8

WEAPONS, SOVIET FRIENDSHIP TREATIES, SOVIET PROXY TROOPS,
TERRORISTS FINANCED AND TRAINED BY THE SOVIET BLOC, AND
OUTRIGHT SOVIET INTERVENTION HAVE WORSENED ALMOST EVERY CRISIS
AND HAVE TIPPED THE SCALES IN TOO MANY LOCAL CONFLICTS.

THE FREE WORLD CAN NOT LONG SURVIVE IF THIS IS PERMITTED
TO CONTINUE. THE ADMINISTRATION'S RELUCTANCE TO AGREE OUR
INTERESTS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF A CRISIS--ITS CONGENITAL
FEAR OF OUR POWER--HAS THE PARADOXICAL RESULT OF MAGNIFYING
OUR RISKS. IT ENCOURAGES EVER GROWING CHALLENGES; OUR FRIENDS
ARE DRIVEN BY THEIR FEARS AND OUR ENEMIES TEMPTED BY THEIR
AMBITIONS. A NEW ADMINISTRATION MUST SHOW THAT BLACKMAIL
DOES NOT WORK, THAT OUR FRIENDSHIP HAS BENEFITS WHILE HOSTILITY
TO US INVOLVES PENALTIES.

AMERICANS WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED SIMPLY WITH CONTAINING
EXPANSIONISM. THEY KNOW THAT OUR OWN SECURITY AND PROSPERITY
DEPEND ON A WORLD OF PROGRESS, COOPERATION, JUSTICE AND
HUMAN DIGNITY. ONE OF OUR HIGHEST PRIORITIES MUST BE TO MEND
OUR TIES WITH OUR FRIENDS, WITH ALMOST ALL OF WHOM THE

9

ADMINISTRATION HAS MANAGED TO PICK A QUARREL.

THE WESTERN ALLIANCE NEEDS MUTUAL CONFIDENCE BECAUSE IT CAN NO LONGER POSTPONE ADAPTING ITS DEFENSE TO CHANGING STRATEGIC CONDITIONS. IT NEEDS A SPIRIT OF COOPERATION BECAUSE IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO AVOID REDISTRIBUTING EXISTING BURDENS IN THE LIGHT OF NEW THREATS TO THE SECURITY OF THE FREE WORLD

TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH CRISPS IN SUCH AREAS AS THE MIDDLE EAST, SEPARATE APPROACHES CONFUSE MOTE RATIVES AND ENCOURAGE RADICALS.

FROM OUTSIDE OF EUROPE. IT NEEDS POLITICAL UNITY AND MUST COORDINATE ITS POLICIES TO AVOID BEING WHIPSAWED AND DIVIDED BY PREDICTABLE SOVIET PEACE OFFENSIVES. SEPARATE OVERTURES TO THE SOVIET UNION BY WESTERN LEADERS--INCLUDING OUR OWN--RISK SERVING THE SOVIET AIM OF DIVIDING AND UNRAVELLING THE ALLIANCE.

WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, EVERY ROAD WILL GET YOU THERE. BUT WE CAN RALLY OUR ALLIES TO A COMMON CAUSE ONLY IF WE HAVE ARTICULATED A PURPOSEFUL LONG-RANGE STRATEGY OURSELVES.

TO THIS A NEW ADMINISTRATION WILL PLEDGE ITSELF.

10

THE DEVELOPING WORLD IS IN CHAOS FOR MANY REASONS-- NOT ALL CAUSED BY OUR ACTIONS. BUT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS COMPOUNDED INSTABILITY BY CURRYING FAVOR WITH WHAT IT SAW AS THE FORCES OF CHANGE, WHICH IT IDENTIFIED WITH TRENDY MARXISM--FROM THE SANDINISTAS IN NICARAGUA TO THE PLO IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE RESULT IS NOT MORE SUPPORT FOR OUR PRINCIPLES BUT THE OPPOSITE. WE ARE MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR ANTI-AMERICAN RADICALISM. (LAST SEPTEMBER) WHEN THE NON-ALIGNED NATIONS MET IN HAVANA, THEIR DECLARATION WAS MORE VICIOUSLY ANTI-AMERICAN THAN EVER BEFORE.

WE CANNOT ABANDON TWO THIRDS OF HUMANITY TO MISERY, FEUDALISM AND DESPAIR. HOWEVER, WE MUST OFFER THEM NOT SELF-ABASEMENT BUT AN AFFIRMATIVE SELF-CONFIDENT VISION OF A BETTER WORLD. AND MANY URGENT PROBLEMS AWAIT OUR COMMITMENT: TO RELIEVE THE CRUSHING BURDEN OF ENERGY COSTS FOR THE POOREST NATIONS; TO ENCOURAGE ADEQUATE SOURCES OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL; TO GUARANTEE

11

OUR ACCESS TO VITAL MINERALS AND RAW MATERIALS AT A FAIR
PRICE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMIC STRUCTURE BENEFICIAL TO ALL.

WE HAVE MANY TRUE FRIENDS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH US--MODERATES WHO ARE SYMPATHETIC
TO THE WEST, WHO BELIEVE IN PEACEFUL CHANGE, AND DESPAIR
WHEN WE UNDERMINE THEM BY FACILE SLOGANS AND INDECISION.
THEY WAIT FOR OUR LEADERSHIP; THEY REQUIRE OUR PROTECTION;
THEY YEARN FOR OUR INSPIRATION IN THEIR STRUGGLES WHICH
ARE NOW LONELY BUT WILL NOT BE AFTER NOVEMBER.

A NEW ADMINISTRATION IS NEEDED, IN SHORT, TO RESTORE
STEADINESS AND COHERENCE TO OUR FOREIGN POLICY. THE WORLD
IS IN TURMOIL BECAUSE AMERICA--THE LEADER OF FREE
PEOPLES--HAS LOST ITS COMPASS COURSE.

OUR FOREIGN POLICY NOW SPECIALIZES IN RESPONDING TO
DISASTERS IT HAS HELPED PRODUCE. AMAZINGLY ENOUGH THE
CARTER ADMINISTRATION CLAIMS THAT IT IS WE WHO ARE RECKLESS
BECAUSE WE DEMAND A NEW DEFENSE POLICY, THAT WE ARE SIMPLISTIC
IN OPPOSING RADICALISM, THAT WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THE

12

COMPLEXITIES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD--THAT WE ARE
RISKING WAR. BUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW BETTER.
THEY UNDERSTAND THAT CONFUSION, TIMIDITY, IMPOTENCE
AND INCOMPETENCE RISK WAR. THEY KNOW THAT FIRMNESS
AND CONSTANCY ARE THE BEST INSURANCE OF PEACE.

