Version of a speech for a campaign rally, Youngstown, OH, September 25, 1984.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/vice_presidential_campaign_speeches_1984/1139/thumbnail.jp

Ferraro, Geraldine

English

Fordham University School of Law

Fordham Law SchoolFLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and HistorySpeeches 1984 Vice-Presidential Campaign9-25-1984Youngstown Rally Speech: Version 2Geraldine FerraroFollow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/vice_presidential_campaign_speeches_1984Part of the Law CommonsThis Book is brought to you for free and open access by the 1984 Vice-Presidential Campaign at FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship andHistory. It has been accepted for inclusion in Speeches by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship andHistory. For more information, please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu.Recommended CitationFerraro, Geraldine, "Youngstown Rally Speech: Version 2" (1984). Speeches. 140.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/vice_presidential_campaign_speeches_1984/140X.Q.W..N.G .. $..'.f.P.W.N . .1 •.. •• Q.tl. .~.Q. I.W. .f;.~LP.~.X ....... $..f: .. f.. :+:.f.:.M.~.~-·R .... J.~ .. 1 .. .. J.~.!3.:1. Thank you, Governor Celeste, for the terrific introductio n . In Richard Celeste, Ohio has a governor that it can be proud of, and I have a paisano <pie-ZAH-no). Now how's that for a combin.3tion7 Four years ago, Ronald Reagan came here to Youngstown and promised th~t he 'wouldn't forget' you. And you know, after a fashion, he hasn't. After four years of neglecting your mast b~sic concerns, he's back to ask for your votes. I think you expected mare from your President. And I think you had a right to. You had a right to expect a steel policy that boils dawn ta more than 'let it rust.• Walter Mondale has offered a plan to raise capital, retrain workers, modernize our plants, and boost competitiveness. He'll stop talking about getting government off our backs and start talking about how to get it on our side. You had a right to expect that after four years, your water would be purer, your air would be cleaner, and your neighborhoods Youngstown, Ohio P. .. ~ .. '3. ~L-~. tree of toxic waste. Let's elect a President who ' ll take polluters to court, not out to lunch. You had a right to a leader who would move towards peace. Walter Mondale is committed to the nuclear freeze. You deserve a leader who calls on the Russians to negotiate an arms control agreement on his first day in office, not on the first day of his re-election campaign. You had a right to expect schools that will help your children meet the challenges of the world. Walter Mondale and I promise to make this the best educated generation in American history. What you've gotten instead from the Rea9an Administration after four years is a picture postcard, inscribed: "Everything's great here in America, Youngstown. Wish you were here.• I say to you that if Ronald Rea9an won't deliver what every citizen has a right to expect from his or her government, then let's put Walter Mondale in the White House and send Ronald Reagan back to his ranch, where he belongs. But even if Ronald Reagan has forgotten Youngstown, Youngstown won't forget Ronald Reagan. Youngstown, Ohio fAS~ .... ~ I look around at boarded shop windows and I see the shattered hopes of a score of shopkeepers. More small businessmen like them failed durin9 the first three years of the Rea9an Administration than at any time since the Great Depression. Can we for9et that? I see that accordin9 to a state study, almost thirty percent of your people are willin9 to work and can't find jobs. Ronald Rea9an says to check the want ads. That's an insult to the thousands of decent men and women of this city who are looking for a hand up, not a hand out. Americans are not lazy. But they can't look in the want ads for the thousands of jobs lost forever overseas through the incompetence and mismana9ement of this Administration. The people of Youn9stown are sayin9 in a single voice: 9ive us jobs, ~nd we'll out-build, out-sell, and out-compete any workers on the face of this earth. The people of Youn9stown are also sayin9 that they insist on fairness, even if our government does not. Accordin9 to this Administration, if you're a defense contractor, $2000 for a thirteen-cent nut is not too high a price. But if you're an elderly woman living on Social Security, Youngstown, Ohio f ~s~ ... 1 the minimum benefit of $122 is extravagant and must be cut. If you're a Pentagon supplier, $7000 for a coffee machine is market value. But if you're a worker thrown out of a job, this Administration says vote with your feet. If you're homeless, they say you like it that way. If you're hungry, have some cheese. It you're one of thousands of disabled thrown on the ash h•~P by this Administration's cruel Social Security disability policy, they say •sue us.