“Greedy economic giants are raping the environment, polluting the water we drink and the air we breathe — yet all too often the reformers offer solutions that will lead to unemployment and economic chaos,” Gingrich said, according to a copy of his 1974 campaign kickoff speech kept by Howell.
Gingrich never uses such harsh language now to describe business interests on the campaign trail. His criticism of the regulators has remained strident. He has more recently called the Environmental Protection Agency a “job killer” that must be replaced.
Local newspaper coverage from the time shows that Gingrich was endorsed in 1976 by the state affiliate of the National Education Association and, his former supporters say, the Communication Workers of America. The relationship with teachers did not last long. By 1985, Gingrich was denouncing the NEA as part of a “left-wing alliance” in a speech he gave to school board officials, according to papers from Gingrich’s archive at the University of West Georgia.
At times, Gingrich made statements that might be cheered today by Occupy Wall Street protesters. For example, he denounced the corporate profits accrued by oil companies and said the companies needed to open their records for inspection. He was running in the aftermath of an oil embargo imposed by Arab states to punish the United States for giving military support to Israel. The embargo caused gas prices to skyrocket and led to shortages at the pumps.
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