 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have demonstrated to the President that we'd like to stand up and applaud him for at least 20 minutes. But he, in the interest of time and because of his busy schedule, let us now sit down. Mr. President, it's my... Mr. President, you're going to be introduced today by Rabbi Milton Balcony. And it's not because... We rejoice and praise the Almighty for the recovery and homecoming of the First Lady. With a deep sense of humility, respect and admiration, I present to you the President of the United States. Well, thank you all and thank you, Senator Boschowitz, Ambassador Gavin, Rabbi Balcony, members and guests of the Inner Circle. It's an honor for me to be here to thank personally each and every one of you for the support you're providing the Republican Party. One of my Republican predecessors, Rutherford B. Hayes, once said, He serves his party best, who serves the country best. Well, today that remains true. And I might add that by supporting our party, you are also supporting our country. And I'd like to express my special appreciation to an individual who has indeed served his party and country so ably, Ambassador John Gavin. You all may be aware that a number of years ago, John and I were in the same profession. I might add how great it is to see so many here from the film business. John Gavin and I share the distinction of having represented our fellow actors as presidents of the Screen Actors Guild. I know John went through some of the same travails I did as head of the Union. And then he went on to be one of the best ambassadors this country ever sent to Mexico. You know, as governor of California, I visited Mexico on several occasions. One in particular, I'd been asked to represent the President of the United States there. And I got up and made my speech to the assembled gathering and then sat down to very scattered and somewhat unenthusiastic applause. I was embarrassed, particularly so when the next man up was being interrupted about every second line with the warmest applause. And I, to hide my embarrassment, decided I would clap louder and longer than anyone else. Pretty soon our ambassador leaned over to me and said, I wouldn't do that if I were you. He's interpreting your speech. You know, today our greatest challenge is to make certain that we're being understood by the American people. The current ups and downs in the stock market make this task even more imperative. The 1980 election was a watershed for our country. Instead of minor corrections, the people opted for fundamental change. And the liberal idea of more and more government worked as advertised if it had the American people would not have turned to us. But it wasn't working. Murderous inflation, economic decline, sky-high interest rates, and a heavier and heavier tax burden drove the American people into our camp. And as a team, I think every one of us can be proud of what has been accomplished. In short, we came through for the American people. And when I say we, I'm including all of you and all of our party. Inflation, which was public enemy number one in 1980, robbing from the savings of the elderly and destabilizing the entire economic environment, has been put in a cage. Interest rates exceeded 20 percent in 1980. Today the prime rate is in the single digits. And although there is some fluctuation, there is every reason for confidence that it will remain at a reasonable level. Industries, which were struggling for survival in 1980, have been modernized, infused with capital and confidence, and are now aggressively competing in the marketplace. I've visited a number of companies over the last year, and the turnaround from the pessimism and defeatism of the 70s is something short of astounding. Whether I went to the Harley Davidson plant in Pennsylvania, Dictaphone plant in Florida, or a Somerset Technologies plant in New Jersey, I saw a new spirit and a new confidence from the production line to the boardroom. And all of this is reflected in the statistics. Productivity is up, real family income is up, and more Americans are employed than at any other time on record. I don't know whether any of you know, I had to find out, I had to find out that the potential employment pool of America is considered to be everyone from 16 years of age, male and female, up all the way, including all the retired people. And today almost 63 percent of that pool is employed as a job in this country. Our policies ushered the United States into the longest period of peacetime growth on record. The entrepreneurial spirit has been reactivated, and our economy has been reinvigorated from the bottom up. Almost every indicator suggests that the economy is fundamentally strong. Now perhaps this is why it's so difficult to explain why the stock market is acted as it has in recent weeks. There's much discussion on this issue. But let us note that over the last few months, there has been a growing anxiety on Wall Street. I think one of the most effective ways to restore the confidence of America's investors, large and small, is for the GOP to regain control of the United States Senate in 1988. Our Senate majority in the first six years of our administration played an essential role in putting America's economic house back in order. Together we laid the foundation for good times. We were a team the American people could count on. Losing control of the Senate has created an impasse between the legislative and executive branch and sent a warning signal that has obviously been heard on Wall Street. What is plaguing the stock market is a very real sense of uncertainty. Powerful forces dedicated to protectionism, high taxes and profligate spending gained enormous leverage when we lost control of the United States Senate. The professionals in the financial world know how to read the political tea leaves, and they fully appreciate how devastating protectionism or a return to the failed policies of the past would be to our economy. That's why our job in the months ahead is so vital. From my part, you can count on me to head off any legislation that would knock the wind out of our economic growth. To make that specific, I've got my veto pen loaded and no anti-prosperity legislation is going to leave the Oval Office alive. I told a gathering earlier this year that all of this talk about me being a lame duck is for the birds. Sure, I'll admit, I limp a little bit, but that's because back there in show business days, in a charity baseball game between the leading men and the comedians, the comedian at first base