"Unbridled Enthusiasm" : A speech by Rep. Wiley Mayne to the ACU (August 4, 1972)

The following is a transcript of a brief, but unusually impassioned speech given by House Representative Wiley Mayne (R - Iowa, 6th Congressional District) to the American Conservative Union's annual convention in Des Moines, Iowa on the evening of August 4, 1972:

Good evening and thank you for having me. I'd like to get down to brass tacks and make some central points about the current goings on in Washington, Viet Nam, and regarding the upcoming presidential election.

1. Things are looking up in our nation's great capital! Things are moving, and when things move, so does our culture and society. People are statistically happier and that is due to multiple things, one of which is our wonderful economy.

2. My wife informs me that some people are listening to newer forms of music. Let me tell you, first of all: new music is a perfectly acceptable form of social networking (and let's be honest, as good a way to get girls as hanging out at miniature golf courses). But make no mistake: nothing can replace Roy Harris and Aaron Copland. Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all can take what they have contributed to our collective subconscious. They are what Ralph Waldo Emerson would call "collective geniuses on the wall of American greatness and prosperity."

3. It has come to my attention that the local press has taken some interest in my affair with Mrs. Alice Fairbanks. Can I just set the record straight and suggest that perhaps my affair with Mrs. Fairbanks is my own business, as well as perhaps that of my wife and perhaps even Mr. Fairbanks. But not you. Stop clogging my phone lines. My butler hates you all.

4. Viet Nam. What isn't there that is controversial to say about this terrible and inflated war? We're doing fairly well--don't be fooled by the Leftists who have a saber toothed wedge in the popular media. We're doing what we have to do. People are shorter in Viet Nam, isn't that evidence of their being terrorized by the northern Communists? We must keep in mind, my friends, that William the Conqueror was 6' 2" at a time when it was highly unpopular to be so. But our friends in the press would like to forget these key points and Facts that are lodged truthfully within history.

5. I need your love. Seriously. Washington D.C. is bereft of love in this modern era. The last congressional session I attended, we formed a several hundred-person circle of U.S. Representatives and had ourselves a good cry. A good nonpartisan cry.

6. President Nixon needs your love too--and support. I cannot stress this enough. This may turn out to be a tough election, given the recent unprecedented political response by the untamed youth and illiterate students in this country. I have hope and courage, however, that even a teenage upstart such as George McGovern can keep his hippy paws off the White House. Again, the only way we can win this war is to give Nixon an even stronger vote of confidence than we already have. We all must make sacrifices--I certainly know I have. Energy and money must go towards this noble cause...we will not and must not back down in the face of our foes.

I have unbridled enthusiasm for the future of this country. Let's take back the streets. Will you join me?

When you get to those hoodlum-infested streets, you can stand proud, with American flags waving, and you can tell 'em Wiley sent you. And you can tell 'em I told you to give 'em hell.

A closing thought: where is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the 1970s? Is it here, in this room? Is it in the houses of Congress and in the state legislature buildings across this nation? Is it in our living rooms, next to the television? Where are your children when you go out at night? Do you own a gun?

Thank you, and God bless the state of Iowa and this great nation.