Documents / Official release
This file from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library holds press releases and statements that House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford issued between January and April 1966. Most cover Vietnam policy, the war on poverty, inflation, foreign aid, the federal budget and changes in his press staff. An April 21, 1966 statement says the Air Force told Ford it would contract a university with no close Air Force ties to have scientists study unexplained UFO sightings and make the report public. According to Ford, his call for congressional hearings led to this study.
“Burbank”1 page
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER NEWS RELEASE FOR WEDNESDAY, P. M. RELEASE MARCH 30, 1966 STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN It is now revealed that President Johnson was the purveyor of misinformation when he told news reporters last week that retail sales for January and February showed a "slight drop" from November and December. Mr. Johnson was eager to display to inflation-anxious Americans an "indicator" that the economy is coaling off. Tuesday, we learned that the "flash" figures on which Mr. Johnson based his statement about a drop in retail sales for January and February were cockeyed. Revised Census Bureau figures now disclose that retail sales rose vigorously in January, and the guessing by government analysts is that February sales ran slightly above the $25.016 btllion J~uary £figure. It is a small wonder that the American people are doubting the Johnson-Humphrey Administration's ability to keep the economy from running wild when Mr. Johnson cites faulty figures. The revised government figures showing an increase in January-February retail sales are another indicator that Republicans are right when they . insist upon cutting government spending as an alternative to a tax increase. Since Mr. Johnson is so determined to avoid a tax increase, he should submit a revised fiscal 1967 budget to Congress and thus do a service to all Americans who want a tax increase no more than he does. It is ironic that instead Mr. Johnson is appealing to businessmen to hold off on plant expansion and to governors and mayors to hold back on their governmental spending. It would doubtless be more effective and have a greater impact on the economy if ~.r. Johnson would take the course his cockeyed January- February retail sales figures initally blinded him to take--reductions in non-essential domestic spending by the federal government.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 55 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.