tripped me when I was running out of bunt and broke my leg in six places. That's the only limp I've got from doing a good deed. But the second half of the solution is up to all of us, and your presence here indicates that as inner-circle members, you're ready to do your part. It's up to us to put forth the maximum effort, not only to place a Republican in the White House, but to make certain that he has a Congress that will work with him instead of against him. Since World War II, all the Republican presidents in these more than 50 years have had Democratic majorities in both houses of the Congress except for one two-year term when Ike Eisenhower had a Republican Congress just for the two of his eight years and for the six years that I had a Republican Senate, although a Democratic House, the rest of the time. In all those that half-century or more, it has been Democrats controlling both houses of the Congress. And of course, it was all right with them that the Democratic presidents, they all had Democratic Congresses too, just as we did, except for one two-year period when Harry Truman had a Republican Congress. Well, we've got a good start on the opposition. Any one of our candidates for president is head and shoulders above the crown that's vying for the other party's nomination. They're just in a totally different league, and it's going to be like putting up Beaver Cleaver against Sergeant Slaughter. Let's remember we need only five seats to regain control of the Senate, and here too, we're off to a good start. We're attracting top-notch candidates, just to name three, Pete Dawkins of New Jersey, Connie Mack of Florida, and Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Let me just make this pledge. I may not be a candidate myself in 1988, but I'm not sitting this one out. I'll be campaigning the width and breadth of this country and making certain that our team wins the day. Now, you know, I was going to say at this point, and I know the answer already. I was going to say I've got one question. I know the answer. Are you with me? We've got a record of success and agenda of prosperity and freedom, and believe me, we won't be treading water over the next 15 months. You know, there's a saying about the opera isn't over or something till the fat lady sings, and well, just a paraphrase on that, the old man isn't out of town till the old man's out of town. Serious challenges remain as do opportunities for accomplishment. The political maneuvering in Central America, for example, is now fast and furious. We're doing our best to see that the current peace program is successful in ending the bloodshed and democratizing the region, and we won't be satisfied with phony reform, and I can assure you, we will not sell out those who are fighting and struggling for freedom down there. We'll be tough and realistic in our pursuit of peace because that's the only way that lasting progress is achieved. That same principle guides our negotiations with the Soviet Union, and here again, by holding firm earlier, great strides have been made. Those who marched for a nuclear freeze would have left Europe dominated by Soviet Intermediate Range Missiles. We stood our ground, and today there's been impressive progress toward achieving a proposal that I made six years ago, an agreement for the elimination of a whole class of U.S. and Soviet Intermediate Range Missiles, the zero option. Now, it would be the first mutual reduction of our two countries' nuclear arsenals in history. And today, with our economy reinvigorated and our defenses rebuilt, we're proving wrong those pessimists who less than a decade ago suggested America's best days were passed and that we were a nation in decline. We're proving our strength and leadership. In the Persian Gulf, we have demonstrated our strength and reliability to friends and adversaries alike. In short, we are no longer projecting weakness. We're going about our heavy responsibility as leader of the free world, and we aren't complaining. And we Americans do carry a special burden. Teddy Roosevelt put it well. He said, For the world has set its face hopefully toward our democracy. And oh, my fellow citizens, each one of you carries on your shoulders not only the burden of doing well for the sake of your own country, but the burden of doing well and of seeing that this nation does well for the sake of mankind. I'd just like to take a minute here and share with you a couple of letters that I have only recently received, but they really touched my heart and I'm sure they will yours. One of them was an eminent scholar who was on his way to the Soviet Union. And in the cab going to the airport here in this country, he had a young fellow driving the cab and he engaged him in conversation and found out that he was in college and he was studying, driving cab on the side. And he then asked him, he said, Well, what do you plan to do when you finish your education? And the young fellow said, Well, I haven't decided yet. Then he got to the Soviet Union and he got a young cab driver there by coincidence. And on the way in, being fluent in Russian, he addressed him in Russian and turned out this young fellow was still getting his education and driving a cab. And he asked him the same question. He said, What do you plan to do when your education is finished? The young fellow said, They haven't told me yet. And the other one, and I'm sure it'll make you as proud as it made me. This gentleman wrote a letter and he got a little philosophical in the letter and he said, You know, you can go to France to live, but you can't become a Frenchman. You can go to Greece, but you can't become a Greek. You can go to live in Japan. You cannot become Japanese. And he went on for several countries of this kind. But he said anyone from any corner of the world can come to the United States and become an American. I'm confident that just like the Americans who came before us, we'll meet the challenge. And now as we get ready and going into the campaigns, just one last admonition. We gave it birth in California in 1966. Let us in this campaign, while the primaries are on and members of our party are competing with each other to see who will get the nomination, let us all observe the 11th commandment. Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. And you and I know we don't have to. The Democrats will give us plenty of ammunition. Well, all right. Thank you all for what you're doing. And God bless you all. Thank you. All join me please in God bless America. God bless America. Bless and beside. Thank you, Mr. President.