Gerald Ford on Michigan

“No national goal today in the domestic area is more important than this one. Yes, energy does mean much more than operate machines of industry or heat our homes or power our automobiles. It fuels our total economy. Energy means jobs. If we increase our energy capability or capacity, there will be more jobs for New Jersey and for every one of our States, including my State of Michigan, which is in a somewhat comparable situation to all of you in this great State. If our domestic source or supply continues to diminish as it is and our dependence on high-priced foreign oil increases, there will be fewer and fewer and fewer jobs and higher and higher unemployment in America. To put it very practically, we must stop exporting American dollars and American jobs. We must keep those jobs in America, in New Jersey, in Michigan, and we must create more and more jobs in this country.”

“The country was in pretty bad shape. If you will recollect, as I have on occasion, we were at the depths of a recession, the worst recession in 40 years in this country. We had many serious problems. The rate of inflation was still too high. Unemployment in our own great State of Michigan had plummeted. The automobile industry was in serious condition. There was great despair in many parts of the country, and Michigan was more heavily hit than most States. But it's nice to be here with all of you this year, where I keep reading about how things have changed in Michigan. The automobile industry is having one of its top years, either third or fourth in the history of the industry, with every week or every reporting time the production schedules of the automobile industry going up, with a resurgence of public confidence. So, it's a much better atmosphere in which I am your guest tonight than it was a year ago.”

“Even with the immense growth of governmental levels in recent decades, the fact remains that five out of every six jobs in this country are still in the private sector. Simple arithmetic tells us this is the place to look for new jobs and for better jobs. This is where the people have been laid off and where they must first go back on the payroll. I don't need to say that twice here in Michigan, where automobile workers and all the other jobs that depend upon them have been especially hard hit. The good news, however, is that the United States automobile industry is turning around. And in the first 20 days of 1976, new car sales were up 37.2 percent over 1975. But even the most sincere proponents of Federal public works and public service job programs don't contend that the cure for unemployment in the American automobile industry is to build Federal factories to make Federal cars. I doubt that the United States Government could make a Model T for less than $50,000.”

“Betty and I started this train trip from Flint to Niles across the heartland of Michigan, where we have many, many friends over a long, long period of time, so we have just had a wonderful reception, and this one in Battle Creek is tremendous. And let me say that this train trip through the heartland of Michigan is the beginning of a victory in Kansas City that will end up with a victory on November 2. You know, I'm an old Michigander--and I mean literally old. I played football so long ago back at Ann Arbor that it was back when the ball was round. But I have been honored and pleased to have on this trip with me two of the University of Michigan's outstanding coaches, two friends of mine whose teams I have admired and cheered for on television and otherwise, and I'm so pleased to have with me Bo Shembechler, the great football coach at the University of Michigan. And then, we also have with us that fine, fine coach of the University of Michigan basketball team, Johnny Orr. Thank you, Johnny. You know, the Ford candidacy has got the kind of momentum that the University of Michigan football team had last year and the kind of momentum that the Michigan basketball team had. We're going to keep going, but with all apologies we're going to win the final one November 2, too.”