John Ashbrook for President 1972 Campaign Brochure

‘Here’s why Republicans should vote for

John M. Ashbrook in the Presidential Primary’

In 1968 Nixon was the One

Why is John Ashbrook running in this Primary? Let him tell you why:

John Ashbrook asks for your support

"In 1968 as a delegate to the Republican Convention I cast my vote for Richard Nixon. I did this on the basis of his record and the pledges he made during the campaign.

"He said that we must put an end to the huge inflationary deficits which pick the pockets of every American. He warned against the dangers of a regimented economy. He opposed any scheme for a guaranteed annual income. He promised to cut back the sprawling Federal bureaucracy. He called for military superiority to defend America from the growing might of the Soviet Union.

"He was right, and we Republicans, in supporting him were making a pledge to the American people.

"Today, three years later, where do we stand?

"The first three Nixon budgets will show a deficit of nearly 80 billion dollars -- the largest string of deficits in our peacetime history. The wasteful Great Society programs have gone on unchecked -- even expanded, Nixon has advocated the so called Family Assistance Plan (FAP) that would more than double the nation's welfare rolls by means of a guaranteed annual income.

"The President's foreign policy has deepened the illusion of detente -- at the very time the Soviet Union and Red China are stepping up their aggressive challenges throughout the world. We have seen this Administration lead the triumphant charge of the Red Chinese into the United Nations as Free China our ally of thirty years, was cynically expelled.

"The decline of our national defenses has prompted the President's own Blue Ribbon Defense Panel to warn: "It is not too much to say that in the 70's neither the vital interests of the U.S. nor the lives and freedom of its citizens will be secure."

"It is because the promise and hope of the 1968 campaign have been so largely abandoned that I am running in this Primary. I ask the support of all those who seek a Republican Party dedicated to a strong national defense, a realistic foreign policy, economy in government and the growth of free institutions at home."

Yours is one of the few States in which Republicans will have the opportunity of voting twice in this election year. Vote for a man who speaks for you. Yours can be a vote of conscience for a man of courage. And all America will be watching. Vote for John Ashbrook. It's your Primary responsibility.

A Man of Courage and Conviction...John Ashbrook deserves your support

William Buckley describes John Ashbrook as "among the world's most charming intelligent and natural men." The voters in his home state agree. Before being elected to the House in 1960, he served for four years as the second youngest member of the Ohio General Assembly. During his almost 12 years in Congress, Ashbrook has met and overcome strong Democratic opponents including two incumbents.

Ashbrook's Republican credentials are impressive: Ashbrook has been a Delegate or Alternate at every Republican National Convention since 1956.

He has repeatedly shown the courage to put Party above personalities and -- when necessary -- Party Principles above Party Politics. In 1968 he displayed that courage when he, along with only one other Republican, broke with Ohio's organization slate to the Republican National Convention and supported Richard Nixon.

This year he is running in the Primary to give his fellow Republicans the opportunity to tell the President that they are not happy with the Administration's leftward drift -- on welfare, on Red China, on deficit spending, on economic controls, and on the dangerous decline of our national defenses.

A vote for John Ashbrook will be a vote of conscience for a man of principle. Vote for John Ashbrook. It's your Primary responsibility.

Republicans: Vote for John Ashbrook...You'll win!

This year the eyes of all America are on you. This State, with its key Primary gives you the special opportunity to vote twice during this important Presidential year.

If you are genuinely disturbed -- as many Republicans are -- by the Nixon Administration's dangerous drift away from the principles and promises of 1968, your vote in this Primary can let them know how you feel in a way they can't ignore.

If you'd like to tell the Administration which way you want it to move, you can't do it by being a rubber stamp. You can do it by voting for John Ashbrook. Think about it seriously. It's your Primary responsibility.

John Ashbrook talks about economy in government

In 1968 Candidate Nixon spoke about the "urgent necessity to cut the Federal budget... in the neighborhood of $8 billion." He spoke forcefully of the need to reduce big government spending and a return to sound economic principles.

In 1968 Candidate Nixon said that a guaranteed annual income "would not end poverty and would have a very detrimental effect..."

