FOR RELEASE ~ HEDNESDAY Pi1's October 23, 1968 #12 REI·lARKS OF VICE PRESIDENT HULERT E. HUI~IPHREY AIRPORT RALLY EL PASO, TEXAS OCTOBER 23, 1968 People have said we were so far behind in this election that we would have to set a world record to catch up. Hell, Bob Beamon shovTed us that it' s a good year for jumping ahead, and I h.::1ve news for Hr. Nixon. \lle have hit that jumping board and we're flying. There arc two weeks left in this campaign. It's time we focused on the central issue: Whom can the American people trust to lead this country for the next four years? Can we trust ee1ch other as people? Can we trust a candidate who \'lill not debate . • .who \'!ill not speak ou·t on the is su"-!s? The people ... to trust you •.. have to know where you stand. I know why Mr. Nixon won't debate. He' s afraid that the people will remember his record. ~vhere do you stand, ilr. Nixon, on !Vledicare? You used to call it a socialist scheme. vlliat about aid to education? You broke a tie vote in the Senate against federal .::1id t o education in 1960. vJhat about Head Start ant:. the Bi·- lingual I:;duco.tion Act? What about the Jvb Corps? What about that treaty ~gainst nuclear testing we now have in the books? Is it still the ~ cruel hoax" you used to think it was? Why are you for de laying thG treaty to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Nassers and the Castros cf the world? Do you think that's a 0 cruel h onx,~ t oo? \'lhere do you stand on Vietnam. llr, Nixon? When a rc you going t o reveal your s e cret plan for pea ce? Or is Hr. Agnew right . "ms the whe;le thing a 11 ploy" ? Page 2 Why, Hr. 1\iixon, do ycu talk a good game of civil rights up Ho rth and then whistle Dixie in duet with J. Strom Thurmond as ycu compete f o r votes with Hr " Wallace in the South? And why, Hr. Nixon, do your advisers tell us a little more unemployment would be a gocd thing for America'? Do they have in mind ti1e sillnt.: kind of Republican economics that brought us three disastrous rece ssions in eight Nixon years -- recessions that killed j obs , killed profits, and left this cvmYtry \·Tithout programs to meet urgent human need? These arc que stions I \.rant answered il I•ir. Nixon. * * * There is ancther fellow in this race besides Richard the Silent Georg~ the Loud. Gee;rge \'Vallace dishes out some r.1ighty tough talk about law and order ..• and then he claims t o be the friend of the workingman. If it weren't s o serious, it would be ridiculous. Lat.-1 and Order : GE:..:orge \val lace couldn 1 t provide it in Alabama. had the highest murder rate in th ~ country. His program for law ;:md o rder in the c ountry is t o run over people he doesn't like with his car. l1.nd u.s f or the working pt!ople in George Hallace 1 s Alabamu. .they make the third lowest weges in t he country. He \·las u. union-busting governor . and yuu kn0w it. And mothers, hlabama duesn 1 t spend that reccrd-high six per cent sales tax on education ..• it has the second lowest per pupil expenditures f or education .black and white ...of any state in the c ountry . I·1r. W.::tllace su.ys he 'Vlunts to be our President. But he says nothing about his economic policy. He does no t tell us how he would work with the Congress. And his approach to f o reign po licy is best surn...'TIGd up in his sel..:ction of the bomber gene ral, Curtis Le!1Iay, as his running mate . Americu. doesn't need your brand c f medicine, either, * * * Page 3 Nm·l, let's put things out in the upen. I know what the oppositio n is s a ying behind the scenes. They say " law and order, ·' but they really mean t c feed fear of o no American for another. They say: Humphrey wants to give a black man a job and a horne. He wants t :) give a Spanish-surnamed-1\l:nerican a j ob and a hura8. And it will b e your job and y our home. Humphrey wants t o go t o0 fast. Let me tell y ou something. Yes, I want t c help people get j obs and decent h ousing. I want everybody in this country to have a j cb .•. and a homt: .•. anu educa tion .•• and first~rate health care. And I want it fast. Let's not f ool o urselves: \vhen s omeone g e ts n job vo1ho didn't hav0 c-ne befo re .