Dick Lugar for President 1996 Campaign Brochure

‘Everything A President Should Be’

THE LUGAR VISION

"The things we must do demand serious leadership and all the integrity, courage, competence and self-discipline at our command.

First, we must have real growth in jobs and personal income. To achieve real growth, we must get control of Government spending and the deficit and abolish the Federal income tax system that is choking off savings and investment.

Second, America's prosperity requires American leadership in the world. There can be no domestic policy agenda without security from our enemies. There can be no economic growth without exports of American goods and services. We must again have a President who understands and knows how to deal with the world around us -- a President who can and will act decisively to use American power and influence.

And third, American prosperity and security, if they are to last and have meaning, require American spiritual renewal. We must rediscover and recommit to the values of faith and family, of integrity and personal responsibility. We must teach these to our children by what we say and by how we live. The President must lead the way, by his own words, by his own commitment, and his own example.

These are the things we must do. These are the reasons I run."

-Dick Lugar

THE LUGAR AGENDA

CREATE sustained economic growth in America by removing the #1 obstacle to growth -- the income tax system.

ELIMINATE federal income taxes and the IRS bureaucracy that strangle economic growth and opportunity for middle-income Americans.

REPLACE the income tax with a national sales tax, spurring savings and investment.

BALANCE the federal budget within seven years through increased economic growth and by conducting a bottom-up review of all federal spending programs.

ELIMINATE federal programs that are unnecessary or don't work.

SEND power and authority back to the states and local communities.

While we put our fiscal house in order at home, exert American leadership in the world:

PROTECT our vital national interests abroad through quiet strength and resolute action.

MAINTAIN a strong, vigorous national defense.

CONTINUE dismantling nuclear arms and preventing their spread.

OPEN new markets and expand opportunities for American exports.

BEGIN an American spiritual renewal by using the presidency to address issues of honesty, virtue and personal responsibility.

RESTORE respect and dignity to the office of the presidency.

WHO IS DICK LUGAR?

Senator Dick Lugar is currently serving in the U. S. Senate with intelligence and wisdom garnered from a lifetime of broad experiences. A lifelong Republican, Lugar is a farmer and small businessman, a former school board member and mayor of Indianapolis, America's twelfth largest city. He was educated in the public schools, graduated with highest honors from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and attended Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar. He married his college sweetheart, Charlene Smeltzer, in 1956. Together, they raised four sons and enjoy seven grandchildren. He is a lay minister in the Methodist Church and an avid runner.

As a young man at Oxford, Dick Lugar knew that service to his country was important. The former Eagle Scout went to the American Embassy in London and volunteered for active duty in the U.S. Navy at the completion of his studies. He served as an intelligence briefer to then-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke and President Eisenhower. After his tour of duty, Dick Lugar returned to Indianapolis to help his brother Tom run the family's ailing farm and food machinery business.

While managing his business, Dick Lugar was called to public service again. Community leaders encouraged the thoughtful, successful executive with children in the public schools to run for the school board. He did and he won. It was the first of three elective offices for Lugar. In 1967, at the urging of Republican leaders, he ran for and won the first of two terms as mayor of Indianapolis.

From 1968 to 1975, Dick Lugar infused new energy into urban government, helping Indianapolis emerge as one of today's most successful cities. In addition to rebuilding neighborhoods, quelling racial tensions and fighting crime, Lugar consolidated the city and county governments under one system known as UNIGOV, a cost-saving model that is still studied today. He balanced eight budgets and cut property taxes five times. He was cited as "Richard Nixon's favorite mayor" for his outspoken support of devolving power from the federal government to local communities.

In 1976, Dick Lugar was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate. As a junior senator, Lugar distinguished himself in the opposition party during the Carter Administration.  With Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), he led the filibuster against Carter's labor law reform bill that would have permitted easy unionization of small businesses. Also in that era, he stopped President Carter's proposed bailout of the Chrysler Corporation, fashioning instead a loan guarantee plan that required concessions from all involved parties. The result: thousands of jobs saved without taxpayer support.

During the 1980s, he was a reliable adviser and ally of President Ronald Reagan in efforts to rollback federal taxes and provide for a vigorous national defense to combat the Soviet Union. Statistically, he was Ronald Reagan's #1 supporter in the Senate for the eight years of the 40th presidency.

His peers elected him chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tapping his broad knowledge and principled leadership to help formulate U.S. policies abroad. Today, he is widely recognized as the Republicans' leading authority on foreign affairs and trade relations.

Lugar co-authored ground-breaking legislation that funds the dismantling and destruction of nuclear arsenals remaining in the former Soviet Union. The Nunn-Lugar program helps ensure that these deadly weapons will never again be targeted at American cities or used by international terrorists.

Lugar's record is further distinguished in domestic affairs. He is a leading proponent of revamping U.S. agricultural policy, working on this issue as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. In 1991, Lugar began an effort to downsize the U.S. Department of Agriculture by closing more than 1,000 field offices that wasted taxpayer money by spending more in administrative costs than they distributed in services to farmers.

Lugar is opposed to the federal income tax system because it discourages savings and investment by middle-income Americans. His solution: Eliminate the federal income tax and the Internal Revenue Service that has become an over reaching and intrusive bureaucracy. Instead, Lugar proposes a national retail sales tax that would ensure citizens' privacy and encourage work, savings and investment.