ONLY IF AMERICA IS RESPECTED AND STRONG CAN WE
RESTORE THE ALLIANCE OF THE DEMOCRACIES, TO ASSURE-
THE SURVIVAL OF LIBERTY FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME.
ONLY THEN CAN WE NEGOTIATE WITH OUR ADVERSARIES ON A
SECURE FOOTING ON PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL CONDUCT
AND RECIPROCAL REDUCTIONS IN NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS. ONLY
THEN CAN WE EXTEND A HAND OF COMPASSION AND ASSISTANCE
TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THAT SEEK PROGRESS AND HUMAN
DIGNITY AND A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR PEOPLE'S.

### III

THUS OUR PARTY AND OUR CANDIDATE OFFER RENEWAL AND
HOPE. ALMOST EVERY PROBLEM I HAVE MENTIONED IS OF OUR
OWN MAKING; ITS SOLUTION IS THEREFORE IN OUR OWN HANDS.

13

WE WILL DEFINE OURSELVES BY OUR IDEALS, NOT OUR FEARS. WE SHALL BE JUDGED NOT BY THE STRIDENCY OF OUR RHETORIC BUT BY THE FIRMNESS OF OUR PURPOSES. WE WILL RESIST THE DARK FORCES THAT THREATEN LIBERTY. AND WE WILL HOLD OUT THE PROMISE OF A BETTER, MORE HUMANE FUTURE.

AS A PARTY OF INDIVIDUALISTS WE HAVE HAD OUR TACTICAL DIFFERENCES. AS MEN AND WOMEN OF PRINCIPLE WE HAVE CONTESTED VIGOROUSLY.

BUT THE TIME HAS COME TO CLOSE RANKS.

WE ALL NOW TURN TO RONALD REAGAN AS THE TRUSTEE OF OUR HOPES.

HE WILL HAVE THE DEDICATED SUPPORT OF ALL OF US, FOR WE KNOW THAT HIS ELECTION IS ESSENTIAL TO THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM AND TO THE PROGRESS OF AMERICA. UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP WE WILL BE BRAVE (OVERCOMING THE STORMS AHEAD; WE WILL HOLD OUR HEAD HIGH AND WE WILL BUILD THAT BETTER WORLD THAT FULFILLS THE DREAMS OF MANKIND AND THE HIGH IDEALS OF OUR PEOPLE.)

7

LATER OUR WEAKNESS WILL PRODUCE A CATASTROPHE. THE TIME IS TOO SERIOUS TO PLAY A NUMBERS GAME WITH OUR DEFENSE BUDGET. THERE IS ONLY ONE TEST FOR THE ADEQUACY OF OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE: ARE THESE CRITICAL GAPS BEING CLOSED? NOTHING LESS IS ADEQUATE; NOTHING SHORT OF IT CAN BE ACCEPTED.

BUT A NEW MILITARY BUDGET, HOWEVER VITAL, IS ONLY A FIRST STEP. WE MUST ADDRESS URGENTLY DIFFICULT STRATEGIC ISSUES WHICH HAVE BEEN TOO LONG NEGLECTED:

-- THE ~~OPTIMUM~~ MIX BETWEEN OUR FORCES IN AN ERA OF STRATEGIC PARITY AND SOVIET REGIONAL PREDOMINANCE.

-- A STRATEGY FOR NATO THAT ADAPTS OUR COMMITMENTS TO NEW REALITIES.

-- TO CREATE FORCES ON A CRASH BASIS TO OVERCOME THE GRIEVOUS CHALLENGES CERTAIN TO FACE US IN THE NEXT 3-4 YEARS.

ONLY A NEW ADMINISTRATION THAT GENUINELY BELIEVES IN DEFENSE WILL BE ABLE TO MASTER THESE PROBLEMS.

THE SECOND MAJOR TASK IS TO RESTORE AND THEN UPHOLD THE POLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER. IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, SOVIET

CONVENTION SPEECH

WE ARE HERE TO NOMINATE THE CANDIDATE OF OUR PARTY,
THE PRESIDENT OF OUR NATION AND THE LEADER OF FREE PEOPLES
EVERYWHERE.

WE ARE HERE TO PUT AN END TO DRIFT, CONFUSION,
RETREAT AND WEAKNESS IN OUR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

WE ARE HERE TO OFFER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE A NEW POLICY
OF STRENGTH AND PRINCIPLE, OF SECURITY AND PEACE, OF
CONFIDENCE AND HOPE. AND WE ARE HERE TO DEDICATE OURSELVES
TO THE ELECTION OF RONALD REAGAN TO FULFILL OUR VISION OF
WHAT AMERICA CAN BE.

SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THREE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS
HAVE GIVEN THE FREE WORLD CREATIVE AND COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP.

IN JANUARY 1977 THAT GREAT AND GOOD MAN, GERALD FORD, BEQUETHED
TO THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION AN AMERICA THAT WAS BUILDING
A SOUND DEFENSE, AN AMERICA THAT HAD THE CONFIDENCE OF ITS
FRIENDS AND THE RESPECT OF ITS FOES.

2

TODAY AFTER NEARLY FOUR YEARS OF CONFUSION WE HAVE
BECOME BYSTANDERS AS THE WORLD LURCHES FROM CRISIS TO
CRISIS.

IN THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS WE HAVE QUARRELED WITH ALMOST
EVERY ALLY. WE HAVE ACCEPTED A SOVIET ARMORED BRIGADE IN
CUBA; A CUBAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN ETHIOPIA; A SOVIET
MILITARY BASE IN SOUTH YEMEN; AND MUSHROOMING SOVIET ARMS
DEPOTS IN LIBYA. TWO COMMUNIST COUPS AND A SOVIET INVASION
HAVE TURNED AFGHANISTAN INTO A SOVIET SATELLITE. WE HAVE SEEN
TWO ASSAULTS FROM COMMUNIST TERRITORY INTO ZAIRE; COMMUNIST-
ARMED GUERRILLAS ARE ATTACKING FRIENDLY MOROCCO; RADICALS
ARE ON THE MOVE ALL OVER THE MIDDLE EAST, WHICH FINDS ITSELF
IN A GIANT COMMUNIST PINCER BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SOUTH YEMEN
IN THE SOUTH AND AFGHANISTAN IN THE NORTH. COMMUNIST
VIETNAM INVADED CAMBODIA AND THREATENS OUR ALLY THAILAND.
CENTRAL AMERICA IS IN UPHEAVAL BECAUSE OF REVOLUTIONS THIS

3

ADMINISTRATION SPONSORED BUT HAS NOT KNOWN HOW TO CONTROL.
KOREA IS IN TURMOIL, THREATENED FROM THE COMMUNIST NORTH,
SNUBBED BY OUR LEADERS. IRAN HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM A
MAJOR ALLY TO A BITTER OPPONENT. AND FOR MORE THAN EIGHT
MONTHS WHILE WE HAVE STOOD BY HELPLESSLY, 52 AMERICAN
HOSTAGES HAVE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF BRUTAL AND COWARDLY
IRANIAN SO-CALLED STUDENTS.

