On Location Special; Spiro T. Agnew Visits Des Moines

Drake University president is commentator from Des Moines composed mostly of the students on the campus of President going to be formally placed on the stage vice president is here. Campus campus standards across the country and student campuses. Six hundred

and eight and question and answer session with Vice President. Has that speech and question and answer is campus and students again connecting with this campus. Today is Mr. Jaggers first campus appearances delivering a commencement address at Ohio State University and June of 1970. And this is the first in a series of campus appearances by the vice president and the elections in November. I

was in Des Moines November 13th 1969 through the news making this last appearance in Des Moines distractors appearance here today sponsored by a student group called a national international awareness committee with Vice President John Erickson on the state and they will be introduced. And Professor Erickson John Maxwell determined the national international awareness Committee. Drake University national international lawyers committee is pleased and honored this morning President of the United States. President the members of the community.

Thank you very much. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Yes it is a little. For you to read in the context. I'm delighted to be here and I have a chance to speak to you. I want to say that I'm likely to speak. Like to myself a chance to answer those questions. And as I look around the room I see that there are some. Very demonstrating dissenting standing in place. I have no quarrel with SAF except that I suggest extremely presence in this

auditorium. Standing is obviously directed to and stated I suggest that I would learn for other reasons for the dissent. Yes in my brief remarks if you are dissenting just a question and answer session. In the Senate. I know that if we were separated. I'd like to rest a majority of my.

Open mind. I don't expect every respect my position. I do hope to stimulate some of you. I'm sure that this experience arises because of my answer. Formal remarks by talking about a subject I'm sure that has at least inferentially my showing your ma in the ability or the situation that has sprung up since sixties people to believe that they really can't trust elected members of their government even though they don't challenge the. Efficacy of our electoral process.

I want to suggest a different kind of credibility. Yeah that's not applicable entirely to members of government. The applicable to those out of office you see. Allies to a great extent. Now when you make a decision about credibility you must also consider another example of talking. Consider for example that dire predictions of disaster or a natural disaster whereby all this in spite of that great amount of study

and science scientists are actually not even the possibility. Another point I'd like to make on the question of credibility. I remind you time that several of our leading news organs promulgated the information that 28 Black Panthers killed in shoot outs with police and accepted without verification. Some of our most prominent media less credit and repeated sexual organs as the New York Times Time Newsweek magazine. And it was later just discovered because of the research pain and fact less gross distortion of the act. Now how about.

Tell you what's happening really aren't happening. How about serving the Clifford Irving. How about the news media seeking sensational results and accentuate it. Let's consider for a moment the news business and why we should not accept blindly whatever conclusion they would lead us to come to. First of all it is a business it's a business. The product is selling newspapers magazines television. It sells fast when it's most unsafe. It's just as much a product of the news media to have a scandal in government they can create a controversy between us as it is. Let's never forget that these are not objective and fair people in every instance that they have

aspirations of their own. Now they choose and they have asked in a sense that's the last thing I'd want to see what I really want to see is about us. I want to see a complete examination of all sides and that can be best accomplished speakers before the media and the and have what they say evaluate it by possibly partisans who hopefully similar to theirs or against that. I think that the national media in particular by that I mean the networks and national news magazines the principal newspapers of the far flung services I think they have been oriented too long in one direction and I don't think they're accurately reflecting on every instance. Say conservative people of this country and I use the word conservative in its most recent context because my friends when I was the governor of Maryland I used to be

called a liberal although I have none of my viewpoints since that time I find that a lot of liberal and conservative has shifted to some extent in those days. So let's never forget this credibility crisis. The last thing I want to touch on before I throw this open to questions like I want to assure you I'm not going to impose on your time to ask questions. I know we're limited to. I think it's an hour by prearrangement but it is my intention to allow you to continue with your questions until at least there has been a fair chance for every point of view to be heard even if it takes an hour and a half it doesn't make any difference I think this appearance is important not to need to reestablish dial our feeling of at least communication between students and the administration. Now the last question as I said I want to touch on very briefly is the

question of governmental secrecy. You all remember the first one. Sure. There was a great outside government to see that certain things were taking place that were not. In the best interests of the United States and that the president was just ceding the feet I said on the National Security Council the president is the one who makes the decisions as to how we go in a national security sense. It becomes very important for him. Because he cannot. Be aware of from this information that he must evaluate and sort through before he makes a foreign station. It becomes tremendously important for him to have laid before him all the options that he has the total spectrum of alternatives from the most active to the most an active stance that he may take in response to some

activity that's taking place around the world. It's impossible to extrapolate one little piece of these options that he has and put that in a newspaper and say this is the president's decision it may be an alternative that he gives very little consideration to the public should have an entire balance before it can make it. Unfortunately can't. Be given total access to this diplomatic information because first of all. It's impossible to expect the average American citizen to be aware of this fact among us foreign agents which utilize this information to fill the puzzle. To drop that last piece in those lines and determining.

