Remarks of the Chairman

As we convene for this first meeting of the Republican Platform Committee, I want to thank you for your willingness to participate in this arduous process. I also wish to demonstrate anew that rank has its privileges. You have the responsibility, of course, of drafting the specifics of the GOP platform. But I have the responsibility, as I see it, of outlining for you eight key concepts—doctrinal anchors, if you will—which ought to moor our thinking as we approach Ronald Reagan’s second term.

National Security. The best antidote to war is preparedness. In the Civil War, the South seceded only after President Buchanan had stripped the North of its arsenal and stubbornly refused to seek moneys to bolster the nation’s defenses. World War II was precipitated by the weakness of our Allies—and of ourselves. Peace will come only through the exercise of a sturdy, granitic determination to rearm with conventional and new weaponry, including the space ABM, B-l and Stealth aircraft, MX, the M-l tank, and binary chemical weapons.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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As we convene for this first meeting of the Republican Platform Committee, I want to thank you for your willingness to participate in this arduous process. I also wish to demonstrate anew that rank has its privileges. You have the responsibility, of course, of drafting the specifics of the GOP platform. But I have the responsibility, as I see it, of outlining for you eight key concepts—doctrinal anchors, if you will—which ought to moor our thinking as we approach Ronald Reagan’s second term.

National Security. The best antidote to war is preparedness. In the Civil War, the South seceded only after President Buchanan had stripped the North of its arsenal and stubbornly refused to seek moneys to bolster the nation’s defenses. World War II was precipitated by the weakness of our Allies—and of ourselves. Peace will come only through the exercise of a sturdy, granitic determination to rearm with conventional and new weaponry, including the space ABM, B-l and Stealth aircraft, MX, the M-l tank, and binary chemical weapons.