IT IS NOT POLITICAL ORATORY TO AGENT THAT ANOTHER
FOUR YEARS LIKE THE LAST FOUR WILL MAKE DISASTER INEVITABLE.

WE REPUBLICANS MUST NOT CLAIM THAT ALL CRISES ARE
AVOIDABLE. WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION IN TECHNOLOGY,
IN WEAPONRY, IN HUMAN ASPIRATIONS WHICH WE MUST MEET WITH
A BROAD AND HUMAN VISION. THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES.

BUT WE CAN AGENT THAT THESE MULTIPLYING CRISIS ARE
THE INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE OF A NAIVE PHILOSOPHY WHICH SINCE
1977 HAS SHRUNK FROM OUR POWER AND FLED FROM OUR RESPONSIBILITIES.
IT WAS TIME--WE WERE TOLD--TO OVERCOME OUR "INORDINATE FEAR
OF COMMUNISM." WE SHOULD NOT--WE WERE TOLD--BE "PREOCCUPIED"

4

WITH THE SOVIET UNION OR WITH THE MILITARY BALANCE.

A PHILOSOPHY OF RENUNCIATION HAS BEEN ALLIED TO AN EXECUTION OF INCOHERENCE. WHAT ARE FOREIGN LEADERS TO MAKE OF A POLICY THAT FIRST PROPOSES TO DEMILITARIZE THE INDIAN OCEAN AND NOW SEEKS BASES IN ALL ITS CORNERS? THAT OFFERED OUR ALLIES A NEUTRON BOMB AND THEN WITHDREW IT? THAT CAMPAIGNED IN 1976 ON THE PROMISE OF CUTTING OUR DEFENSE BUDGET AND NOW FIDDLES WITH FIGURES TO PRETEND AN INCREASE? THAT AFTER REDUCING OUR CAPABILITIES HAS EXPANDED OUR COMMITMENTS? THAT FIRST RIDICULED THE NEED OF A POLICEMAN IN THE PERSIAN GULF AND THEN EXTENDED OUR OWN DEFENSE COMMITMENT TO THE ENTIRE AREA? THAT IS "SHOCKED" BY THE SOVIET INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN TWENTY MONTHS AFTER A COMMUNIST COUP THERE WAS IGNORED?

TODAY'S CHAOS IS NO ACCIDENT. THE NEGLECT OF OUR DEFENSES HAS TEMPTED MOUNTING THREATS TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.

THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF OUR PERIL HAS MADE OUR RESPONSES FEEBLE AND APOLOGETIC.

5

THE INCOHERENCE OF OUR PURPOSES HAS CAUSED THOSE WHO
RELY ON US TO FEAR OUR LEADERSHIP.

FOR IF THE TRUMPET GIVE FORTH AN UNCERTAIN SOUND, WHO
SHALL PREPARE HIMSELF TO THE BATTLE?

ON ONE POINT, AT LEAST, WE CAN ALL AGREE WITH PRESIDENT CARTER: THAT WE NOW FACE THE GRAVEST CRISIS SINCE 1945. BUT THE ADMINISTRATION'S RESPONSE HAS BEEN SYMPTOMATIC OF WHAT PRODUCED OUR PERIL IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE HEAR NOT A CALL TO ACTION BUT EXPLANATIONS OF WHAT WE CANNOT DO. WE ARE GIVEN NOT A VISION OF THE FUTURE BUT IMPROVISED--OFTEN CYNICAL--EXPEDIENTS TO GET THROUGH THE ELECTION. WE ARE TOLD ENDLESS ALIBIS FOR DOING NOTHING: THAT NOT EVERY UPHEAVAL AFFECTS OUR INTERESTS, THAT THE DISASTERS HAVE COMPLEX SOCIO-ECONOMIC CAUSES, THAT COMMUNIST GAINS WILL PROVE TEMPORARY.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE REJECT THIS PROCLAMATION OF OUR PARALYSIS, THIS PHILOSOPHY OF ABDICATION. THEY ARE TIRED OF A FOREIGN POLICY THAT RESULTS ONLY IN RETREAT AND THE CONSTANT HUMILIATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

6

THEY INSIST THAT WE TAKE CHARGE OF OUR FUTURE. Stet

II

WE SHALL EARN THE RIGHT TO GOVERN NOT BY DEPLORING THE
PAST BUT BY OFFERING A VISION OF THE FUTURE REFLECTING THE
HOPE, STRENGTH AND CONFIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

WE HAVE BEFORE US FOUR URGENT TASKS: THE REBUILDING OF
OUR DEFENSES; THE ENDING OF SOVIET EXPANSIONISM; THE MENDING
OF OUR ALLIANCES; TO COOPERATE WITH NEW NATIONS ON THE WORLD'S
POSITIVE TASKS; AND THE RESTORING OF COHERENCE AND STEADINESS
TO OUR FOREIGN POLICY.

FIRST WE MUST REBUILD OUR MILITARY STRENGTH. EVERYONE
HERE AGREES THAT IF PRESENT MILITARY TRENDS ARE NOT REVERSED,
WE RISK A MAJOR DISASTER. NO SERIOUS STUDENT OF THE SUBJECT
DISPUTES THAT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT GAPS BETWEEN SOVIET CAPABIL-
ITIES AND OURS: WE ARE FALLING BEHIND IN STRATEGIC POWER, FAR
BEHIND IN CONVENTIONAL FORCES, SLIPPING IN NAVAL FORCES TO THE
POINT WHERE WE HAD TO STRIP OUR MEDITERRANEAN AND PACIFIC
FLEETS TO HAVE A TASK FORCE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. SOONER OR

7

-- THE NEW MIX BETWEEN OUR FORCES IN AN ERA OF STRATEGIC PARITY AND SOVIET REGIONAL PREDOMINANCE.

9

THE WESTERN ALLIANCE NEEDS MUTUAL CONFIDENCE BECAUSE IT CAN NO LONGER POSTPONE ADAPTING ITS DEFENSE TO CHANGING STRATEGIC CONDITIONS. IT NEEDS A SPIRIT OF COOPERATION BECAUSE IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO AVOID REDISTRIBUTING EXISTING BURDENS IN THE LIGHT OF NEW THREATS TO THE SECURITY OF THE FREE WORLD FROM OUTSIDE OF EUROPE. IT NEEDS POLITICAL UNITY BECAUSE IT MUST COORDINATE ITS POLICIES TO AVOID BEING WHIPSAWED AND DIVIDED BY PREDICTABLE SOVIET PEACE OFFENSIVES. SEPARATE OVERTURES TO THE SOVIET UNION BY WESTERN LEADERS--INCLUDING OUR OWN--RISK SERVING THE SOVIET AIM OF DIVIDING AND UNRAVELLING THE ALLIANCE. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, EVERY ROAD WILL GET YOU THERE. BUT WE CAN RALLY OUR ALLIES TO A COMMON CAUSE ONLY IF WE HAVE ARTICULATED A PURPOSEFUL LONG-RANGE STRATEGY OURSELVES.

