Frank Church for President 1976 Campaign Brochure

‘The man who was too responsible to run

for President now agrees he must run.’

Because, he is frustrated about the inability of government to solve the baffling problems that have overwhelmed this country since the Second World War.

Because, he is outraged by the complexities that are tearing apart the fabric of American society, and the specious rationalizations used by government officials and corporate leaders to evade the clear intent and spirit of the law.

After twenty years in the United States Senate, he knows what could be done -- and what isn't being done -- to reverse the trend of the past few decades. A trend which is increasingly leading to a type of domestic economy and a dual set of standards which is producing accelerated urbanization, leaving -- in the midst of affluence -- a hard pressed middle class, large pockets of poverty-stricken people, electoral and social dropouts, an army of the unemployed, and a growing number of unemployables. The United States -- the wealthiest country in the world -- has the largest unemployment rate of any industrial country in the world while large corporations and the multinationals are gobbling up independent corporations at an alarming rate, more and more power is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, with complete indifference for domestic needs,

Unemployment with its deprivations, loss of dignity, purchasing power, and tax revenue is causing mass migration into the cities -- burdening them with crushing costs of public relief programs -- poisoning the large urban centers and making them unmanageable.

We are experiencing a dangerous fall-away from the electoral process while politicians vainly try to keep our economy and corrupt foreign regimes propped up with promises of fiscal inducements, incentives, and endless useless band-aid remedies, while our foreign policy which is in great part responsible for our domestic problems -- has grievously impaired the good name of the United States.

Frank Church is the man who has the knowledge the abiding sense of ethics the anger and the wisdom to lead this nation out of its difficulties.

Frank Church -- the Record

Foreign Policy

Frank Church is a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His knowledge of foreign affairs -- coupled with his uncanny foresight -- made him one of the earliest members of the committee to warn that obsession with the internal affairs of other people's countries would lead to neglect of domestic affairs and the well-being of Americans at home.

He first spoke out about our involvement in Viet Nam in 1964.

He co-authored the Cooper-Church Amendment which removed and prevented American ground forces from returning to Cambodia, and he co-authored the Case-Church Amendment, which forced an end to the bombing of that country during the Nixon Administration. He was the first liberal in the Senate to break with indiscriminate foreign aid.

On October 29, 1971, during a speech on the floor of the Senate he said, "As my service in the Senate amply demonstrates, I am not a foe of a genuine foreign aid program, having long since acknowledged that any country as advantaged as ours should do what it can to help other people improve their lot.

But no longer will I endorse with my vote a foreign aid program which has been twisted into a parody and a farce."

Multinationals

As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, Frank Church has conducted the only in-depth Congressional investigation of the large oil companies, and the cartels and interests that control the sources of supply.

He has exposed the manipulations, bribes and payoffs, and world-wide interlocking interests of these multinational conglomerates who owe no allegiance to any country.

He understood the arcane and complex dealings of these canny giants so well, that his incisive questions during the hearings unnerved the top executives who for years relied on the safety of being able to bury the truth under a cloud of confusion.

He is now fighting to curb corporate tax breaks which enable them to invest American capital into American owned manufacturing operations abroad, where they can employ labor at slave wages with the cooperation of officials they have corrupted, depriving workers in foreign lands of a living wage while simultaneously depriving millions of unemployed Americans of any wage at all.

Energy Alternatives

It was Frank Church, as Chairman of the Energy Research Subcommittee who forced a budget increase last year for development of non-nuclear energy alternatives.

As President of the United States he will have the power to institute crash programs.

The Environment

It was Frank Church who authored the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and was Floor Manager of the Wilderness Act. He fought the powerful strip mining interests in his own state of Idaho, and won. He opposed the mighty lumber interests when they tried to invade his state's precious wilderness area, and won again...He can rightfully be called the founding father of the modern conservation movement and is at present the ranking member of the Senate Interior Committee.

Israel

Since Frank Church came to the Senate, he has been committed to Israel's right to exist as a free and independent nation. He has consistently fought to provide whatever aid Israel has needed to protect her borders.

He is committed to a discriminating foreign policy He voted to send American personnel to the Sinai, after inserting language -- agreed to by both Dr. Kissinger and the Israeli government -- which directs the immediate removal of the American contingent in the event of war.

He also makes a clear distinction between our support of Israel and our interference in the affairs of other countries.

Aging

Frank Church has been the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aging since 1971. During that time he has been in the forefront in advancing legislation on behalf of older Americans, including the enactment of the twenty percent social security increase in 1972, the largest dollar raise by far in the history of the program.

Establishment of a cost-of-living adjustment mechanism to make social security benefits inflation-proof for the elderly, enactment of a two-step, eleven percent social security raise in 1974.

Approval of amendments to strengthen the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Recently The National Council of Senior Citizens stated "As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aging, Senator Frank Church has been the leading voice in Congress on behalf of aged and aging Americans."

Civil Rights

In 1957 he played a major role in enacting the first Civil Rights Bill. He has been in the thick of the fight ever since to achieve greater equality of opportunity for all Americans.

Equal Rights Amendment

Frank Church not only cosponsored the Equal Rights Amendment, he was one of the first Senators to appoint a woman as his Chief Administrator in 1964.

Frank Church -- the Man

Frank Church was 32 when the people of Idaho sent him to the Senate They have re-elected him by landslide margins three more times.

He is a native of Idaho born July 25 1924, in Boise.

While still in high school he met the girl he would one day marry -- Bethine Clark They were married June 21, 1947. They have two Sons, Chase, a University of Idaho freshman and Forrest, a minister in Boston, whose wife Amy is Dean of Students at Harvard Divinity School.

Frank Church is an Army veteran of World War II. He enlisted at the age of 18 as a private, and was commissioned a lieutenant on his 20th birthday.

Church left the Army in 1945 to enter Stanford University. He excelled in debating and was graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Upon completing his law studies at Stanford he returned to Boise to begin his practice. Four years later, the people of Idaho sent him to the Senate, one of the youngest ever elected to that body.

It was more than a year ago that Frank Church gave his answer to those who had been urging him to seek the Presidency.

His answer was no.

He said he had his job to do as Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations and on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Now after having completed these assignments he has again been asked to run.

This time his answer is yes.

He has agreed to run because the indecision in Democratic ranks -- the persistently large uncommitted vote -- means the party has yet to find a champion among the parade of personalities.

Much more than a new face is required. A candidate must be seasoned, sensible, and strong.

Frank Church has been learning and growing for the past twenty years. He is today a central figure in the national government with a command of almost any issue that could confront a President. Now he is ready,

But a great deal of work has to be done -- and time is short. Your help is urgently needed. Please send as much as you can and volunteer to work for him in your community.