REMARKS OF VICE-PRESIDENT HUMPHREY BEFORE
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS MADISON SQUARE GARDEN NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1968

VICE-PRESIDENT HUMPHREY: Thank you, thank you very much.
Thank you very much, my very dear friend, Harry. Thank you for not only welcoming me to this great, wonderful Madison Square Garden. And, by the way, my first appearance in this new Madison Square Garden. And I am glad it is with you.
(Applause)
And, Mr. President — you know, I have been spending four years of my life saying Mr. President. Mr. President, Charles Polar, what a joy it is to see you here tonight, see your Vice President. I always like to see Vice Presidents.

(Laughter)
But frankly, I have been looking at myself long enough. I want to be President.
(Applause)
Charley, I hope that you will be kind enough to bring my good wishes to an old friend of mine, an old friend of yours, Gordon Freeman, and give him my very best.
(Applause)
I am sure you know that one of the closest friends that I have one who has been a great help to me, is none other than your own secretary, and one of the great labor leaders of our time, Joe Keenan.
(Applause)
Now, there are so many people here that I should like to pay my respects to. And I want all of these officers of the Internationals that are behind me — and this time they are not only behind me, they are supporting me, and that is what I like.
(Applause)
I want all of them to know how much I appreciate their presence, and their help.
Now, this fellow, Harry van Arsdale, I want to say a word about him. That is Harry van Arsdale.
He has been working 28 hours a day. He has been
sort of, you know, lying down on the job. And we have decided that he is about ready now to be one of the Honor Scroll members. And that is going to mean that all that Harry has to do is to work 28 hours a day between now and November 5, and after November b ne only needs to work 24 hours a day. Then we win call it all off.
(Applause)
The same thing goes for Chris Plunkett. And for the many others that are here tonight.
I know there are over 2,000 members here, senior members, who by the way have the same privilege that I have. Dues exempt. Isn't that wonderful I
(Applause)
All of us dues exempt members. All gathered together here tonight. Two thousand and one more — here for those of us to pay you respect, to pay you honor.
I want to tell you what I have been doing today. I have been in Connecticut for ten hours today. We have had some wonderful meetings up in your neighboring State of Connecticut. We have had thousands and thousands of people. We just scared the living daylights out of Wallace and Nixon up there in Connecticut.
(Applause)
It was a great day, I will tell you.
But I have been making about ten speeches a day, every day, I want to tell you that I have been making as many speeches as the IBEW punts in electrical lines. You fellows just don't know how hard work it is to run for President — the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and of the President of the United States — both of them are tough jobs, I want you to know.
(Applause)
Every place that I have been, every place, it looks better, it looks better.
Listen, we built the labor movement when it was tough to build it. I was in on it. I am no Johnny-come- lately to crowds like this. I can tell you I can remember when there were people that were having the battle of their life for organization. And I have been having the battle of my life to win this election. But just exactly like the labor movement has arrived at its time, I think that we are arriving at our time to have a victory on November 5.
(Applause)
Mother, I want you to know that is water.
(Laughter)
Dear friends, I want to talk to you tonight about your country, I want to talk to you tonight about your union, and then I want to talk to you about your families — because most of us here are in that position.
I am very proud of our country. I am very proud of the fact that I helped organize a union once in my day. And I am very proud of the fact that I have a wonderful family. And when you can put country, union and family altogether in one package, and you can work for it, and you can fight for it, you can do everything in your power for it, then I think you are doing the best that you can do.
And ladies and gentlemen, we are fighting for every bit of it tonight. We are fighting for our country, and all that it stands for. And believe me together we are working and fighting for our union. And I think I will be able to show you tonight that we are fighting for our families and their welfare.
(Applause)
And now let me tell you why I think so.
I need not tell you that we have had some difficult days. I need not tell you that this country is in trouble.
I think you know it — you have read the headlines, you live in the neighborhoods. You know that our country at home and abroad has serious problems.
But, my fellow Americans — and I repeat — my fellow Americans, this country has been in trouble before. But we have never said that trouble would get us down. And I want you to know that when I am your President, we are not going to give up, and we are not going to let trouble get us down. We are going to build this country.
(Applause)
I am not going to spend my time tearing my country down in order to build me up. I am not going to spend my time trying to make America look little and small and petty in order to make me look big.