10

THE DEVELOPING WORLD IS IN CHAOS FOR MANY REASONS-- NOT ALL CAUSED BY OUR ACTIONS. BUT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS COMPOUNDED INSTABILITY BY CURRYING FAVOR WITH WHAT IT SAW AS THE FORCES OF CHANGE, WHICH IT IDENTIFIED WITH TRENDY MARXISM--FROM THE SANDINISTAS IN NICARAGUA TO THE PLO IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE RESULT IS NOT MORE SUPPORT FOR OUR PRINCIPLES BUT THE OPPOSITE. WE ARE MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR ANTI-AMERICAN RADICALISM. LAST SEPTEMBER, WHEN THE NON-ALIGNED NATIONS MET IN HAVANA, THEIR DECLARATION WAS MORE VICIOUSLY ANTI-AMERICAN THAN EVER BEFORE.

WE CANNOT ABANDON TWO THIRDS OF HUMANITY TO MISERY, FEUDALISM AND DESPAIR. HOWEVER, WE MUST OFFER THEM NOT SELF-ABASEMENT BUT AN AFFIRMATIVE, SELF-CONFIDENT VISION OF A BETTER WORLD. AND MANY URGENT PROBLEMS AWAIT OUR COMMITMENT: TO RELIEVE THE CRUSHING BURDEN OF ENERGY COSTS FOR THE POORER NATIONS; TO ENCOURAGE ADEQUATE SOURCES OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL; TO GUARANTEE

11

12

ONLY IF AMERICA IS RESPECTED AND STRONG CAN WE
RESTORE THE ALLIANCE OF THE DEMOCRACIES TO ASSURE
THE SURVIVAL OF LIBERTY FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME.
ONLY THEN CAN WE NEGOTIATE WITH OUR ADVERSARIES ON A
SECURE FOOTING ON PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL CONDUCT
AND RECIPROCAL REDUCTIONS IN NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS. ONLY
THEN CAN WE EXTEND A HAND OF COMPASSION AND ASSISTANCE
TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THAT SEEK PROGRESS AND HUMAN
DIGNITY AND A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR PEOPLE'S.

### III

CONVENTION SPEECH

WE ARE HERE TO SELECT THE CANDIDATE OF OUR PARTY, THE PRESIDENT OF OUR NATION AND THE LEADER OF FREE PEOPLES EVERYWHERE.

WE ARE HERE TO PUT AN END TO DRIFT, CONFUSION, RETREAT AND WEAKNESS in our foreign affairs.

WE ARE HERE TO OFFER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE A NEW POLICY OF STRENGTH AND PRINCIPLE, OF SECURITY AND PEACE, of justice and love. AND I AM HERE TO JOIN YOUR EFFORT TO BRING THE MESSAGE THAT THE ELECTION OF RONALD REAGAN IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA AND THE PROPECTS OF PEACE AND FREEDOM.

SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THREE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS HAVE GIVEN THE FREE WORLD CREATIVE AND COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP. LAST NIGHT WE PAID TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THEM: THAT GREAT AND GOOD MAN, GERALD FORD. IN JANUARY 1977 HE BEQUEATHED TO THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION AN AMERICA THAT WAS BUILDING A SOUND DEFENSE, AN AMERICA THAT HAD THE CONFIDENCE OF ITS

2

TODAY AFTER NEARLY FOUR YEARS OF CONFUSION WE HAVE BECOME BYSTANDERS AS THE WORLD LURCHES FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS. IT IS NOT POLITICAL ORATORY TO ASSERT THAT ANOTHER FOUR YEARS LIKE THE LAST FOUR WILL MAKE DISASTER INEVITABLE.

IN THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS, WE HAVE ACCEPTED A SOVIET ARMORED BRIGADE IN CUBA; A CUBAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN ETHIOPIA; A SOVIET MILITARY BASE IN SOUTH YEMEN; AND MUSHROOMING SOVIET ARMS DEPOTS IN LIBYA. TWO COMMUNIST COUPS AND A SOVIET INVASION TURNED AFGHANISTAN INTO A SOVIET SATELLITE. WE HAVE SEEN TWO ASSAULTS FROM COMMUNIST TERRITORY INTO ZAIRE; COMMUNIST-ARMED GUERRILLAS ARE ATTACKING FRIENDLY MOROCCO; RADICALS ARE ON THE MOVE ALL OVER THE MIDDLE EAST, WHICH FINDS ITSELF IN A GIANT COMMUNIST PINCER

IN THE SOUTH BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SOUTH YEMEN/AND AFGHANISTAN IN THE NORTH. COMMUNIST VIETNAM INVADED CAMBODIA AND THREATENS OUR ALLY THAILAND. CENTRAL AMERICA IS IN UPHEAVAL BECAUSE OF

3

REVOLUTIONS THIS ADMINISTRATION SPONSORED BUT HAS NOT KNOWN
HOW TO CONTROL. KOREA IS IN TURMOIL, IRAN HAS BEEN TRANS-
FORMED, WHILE WE STOOD BY HELPLESSLY, FROM A MAJOR ALLY TO
A BITTER OPPONENT. AND FOR MORE THAN EIGHT MONTHS WHILE
WE HAVE STOOD BY HELPLESSLY, 52 AMERICAN HOSTAGES HAVE
SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF BRUTAL AND COWARDLY IRANIAN SO-CALLED
STUDENTS.

WE REPUBLICANS MUST NOT CLAIM THAT ALL CRISES ARE
AVOIDABLE. WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION IN TECHNOLOGY,
IN WEAPONRY, IN HUMAN ASPIRATIONS. THERE ARE NO QUICK
FIXES.

BUT WE CAN AGREE THAT THE CURRENT CHAOS IS THE INEVITABLE
CONSEQUENCE OF A NAIVE PHILOSOPHY WHICH SINCE 1977 HAS
SHUNTED FROM POWER AND DENIGRATED OUR POSSIBILITIES.

IT WAS TIME--WE WERE TOLD--TO OVERCOME OUR "INORDINATE FEAR
OF COMMUNISM." WE SHOULD NOT--WE WERE TOLD--BE "PREOCCUPIED"
WITH THE SOVIET UNION OR WITH THE MILITARY BALANCE.

4

A PHILOSOPHY OF RENUNCIATION HAS BEEN ALLIED TO AN EXECUTION OF INCOHERENCE. WAHT ARE FOREIGN LEADERS TO MAKE OF A POLICY THAT FIRST PROPOSES TO DEMILITARIZE THE INDIAN OCEAN AND NOW SEEKS BASES IN ALL ITS CORNERS? THAT OFFERED OUR ALLIES A NEUTRON BOMB AND THEN WITHDREW IT? THAT CAMPAIGNED IN 1976 ON THE PROMISE OF CUTTING OUR DEFENSE BUDGET AND NOW FIDDLES WITH FIGURES TO PRETEND AN INCREASE? THAT FIRST RIDICULE THE NEED OF A POLICEMAN IN THE PERSIAN GULF AND THEN EXTENDED OUR OWN DEFENSE COMMITMENT TO THE ENTIRE AREA? THAT IS "SHOCKED" BY THE SOVIET INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN TWENTY MONTHS AFTER A COMMUNIST COUP THERE WAS IGNORED? THAT AFTER REDUCING OUR CAPABILITIES HAS EXPANDED OUR COMMITMENTS?

