must also have among people who who do not have a chance you've got to have hope that they can go up you know it's very easy to say well if we just put enough police in the cities to control some of these things and if we pay them enough and we give it enough Authority we'll have law and order not over the long haul because if you have people that have no hope they eventually will explode and if they explode then you simply have what I would call the warfare which nobody in America wants now you don't need to have that that's why the partly the question asks just a little earlier by mr. Kennedy directly related that the reason that we've got to move on these problems of poverty these problems of unemployment these problems of hopelessness that will exist in America is that only as we move on those problems do we pull some of the fire away from those who would destroy America those who would burn I think what we have to remember is then that they all go together now having spoken to the problem let me tell you some of the things that needs to be done first we've got to look at some of the decisions that have been handed down by some of our courts let me make my position very clear I'm a lawyer I've argued a case before the Supreme Court in two occasions I respect the Supreme Court as an institution I respect the men on it on the other hand I disagree with some of the decisions and as I look over the decisions of that court in recent years I have reached the conclusion that in other courts that some of our courts in their decisions and it's only the decisions I'm criticizing but some of our courts in their decisions have gone too far in weakening the peace forces against the criminal forces and we have to ready that balance in the United States let me give you an example I would just in Philadelphia the other day I think we've got to use examples to prove these points I was in a Philadelphia other day I found that as a result of one Supreme Court decision that I have criticized and a decision that will be rectified provided the law the Congress does see the get the constitutional approval that it will need but looking at that particular decision I found as a result of that one decision these three things happen a cab driver had been brutally murdered the man who confessed it was set free because of that decision an elderly man had been brutally murdered and robbed and the man who confessed it while he was on a spending spree in Las Vegas he was set free and then an elderly woman was brutally murdered and she was robbed and clubbed to death and them and the man who was guilty of that crime was set free now I think that when you have a situation where your courts because of technical factors involved have gone that far what we need to recognize is that the balance between the peace Portia's and the criminal forces has gone too far in this way we've got to put it back this way because we got to remember that the innocent in America deserve protection as well as those who are charged with crime I would also baikin and then going further than that it's a question to aviod new policies I would set up a National Council on law enforcement in which we bring together at the federal government level the top cabinet officers and others who can adopt the programs across the board stopping for example the flow of narcotics into this country because narcotics as you know is one of the major feeders of crime in our big cities a national security on Sephora I would have in addition to that a national body which would have as its purpose to be a clearinghouse for all kinds of activities across this country so that we could find ways to inform people across the country local communities as to how we could improve our law and order facilities and finally I think it's vitally important that leadership at the very top from the President on down and the Attorney General on down make very clear that this is a nation which has gotten where it has by recognizing that there is a way to change those things we don't like through peaceful means and in my view in a system which does provide a method to change what you don't like peacefully there is no cause that justifies breaking the law or engaging in violence that's what I think has to be laid down from the very top mr. Stafford mr. mixon in my opinion the issues of this campaign could best be presented to the American people by a face-to-face debate between you and Hubert Humphrey where you could state your position mr. Humphrey could state his position and then you could question each other would you be willing to meet with Hubert Humphrey and debate the issues the same manner in which you did with John Kennedy in 1960 not the same manner mr. Stanford I suppose the first answer that I would have of that question is which Hubert Humphrey do you want me to debate the one that's running for the office of bread at which position I suppose this is really the problem but but being being quite direct I will repeat again what I have said on many programs I debated in 1960 I would be willing to debate the nominee of the other party in 1968 however I would not participate in a what I would call a three wings ring circus you can't have a debate between three people because then you're going to have a gang fight with two against one or one against three or whatever the case might be depending upon how it turned up but if the Congress can work out the law in such a way that the equal time provisions can be amended or suspended so that there can be a two-man debate I have indicated that I would debate mr. Humphrey yes but of course in 1960 you had more than two candidates offering for the presidency and you and mr. Kennedy were able to debate at that time why could I not do it know that the