• But if you're a bi9 bank failing because of mismanagement, it's tell us how much you need and we'll send it. This Administration has a calculator where its heart should be. And it's a calculator with a double standard. One reason the people of Youngstown have heard so little from Mr. Reagan is that he's busy boastin9 about an economic recovery. I say there's nothing to boast about when hundreds of plants and thousands of workers stand idle. He says the economy is moving ahead. I say we can't move ahe~d by leaving behind the workers, the industries, and the regions that made America the greatest industrial nation on the Youngstown, Ohio t~s~ .... ~ earth. Mr. Rea9an is pleased with the rally on Wall Street. I c~n't take pride in Wall Street, when Main Street is boarded up. He says America is back and standin9 tall. I say we're not there until Youngstown is also back and standing tall. Through incompetence and indifference, we're sta99erin9 under the largest trade deficit in history. Let's be clear: tr3de Mean~ job$. We must be prepared to push our exports and demand that our trading partners open their doors as wide as we've opened ours. This Administration doesn't understand that. It's time to replace an Administration that makes jobs America's chief export. But to listen to Mr. Reagan, you'd think there had never been a more decent, compassionate government than his. He has the habit of taking bows while the heroine's still tied to the tracks. He has a knack for reading the hero's lines even when he's cast himself in the role of the heavy. In a photo opportunity, Ronald Reagan went to the Olympics to con9ratulate our athletes, includin9 the female athletes. But back in Washington, his Administration sided with those who would Youngstown, Ohio t~s~ .... ~ discriminate against women in sports. I, too, congratulate our Olympic champions. But I am a3ainst sex discrimination in federally-funded institutions. I want to help women get to the starting block, not just pat them on the back when they cross the finish line. In a campaign appearance, Ronald Reagan went to Buffalo ta dedicate a senior citizens housing project and called it •wonderful ••• a splendid example of government and community p~rtnership.• But back in Washington, he has decimated the program that built that very same project. I want an Administration that shelters the elderly, not just the income of the wealthy. In a symbolic gesture, Ronald Reagan plans to dedicate a monument to the great nature photographer Ansel Adams. But in environmental affairs, he has worked against everything that Ansel Adams loved. I want an Administration that does more than talk about law ~nd order -- I want one that enforces our environmental laws. Mr. Reagan talks a lot about his sympathy for the working Youngstown, Ohio f AS~ .... l man and woman. But when the Chrysler Corporation was on the ropes, Hr. Reagan said, let it fail. I want a President who stands up for America's basic industries, not the bi9 shots. A few days ago, Hr. Reagan spoke reverently about John K~nnedy. But in fact, Hr. Reagan was a leader of Democrats for Nixon in 1960. He tried to beat John Kennedy. And he has opposed nearly every decent cause which that 9ood President loved. I say to Hr. Reagan: don't tell us you supported John Kennedy, because you didn't. Don't tell us you clean up the environment, because you don't. Don't tell us you've expanded opportunity, because you haven't. And don't tell us, Hr. President, that your policies are fair -- because they aren't. Don't pretend you have a monopoly on patriotism, either, because you don't. No one is more proud of this country than I am, and no one is more patriotic than an immigrant's daughter nominated by her party to be Vice President of the United States. What this Administration doesn't understand is that there are many ways to serve this country. And the least impressive Youngstown, Ohio r..:;1 .. 9.~ ..... ~. kind of patriotism is the commercials of swellin9 music and sweeping vistas made by Madison Avenue. What they don't understand is that when someone finds jobs for the 40,000 jobless here -- that will be a patriotic act. When we educate our children, we build our country's future and that's a patriotic act. When we keep the peace, young men don't die -- and that's a patriotic .3ct. When we pass the Equal Ri9hts Amendment, we open doors everywhere -- and that's a patriotic act. When we finally stop the arms race, we'll enhance our safety and that will be a patriotic act. The time to be9in that work is not later. It's now. The time to register new voters is not later. It's now. The time to clean up our environment is not later. It ' s now. Youngstown, Ohio f. .. ~.9J~ ..... 2. The time to freeze the arms race and stop the covert war in Nicaragua is not later. It's now. The time for Fritz Mondale to become President, and Gerry Ferraro to become Vice President, is not later. It's now. Let's 90 out and work together to win this election. Not later -- but now. -- END --

Youngstown Rally Speech: Version 2

https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1139&amp;context=vice_presidential_campaign_speeches_1984

Youngstown Rally Speech: Version 2

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