THE RESULTS ARE INEVITABLE. THE NEGLECT OF OUR DEFENSES
HAS TEMPTED MOUNTING THREATS TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.

THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF OUR PERIL HAS MADE OUR RESPONSES
FEEBLE AND APOLGETIC.

THE INCOHERENCE OF OUR PURPOSES THAT HAS CAUSED THOSE
WHO RELY ON US TO FEAR OUR LEADERSHIP.

5

FOR IF THE TRUMPET GIVE FORTH: AN UNCERTAIN SOUND, WHO SHALL PREPARE HIMSELF TO THE BATTLE?

ON ONE POINT, AT LEAST, WE CAN ALL AGREE WITH PRESIDENT CARTER: THAT WE NOW FACE THE GRAVEST CRISIS SINCE 1945. BUT THE ADMINISTRATION'S RESPONSE HAS BEEN SYMPTOMATIC OF WHAT PRODUCED OUR PERIL IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE HEAR NOT A CALL TO ACTION BUT EXPLANATIONS OF WHAT WE CANNOT DO NOT A VISION OF THE FUTURE BUT IMPROVISED EXPEDIENTS TO GET THROUGH THE ELECTION. WE ARE TOLD ENDLESS ALIBIS FOR DOING NOTHING: WE ARE TOLD THAT NOT EVERY UPHEaval AFFECTS OUR INTERESTS, THAT THE DISASTERS HAVE COMPLEX, SOCIO-ECONOMIC CAUSES, THAT COMMUNIST GAINS WILL PROVE TEMPORARY.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE REJECT THIS PROCLAMATION OF OUR PARALYSIS, THIS PHILOSOPHY OF ABDICATION. THEY ARE TIRED OF A FOREIGN POLICY THAT RESULTS ONLY IN RETREAT, AND THE CONSTANT HUMILIATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

6

(H)

II

WE SHALL EARN THE RIGHT TO GOVERN NOT BY DEPLORING THE
PAST BUT BY POINTING DIRECTIONS TO A FUTURE OF HOPE, STRENGTH
AND CONFIDENCE IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

WE HAVE BEFORE US FOUR URGENT TASKS: THE REBUILDING
OF OUR DEFENSES; THE ENDING OF SOVIET EXPANSIONISM; THE MENDING
TO OUR ALLIANCES; AND THE RESTORING OF COHERENCE AND STEADINESS
TO OUR FOREIGN POLICY.

FIRST WE MUST REBUILD OUR MILITARY STRENGTH. EVERYONE
HERE AGREES THAT IF PRESENT MILITARY TRENDS ARE NOT REVERSED,
WE RISK A MAJOR DISASTER. NO SERIOUS STUDENT OF THE SUBJECT
DISPUTES THAT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT GAPS BETWEEN SOVIET
CAPABILITIES AND OURS: WE ARE AT BEST EVEN IN STRATEGIC POWER,
FAR BEHIND IN CONVENTIONAL FORCES, SLIPPING IN NAVAL
FORCES TO THE POINT WHERE WE HAD TO STRIP OUR MEDITERRANEAN
AND PACIFIC FLEETS TO HAVE A TASK FORCE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN.
SOONER OR LATER SUCH A SITUATION WILL PRODUCE A CATASTROPHE.

7 (N)

The time is too serious to play a number game with one
the defense budget.

THE GAPS ARE NOW ~~NOT~~ BEING CLOSED; THEY ~~WILL~~ BE CLOSED IN A
REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION.

BUT A NEW MILITARY BUDGET, HOWEVER VITAL, IS ONLY A
FIRST STEP. WE MUST ADDRESS URGENTLY DIFFICULT STRATEGIC
ISSUES: until here been too long neglected.

The most
-- THE RIGHT MIX BETWEEN OUR FORCES WHEN OUR COMMITMENTS
HAVE EXPANDED;
that is adapted to the changed situation
is a new
relief.

-- A NEW STRATEGY FOR THE DEFENSE OF NATO IN AN ERA OF
STRATEGIC PARITY AND SOVIET REGIONAL PREDOMINANCE.

POLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER. IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, SOVIET WEAPONS, SOVIET FRIENDSHIP TREATIES, SOVIET PROXY TROOPS, TERRORISTS FINANCED AND TRAINED BY THE SOVIET BLOC, AND OUTRIGHT SOVIET INTERVENTION HAVE WORSENED ALMOST EVERY CRISIS AND HAVE TIPPED THE SCALES IN TOO MANY LOCAL CONFLICTS.

THE FREE WORLD CAN NOT LONG SURVIVE IF THIS IS PERMITTED
TO CONTINUE. THE ADMINISTRATION'S RELUCTANCE TO ASSERT OUR
*interests*
INFLUENCE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF A *conflict*--ITS CONGENITAL
FEAR OF OUR POWER--HAS THE PARADOXICAL RESULT OF MAGNIFYING
OUR RISKS. IT ENCOURAGES EVER GROWING CHALLENGES; OUR FRIENDS
ARE DRIVEN BY THEIR FEARS AND OUR ENEMIES TEMPTED BY THEIR
AMBITIONS. A NEW ADMINISTRATION WILL DEDICATE ITSELF TO
*organizing*--EFFECTIVE RESISTANCE; WE MUST SHOW THAT
BLACKMAIL DOES NOT WORK, THAT OUR FRIENDSHIP HAS BENEFITS
WHILE HOSTILITY TO US INVOLVES PENALTIES.

DEPENDS ON A WORLD OF PROGRESS, COOPERATION, JUSTICE AND
HUMAN DIGNITY. ONE OF AMERICA'S HIGHEST PRIORITIES MUST BE
TO MEND OUR TIES WITH OUR FRIENDS, WITH ALMOST ALL OF WHOM THE
ADMINISTRATION HAS MANAGED TO PICK A QUARREL.

THE WEST NEEDS UNITY BECAUSE IT CAN NO LONGER POSTPONE
ADAPTING ITS DEFENSE TO CHANGING STRATEGIC CONDITIONS. IT
WILL NOT BE ABLE TO AVOID REDISTRIBUTING EXISTING BURDENS

IN THE LIGHT OF NEW THREATS TO THE SECURITY OF THE FREE WORLD
FROM OUTSIDE OF EUROPE. IT MUST COORDINATE ITS POLICIES TO
AVOID BEING WHIPSAWED AND DIVIDED BY PREDICTABLE SOVIET PEACE
OFFENSIVES. SEPARATE UNCOORDINATED OVERTURES TO THE SOVIET
UNION BY WESTERN LEADERS--INCLUDING OUR OWN--RISK SERVING
THE SOVIET AIM OF DIVIDING AND UNRAVELLING THE ALLIANCE.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, EVERY ROAD WILL GET
YOU THERE. BUT WE CANNOT RALLY OUR ALLIES TO A COMMON
CAUSE UNLESS WE HAVE ARTICULATED A PURPOSEFUL LONG-RANGE
STRATEGY OURSELVES.