difference and that's just the point that's in the Congress today in 1960 you see the Congress passed the law that the other candidates were so minor in character the Congress passed the law directly allowing the networks to allow the two major party candidates to to debate and and allowing the network and providing the network's would not have to give equal time to anybody else this time the Congress is debating whether or not it will also allow a third party candidate mr. Wallace to have time now if you put three men in on it on the stage to debate it it's just going to work I think anybody would agree with that well with the three main candidates you wouldn't want to debate with mr. Wallace debate with three yes you know I'll take I'll take on anyone but I'm not going to take on two that's a reference man um Vice President Nixon what would you propose or do you propose to help to develop a bill Negro business in the black communities in the various cities of the United States Reverend Smith I'm aware of the fact that you're you're highly aware what can be done in this area and as I look at Atlanta and as I see Negro insurance companies as I see Negro supermarkets as I see what the Negro community has done and then I look across this nation and think of the possibilities I realize that here is the answer that we're searching for and incidentally I find as I travel across the country that whether we're talking about white Americans or people who may be not Negro but in other minority groups like the Mexican Americans the rest just like the black Americans what everybody wants is an equal chance not just to be a worker but a chance to be an owner or a manager to have a piece of the action to have a stake in private enterprise and that's why six months ago I broke some new ground in this field by two speeches in which I call them bridges to human dignity and instead of taking the approach of big government the approach of of basically billions of dollars for more people on welfare more people in government housing and more people in government jobs I took the approach in these speeches that what we had to do was to find a way as I put it to bring private enterprise into the ghettos and also to bring the residents of the ghettos into private enterprise as owners and managers and not just as workers now how do you do that well being a businessman you know how it's done first you've got to find credit the small business is a small business administration for example can be greatly expanded in not only providing credit incidentally for black businesses but for mexican-americans and many other groups who haven't had that equal chance so that they can all get a stake in the action second you've got to provide training because you know you can't just give a man a business the grocery or something else and run it it's a run unless he's been trained and so that's why my approach would provide a method through which tax credits would be provided to those industries or businesses that would train the people who were qualified so that they could be owners and managers and finally you've got to provide to the greatest extent that you possibly can the incentive you got to you got to provide the motivation and here is where education and the broadest sense comes in and I'm not referring just to education that teaches people to read and write and hold the job but the kind of education that will let all Americans black Americans white Americans understand that if they do their best they have a chance to go up now I think with that kind of a program it will make a breakthrough it will make a breakthrough that will be very exciting it isn't going to come overnight because you know that you don't become a manager and owner overnight some of the people come out of college these days think they can the right off the bat they're going to be present the corporation who doesn't work that way it doesn't work that way with white people it won't work that way with black people but I say the time to start is now so that all over America black Americans will have a stake in private enterprise and then they'll be defending it rather than attacking it in my view that's what I think is going to happen start mr. Nixon we in Georgia and other southern states have thousands of peanut cotton tobacco and corn farmers who would find themselves bankrupt if present farm programs or some farm program price support and acreage allotment should suddenly cease to exist what is your position on farm programs let me make one thing very clear under no circumstances should the present farm programs suddenly cease to exist it isn't just the case you're talking about I'm quite familiar with the products all over the country as you know when you travel around the country you not only know about the cotton program and the peanut program and the others which affect the southern crops and the tobacco but in you've got the wheat programs in the plains states you got the corn programs all of those that have the parity programs now in these cases there isn't any question but that many farmers would like to move toward greater freedom they would like freer markets but on the other hand you can't have a move toward greater freedom and freedom markets in a precipitate fashion you have to see to it that the that there is a period in which the farmer is protected protected because he has an investment in his lands he has an investment in his machinery and therefore the price supports certainly must be maintained let me put it this way looking at the Farmers of America today you've got to maintain the price support program at its present level until we find something better for the farmer something better something will make it better and this is the other point I'd like to