•• when somebody gets educatiun or training who didn't have it hcfc re -- all o f us benefit. We lift the country. We create new tax-paying citize ns. The n , we get real oruer and justice. 1\.nd \'lhat' s more, w~ do what is right . Yes: I want t o change things. I \..rant to chw.nge them f or the better and I want to do it now. I challenge Hr. Nixun and 11r . ~'la llace to come o ut in the open on this issue .•• to stop talking vaguely about '· law unll order," as they have been. I challenge them to offer specific programs -- not slog ~ ns - ­ to create civil peace. I hav8 done that. And I challenge them t o offer specific progtams, too, f o r justice in America - - justice in every aspect of our natio nal life •.• for e very member o f thefune rican family, no matter what his color, his religio n, or his last name. * * * Lut me say a wcrG ab0ut the special problems f a ced by Hexican-Americans. Page 4 The importance o f pr~sorving a people's cultural trauitioh was rec ogniz e~ with passage of the Bi-lingual E~ucation Act -- the first federal reco gz1ition of the special importance of the ability t o speak twc l a nguage s. Nvw we must launch a major program of bi-lingual education, including teacher training, scholarships, t e xt books, curriculum refo rm, and research. vJe must enll -- now ·-- d iscriminatory pr2.ctices in ~mployment we r,mst adequately fund the Equal Employment Oppo rtunity Commissic If I am Presiuent, I pledge thu t the federal government will be the mo ~el e mplo yer cf Mexican-Americans -- and that means from the Nhi te Huuse o n <10\·Jn. This include s m e r e respcnsibility for the Inte r-agency Committee un 1'1cxican-Iuncrican Affairs -- a spe cific agenda or priority items -- a nd a Secretariat t o help theCommittee accomplish its objectiv~s on schedule. It includes giving the poor a grea ter vo ice in the planning an~ implementatio n uf l o c a l c on~unity p r ograms, such as liead Start, and expa nd ing the migrant and legal aiu program. It include s giving able-bocied men the chance to support their families with dignity and. pride . liS Cesar Chavez told me last sumn1er in Los Angeles ~ ;' ~"le want D.c specinl favo rs - - merely the chance t o build a union so the members can help theruselves. " * * * I sny this cuuntry U.oes not have t o be torn nnd divided. w~ c a n build a country of trust trust beyond race , j or religion, c r regicn .trust o f free people f o r one anotheJ l as human beings. He don't have to hate each o ther. J We can build this c o untry tvgether -- just as \ole built the railronds • • . just as "'~ built our highways . • . just ns we bu the; buildings of mo rtar an<.l zteel in o ur ryr•: nt cities. Page 5 And if you will trust Senator Muskie and Myself, we will do it. There are only a few days left now. I do not have a massive advertising budget. I do not have a multi-million dollar TV blintz. I only have you: millions of people against millions of dollars. Let's break through Mr. Nixon's smokescreen. Let's break through t1r. Wallace's campaign of fear and hate. And let's break through to a New Day for the American people -- a new day of hope and faith and trust. I ask your help. # # # # #26 REMARKS OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT AIRPORT RALLY EL PASO, TEXAS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1968 VICE-PRESIDENT HUMPHREY: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very, very much, Senator Yarborough. And look at my fellow Democrat down here. He is as stubborn as Richard Nixon. Well, let me tell you -- when this man takes a stand, you can't move him, right down here. I am very grateful to you, my friend, for bringing this symbol of our party, this sturdy anmrnal that knows exactly where he stands and is unmovable when he takes his stand. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just for a moment thank all those who have presented these gifts and these symbolic gifts to me. I see out in front of us here two llamas, and I want to say how very beautiful they are.