76-08-A1

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Strategic Stockpiles

Transcript Soon after World War II, our nation began to build up stockpiles of strategic materials that would be needed in case we were cut off from foreign sources in the future. Just as you and I put money away for a rainy day that may never come, Uncle Sam was stockpiling such things as silver, antimony, tin and industrial diamonds -- all resources essential to industrial production. Now, there's a bill before Congress -- Senate Bill 3344 -- which would authorize the executive branch to sell off large quantities of these strategic stockpiles. Every one of these minerals and metals is important to our defense effort. By 1961 our stockpiles had been built up to the point where the government decided it could reduce some of its existing stocks. In silver, for instance, the stockpile has gone down from two billion troy ounces 16 years ago to about 139 million ounces today. Supporters of the bill argue that U. S. silver production is great enough to take care of our needs. But it's only 39 million ounces a year. Together with the proposed new level, it still adds up to less than 10% of what we consumed during World War II. Americans don't like to think about civil defense or the remote possibility of another world war. None of us wants one, of course. But the Russians think about it all the time and civil defense involves protection of resources and industrial capacity as well as protection of citizens. But thinking the unthinkable for a moment, we know that if there ever were another war, it would not be a conventional one like World War II, yet this move to cut our strategic stockpiles seems to be based on belief that it would be. Instead, such a conflict would defy comparison with the past. It could involve extensive disruption of communications and transportation. At the very least, we would need ample supplies of vital materials placed around our own continent in order to keep our defense effort going. We can't afford to plan our stockpiles on the assumption that we would be fighting a conventional war of two, three or four years duration and that our supplies would continue to flow in uninterrupted from overseas. Let's assume that the Soviet Union doesn't want a future conflict any more than we do. Still, we know that they have developed their defense capability and their civil defense with the intention of surviving and winning such a conflict should it ever take place. Can we afford to do any less when freedom is at stake? Keeping our strategic stockpiles at realistic levels is as important as having the. will to defend ourselves. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-08-A1 Production Date 11/16/1976 Book/Page Online PDF Audio No Youtube? No
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