make you point out that a lot of farmers would be bad off if these programs were knocked off but I think you'll agree with me that in these last four years the farmers been getting the short end of the stick in the United States of America I'll tell you what's happened and you probably know better than I do taxes have gone up for farmers 76 percent in the last four years in the last eight years I should say his farm labor has gone up 46 percent the cost of farm equipment machinery has gone up 30% and yet the prices that the farmer is receiving for his commodities in America has gone down that's why farm income in America has gone down a net of two billion dollars in the last years is a cost Price Squeeze I think we ought to stop that I think we ought to stop the inflation which is been responsible for the farmer getting that squeeze and also at a time the farmer is getting the short in the stick you can be sure I'm not for any program that is going to make the farmer worse off I will only be for any changes in our farm program that is going to give the farmer more control over his own program that's why I want a secretary of agriculture that speaks for the farmer to the White House rather than one that speaks for the White House to the farmer which is what we got mr. Nixon the Senate now has blocked the nomination of Abe Fortas as chief justice at the I state Supreme Court who do you plan to nominate if you're elected without even knowing and I did know before I read the panel earlier I know that was a newspaperman it's a very good question mr. Murphy as I'm sure you will recognize that when I get questions as to who I will point to a captain and many people already appointed my cabinet I really don't have to do it you know whenever I get just too many have been appointed that's all I have to select out of you and it's do i appoint to the Supreme Court I really it would be very presumptuous for me to say that until I first win the election which I hope to do but I will indicate the kind of man I want that I think is fair and I think you'll agree that I know those ground rules if you don't mind I just rather leave it at that and you can get an indication - it might be my view about what a judge in the Supreme Court should be does not relate to whether he's a liberal or a conservative many people confuse what judges really have as a role what I am concerned about when I look at a judge is also not whether he's a democrat or republican the question is what kind of a lawyer is he first and second what is his attitude toward the Constitution now if I find a man whether he's a democrat or republican are known as a liberal or conservative rule recognizes that it is the role of the court to interpret the law rather and to leave to the Congress that are writing the law that's a kind of a man that I want I do not want the I I think I think some of our judges and I respect these men as men but some of our judges have gone too far in assuming unto themselves a mandate which is not theirs and that is to to put their social or economic ideas into their decisions the Congress is elected the House and the Senate to write the laws of this land the court is not elected or selected for that purpose and the court should interpret it in other words I want men who will interpret the Constitution strictly and fairly and objectively and that's the kind of a man I intend to appoint is therein yeah is there anybody on the court at the moment who would make an acceptable Chief Justice yes yes I that leaves me plenty of Running Room I'll say we put it this way basically the decisions that I have quarreled with and many lawyers of quarrel with them are been five to four decisions and as I look at some of the four and they're three of those left that are in that minority some of those are strict constructionists and therefore would fit my idea as to who might be a judge of the Supreme Court and maybe a chief justice but don't don't let them know that in Washington I don't want them write many letters Jessica yes sir Oh Hispanics Vietnam is a very perplexing and troublesome problem for the American people it doesn't seem to be in a dispute that we made a terrible mistake by getting involved back now I'm glad to see personally that mr. Humphrey has moved away from the administration position and has advocated the halt of bombing of North Vietnam and I was just wondering sir what is your position on Vietnam at this time well I don't agree with mr. Humphrey if that is what he says I want to make very clear mr. Stanford that my my position on Vietnam has been probably that of being one of the most persistent critics over for the last four years of anybody in America I have criticized the military conduct of the war I think we've wasted our military power by using it in effectively I criticize particularly the fact that we have failed to recognize the administration the troop carrier to the war that it's primarily a war that is not military and character it's a war for people rather than territory and we fail to win the people and enlist the people in it I think I've also criticized and I still criticize the administration for failing to recognize that when you get into this kind of war our goal must be to help them fight the war not fight the war for them we didn't train the South Vietnamese just as the same mistake we made in Korea and is only when VanFleet corrected that mistake in Korea that we were able to develop the power there that was one of the factors that brought the power battle so that we were able to end that war and finally I would say on Vietnam I think we fail to arm the American people with the truth I think the administration frankly if it had laid it on the line and told us why we were there and how much it was going to