I happen to think there is a greatness in the American people. I think there is an essential goodness in the American people. I think the American people can do whatever they want to do, if they make up their minds to do it. And the task of a President — the task of a leader — is to call forth the best that is in the people, to arouse them to their greatness, to seek from the people the inspiration that cane make this country do whatever it needs to do. And I come to you tonight — many of you here who have worked a lifetime, building this country — to ask you to have faith in it, and not to sell it short.
I come here tonight to ask you to love your country. And not only to live it — but to work for it. And I want to tell you how I think we can work for it.
This isn't another election year. Every four
years we elect a President. I think this election is one of the most important that you have ever have a chance to participate in. Not just because I happen to be a candidate — but because of the times. A world of change, a world of danger, and an America in change. An America that is coming out of its darkness and its shadows into a brighter new day. An America in which we are going to judge people not on the basis of their religion or their ethnic origin or their race or their color, or how they spell their last name, but we are going to judge our fellow Americans on the basis of merit, on the basis of performance, on the basis of what they can do.
(Applause)
What we are really doing tonight, my friends, is to ask each other one question. Whom can we trust — whom can we trust to lead this country in the next four years --that is the question.
(Applause)
We are asking questions. And rightly so.
Who can bring peace, who can bring peace with honor in Southeast Asia nd Vietnam, and who can keep us out of a catastrophic disastrous nuclear war. And who can begin the process of defusing the nuclear arsenal that some day could literally burn up this world.
And we are asking another question. Which party and which candidates can maintain prosperity and economic progress here at home. And you know that is important to you.
I have been with your great union in other days. I have been with you when you were looking for jobs — not when the jobs were looking for you.
And I am looking at men out here that have suffered unemployment. And I say to you, my friends, that you cannot afford to play loose and free with this economy. And I say to you that the third party candidate has no program, and the Republican candidate program is what you have known it to be over the past — a little prosperity, a little recession, and a heck of a lot of trouble. And you know it.
(Applause)
As I look over here and see the ladies, and I see them here, through this audience, I think the question is — who can bring, or who can continue to bring to you and your families greater opportunities for education. What better investment is there than an education for your son or your daughter? Which party, which candidate can bring you better opportunities for health? Which party, which candidate, can bring you better security for your mothers and your fathers in their later years? I don't think I need to tell you. I think you know that I represent tonight on this platform a party from the days of Franklin Roosevelt, a party that has
cared for the American people.
(Applause)
My friends, I have had a hand in that party. I have been with the labor movement every day of my life. I have worked with you, fought alongside of you, never fought against you — many times fought with you. Sometimes we won, but we were always together, weren't we?
(Applause)
The Democratic nominee has never been one of those that advocated the right to work laws. I can stand before an audience of trade unionists and put my record on the line — and ye shall judge them by their deeds, not by their words.
(Applause)
And ladies and gentlemen — ladies and gentlemen, of the labor movement, and other citizens, you have a chance in this election, you have a chance in this national election to elect a president and a Vice President that has never failed you at any moment that you needed us — never.
(Applause)
Now let us take a look at the other side.
I don't want to upset your evening, but let us take a look at it.
This year my Republican opponent has made two basic decisions, (applause) which directly affect and directly speak to the issue of trust — because that is the issue. Who can you trust in this country.
And whom can you, as a trade unionist put your trust in. In whom can you as a mother and a father put your trust.
Now, let us take a look at this situation as it is
today.
First the Republican nominee let the Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Strom Thurmond, the most reactionary, if not the most one of the most — of the United States Senate, help dictate his choice of a Vice Presidential running mate — the man who would stand only a heartbeat away from the Presidency in this nuclear age. And he permitted Senator Thurmond to dictate the choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the last fifty years one out of every three Presidents that you have elected — one out of every three has never lived out the term. The choice of a Vice President is the President's first test of character, his first test of quality. And my friends, when you elect a President in these days, you not only elect a President, you elect a Vice President. And I will leave it up to this audience, who do you want. Spiro Agnew or Ed Muskie.
(Shouts of "Muskie" and applause)
It is incredible, incredible that the Republican Party would play so loose with the destiny of this Nation.
The first test of Mr. Nixon he failed — he failed you, he failed his country, and he failed his party.
(Applause)
Then my Republican opponent made a second decision. He decided to go on a vacation for a good deal of his campaign. Mr. Nixon's public opinion polices, they have convinced him that the election is won if he just doesn't talk — if he just hides out. That is right.