9 M

10 (N)

AND FOR THIS WE NEED A NEW ADMINISTRATION.

THE DEVELOPING WORLD IS IN CHAOS FOR MANY REASONS NOT ALL CAUSED BY OUR ACTIONS. BUT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS COMPOUNDED INSTABILITY BY CURRYING FAVOR WITH WHAT IT SAW AS THE FORCES OF CHANGE, WHICH IT IDENTIFIED WITH TRENDY MARXISM. FROM THE SANDINISTAS IN NICARAGUA TO THE PLO IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

WHAT WAS THE PAY-OFF? WE ARE MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR ANTI-AMERICAN RADICALISM. LAST SEPTEMBER, WHEN THE NON-ALIGNED NATIONS MET IN HAVANA, THEIR DECLARATION WAS MORE VICIOUSLY ANTI-AMERICAN THAN EVER BEFORE.

WE CANNOT ABANDON TWO THIRDS OF HUMANITY TO MISERY, FEUDALISM AND DESPAIR. HOWEVER, WE MUST OFFER THEM SOMETHING MORE AFFIRMATIVE THAN SELF-ABASEMENT. A SELF-CONFIDENT VISION OF A BETTER WORLD, AND MANY PROBLEMS URGENTLY AWAIT A POSITIVE PROGRAM TO RELIEVE THE CRUSHING BURDEN OF ENERGY COSTS FOR THE POORER NATION; TO ENCOURAGE

ADEQUATE SOURCES OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL;
TO GUARANTEE OUR ACCESS TO VITAL MINERALS AND RAW MATERIALS
AT A FAIR PRICE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMIC STRUCTURE BENEFICIAL
TO ALL.

A NEW ADMINISTRATION IS NEEDED, IN SHORT, TO RESTORE
STEADINESS AND COHERENCE TO OUR FOREIGN POLICY. THE WORLD
IS IN TURMOIL BECAUSE AMERICA--THE LEADER OF FREE PEOPLES--
HAS LOST ITS COMPASS COURSE.

OUR FOREIGN POLICY SPECIALIZES IN PUTTING OUT FIRES
~~NO~~ LOST ITS COMPASS COURSE.
IT HAS ITSELF SET. AMAZINGLY ENOUGH THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION

—THE CAUSE OF OUR CRISES HAS ALREADY CLAIMED THAT WE ARE RECKLESS IN CALLING FOR A REBUILDING OF OUR DEFENSE. THAT WE ARE SIMPLISTIC IN OPPOSING RADICALISM, THAT WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD—THAT WE ARE RISKING WAR. BUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW BETTER. THEY UNDERSTAND THAT CONFUSION, TIMIDITY, IMPOTENCE AND INCOMPETENCE RISK WAR, AND THAT FIRMNESS AND CONSTANCY ARE THE BEST INSURANCE OF PEACE. ONLY IF AMERICA IS RESPECTED AND STRONG, CAN WE NEGOTIATE WITH OUR ADVERSARIES ON A SECURE FOOTING ON PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL CONDUCT AND RECIPROCAL REDUCTIONS IN NUCLEAR ARMMENTS. WHEN WE CAN EXTEND A HAND OF COMPASSION AND ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THAT SEEK PROGRESS AND HUMAN DIGNITY AND A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR PEOPLESMANLY, WE CAN RESTORE THE ALLIANCE OF THE DEMOCRACIES TO ASSURE THE SURVIVAL OF LIBERTY FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME.

13

III

Our party + our candidate is

THUS REPUBLICANS OFFER RENEWAL AND HOPE. ALMOST EVERY PROBLEM I HAVE MENTIONED IS OF OUR OWN MAKING; ITS SOLUTION IS THEREFORE IN OUR OWN HANDS. OUR ADVERSARIES HAVE PROFITED FROM OUR NEGLECT, BUT WE HAVE THE RESOURCES, GENIUS, AND DEDICATION OF A GREAT AND FREE PEOPLE.

WE KNOW THAT HIS ELECTION IS ESSENTIAL TO THE FUTURE OF
FREEDOM AND TO THE PROGRESS OF AMERICA. UNDER HIS
LEADERSHIP WE WILL BRAVE THE STORMS AHEAD; WE WILL HOLD OUR
HEAD HIGH AND WE WILL BUILD THAT BETTER WORLD THAT FULFILLS
THE DREAMS OF ALL MANKIND AND THE HIGH IDEALS OF OUR PEOPLE.

7/9/80

CONVENTION SPEECH

We meet here not only to select the candidate of a
Party but the President of a nation and the leader of free
peoples.

We are assembled not to offer easy answers but to rally
ourselves and our people to (great) efforts to overcome perils
unprecedented in our history.

We are here to end a period of retreat, of vacillation,
of self-doubt, of self-pity and of weakness.

We are united in our determination that America once
again be strong, that our voice ring true, that friends can
take heart and our adversaries pause.

And we are committed to a policy based not on our fears
but on our hopes. We stand for a world at peace, uplifted
by faith in justice and freedom; a world that all free
peoples will strive to sustain because they had a hand in
building it.

2

But first we must overcome our peril. I had the honor to serve [two Republican Presidents] who have to their credit great achievements in building a strong America and a peaceful world. From President Ford the current Administration inherited a world at peace, an America that was respected by its allies, predictable in its opposition to adversaries. After less than four years we live in a world lurching from crisis to crisis. All around the globe, from Korea to Southeast Asia to the Persian Gulf, from the Horn of Africa to Central America, we see hostile and radical forces challenging our friends and threatening our interests. We see the West's oil lifeline increasingly vulnerable to blackmail. We see that our Allies no longer look to Washington for leadership but follow their own separate policies. The Western Alliance is in disarray.

We are in a confrontation with our adversaries, estranged from our friends in the Developing World, and in

3

dispute with our allies. The Carter Administration has
transformed a peace of strength into a respite of abdication;
it purchases ever shorter intervals between mounting tensions
by mortgaging our future.

The process of erosion of free world security must
be stopped.

The foundations of a real peace must be established.