cost and hadn't taken us up the hill and down the hill it might have been that this war would have had greater support than its head well that's all in the past now let's look right where we are right now negotiations are going on in Paris I do not know how those negotiations will come out they do not appear to be too hopeful but there is apparently some chance some chance that they might succeed now as a potential president and mr. Humphreys in exactly the same class as a potential president if I say now if these negotiations fail I'll do this or that that makes sure that those negotiations are going to fail and so consequently I'm not going to state a position as to what I would do if the negotiations fail I have made it clear to President Johnson I made it clear to the country we can have only one president at a time and if President Johnson can bring this war to a conclusion before this election more power to him let's get the killing of American boys stopped but if it doesn't happen and then the election does occur then I believe that the country will want new leadership now the question is are you going to turn to mr. Humphrey on the one side are you going to turn to next on the other side here I'm a little prejudiced I'm a prejudiced for this reason mr. Humphrey has been the most consistent supporter of the administration's policy he's never criticized it publicly he has been one who has articulated it's his defense of it all over this nation and until very recently he has indicated that he took the same position I did about not saying anything that would jeopardize the Paris peace talks and now he has said apparently I say apparently because there'd been two stories been on both sides of this issue too he has now said that he would stop the bombing in Vietnam but then that was the first story maybe you didn't see the second one that was a 6:00 p.m. story by 9:00 p.m. the second lead was and Humphrey didn't really mean that what he really meant was that he would stop the bombing of Vietnam provided certain conditions were met with regard to the demilitarized zone that's a very different thing now let me tell you my attitude with regard to the bomber first I don't want to bomb anybody if it's not necessary to save American lives as far as I'm concerned the question is not whether we stop the bombing the question is whether we stop the war and when we look there at Paris let us remember that the business of what we're doing there that is going on there that negotiation the trump card and virtually the only trump card that our negotiators have is the bombing and if they stop the bombing we ought to get something for it that's why President Johnson I think has been right and insisting that we won't stop the bonding these negotiations unless they quit shelling the cities of South Vietnam or unless they reduce their their attacks against our men in the Demilitarized Zone or unless they agree to negotiate with the government of Vietnam these are reasonable conditions that leads to ending the war and I would say one further thing I noticed mr. Humphrey said that as president he would be willing to take the risk of stopping the bombing I don't look at it that way at all he isn't taking a risk he's risking the lives of American boys I just want to make anything clear if I am elected to this office I'm going to use all of the diplomatic and economic and military and other power that we have in an effective way to bring the war to an honorable conclusion as quickly as possible as far as the bombing is concerned that's only one of many strings to the boat and we will stop the bombing when I am convinced by what the other side tells me or by what it does that stopping the bombing will mean that we will lose less American lives rather than costing us American lives that's what we ought to do in terms of stopping the bombing it's going to cost us an American are just annexed recently I had the pleasure to listen to Reverend Billy Graham Mike Douglas show and he said it seems that the youth today a lost they have nowhere to go and I think he's smoked in the person of the students now I myself was born and raised believing God in country incident I flip it and I got cold on my my blaming you know I bring it up I got a little scared on my tape I've been scared too that's all my reason I found that after but sir as president what would you do and what can we do as parents to bring the children the youth of the day bring them back to our country and know that this is their country and do something fun get that bleep back in our country again is where they feel like their loss now what could we do and what would you do as president for these youth the Yippies the hippies and so on like that well first I think you put the question very well when you point out that the president has a responsibility but also the parent has a responsibility this is a problem that primarily must be handled in the home and in the church and in a school and it must be adopted as a top national objective of this country the objective being to let American youth know what the background of this country really is recognize the great principles that have brought us where we are get away from this attitude that anything goes make it fashionable again may I say to be patriotic for example make it fashionable then again to go to church these are some of the things that we need because Billy Graham who is here has often spoken eloquently on this point certainly I think a a religious revival in this country directed to this particular point could be most helpful and I have found and talking to young Americans what they're searching for there is is a something to believe in something to be for and when you talk about the hippies and the hippies and the