Fritz Hollings for President 1984 Campaign Brochure

‘What a person will do in public office is best judged by what he or she does in public office. Performance is better than promise.’

-Senator Fritz Hollings

No Presidential candidate has been so consistently right in predicting the loss of jobs caused by soaring budget deficits. None has the track record in providing responsible government at all levels. None has fought harder for strong, balanced national security. None has fought so tenaciously to protect our nation's natural resources. None has been so insistent on the side of investing in our nation's human resources through nutrition and education.

And no candidate speaks so directly, candidly and with as much common sense as Senator Fritz Hollings.

Ronald Reagan Mortgages Future of America

"Ronald Reagan is mortgaging America's future. He mortgages our natural resources with fire sales of coal and offshore lands. He mortgages our human resources by cutting investments in nutrition and education. He mortgages our financial resources with $200 billion deficits. He mortgages our international integrity with his casual approach to arms control."

Jobs Depend on Lowering Deficit

"The Reagan program will add $1 trillion dollars to our national debt in just five years. Our country will be paying $100 billion a year just in interest costs on that debt. Pure waste. Worse, Federal borrowing blocks business investment in new facilities and jobs. We must cut the deficits.

"I have proposed a freeze on all spending increases. No cuts, no increases -- just a freeze on social programs, entitlement programs, defense, and foregoing further tax cuts for the rich. In five years my freeze would save $700 billion. Yes, it would hurt. But the sacrifice would be shared equally by all. We would restore fiscal integrity to government, thereby holding down inflation and allowing business to invest and thereby creating jobs for the unemployed."

Competing for Jobs in the World Marketplace

"Eleven million Americans are out of work, not just from Reaganomics, but because other nations who learned from us how to produce have gone America one better. They use government as an active partner in coordinating business and labor, agriculture and science, to compete in the international marketplace. Ronald Reagan believes government is the enemy. His failure to use government properly is putting America out of business.

"I propose not a 'government plan' but government involved in the planning -- assisting in the research and acting as a catalyst to bring business, labor, agriculture and science into a partnership. I would demand fair treatment in trade from all countries enjoying access to America's open markets. "

The Key to a Strong America

"Today we have 'A Nation at Risk' -- a national crisis in education. America's educational system is in bad shape. Parents know it, teachers know it, even the students know it. The basic problem is that the top 10% of educated talent in this country -- teachers -- are in the bottom third of salaries of all wage earners. No corporation could survive by paying its most educated employees progressively less than its other employees. Neither can a society.

"This national crisis warrants a national solution. We spend $40 billion on a B-1 bomber that is obsolete before it can be deployed and $33 billion on an MX missile that nobody can figure how to deploy ...$241 billion for defense. I propose, from such savings, a $14 billion Professional Teacher Grant program that will increase the base salary of every full time classroom teacher in this country. Our nation's best defense is an educated citizen."

The Road to Opportunity

"Opening the doors of opportunity is what America is all about. But the Reagan Administration has been busy slamming them shut. Slashing education, cutting nutrition and health, backsliding on the Civil Rights Commission and opposing the Equal Rights Amendment, the President refuses to use the pulpit of the Presidency to advance the cause of equal justice.

"We need a President to reverse Reagan and a government that educates, makes every minority and woman a full American, and gives every American the chance for a job."

Protecting our World: A Realistic Arms Control Plan

"As President, I would lead for a strong, second-to-none national defense. But I would walk down every road looking for mutual and meaningful arm limitation agreements because they are in everyone's interest.

"I support the Kennedy-Hatfield nuclear arms freeze. This foreswearing of first use is a good step. But not enough. The threat is not in the warhead but in the heads of the leaders of the several nations. In addition to working for practical and achievable steps to slow the arms race, I would use the moral force of the Presidency to mobilize opinion the world over in outrage at the terror we are capable of inflicting on one another. A groundswell of public opinion is the only force which can effectively end the threat of nuclear holocaust. This is the opportunity -- the ultimate responsibility -- of the President of the United States."

As Governor of South Carolina, Fritz Hollings --

Balanced the budget and won the state its first AAA credit rating, launching an unprecedented era of economic development. Started a technical education system for job training catapulting the state into the age of technology. Instituted the Governor's Committee on Agriculture, the state grain elevator, and developed overseas markets for agriculture.

As a United States Senator, Fritz Hollings --

Became the Senate's most forceful advocate of fiscal responsibility, cutting $1 billion a month in spending during his eight months as Chairman of the Budget Committee. Won acclaim as a Senate leader for strong national defense. A hawk to some, Hollings also leads for mission-related defense budgets, discontinuance of the B-1 and MX missile programs, and for mutual arms reductions. Authored the Coastal Zone Management Act to protect our coastal waters and tidelands. Sponsored new protection for our wilderness lands, including the Alaska Lands Bill. Won National Wildlife Federation acclaim as "legislator of the year." Authored the Automobile Fuel Economy Act, requiring Detroit to build more fuel-efficient and competitive-to-foreign cars. Wrote The Case Against Hunger; spearheaded the drive to provide proper nutrition for poor pregnant women and infants (the WIC program); and championed low-cost preventive health care to the poor through community, health centers.

Hollings…Professional…Presidential