It cannot be an accident that in less than four years
we have witnessed two invasions from Communist territory into
Zaire; a Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia; the creation
of a Soviet military base in South Yemen and the elaboration
of Soviet arms depots in Libya. It cannot be a coincidence
that in the same time frame there have been two
Communist coups in heretofore neutral Afghanistan followed
by a Soviet military occupation. Communist-armed guerrilla
forces are attacking friendly Morocco. Radical forces are
on the march all over the Middle East. Vietnam has occupied

4

Cambodia. A Soviet brigade is in Cuba. Central America
is in ferment as a result of revolutions this Administration
has sponsored but has not known how to control. Korea
is in turmoil. Iran has been transformed from a friendly
to a hostile country. And we can never forget the suffering
of our hostages now in the __ day of their anguish.

If this trend continues our security will be jeopardized,
our economy imperiled, our alliances disintegrated. And
in the face of this peril we hear not a call to action but
explanations of what we cannot do; not a philosophy of the
future but a series of expedients to get through the day.
The Administration which has cuased the crises asks to be
given credit for being forced to deal with them belatedly
and with insufficient means. It acts like a pyromaniac
demanding applause for calling the fire department to the
conflagrations he has started.

We Republicans must not pretend that <u>all</u> crises were

5

avoidable. We must recognize that we live in an age of
revolution in technology, in human aspirations, in
established patterns of international relations. There are
no quick fixes.

But we can say--with emphasis and conviction--that almost
all our problems have been exacerbated by the Carter
Administration. Even before 1977 a Democratic Congress
had put major roadblocks in the way of Republican Administra-
tions attempting--with considerable success--to cope with
these challenges. A major assault on our intelligence
establishment made much more difficult our efforts to
discover, understand, and respond to hostile developments
in a rapidly changing world. A prohibition on assistance
to Angola prevented us from demonstrating to Western-oriented
forces everywhere that the United States was a reservoir of
strength and inspiration for those struggling for survival
against externally supported forces of totalitarian tyranny.

6

But then in 1977 there came to power an Administration
which turned these isolated incidents into a new
philosophy of national security. Its basic premise was
the renunciation of power and its uses. I need not set out
in detail for you the manifestations of this philosophy--cuts
of over $58 billion in the Ford-projected defense budgets
for 1978-80; cancellation, cutback, or slowdown of virtually
every major weapons program--the B-1 bomber, the Trident II
missile, the neutron bomb--cutbacks in military assistance
for our hard-pressed friends; moves toward the withdrawal
of troops from crisis points such as Korea; endeavors to
de-militarize the Indian Ocean around the fringes of which
even then Communist forces were on the move north into
Ethiopia and south towards the Indian Ocean, putting
the vital Middle East (once again) into a gigantic pincer. The
guiding principle of this Administration was spelled out in
specific terms by the President himself in April 1977, when

7

he said that we were now free of what President Carter
considered his Republican predecessor's inordinate fear of
Communism.

It was the renunciation of power which has tempted
mounting threats to our national security.

It was the lack of appreciation of our peril that
explains why our responses have been so tentative and
apologetic.

It is the incoherence of our purposes which has caused
allies to move away from us and radicalism to gain momentum
in vital areas.

It is why several old-time friends prefer impotent
neutrality to our uncertain assistance.

Even now when the threat is nearly overwhelming we
have reacted with half-measures--extending our commitments
while shrinking our capabilities; offering a nation like
Pakistan, faced by 8 Soviet divisions, $100 million in military

9

long-range policy of strength, of purpose, of humanity
and of hope.

This is why a Republican Administration is a necessity
for peace.

## II

America must deal with four great tasks in building
a peaceful world:

We must restore the military balance. Without it our
friends will be driven by their fears and our adversaries
will be tempted by their ambitions. For most of the
postwar period we could rely on our strategic superiority
to offset the Soviet advantage in conventional forces. Now
our strategic superiority has evaporated and the Soviet
conventional advantage has grown. Key weapons programs
inherited from Republican administrations have been canceled
or slowed down. Our naval strength has declined to the
point that we have had to strip our Pacific and Mediterranean

10

fleets in order to send a carrier task force into the
Indian Ocean. Despite Afghanistan and the hostage crisis
the defense budget has been allowed to *shrink* in real terms
due to inflation--and the Administration has lobbied in
Congress to *prevent* it from being increased.

Even more dangerous than the state of our arsenal is
the state of mind of those responsible for it. Too many
officials in this Administration seem to feel ashamed of
American power and fearful of our military strength. They
act as if the purpose of our policy is to apologize for
their political version of the past, rather than defend our
values and interests.

A Republican Administration will not be ashamed of
American power; it will recognize our responsibility as the
buttress of freedom. In the 1930's, when the cause of freedom
was in danger, America was waiting in the wings to come to
Europe's rescue. In the 1980's there is no one waiting

11

in the wings to come to **our** rescue. As we are determined
to rebuild our strength we will be responsible in its use.
Its purpose is to help us banish the risk of war. On its
basis we will build a long-range strategy for the future
which our people can understand and to which other nations
can gear their actions.

This requires that we put an end to the policy of
drift and abdication justified with the excuse that we
cannot solve every problem, or that these problems have
complex socio-economic causes, or that not every upheaval
affects our interests.

We must uphold not only the military but also the
political balance of power if we are not to drift into ever
new crises. In the past five years, Soviet weapons, Soviet
friendship treaties, Soviet proxy troops, terrorists
financed and trained by the Soviet bloc, and outright
Soviet intervention have fueled almost every crisis and

12

determined the outcome of almost every local conflict.

The Soviet geopolitical offensive _must_ be halted.

It is true that the United States cannot be the world's policeman. But the security of the free world will not survive if the Soviet Union is given free rein to expand its power and influence by the use or threat of force around the world. There _must_ be effective resistance. Only on that basis can there be serious negotiation for a peace of justice. The fear of using our influence has the paradoxical result of magnifying our risks. It tempts ever growing challenges to test the limits of our tolerance.

Our third goal must be to rebuild our relations with our allies. The current Administration has quarreled with almost every ally we have over economic policy, or defense policy, or human rights or nonproliferation. We sometimes acted as if our allies were our main foreign policy problem in the world. No wonder that our relations with our

13

friends are the worst they have been in 40 years.

Our alliances need adjustment to the new reality of
growing allied strength and cohesion. They must know
they can rely on our support and understand where we are
going. They must have an opportunity to express their view
before we act. They must be made partners in constructing a
peaceful and just world.

In the Developing World, the Administration sought to
appeal to all those whom it identified as the wave of the
future, which in practice has meant anti-Western, anti-market,
radical Marxist forces. Indeed, almost every radical
movement in the world--from Central America to the PLO--was
sent signals of our new sympathy. In 1977, overtures were
made to such "progressive" regimes as Communist Vietnam and
Castro's Cuba.

This is a policy that only makes the world safe for
anti-American radicalism. Its fruits were reaped last

14

September when the so-called non-aligned nations met in--
of all places--Havana and passed a series of viciously
anti-American resolutions.

The radical hatred of us is ideological and they will not be
charmed out of their convictions by naive efforts to
conciliate. They object not to America's alleged mistakes
but to what we stand for.

