US Presidency
1977

Our survival as a free and independent people requires, above all, strong military forces that are well equipped and highly trained to perform their assigned mission. I am particularly gratified to report that over the past two years, we have been able to reverse the dangerous decline of the previous decade in real resources this country was devoting to national defense. This was an immediate problem I faced in 1974. The evidence was unmistakable that the Soviet Union had been steadily increasing the resources it applied to building its military strength. During this same period the United States real defense spending declined. In my three budgets we not only arrested that dangerous decline, but we have established the positive trend which is essential to our ability to contribute to peace and stability in the world. The Vietnam War, both materially and psychologically, affected our overall defense posture. The dangerous goodbye sentiment discouraged defense spending and unfairly disparaged the men and women who serve in our armed forces.