Let me tell you something. He has been acting so much as if he were the President, for so long, that when November 5 comes, you are going to think it is time for a change, and you are going to elect Humphrey.
(Applause)
His managers — his managers told him not to debate. They said don't get mixed up with that Democrat. They have told him not so speak. They have told him to get plenty of rest. They have told him not to lose his temper.
Well, let me tell you, friends. Two things are going to happen to him. He is going to get plenty of rest — years of it.
(Applause)
And secondly, he is going to lose his temper, because on November 5, he is going to lose the election.
(Applause)
Yes, my friends, this man has been told that he has a new image — cool, detached, clean-shaven, above the battle, that he is so far ahead, he is almost out of sight (laughter). As a matter of fact, folks, that is exactly where he is — way out of sight.
(Applause)
I call him Silent Richard, and I call his other partner over there in the third party George the Loud.
(Applause)
Silent Richard has made very few speeches. He has had a lot of parades. I will tell you the confetti business is good this year. Which one of you fellows back here is in charge of the union in charge of confetti? You are doing a bang-up business, I will tell you. You must be working overtime.
The balloon business is good. He floats more balloons than anybody with hot air in the last century.
(Applause)
But he has yet to float a good idea and help you or your family.
(Applause)
He has refused to debate and isn't that wonderfully interesting? Here is the .Madison Square Garden. Mr. Nixon, the house is available. Why couldn't Mr. Wallace be over here to the far right, and I mean way out —
(Laughter)
— why couldn't Mr. Nixon be over there holding arms with him just a little bit less to the right, and why couldn't I be standing here right before you and why couldn't we be having a debate so you could hear what we have to say? Wouldn't that be all right?
(Applause and whistles)
But, he won't do it. He won't do it. And you want to know why? I will tell you why. Because he is afraid to have me put the questions to him that I will ask him and he knows it.
Well, I have been after him. I want to tell you something, folks. I have been talking about this around the country a bit, you know. Back in Minnesota where I live, South Dakota where I grew up, we used to go pheasant hunting and they are hard to get, those birds, you know, very difficult. They hide out. And every once in a while you have to go around, you know, and you have to kick them in the bush. That is what I intend to do.
(Applause)
And I intend to flush him out and I want to warn him, I can hit a moving target, believe me, no matter when he comes out from under those bushes or out of those shadows.
Ladies and gentlemen, any man that is unwilling to stand up before the American people and present his case is incapable of standing up before the leaders of the world and presenting the American case.
(Applause and whistles)
So, when we want answers, what do we get? I got it last Tuesday. He announced it. He said he is going to go on national television Saturday before the election, Saturday before the election. What day is that, November 2nd, He is going to go on to television for four hours, nationwide? You know how much that costs? Well, I don't know. I haven't got that much. So what is he going to do instead of debating me when we can get free television time? He is going to buy it. And he is going to give you a saturation advertising campaign. That is what he is going to do. That is what he thinks of you. He is going to have paid commercials. He is going to have all kinds of fancy- fancy ads and he is going to go on and tell the people what he wants to tell them. Are you going to let him get by with it?
VOICES: No. No.
VICE PRESIDENT HUMPHREY: But, let me tell you something, my friends. Television sells products but I am here to tell you that the White House is not for sale, not as long as I am around this town.
(Applause)
But all of this is to add up to the new Nixon, deodorized, detergerized. I don't know what else has happened to him but he is brand new. The new Republican. But, I am telling you something, my dear friends. It is the same old fellow that we met before and we defeated him before and we'll do it again.
(Applause)
Now, I wish I had an empty chair up here, I can have one up here and I can debate with Mr. Nixon tonight because the chair would give as many answers as he does anyhow.

Let me tell you where he stands, and I will start right now.

First of all, I said the question was one of trust. You didn't trust him in 1960. You put your trust in John Kennedy and you were right.
(Applause)
I will tell you, Mr. Nixon, X marks the spot. There is an X over there, right on that floor. I don't know what that is for. They must have put that there for Mr. Nixon. There is one for Mr. Wallace. He is too far to the left. I don't know how that got over there.