Course of action they should take to controvert courses of action international. So these matters are extremely important not to be bandied about and another reason they happen to be in Asia and Europe. First is that one might ask who would sit down and talk. With you in a very relaxed and chorizo atmosphere. Try to find out exactly the steps where that could be taken bilaterally between us to reduce tensions in the world. Might have been disposed to comment critically on various actions that may take place somewhere else won't do it because they feel that it may show up somewhere in the public information to the degree that this sense of the talks that are being held with react against them and cause hostilities in other countries. What I'm saying is

in our system it's a totally free and open community with an unregulated news media and for heaven's sake I hope it always stays that way in our system we're going down the totalitarian countries where the press control where what gets to the people is decided upon by a non-elected leaders. Our party structure where there are no free elections so it becomes very important for us as a people to exercise the self-restraint that would allow our elected leaders. I remind you of the people every four years to see those leaders function. And accordance with that election and to protect the United States of America to maintain our posture. I don't think there's much doubt that the. Soviet Union the other superpower is not considering an attack on the United States but

in the business of international diplomacy the pressures and the power that are generated by the two superpowers. Control to a greater extent than movements and international trade control the great extent markets for our products which in turn controls how much we are able to reduce our unemployment ratio and the like. So these are some of the things I hope your questions will now get us more deeply and. I intend to be as frank as I can and responding to them. I don't claim to know all the answers. I'm sure that I may get some questions where my facts need to be more carefully if that's true I want you to know that. I will. In that case have the matter taken care of. Back in Washington right. The answer to the student pounding the question if you believe his name and address with me. Any of those who don't have a chance

to ask questions you would like to write to my office some specific area on some specific area that hasn't been covered. Try our best to get the answers to you. And again I'm grateful for your. Attention to these opening remarks and I appreciate very much today. And it takes a national international awareness and acts like friend making us all of us parents. As we turn to the first question season and it has to be. That good I remind you to wait until the rise and also to speak with some volume so that we won't have to restate the question. Gentleman back. Just like right now. By that we the American dollar in Europe. QUESTION I think this is a weakness of the Americans. Yes yes

we are concerned about a need realignment and junction with other economic steps. And price controls. Against other currencies which for the first time brought about in the monetary exchange rates. This has been tremendously helpful to us. There are still some. There's still some shifting and some movement. Of the dollar. I think what is taking place is. We're going to be able to come out of this problem in good

shape. US left. Defending the free nations of the world with all their resources development. Spending everything conning us. Because first of all they have a very modern as opposed to ours. During World War II the Korean War or shortly thereafter. So we have. Enough pressure on trading partners for American business

development. Team or overseas partners and also with their adversaries around the world. Morning welcome sir. I want to action like myself. Would you help the church take more and better a leader that has in this country. Well it's pretty hard of the Church to. Make a lateral determination. On behalf of so many different denominations and so many different nations. I think first of all the church is a great source of good for creating an awareness of responsibilities in the national community

as well as in local communities and in differentiating. For those of us who are caught up in the kind of mainstream of life between obligations as human beings and aspirations as individuals I like to see the church diversified as it is like a sea of activists and selective. But I would like to say those who speak with such authority. Also make a greater effort. People in government at least they'll be able to assimilate to a greater degree. Some of the basic underlying information is that they don't always have. A right to life.

The question of what I consider is a lie. And second identify some of those people. Let me go first to. The second part of the question. It is not my intention to. Get into a situation with our in the present time but I think it is important.

What is happening because I was just recently and some of the reasons why I think rather simplistically States. Most of you probably wouldn't be aware that the Greek government since Greece since 1950 has had 22 separate There was a veritable chaos in Greece caused active movements to overthrow the government since the turn of the century. Greece has been very much in turmoil. Monarchs have left under pressure governments as I said and turned over on many occasions periods of rioting

and a great amount of turmoil in the streets. Now to this present regime has brought notably less early repressive measures that are continued to some extent at the present time and the nature of stability Greece was collapsing economically. Race now as an economic growth rate of about 8 percent. One of the highest in the world that's real growth without inflationary pressures. I lived through Greece with members of the government. They're not dictators who are shielded from contact with people. A motorcade stopped on at least five places. It stopped when they went in among the people with that thing and I was a great amount of oil. I'd also point out that in America there are over two million such as I who have probably

a great appreciation of American freedom as anyone else in the country. Many of these great Americans I say most of them are not of my party yet. Mostly because they travel to and from Greece and because they see what's going on. They have not laughed and deprecated never seen. Mr Papadopoulos has assured in private conversations and at the airport in Greece that he intends to return the government to Mokhtar see the full democracy under the Constitution as the safety earliest possible moment. I believe he is going to do that. People believe he does not want the continuation and the kind of activity small minority. Now let me talk about Greece forgetting its form of government for just a minute.

