Nation: WHAT THE PLATFORM SAYS
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REGULATORY AGENCIES. The G.O.P. promises "an end to power-grabbing regulatory actions, such as the reach by the Federal Trade Commission for injunctive powers and the ceaseless pressing by the White House, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to dominate consumer decision in the marketplace."
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT. Taking its cue from the Bobby Baker case, the platform charges in a recital of Democratic misdeeds that "this Administration has impeded investigations of suspected wrongdoing which might implicate public officials in the highest offices in the land. It has thus aroused justifiable resentment against those who use the high road of public service as the low road to illicitly acquired wealth."
OBSCENITY. In one interesting plank, the G.O.P. pledged "enactment of legislation, despite Democratic opposition, to curb the flow through the mails of obscene materials, which has flourished into a multimillion-dollar obscenity racket." In October 1962, John F. Kennedy pocket-vetoed a District of Columbia obscenity bill, explaining that its search-and-seizure provisions seemed to him unconstitutional.
THE COLD WAR. Calling for a new "get-tough" policy, the platform charges that the Johnson Administration has "sought accommodations with Communism without adequate safeguards and compensating gains for freedom" and "in general pursued a risky path such as began at Munich a quarter-century ago." Demanding a "dynamic strategy aimed at victory," the platform says: "We reject the notion that Communism has abandoned its goal of world domination or that fat and well-fed Communists are less dangerous than lean and hungry ones. Republicans will make clear to any hostile nation that the United States will increase the costs and risks of aggression to make them outweigh hopes for gain."
SOUTHEAST ASIA. "We will move decisively to assure victory in South Viet Nam." In an obvious reference to the Viet Cong habit of taking refuge in bordering Cambodia, the G.O.P. pledges to "make clear to all Communists now supporting or planning to support guerrilla and subversive activities, that henceforth there will be no privileged sanctuaries to protect those who disrupt the peace of the world."
CUBA. "We Republicans will recognize a Cuban government in exile; we will support its efforts to regain the independence of its homeland; we will assist Cuban freedom fighters in carrying on guerrilla warfare against the Communist regime."
TRADE WITH COMMUNIST NATIONS.
Arguing with the Democratic Administration's position that both East and West would benefit from increased trade, the plank says that "trade with Communist countries should not be directed toward the enhancement of their power and influence but could only be justified if it would serve to diminish their power."
FOREIGN AID. "Republicans will recast foreign-aid programs. We will see that all will serve the cause of freedom. We will see that none bolster and sustain anti-American regimes. American tax revenues derived from free enterprise must never be employed in support of socialism."
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