#2 – First Address to a Joint Session of Congress

August 12, 1974

President Gerald R. Ford addresses a Joint Session of Congress for the first time after 25 years of serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Ford states, “I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage.” He also declares his first priority is to bring inflation under control, declaring it “public enemy number one.” President Ford cautions that “a government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

First Address to a Joint Session of Congress