He was right, and we agreed. Since taking office the Administration has not cut the Federal budget one nickel. Instead, Newsweek Magazine has called the president "one of the biggest deficit spenders in all history." The Administration has increased the Federal deficit by $63.5 billions and has projected an estimated deficit for the coming fiscal year that will increase the total amount during Nixon's stewardship to nearly $88 billion. The Administration's estimates have been so wildly in error that the figure could easily rise to $100 billion! In 1968 Candidate Nixon deplored the welfare mess and we agreed. Yet in 1969, he proposed a guaranteed annual income through the so-called Family Assistance Plan (FAP) which could result in adding 12-15 million Americans to the welfare rolls -- costing taxpayers extra billions every year. During the Nixon Administration, the meddlesome and costly Federal bureaucracy has continued to expand, not contract. The Republican pledge to check runaway big government has not been fulfilled. Your Primary vote for John Ashbrook will show the President that we Republicans agreed with his campaign promises of economy in government and that we are deeply disappointed with his performance. Your Primary vote for John Ashbrook can put the kind of pressure on the Administration which will bring it back to sound Republican principles. This time vote for John Ashbrook...You'll win!

Trade as a weapon

In 1968 Candidate Nixon said, "I believe there should be no aid or credit of any kind with a country that aids the enemy in North Vietnam." But what has happened since? U.S. licenses for export of potentially defense-related items to the Soviet Union increased tenfold in 1971 -- to $1¼ billion! While the Kremlin supplies some 350 trucks a month to North Vietnam -- trucks used to transport the men and material of war to our enemy in Indo-China -- the Administration is working to facilitate construction by American firms of one of the largest truck factories in the world in the Soviet Union. A year ago the Defense Department opposed this plan. If you would like Administration policy to reflect the tough, realistic views Nixon proclaimed in 1968, you have a surefire way of letting him know: Vote for John Ashbrook in the Republican Primary...You'll win!

"Second best is not good enough when the defense of the United States is at stake."-Richard Nixon 1968

In 1968 Candidate Nixon hammered again and again on the need for strong national defense. "We find today that the balance of power in the world has shifted," he warned. "Americans should remember," he said, "that it has been our nuclear superiority that has kept the peace for the last generation...I say let the time never come when, in a confrontation between the great powers whether in Cuba or the Middle East -- the side that seeks victory has the strategic advantage over the side that seeks peace." You agreed. John Ashbrook agreed. But what has happened since 1968? The President's own Blue Ribbon Defense Panel recently warned: "it is not too much to say that in the 70's neither the vital interests of the U.S. nor the lives and freedom of its citizens will be secure." Meanwhile, Administration spokesmen boast that under Nixon we have "reduced the burden of arms." Yes. But at what peril to our policies, our security, even our national survival? In October, 1969, a Soviet-built MIG-17 flew undetected from Cuba to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. Again, last October another Soviet-built aircraft, the larger AN-24, flew from Cuba across the Gulf of Mexico and landed in New Orleans. The first we knew of its presence in our skies was a request for permission to land! A Congressional subcommittee has charged in a report issued January 3rd of this year that our air defenses are "virtually useless" -- especially in defending against a sneak bomber attack from the south. There exists, the report charged, ''a 1,500-mile opening in our air defense...between Florida and California...any foreign power can, at will, violate the Southern United States Air Space without detection or interception." Since John Ashbrook announced his entry into the Primaries, challenging the Administration to live up to the Nixon promises of 1968, a new note has recently been sounded from the White House -- requests for increased spending on defense. Ashbrook's candidacy may already be helping to exert the kind of pressure needed to get the Administration to start pursuing the kinds of policies in defense and other areas we Republicans promised America in 1968. Your vote for John Ashbrook in this Primary can insure the continuing success of that pressure. You can vote for an America that has the military superiority needed to preserve the peace and protect the lives and freedom of all Americans. It's your Primary responsibility, Vote for John Ashbrook...You'll win!

What Price Peking?

During the 1968 campaign Nixon ridiculed the idea of "rushing to grant recognition to Peking, to admit it to the United Nations and to ply it with offers of trade." This, he said, would discourage the non-communist elements in Free Asia. He was right.

Then last summer our State Department switched to support for Red China's admission to the UN.

Last Fall Red China swept in and Free China, a founding member and our ally of 30 years, was summarily expelled.

Chou En-lai gloated: * "Look at the outcome of the voting...This even indicated the change after President Nixon expressed his wish to come to China...the talks have not yet started, but we are already in the United Nations. This is a victory, and we have not bartered away any principles."

He was right. It is the Administration which has lost, which has bartered away its pledges and its principles.

If you believe, as Nixon did in 1968, that the weakening of the Asian anti-communist alliance and the betrayal of loyal friendly governments is too high a price to pay for the illusion of detente with Red China, then register your protest by voting for John Ashbrook. It's your Primary responsibility. *To Neville Maxwell, London Sunday Times, Dec. 5, 1971.

Our symbol, the international traffic sign for NO LEFT TURN, expresses the will of millions of loyal Republicans as they work for a GOP victory in 1972.