 going to Charleston, South Carolina. This is Ralph's wife, Karen, and Donna Christie. I think they want us over there in front of the fire. The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Meritorious Service Medal to Tank Commander Ralph F. Johnson, Soma of the Engineering Corps of the United States Navy for services set forth in the following citation. For outstanding Meritorious Service, we're serving as the Executive Officer and Security Officer of the Naval Support Facility, Camp David, Thurmont, Maryland, from January 1985 through October 1987. Responsible for the entire spectrum of physical security for the presidential retreat, Tank Commander Johnson skillfully developed and executed comprehensive plans for extensive security upgrades involving really improved facility systems and equipment, as well as operational changes for its enhanced readiness of the main guards and forces under its control. Through a superlative coordination and technical evaluation efforts, he translated state-of-the-art technologies into reliable and effective working systems providing a capability second to none, demonstrating unprecedented endurance and exceptional management skill. Tank Commander Johnson directed the flawless base operations and security for over seven presidential visits to Camp David plus two highly successful head-of-state visits by Prime Minister of Japan and Prime Minister of Great Britain. His highly effective coordination, the United States Secret Service and the various military and government agencies that support the President gained widely recognized his leader's efforts left to command with Navy and Marine Corps personnel who demonstrated a high-estate readiness, personal excellence, and morale in the history of the presidential retreat. Tank Commander Johnson's exemplary performance as two leadership and exemplary devotion to duty, affected Great Britain by itself while keeping with the highest traditions United States Naval Service. For the President, J. N. T. Webb, Jr., Secretary of the Navy. Thank you, sir. It will be a temporary booking. I want to damage the goose. Right. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Thank you for everything. I know what you've done up there. It's been a pleasure. I think a family ought to come over here now to this picture. We should be in the middle there. Thank you, Mr. President. Why don't we slide in so we don't have the base to the downstairs. That's great. Thank you, sir. Well, thank you for everything. Now maybe you'll have a little more time with him. Well, that's a pleasure. I know he certainly enjoyed his time with you. He made things very pleasant and comfortable for us. Well, thank you so much, and we appreciate you taking this time and such a stressful period that you've been having. Pleased to do it, but you wait there for a second. This is a souvenir here. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. Young lady, this one's for you. Don't drop it. It's a jar with that seal inscribed on it and inside her jelly beans. Thank you very much. I wish you all the very best. Thank you, sir. Definitely been an extreme pleasure for me to be able to serve you at the campsite. Yeah, that's all. It's crazy. Yes, sir. It's a beautiful time of year. Thank you for having me. Again, Mr. President, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you. Ralph says he's going to miss the movies and the candy. Listen to that citation. I was wondering how you ever had time to come with him. That's a good point. Sir, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, these two gentlemen here on the platform. We've been through a few battles together. I'm delighted to have the Jefferson Circle of Citizens for America with me here today. As always, it's a pleasure to see these two old friends that are up here with me. And under your leadership, Citizens for America has grown into one of America's most vital organizations. A conservative grassroots citizens lobby that spans the nation. With 5,000 active members working in 327 congressional districts in all 50 states, you make the voice of the people come in loud and clear in Washington. And when you make Congress sit up and listen, that's always good news for me. You know, I'm reminded of the story of the fellow that showed up at a business one day and asked for a job. We're sorry, he was told, but really this company just is overstaffed already. Oh, he says, that's all right. Small amount of work that I'd do would never be noticed anyway. Well, that isn't the case here today. You've worked hard. You've helped us accomplish great things. Your work has certainly been noticed, and there's plenty more left to do. Citizens for America can be proud of the support they gave Judge Robert Bork. And I was honored to nominate such a remarkable jurist to our highest court. Though Judge Bork was not confirmed, an equally important verdict has been rendered by the American people. And that is the repudiation of the politicized confirmation process that he was subjected to. The people of this country will not stand for another orchestrated assault on the independence of the judiciary. They're demanding that the Senate consider my next nominee in an objective, responsible, and timely manner. And so am I. Earlier today, standing right here, I announced my intention to nominate to the United States Supreme Court Judge Douglas Ginsburg, a distinguished jurist whose qualifications and personal integrity are beyond question. And he is a close personal friend of Judge Bork. The judge