rest I've talked to many of these people and I seen them carry their signs and they yell and they holler and sometimes I've been able to engagement conversation they're just against everything they're not for anything and so there's our opportunity we've got to give them something before something to believe in now I've talked about the church and I've talked about the home I talked about the school on the school has a little better training in civics might not be bad what we used to call civics that wouldn't be bad in school to some just basic principles of what this country is about but then you got the President of the United States what can he do that's why I have set up right in this campaign not just for the purposes of helping in the campaign and it may help there but beyond that what I call a Youth Coalition and we're going to go out in this country after this election when we go in there in January and we're going to set up listening centers all over America 19 key cities and we're going to try to find out from American youth those in college years some even in high school and just beyond college what they're thinking what they want what they think they what contribution they could make the kind of a country that they want this country to be we've got to listen to young people if we listen to them more rather than just talking to them we may find that they will have a sense of participation what I find with most young people is that they think that we've got this great big system and that they can't do anything to change it so they just get out and they're against it and so I think that if we can open a dialogue open the communication start listening that we're going to find that American youth has a lot more good in it than we ever realized and one final point I would make we talked about the hippies and the hippies and the rest and they are very much in evidence if you watched mr. Humphreys rallies and mine you see all those signs and you think well those are the only people there don't you ever believe it it's bacon from my own rallies for every one of these there hundred good kids out there too I mean high school at looking at a young people today you can you can look at those that have gotten off the track those that are gone Tupac and gone to pot literally it's a deli you can look at all of those but let me tell you for every one of those this generation of Americans is the best educated generation of Americans we've ever had it is the best motivated in terms of wanting to do something other than just have a job and make money they want to do something for you know for their neighborhoods or for their fellow man or for their country they just feel deeply motivated they know more about politics in the world and we did 30 years ago when I came out of school I think that youth rather than being a liability could be the greatest asset we can have and let's given that leadership I hope to be able to give my ass did I ask bud to comment on that you work with these young people but do you agree with my evaluation very much yes sir I feel that the sense of purpose that you are talking about is a primary thing that they need and given a sense of purpose and feeling needed are the two key things and if you'll just listen to them and hear what they're saying the programs can be devised where they will now feel that they are of service to our nation which is what they desire to be which they want to Paul that I saw show that 75% of American youth today are more interested in doing something that serves rather than something that might produce for example an income or a profit it's it's a service motivated group well this is a potential power for good if we can use a vote mr. kinetic mr. Nixon on the same subject my wife and I is the parents of six children have real concern for the tremendous increase in obscenity in movies magazines novels and other areas of life first do you share this concern and if so what can you do about it when elected president I share the concern and what I could do is elected president is to conduct a very thorough investigation and this is one of the things that I will have done under the Department of Justice through the Attorney General a thorough investigation first how the males are being used a lot of this stuff comes through the mails I got a letter the other day a letter the other day from was it refer is a very sad letter from a woman who was the daughter of a minister and she was pointing out that she had a ten-year-old on a 14 year old and she enclosed in her letter two pieces of pornographic literature that she said had been mailed each week and she said she'd send one back and then she sent the other inches what can we do to stop this well certainly when we're talking about the use of the United States mails we the federal government can do something about it when we get over of course into the area that of what we would call action which would suppress freedom of speech and freedom of the press that's where you get into constitutional problems and some of those great battles in the Supreme Court have been waged about that but I am convinced as I said in my acceptance speech that this kind of Filth literature and pornography that is now disseminated across this country across state lines through the mails that we can do something about it I'm going to have a study mate and we will do it within the constitutional limits that I think can be provided Gary what is your position on the federal open housing law passed in 1967 I supported the 1967 bill just as I supported the 1964 civil rights bill my personal view on open housing prior to the passage that bill has often expressed was that I feel that open housing is best handled at the state and local level rather than