We have many true friends in the developing world--
moderates who are sympathetic to the West, believe in
peaceful change, support market economies and despair when
we undercut them by currying favor with trendy Marxist
radicals who wish our destruction.

Nations have every right to be non-aligned; but we have every right to support our friends. We have to demonstrate, after too long an interval, that association with us has benefits and opposition to us has its penalties. We will not be blackmailed; we will work with all those of good will,

HK left
out end.

15

with that part of mankind struggling to establish new nations, to fulfill aspirations to progress and human dignity. For a world will be truly at peace only if most of mankind considers it its own.

All this requires steadiness and coherence in our foreign policy, which only a new Administration can supply. The world is in turmoil because America--the leader of free peoples--has become a factor of confusion and unpredictability. What are foreign leaders to make of a foreign policy that first proposes the demilitarization of the Indian Ocean and then seeks bases in all its corners? That offers our allies a neutron bomb and then withdraws it? That has threatened and withdrawn the threat of action on the Iranian hostages so often that neither friend nor foe can tell anymore what we intend or how? That campaigned in 1976 on the premise of cutting our defense budget; cancelled major military programs and now presents itself

16

to the American people as the apostle of higher defense
spending? That called Iran an "island of stability in a sea
of chaos" and then stood by impotently while it slid
into anti-American chaos? That repeatedly asserted that
Soviet expansionism should not be permitted to jeopardize
negotiations with the Soviet Union, then was surprised
when the Red Army marched into Afghanistan and then made a
180° turn and cancelled everything in sight. That
cancelled participation in the Olympics but urged participa-
tion in the European Security Conference with the Soviet
Union?

When allies are confused we lose our position of
leadership.

When adversaries are confused we risk miscalculations
which can lead to war.

A foreign policy of confusion, of timidity, of
incompetence and occasional cynicism risks war. A policy of

17

firmness and vigilance--standing by allies as a reliable
friend, making clear that we respond vigorously to challenges--
is the best insurance for peace. Only if friends and foes
can count on our word will America's word count. And only if
America's word is respected, only if we are once again a
predictable factor in world affairs, will we regain our
influence over the course of events. Only then can we
talk with our adversaries on an equal footing, negotiate
on the basis of reciprocity and push back the specter of
nuclear war.

And so, my friends, I want to end on a note of hope.

[Almost every problem I have mentioned is of our own making; its solution is [therefore] in our own hands. Our adversary is not ten feet tall. He has profited from our neglect but we still have many times the resources and we are free, therefore more vital and creative.]

18

We have a duty to resist the dark forces that threaten
liberty. But we have an equal obligation to give our people
a positive message and mankind the promise of a better, more
humane future. We are not defined by our fears but by our
goals. We will be judged not by the stridency of our
rhetoric but by the firmness of our purposes.

This people which crossed an unexplored continent
will listen to the vision of a better world; it will
respond to the call for sacrifice so long as it is in the
service of high ideals.

We will confront if we must.

We will build where we can.

Our prospective candidate has an unmatched record for
warning us of our dangers.

With that same consistency and fortitude Ronald
Reagan will lead us through the storms ahead to a more
hopeful future.

19

He will insist that we must see to our necessities. But
he will also show us the way to our opportunities.

He will leave here as the leader of our party.

He will emerge in November as the leader of our nation.

And starting in January he will raise our sights to that
world of peace and justice to which all men of good will
aspire.

Our challenge is that we will have a Republican Administration

[And] when we meet again in four years time we will have
justified the confidence of the American people:

- by having rebuilt our strength,

- by having vindicated our purpose,

- by having restored our self-respect,

- by having raised a standard of hope and--above all--
by having moved towards a strong peace, a just peace, a
lasting peace.

3

dispute with our allies. The Carter Administration has
transformed a peace of strength into a respite of abdication;
it purchases ever shorter intervals between mounting tensions
while stalling for achievement of a stable peace.
by mortgaging our future.

5

6

But then in 1977 there came to power an Administration
which turned these isolated incidents into a new
philosophy of national security. Its basic premise was
the renunciation of power and its uses. I need not set out
in detail for you the manifestations of this philosophy--cuts
of over $58 billion in the Ford-projected defense budgets
for 1978-80; cancellation, cutback, or slowdown of virtually
every major weapons program--the B-1 bomber, the Trident II
missile, the neutron bomb--cutbacks in military assistance
for our hard-pressed friends; moves toward the withdrawal
of troops from crisis points such as Korea; endeavors to
de-militarize the Indian Ocean around the fringes of which
even then Communist forces were on the move north into
Ethiopia and south towards the Indian Ocean, taking the
vital Middle East once again into a gigantic pincer. The
guiding principle of this Administration was spelled out in
specific terms by the President himself in April 1977, when

7

Even now when the threat is nearly overwhelming we—
*Carry is still reaching!*
*have reacted with half-measures—extending our commitments*
*while shrinking our capabilities; offering a nation like*
*Pakistan, faced by 8 Soviet divisions, $100 million in military*

9

II

10

11

The purpose of our action is to help us banish the risk of war. On its
basis we will build a long-range strategy for the future
which our people can understand and to which other nations
can gear their actions.

12

Our third goal must be to rebuild our relations with our allies. The current Administration has quarreled with almost every ally we have over economic policy, or defense policy, or human rights or nonproliferation. We sometimes acted as if our _allies_ were our main foreign policy problem in the world. No wonder that our relations with our

13

In the Developing World, the Administration sought to
appeal to all those whom it identified as the wave of the
future which in practice has meant anti-Western, anti-market,
radical Marxist forces. Indeed, almost every radical
movement in the world--from Central America to the PLO--was
sent signals of our new sympathy. In 1977, overtures were
made to such "progressive" regimes as Communist Vietnam and
Castro's Cuba.

14

HK left
out end.

15

with that part of mankind struggling to establish new nations to fulfill aspirations to progress and human dignity. For a world will be truly at peace only if most of mankind considers it its own.

16

to the American people as the apostle of higher defense
spending? That called Iran an "island of stability in a sea
of chaos" and then stood by impotently while it slid
into anti-American chaos?' That repeatedly asserted that
Soviet expansionism should not be permitted to jeopardize
negotiations with the Soviet Union, then was surprised
when the Red Army marched into Afghanistan and then made a
180° turn and cancelled everything in sight. That
cancelled participation in the Olympics but urged participa-
tion in the European Security Conference with the Soviet
Union?

And so, my friends, I want to end on a note of hope.
Almost every problem I have mentioned is of our own making;
its solution is therefore in our own hands. Our adversary
is not ten feet tall. He has profited from our neglect
but we still have many times the resources and we are free,
therefore more vital and creative.

18

We will confront if we must.

We will build where we can.

19

And when we meet again in four years time we will have
justified the confidence of the American people:

-- by having rebuilt our strength,

-- by having vindicated our purpose,

-- by having restored our self-respect,

-- by having raised a standard of hope and--above all--
by having moved towards a strong peace, a just peace, a
lasting peace.