believes, as I do, that justices of the Supreme Court are bound to interpret the Constitution as written by our founding fathers, and as amended by the Congress and the states, not to rewrite it or amend it themselves. And his respect for law and precedent and his intellectual qualities are so impressive that I hope the Senate will act quickly in confirming Judge Ginsburg to a seat on our highest court. I know that I can count on citizens for America and all of you here today to let your senators know that you expect our nominee to receive a fair and prompt hearing and not be subject to a delaying game. In recent decades, when Supreme Court nominees have testified prior to the confirmation vote, the time between Senate receipt of their nomination and the committee hearing was measured in days, not months. The Senate should lose no time in beginning its confirmation process. And if that process is fair, it will not be delayed, and I know that Judge Ginsburg will be confirmed. Everything we're doing is to build a long-term foundation for America's freedom and prosperity. We're now in the longest peacetime economic expansion in history. This is the record 59th month. We've created almost 14 million new jobs in this period, and the real gross national product has risen by more than 20 percent. The stock market suffered a setback last week, as everybody knows. Never let us forget it, but let's remember that this was a market which better than tripled in just five years. Today, despite the recent decline, the Dow Jones industrial average still stands at more than twice its level of August in 1982. The stock market is not signaling weakness in the economy. It's reflecting uncertainty in what the future economic policies of the United States government will be. Incidentally, you have heard about it that what it closed at today was up 90 points. But it's up to us to let the public know that even though Ronald Reagan won't be in the White House in 1989, the freedom coalition that rebuilt America over the last six and a half years is not going away. We all remember where we were in 1980, and there's no way we're going back. The truth is that what we've achieved here is being echoed around the world, in country after country, where people have turned away from big government in favor of individual opportunity and away from dictatorship in favor of democracy. As Thomas Jefferson said, the will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government. Today, on every corner of this earth, communism is in retreat. And the brave freedom fighters from Nicaragua to Angola to Afghanistan who take up arms against brutal illegitimate pro-Soviet dictatorships deserve our support so the democracy can prevail. We're closely watching the unfolding Central American peace agreement. We want to see it succeed, though we have no illusions about the Sandinistas. It was the Contras who forced the communists to the bargaining table, and only a strong Nicaraguan democratic resistance can guarantee that the Sandinistas' commitments are honored. My friends in Nicaragua, freedom is the bottom line and is now more essential than ever that we continue to aid those freedom fighters. I want to thank you for the part you're playing in one of the most important chapters in human history. And knowing that you're out there continuing to work for what we all believe in keeps me sure of our course and confident about the future of this country. I thank you all and God bless you. And just before I utter the last line that I'm going to utter from here, I'd like to go back again to those 327 congressional districts in the country. Are you all aware, so many citizens aren't, that for almost 60 years by the time next year that 1988 is over, the Congress in both houses will have been dominated by the Democrats for all but four of those almost 60 years. It's about 57 years. And they've had both houses of the Congress, except for the then the six years that I had here gone now but had the Senate. But in other words, every 10 years they've been in charge when the redistricting took place. And they have gerrymandered the districts so that that could happen. All the Republican presidents since they're back at Roosevelt and since the war, only, well I had, as I say, one house for six years, but the house of representatives they had. And then all the other Republican presidents, only one of them had a Republican Congress in both houses for two years out of his eight. That was Eisenhower. They have had Democratic Congresses, the Democratic presidents, all the time except for one two-year period in Harry Truman's time when we had a Republican Congress. And for, it's one thing to get a Republican president in here, but it is high time that we ended the gerrymandering and got back in control. And those congressional districts that you're busy in are enough to do it, more than enough to give us a Republican Congress. And it would be fun to have one. I only, I don't know that this is the only office, this and the vice president that all the people vote for. And then all the people vote for you and send you here in the basis of the things you said you'd do, but then they're cut up in such a pattern that they send a Congress here to try and keep you from doing what you said you'd do. Well, don't anybody go home yet because I'm going to go down there in front of the door or inside the blue room there, and looking forward to greeting each one of you personally there in the blue room. So I'll make my way down there and wait to see what happens.