But my dear friends, let me say something. Mr. Nixon, why did you oppose Medicare? And he did. I am looking out at this audience. Thank God for your union. He didn't help you get it, I want you to know that. Don't you ever forget it. He never gave the labor movement one friendly vote and if you ever forget it, then take your union card and tear it up because he never helped you once in his life.
(Applause) Never.
And if ever you are unemployed, he never, ever voted to give you an increase in unemployment compensation no matter what the cost of living and if you are a good union man and a good union family, how in the name of decency could you ever support him, I never could understand.
(Applause)
Mr. Nixon, you opposed Medicare, Tell me why. Mr. Nixon, you opposed Federal Aid to Education for the youngsters. Tell me why. Why is it you don't like kids and why is it that you don't respect senior citizens? What kind of a President is that? One that doesn't want to help in the schools, one that doesn't want to help with education, one that doesn't want to help students and one that thinks that old people ought to go on relief in order to get to a decent doctor and a decent hospital.
I can't buy that, friends. That is not the kind of a President I want and that is not the kind of a President you are going to get.
(Applause)
Mr. Nixon, Mr. Republican, when we were trying desperately to protect the American people from the dangers of radioactive fallout, from nuclear bomb testing, where were you? What do you think Mr. Nixon said about our nuclear treaty to stop the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, which tests resulted in radioactive fallout in the milk that you fed your babies, in the food that you ate yourselves? Mr. Nixon said it was a cruel hoax, catastrophic nonsense.
Well, thank God that our country didn't listen to that. And when John Kennedy signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, he handed me the pen that he signed it with and said, Hubert Humphrey, this is your treaty. That is the difference between Nixon and Humphrey.
(Applause)
Yes, Nixon is the one, all right. Boy, you ought to know. If you don't know by now, my dear friends, then don't tell your friends and relatives it is hopeless.
Nixon is the one that was for right to work laws. Nixon is the one, if you please, that was for Taft-Hartley. Nixon is the one that voted against Federal Aid to Education. Nixon is the one that voted against Medicare. Nixon is the one that was against the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Nixon is the one that has been against you. Now, it is time for you to get even.
(Applause)
Whose record is it, that every time you look at it on any chart that you see it is no, no, no, no, against, against, against? And every man and woman that belongs to this great organization has seen the chart, not just of labor legislation but of legislation that affects this entire country, and where is the record? Who is it whose entire public record is one of against, against, against? Well, read those billboards. They are mighty expensive but read them. Nixon is the one. That is the one.
And just last week his top economic adviser, the man that he listens to, said that maybe we ought to have a little more unemployment. What a jolly fellow. Well, I think that is right He ought to be unemployed and I intend to keep him that way
(Applause and whistles)
Mr. Pollard, what did he say? And I want every member of this organization listening. He said a little unemployment ' is good for the economy. He said it is the way to stop inflation. What he said was it is a way to lower your wages.
Get with it. And fellows, if you are not with it, I am going to talk to momma because she understands. She pays the bills. What Mr. Nixon said was just a little less overtime that is all. He really wasn't for the 40 hour week anyhow. Just a little less of it, just make the paychecks a little smaller. The mortgage car payments get a little harder to meet. New construction starts to lag. And new contracts stop coming in, and then the layoffs come on, and according to the Republican candidate, that is the kind of economic medicine that you are supposed to be drinking. I don't think you want it, do you? I don't believe so.
VOICES: No. No.
VICE PRESIDENT HUMPHREY: And remember one thing. He is talking about your job, your job, your family. This is the man who said, the man that is on that other ticket, who said that until unemployment got over four and a half million it wasn't dangerous.
Well who is in the 4-1/2 million? Did you ever think that it might be your son? It might be you, the head of the family? Unemployment is dangerous to the man that is unemployed Unemployment is dangerous to this country. Unemployment is a curse. Unemployment is expensive, and Mr. Nixon ought to know. During his eight Republican years, you had seven per cent unemployment and you had a lot of it up here in New York and we lost $175 billion of lost income. That is too much to pay just to be a Republican in a national election, my friends, too much.
(Applause)
But, my friends, I must say that Mr. Nixon does tell the truth when he talks about me. HE said the other day that if you elect this fellow that is the Democratic nominee, you are going to have to spend more money on education. You are going to have to invest more money in your cities. You are going to have to invest more money to pay your police and your firemen. He is right, i happen to think the police and firemen ought to be better paid. i think school teachers ought to be better paid.
