Ford Broadcasts, 1965-1966: 12237637

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

The President has virtually unlimited resources for working his will a veritable army of experts, authorities, researchers, propagandists and the like.

He is also king pin of the branch of government that employs 2½ million civilians and controls the duty of 2 million 600 thousand military personnel. These two groups have an annual payroll cost totalling $28 billion—and together they will spend more than 127 billion tax dollars in fiscal 1966.

This awesome power and the vast apparatus, if used improperly, could mean the withering away and eventually the death of the two-party system.

Some observers have compared the work so far of the legislative branch—Congress—with the House and Senate in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. In a sense, this may be true. We have passed more legislation so far this session than during any comparable period I can recall. However, quantity is not the same as quality. Nor do new laws guarantee remedies for old or new problems.

It seems to me that a Congress of better balance would have adopted more constructive better legislation at a slower, more deliberate pace.

Critics have said Congress frequently makes haste slowly. However, the act of deliberate slowness is a safeguard against racing to the brink of decision. It prevents a dangerous plunge. Congress should reach its decisions only after adequate research, thought and exhaustive discussion.

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SERALO R. FORD LIBRARY