Let's do it for the sake of argument that Greece is to some extent a press of let's admit that it's not the kind of government we'd like to see there. Admitting this is it possible that the interest of the United States would still be served with respect to the national North Atlantic Treaty Alliance for us to continue our association with Greece. Let the contrast if I may our attitude toward Yugoslavia which is an equally requests of the government has been repressed for some time that's a government of the left. Prime Minister Tito came to power under circumstances that were less than democratic I think most of us would agree. Now let's think about what the United States has done to help these countries one of the right and one of the left. We've given a lot of you more economic aid and

Yugoslavia has always voted with the communist nations in the Warsaw Block against United States interests and the United Nations. Greece on the other hand has always supported the United States interests and the United Nations. Greece is one of the starters coming in in 1951 and bearing a tremendous share of the cost of Greece has been a good ally to the United States over the years. The president's viewpoint is that we should not expect nations with a good relationship to necessarily follow our form of government as long as those nations are not actively engaging in terroristic acts that shock the conscience. I think that we have to look at them in the sense that are they partners in helping us face our adversaries around the world and I think Greece falls into this category also long.

As I said I'm surprised that nobody ever criticizes a dictatorship of the left in our courts or relations with the right wing dictatorships always singled out. Communist countries don't anymore. Freedom is not as much freedom as recess as a matter. Certainly they don't there are monolithic structures where membership in the party. My office is earned through the performance of political tasks. So I think we ought to look at Greece in a more balanced fashion and we ought to have a little confidence in a country that's been such a stalwart friend of the United States over the years and helped us come forward in our times of trial to stand beside us both on the battlefield and in the United Nations. Though Lois is a significant one

particularly when one considers the commentators and pundits discuss Florida referred to it so often during the past nine as a microcosm of America. They didn't refer to it as a southern state where a group of rednecks would go out and elected governor. They referred to it as a microcosm of America where there were Americans of every persuasion. This is true something that Mr. Lalas was saying must have struck a responsive chord among world than just the people of one section of Florida. I wish I had listened to a lot of this campaign and extended commentary on television. I haven't heard him say anything that I would consider radical. During that campaign. There seems to be a general impression. And this again is characteristic of the political back and forth across the

nation without any specific agenda that he is somewhat a reactionary person. I deprive minority groups of their freedom and bring out the worst in our emotions to cause us to divide us as a people. Listen to Senator Muskie for a little on television last night when he was trying to explain his inability to attract much of the Florida vote. I have to say that I was quite unimpressed with the reasons he assigned. I was even less impressed with the fact that he castigated his larger audience for the temerity I guess maybe that's not the best word for their electing the Florida governor. In our system of politics when a man wins an election in such an

overpowering fashion acknowledge someone who served among the people and not referred to as a demagogue. There's a lot of damage around at the present time much of it I think should be refused to reach specifics. And the aspirations and generalized flaws such as characterize the musky campaign so far. Right. Question. She testified in Senate and is an example of journalistic sensationalism. Well that's quite a spectrum of questions I'll try to talk about the matter to touch as much as I can. Most of those

questions first of all let me say that the only thing that has been talked about attempts to link the president or even the government in any respect for her to make a contribution to a private civic group in San Diego California is memorandum. The person who repaired it it has not yet what I would call a tertiary level of some of the law students who are here might bear with me. In other words even more by what someone said that document to someone else.