the federal level but that bill which did have an open housing provision in it it seemed to me was the bill that should be passed in that here having in mind that it also covered a number of other items that were vitally important included cluding an anti riot provision the crossing of state lines those who might be there going there for the purpose of lamenting a riot and I felt to that failing to pass failing to pass the civil rights bill including an open housing provision in 1967 would have reap the whirlwind in terms of what I would call the moderate Negro leadership that are trying trying to prove to the extremists to those that simply do not want to go through the law that you can get action by going through the Congress rather than going to the streets so under those circumstances I favor that mr. Smith well I have this question mr. vice president your ambition to be president and I shall not express my wish tonight on that I wrote you eight years ago but what is your goal or aim for the United States of America if you became president of the most powerful nation in the world as to its moral leadership in the world for it seems that that leadership is is being lost or is about lost in the world today when you make that statement I am reminded of the fact that respect for a nation is the most important factor it can have if it's going to be a great power and respect for the United States of America has fallen to its lowest point in our history it's true all over the world polls show it you go abroad you find it and so we look at America and we see high that respect has gone down and so you look back in the history of America and we all remember when we were a young country 190 years ago we weren't very strong and we were very weak militarily we were very poor economically there were only three million of us in there only 13 States but America was respected although we were why because our president stood firm for America whenever anybody affronted it around the world and let's make sure that in the next administration the American flag doesn't become a doormat for anybody any place around second because America then stood for something other than simply military might and economic wealth which other nations of Europe and other parts of the world had we stood for opportunity we stood for a new idea a new vision and a new purpose in the world we had we basically had what you have described as a moral position and a purpose that someway caught the imagination of the world it was the spirit of 76 now how are we going to restore America's moral position well it's going to take a number of things first it's going to take a strong firm foreign policy we've got to strengthen the United States we've got to stand firmly and not belligerently up for our rights around the world we begin with that second it's going to take an addition to that primarily however recognizing that if you can't keep the peace at home if you don't have respect at home you're not going to be trusted to keep the peace abroad and that's why I often said in my speeches when we talk about all these problems around the world in Vietnam and in Czechoslovakia and in South America there's no ground more important in the ground we stand on right here at home we have got to deal with our problems at home we've got to re-establish respect for law respect for order we've got to light the lamp of hope in millions of homes where there's no hope today and as we do that then the America that we have always been and still are because whatever we want to say this is still the greatest country let's make no mistake about it but that America then will stand before the world as an America that has that is worthy of leading the world in this last third of a century now one final point I'd make an answer to your question is this one of the reasons that it is vital that the u.s. reestablish its moral position and respect for America is that if peace is to survive and freedom are to survive in the last third of this century they will only survive if the United States meets its role in the world I wouldn't have said that in the first third of the century or the second third then what happened in London and Paris and Berlin or Tokyo determined whether war came but now it's all changed except for the communist world there is no nation in the free world that has the power and so here we are here we stand as we enter the last third of the century and whether America meets that challenge will not only determine the fate of our children and our grandchildren we care so much about that it's going to determine the fate of three billion people on this earth that's why this election is so important let me say that that I don't have any personal animosity against Hubert Humphrey and those that have that have been taking me on for example I noticed a comment by mr. ball the other day when he as a matter of fact I didn't answer it as a I was rather happy to see him resign his job I was going to change him anyway see America has great problems but never have we had the chance we've got the power we've got a wonderfully motivated people we've got the wealth and if we can pull ourselves together if we can re-establish faith in our great traditions and respect for law and then America will be able to lead the free world along the paths of peace and that will convince the Communist world that war is not certainly a path that they will choose I think it's possible and that's what I'm dedicating my campaign to and my election to if we win this election mr. Nixon we have a pest in Georgia and in Florida and west of these two states that came in through Louisiana the imported fire ant now over a period of years states have attack this problem individually we haven't been able to