US Presidency
1970

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 have heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric during the ' Gardner 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 threaten 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.