(Applause)
I don't think you get law and order by putting bumper stickers on your car any more than you build a union by putting bumper stickers on your car. I happen to think that a good electrician is worth his pay and I happen to think a good policeman is worth his pay and if you want law and order and safe streets and safe parks, pay them and you will get it.
(Applause and whistles)
Mr. Nixon is right. I believe in education and I not only believe in it for his children and mine, I believe in it for yours, and I believe that they are entitled to it. In fact, I believe that every boy and girl, black or white, is entitled to all the education that this country can possibly give them. I think that is the best investment we can make.
(Applause)
Mr. Nixon says I would take some risks for peace, and he is right because I think the greatest opportunity and the greatest responsibility of the next President of the United States is to find some way, somehow, to protect our security on the one hand and to bring peace to America and to the world on the other hand, and to that I am dedicated,
(Applause)
Now, before I leave you, let me say a word, and I am not going to keep you much longer, about that other fellow, that other fellow, because some of your members are listening to him. And I want to talk to you about him.
The candidate of the third party K- his program is as counterfeit as a $3 Confederate bill, and you know it and I know it.
(Applause)
Here is the man that talks about law and order and he was Governor of his own state with the soul police power. He never increased a policeman's salary. He used state troopers to break up your unions. Great friend of labor. And yet, I find some laboring people that say that they are for him.
Well, I don't want to wish them any bad luck but if they get it they deserve it and you know I am telling you the truth.
(Applause)
Law and order. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, a state that had the highest murder rate of any state in the Union, you call that law and order? The state that has the second highest aggravated assault rate of any state in the Union, and you call that law and order? A governor that defies the law, a governor that stands before the school door and says to the children, you shall not enter, and you call that law and order? I don't call it at all. I call it being a bully and we are not going to have that in the White House in Washington, D.C.
(Applause and whistles)
The candidate that appeals to racial prejudice, ladies and gentlemen, that is what it is. You think you can govern this country with black and white being at each other's throats? The task of the next President of the United States is to find out how to unite this country, not how to divide it, how to bring our people together in trust, not in distrust, how to abolish suspicion and doubt and how to bring faith and confidence. That is the next job of the President of the United States.
(Applause)
[RECORDING ENDS HERE]
And is this man a friend of labor? Well, I go to some plants and I find a worker with a Wallace button on. Frankly, it is like being a scab. That is what it is. This is not a man that has ever supported your cause.
What about the economics, the second lowest wages in the nation. Is that what you like? Right to work laws right down your throat, that is what you like? And what else? Six per cent sales tax, mother, on every basket of groceries that you buy. Is that what you like? The lowest workmen's compensation laws in America. Is that what you like?
VOICES: No.
VICE PRESIDENT HUMPHREY: Well, let's get rid of it then. Let's have no more of this nonsense. Let's tell him he is
through, he is out, finit.
(Applause)
So, what we need to do is settle down and do what we have been doing. We have been building this country. 12 million people have come out of poverty in the last eight years, 12 million that used to be relief clients are today productive citizens. Millions of young people are in college today that never had a chance before. Mothers are getting medical care that they never had before. Senior citizens, seven million of them, hospital and doctors care last year under Medicare that they never had before.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have been doing things. Let's not close up the shop. Let's open the door. Lets' do more that we need to do for the American people and we can do it.
(Applause and whistles)
This is why I seek to be your President, not to make my life easier but to make your lives better, not to have any vacation but to work for my country.
Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you tonight to tell you that we must work together as never before. I do not have a massive television budget. You know very well how you have to be careful how you spend union money even for a campaign. I do not have it. I do not have the millions to monopolize the TV time in the American living rooms. I have but one thing, but I have the best. I have you if you will be with me, millions of you, millions of you.
(Applause)
My friends, I am asking you tonight, I am asking tonight, I am asking the young people of America a special plea to them and I am asking you, my friends, out here with the honor scroll, I am asking the working people of America tonight to help me, to help me and help yourself and help your families. I am asking you to help me raise a little of the money to match Mr. Nixon's TV time and I am asking you to go door to door and house to house and fight for yourself and for your family and your country. I am asking you to get out to work, to roll up your sleeves like you have done when you built this union and to make the decision on November fifth a decision for your family, for your union, for your country and for your world.
I ask your help. Now, let's get on with the job.
Thank you.