That's that's pretty tenuous. Let me say that there has not been in my judgment one scintilla of evidence the administration or the Republican Party. And I happen to know Mr. McLaren who is the head of the end trust division before he went on the bench. He was known among the business community as the toughest trust man ever. The National long time I receive but if you complain it's a bit tough. Mr. McLaren was not specific complaints that involve visits to Washington but as I learn around this man pretty difficult for business. Now the truth of the matter is that people who want to get into public office are attempting to use innuendo and smear tactics by converting the

product of one of their premier gossip columnists of the world to their use and those of you followed Mr. Anderson that he has not exactly caught up in the need to anchor him self in the crucible of actors. So. And so you have the settlement if so what was the settlement. The previous administration in a trust case lay without any activity on it for months and months. And finally this administration came in and decided to do something about it. And the settlement was made. The settlement was that I must immediately divest itself of six of its principal corporation. The settlement was that I cannot acquire any other

corporations for a period of 10 years without the consent of the governed. This settlement was that I would have to in these ways remove itself from the moderate status that it occupy. In the opinion of the attorneys restrictive and this was a good settlement how good it was is evidenced by the fact that the solicitor general of the United States appointed Incidentally I the previous administrator and a distinguished dean of the Harvard Law School. Prior to that time he assumed that position that he thought the settlement was a good settlement and that the government could not win the case to court. So I would say with regard to your opinions on this case don't read the political rhetoric that's put out by a bunch of people who would like to see a scandal develop. And the news media who

also have a vested interest in creating controversy as I pointed out to you earlier I don't believe so readily this rhetoric. Look at the facts of the matter and you'll find that most far there has not been any evidence that in the slightest way implicate the president or is it ministration the question was asked whether I had anything to do with it. The answer is no I had never had a conversation about it with anyone in the eye or in the government. And the first I knew about it was when I read it in a newspaper it. I'm having trouble. Do you think it is right that working mothers are not allowed to have adequate childcare. I think professionally and well men are

not only treated no alimony in child support. Well that's a luxury item. I just got. One. It's a very good question I want to be sure everyone heard it. Which is. Take your point. Care centers. Different support for working mothers should be given tax benefits deduction. Yes and the question is this. Is this fair or not to working mothers to take up the cost of daycare business entertainment expenses. Thanks.

I think I think the question is well taken and many respects. I don't think the tax structure is entirely faultless at the moment. I believe first of all a very fervently in equal rights for women. I've gone on record on this just as I went on record in favor of the role of the poor it really became a national issue as the governor of Maryland. I think the question is what is to be tax deductible and under what circumstances should be very thoroughly investigated. I don't think the wife of a man who's making $20000 a year should be allowed to put her children in a daycare center and have them taken care of the expense of the general public. I do think that a working mother who is whose contribution is absolutely necessary to the maintenance of our household should be allowed to take off the cost of daycare.

And I also. I believe that those mothers who are existing in poverty find themselves without a husband or some other tragic reason why should they care whether children at Government Expense desire living. What I'm basically afraid of in a simplistic approach to the problem is that many mothers who really should be given they're giving their children not just care or caring whether bodily and or the feeling of security and reassurance. Mothers are allowed to transfer the burden. To the public community. This will not only react against the

Congress but it will react against a child and I'm not in favor of raising children and I think wherever possible which I was should be raised in a home where that selective love and affection and interest a good relationship. National debt increase. I think the trillion dollars. Do you think that a generation. Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah. Question of the deficit

is probably one of them. The president face. The first year of the administration balance just because of the rampant administration took over. Balancing the budget created a counter trend. Unemployment the U.S. economy began to find a failure. Troubles in the world market and the only way we could have an expansionary economic climate was if the president was willing to put the public dollars to work in the open market.

It's significant in that I think that there is such a thing as considering what our economy will generate at full and which is basically a 4 percent unemployment and that would be known as a full employment. But if we were allowed to spend what our economy would generate at full employment that's what the president has done in the 73 budget he has balanced the budget at full employment. It's time that we make a deficit investment. Feeling the American economy that comes back to us in the jobs leads to a recurrence in the future. And in this case I think we're justified because your unemployment rate which is you know it's just dropped from 6 percent to 5.7 percent.

Clawing our way out of the morass this come about because of the expansion of the economy. I don't can't afford and allow unemployment to go even higher just by holding more than our economy. This is what we have to do is fuel up our economy and produce another point you're in the tax cuts that the administration has basically two thirds of which were to low and middle income people. Reduce the amount of that amount on top. For example if the tax rates that were in effect at the time of the Johnson administration were applied this year they would produce twenty two billion dollars more in government. So you try to take away some of the pressure on the

lower middle income person in these tax cuts and at the same time we've tried to give some tax benefits in the way of job development credits and new plant and equipment installations to business so they can seal up in such a way that they can employ more people and thereby create a better income for our people. Deficits are not pleasant. I hope we don't have to live with them too long but I do think that the course the president has taken and the way the economy is presently expanding particularly our share of world markets increasing as it is I think that the steps he's taken even though they involve deficits for a couple of years will prove a national benefit. China trip what will be the administration position toward national China and why the president made it very clear on his return from China. And while he was there as a matter of fact even while he was in Shanghai treaty

