The Pittsburgh Press (October 22, 1944)
Bricker cites GOP gifts to Social Security
Hits New Deal’s exclusive guardianship
Salt Lake City, Utah (UP) – (Oct. 21)
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, asserting that welfare legislation was only evidence of good intention, said tonight the actual fulfillment of a Social Security program depended upon administration and sound government.
Defying what he said was the New Deal claim of “exclusive guardianship” over Social Security, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, in a speech prepared for delivery here, asserted that “America has always had a Social Security program.” Furthermore, he cited Republican contribution to social progress and said his party’s platform now outlines a Social Security program which deserves support.
Enactment only one thing
Bricker said:
As American citizens, we must realize that legislation is not a guarantee of social progress or Social Security. It is only evidence of good intentions, the fulfillment of which depends upon the soundness and the security of our government.
Enactment of legislation is one thing; administration and sound government are something else.
“The Social Security Act of 1935 was not a spur-of-the-moment New Deal conception,” Governor Bricker said.
Cites Republicans’ role
The Republican Party, he said, “has played a vital role in promoting social progress,” adding that his party gave the country the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Commerce and Labor Departments, Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, the Federal Children’s Bureau, first National Unemployment Conference, Railway Labor Act, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Federal Farm Board and the original Home Loan Act.
Governor Bricker goes to Wyoming after resting here throughout tomorrow.
Earlier today, he branded as a “myth” the “indispensability” in foreign affairs which, he said, the Democrats claimed for Mr. Roosevelt.