eradicate this test would you support a coordinated program to eliminate this pest it's dangerous to human beings and animals and we need to be rid of well I had every other question in these panels and six shows first time ever heard of the fire well I beg sure you don't hear I can assure you mr. hardness that let me make one thing very clear about the federal-state relationship I feel strongly that for 40 years we've seen power flow from the local governments and from the states to Washington DC I think too much power has gone to Washington and I want to be an administration which power comes back from Washington to the states into the local communities I begin with that property however I want to make one thing also clear I am an activist if a problem can't be handled at the state or local level if it is necessary to have a coordinated approach if you have to have the big stroke of the federal government in order to handle a particular problem like that like for like what you call the building of the TVA or the Central Valley Project or the other great development of our natural resources and dealing with the problem like this then is President the United States would say if it can't be done at the state or the local level if it needs a federal action program let's have it the main thing let's have the thing done but if it can be done at the state level I don't want the federal government messing around in it vice president Humphrey has said that governor Wallace has quote the apostle of hate and racism agree or disagree for vice president Humphrey has said somewhat the same thing about me except he hasn't quite and I'm not going to engage in in questioning the motives the intentions of the governor Wallace or a vice president Humphrey I will I will express my disagreements with their policy as I strongly express my disagreement with Curtis Lemay's views about use of nuclear bombs I for example when I look at mr. Wallace's candidacy i I would express the difference simply in this way as I look at his candidacy he is against a lot of things that American people are frustrated about he's against the rise in crime he's against the conduct of our foreign policy what's happened to American respect around the world I am against a lot of those things the difference is I'm for a lot of things and that's what we need now we need a policy that will deal with these that will give us the new leadership and foreign policy that will re-establish our great alliance with Europe that will get at these trouble spots and avoid future wars we need policies at home that will go beyond simply saying that well if somebody lives on in front of my presidential limousine it'll be the last one he lies down in front of now look here no president the United States is going to do that and anybody who says that shouldn't be President the United States like to thank the panel very much for your penetrating questions that have given so much information to our audience before we close the mr. Nixon I'd like to ask a question if I may I've been around a lot of athletic teams where you know everyone is trying to the very best of their ability but somehow they get frustrated because it doesn't seem to fit together and then some spark sort of Kindles the effort and immediately you have that unity that teamwork and you move it now I feel that the country is and somewhat that first disorganized state how do you expect to spark this nation well I'm glad it isn't an athletic team you know I sat on the bench for four years at Whittier College that's but you learned a lot from the coach doing that I must admit about football at least it's really the question of leadership that we've been talking about so much tonight and and I begin with this proposition I've said a lot of things tonight about what's wrong about America but I wouldn't want this television audience ever to turn off this set without my saying what I say every time I can in his speech and that is that when you travel all over the world as I have and you come back to America you realize that this is the place the traffic's all one-way anybody has the right to choose they're coming this way they're not going anyplace else there are things wrong about America but there when you look at this country there is more opportunity here there is more wealth more equally shared than any nation in the world and there are so much good in this country there are so many people that are motivated that want to help all we have to do is to mobilize them to bring them together to inspire them and you must be believed Theodore Roosevelt used to say that the presidency was a bully pulpit I don't suppose I could ever qualify as a as a good preacher although my mother used to think when I was a youngster that that perhaps was what I'd eventually be but nevertheless I do know this that at the present time as much as more programs and more money for this and that and the other thing here and around the world what America needs is some idealistic leadership and I believe that as president of the United States if we just take the American people on the mountaintop and let them see how good this country is how great it is how fine our young people are and then give them a goal to fight for that what we do in this election in the next eight years will determine peace and freedom for the next third of this century if the American people feel that believe me we're going to go forward and I hope to be leading them in that charge

Channel: Richard Nixon Foundation

Views: 78,492

Rating: 4.8608303 out of 5

Keywords: Richard Nixon, Politics (TV Genre), Town Hall, Campaign, President Richard Nixon, Nixon, election

Id: MzCrkvvDyhQ

Length: 57min 29sec (3449 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 20 2015