obligations with Nationalist China were not altered in any respect his attempt to break this long interruption of communication between us and the People's Republic of China we had here to our treaty commitments. For us China is concerned they protect the island and they protect dories. There's been no moderation and I want to mention in that respect the president's foreign policy has probably been more carefully defined than that of any president in our history. The State of the world reports put out this very careful delineation of the thinking that brought about the Nixon doctrine which basically is a doctrine of withdrawing from actual physical support of other countries at the same time encouraging them to develop consortia. Our own

protection in assisting them economically and their attack is a long range plan which will take America out of some of these abrasive involvements that it's had of the years I bring us into a better relationship with other governments diminished the tensions bring about a real detente which can lead to progress. Assault and other matters that are under international discussion. The Berlin breakthrough was a great saying the president is now going to Moscow to try to put the cap on the agreements that were made over a barrel and with the soviet union agreements at the Doria level. So I think that we're making a considerable amount of progress and that our allies will have to remain our allies. We cannot maintain our diplomatic credibility if we lose our friends or discard them simply because they're in a difficult position at the moment.

I stand clearly behind it. What we're trying to accomplish their constitutional objection to other clauses. But I think right across the spectrum all of the same kind of treatment.

And I think that because of the earlier in which young people develop and take an interest in public life and in their public responsibilities this is clearly possible. We may then have to move back to special what we used to refer to as juvenile preferences. 17 and 16 make the adjustment developing probably indicates we should. Children are speaking about people of high school or college aged children of high school age and my generation were locked out of any communication with other parts of the community. We just didn't have it to let us know what was going on. Difference in developmental patterns and I think it's time that 18 year olds

have full rights. You said you were concerned about the con ability of the press. And media to a void pointer. You want to stand in the way of accurate reporting. I would like to ask you about how can I personally have confidence in the openness of government particularly in light of your own statement that you have not changed your own views since you were elected governor. Well. I didn't indicate that there was no single facet of my thinking that had been altered since I was governor but I would have to say that I had I made quite a few departures and in my earlier decisions at the time I was governor it's pretty hard to say in the

course of developing programs and alternatives that sometimes referred to fine shadings of action or opinion whether you have changed or not. I think basically what I stated at the time I was governor is my feeling about this great republic we live in. Our system which I think is contrary to the expression of some others a very good system and flexible enough to allow changes within its constitutional parameters. I don't believe that we need to make any big Russians of our opinion I don't think it makes us because we don't have the strength of our convictions on the other hand I don't think we should be so locked in on anything that we can be persuaded to make a change one of the biggest changes on my life when I was a lawyer I had developed housing.

While it may be beneficial to blend citizens into the mainstream of American life was not acceptable. Violence with certain other rights constitutional rights of a model of the supervision of the private sector. I later came to those two constitutional rights competing with each other require me to make a decision as to which 1 in 9 9 was the most important and I came to the conclusion it was more important. That minority citizens have a right an absolute right to try and occupy houses in any community they wanted to and it was for us to preserve the property rights it was inherent in a man's ability to sell his house to another he wanted and I made that fundamental change in my thinking. I'm not going to say I'm not going to make fundamental changes but I do say that some of the radical ideas that

just starting our system I don't like criticizing all of its institutions about looking for revolution as a way of life. Replace what has been the greatest government in the history of the world always stop and fight. But here's a country that's only 200 years old. But it's come to be the end of the world and we talk of poverty here. We're talking about a level of income that in a place such as Ethiopia where the average national leagues is about $60 a year would be considered affluent and rather are not satisfied. We ought to be satisfied to continue to try to work within our system as long as it remains responsive after long as people can. The president of the United States and the Congress of the United States in their

elections the will make the changes that you're convinced in your mind should come about is to work within the system to make this one artist and superimpose those changes outside of the democratic system of the devil. Then that means that no one is secure against force. Right. Exchange continues between the president and the British students will briefly summarize what's happened here in the past. I've. I've. I've. Most of the questions came from the audience here today. The president was confronted with a demonstration. Twenty nine students were standing as the vice president began his remarks.

They were dressed just like army. After they were seated. And I think that diversity as a friendly one. If we could summarize what the vice president talked about the questions ranged from the world monetary situation to the church Governor Wallace. I thought that he was quite critical of Senator Edmund Muskie conversation continues your president for the educational broadcasting University. All right.

It was me I was we can't you know my thanks has been an Iowa educational Broadcasting Network public affairs presentation. Oh. I want to. We're. Oh.