Facing a quick-stop itinerary thatwould daunt the most energetic traveler and a full agenda that wouldchallenge even Henry Kissinger’s stamina, Gerald Ford this week beginsone of the most significant journeys of his presidency. He will spendseven days in Europe, the area of highest foreign policy priority,which has been getting surprisingly low-level attention from the U.S.It will be Ford’s first trip there as President, and he regards hisEuropean debut as a crucially important opportunity to reassure Westernleaders that they can count on the U.S. to come to Europe’s defense,despite U.S. losses in Indochina. Moreover, foreign leaders will beclosely sizing up Ford as a man to see if this unelected Presidentconveys an impression of strength, wisdom, reliability and leadership.
Accompanied by Wife Betty, Ford will stop first in Brussels, where hewill attend a NATO summit meeting on Thursday and Friday. Afterward, hewill spend two days talking with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat inSalzburg. He will also make a brief side trip to Madrid. Ford’sEuropean travels will end on June 3 after a ten-hour stopover in Rometo pay courtesy calls on President Giovanni Leone, Premier MarianoRumor and Pope Paul VI. Traveling with Ford will be Kissinger, who lastweek spent five days in Europe setting the stage for the presidentialdiplomacy. Kissinger visited Ankara, Bonn, West Berlin and Vienna,where he talked for eleven hours with Soviet Foreign Minister AndreiGromyko.
Heady Aftermath. Ford’s trip comes at a time when he is still feelingthe heady aftermath of public acclaim in the U.S. for the way in whichhe directed the military action that rescued the U.S. merchant shipMayaguez from the Cambodians. He made no mention of the incident duringa speech at a Bicentennial celebration in Charlotte, N.C. But whenmembers of the North Carolina congressional delegation praised therescue, the keyed-up crowd of more than 50,000 cheered and whistled.Ford was also buoyed by the growing belief among liberals in Congressthat in the aftermath of Indochina’s collapse, they must strengthenFord’s hand by supporting his foreign policy.
Still, he tried to leave nothing to chance last week as he schooledhimself in the problems of diplomacy, defense and detente that willdominate the NATO conference. Between appointments and before droppingoff to sleep at night, he pored over thick, looseleaf briefing books,scribbling questions in the margins with a felt-tipped pen, asking formore information from the National Security Council staff.
During the conference’s formal sessions, Ford and the European heads ofstate will discuss a variety of mutual concerns. Among them are U.S.negotiations with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear arms, Europeantalks with the Soviets to reduce troop levels along the Iron Curtain,and the Soviet desire for a conference of 35 nations this fall toratify European borders as established by World War II. But two itemsat the top of Ford’s list of priorities will not even appear on theformal agenda: the dispute between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus, andthe threat of a Communist takeover in Portugal. Those delicate subjectswill be explored in private talks between Ford and individual leadersat U.S. Ambassador Leonard Firestone’s elegant residence.
Verge of War. Ford had reason to hope that he might be able to break thediplomatic deadlock on Cyprus. The Greeks seem willing to partition theisland permanently, as demanded by Turkey, but insist on recoveringmuch of the land seized by the Turkish invasion force in 1974. The landwas once occupied by 200,000 Greek Cypriots, who are now homelessrefugees. The dispute has kept both countries on the verge of war fornearly a year.
Last week Ford gained some leverage from the Senate that he can use tohelp negotiate an easing of the crisis. The Senators voted to renewarms shipments to Turkey that were suspended in February because theTurks had used American-supplied weapons in their invasion. The votewas narrow—41 to 40—but White House aides said that they could havegained at least ten additional votes, if needed, from Senators who werereluctant to cast them for fear of offending constituents of Greekdescent. In his meetings with Turkish Premier Siileyman Demirel, Fordwill probably argue that only a more conciliatory attitude on Turkey’spart can overcome House opposition to the bill. Ford will also discussthe Cyprus crisis with Greek Premier Constantine Caramanlis, who agreedto attend the NATO summit only because he believes that Ford can getthe negotiations with Turkey moving.
U.S. pressure seemed less likely to alleviate the Portuguese problem.Ford has become so concerned about the growing Communist strength inthe country that he has decided to ask the NATO leaders to considerdrumming Portugal out of the alliance. He explained in Washington: “Idon’t see how you can have a Communist element significant in anorganization that was formed for the purpose of meeting a challenge byCommunist elements.”
Only Policy. Even so, at a private meeting in Brussels with left-leaningPremier Vasco Gonçalves, Ford planned to promise continued U.S.economic assistance to Portugal’s moderate leftists. In addition, hewill encourage other European leaders to supply all possible aid toGonçalves’ leftist coalition government in an effort to bolster theSocialists, Popular Democrats and other non-Communist leftists who wonnearly 70% of the vote in the recent election. The Administration waspessimistic that U.S. and European support of the moderates will blockthe growing Communist control of the press and trade unions (see THEWORLD). Still, as a U.S. policymaker noted, “it’s the only policythat’s feasible.”
To further dramatize U.S. concern about Europe’s shaky southern tier,Ford will spend Saturday in Madrid discussing U.S.-European relationswith Generalissimo Francisco Franco and Premier Carlos Arias Navarro.From Spain, Ford will fly to Salzburg to talk with Sadat in hopes offinding a new approach to negotiating peace in the Middle East. Sadathas ruled out a resumption of Secretary of State Kissinger’sstep-by-step diplomacy. As a result, said a White House aide, “we haveto find an alternative. The most dangerous alternative is to donothing—and that we can’t afford.” Ford and Sadat also will discussthe Soviet demand that the Geneva peace talks be reconvened. To easeArab apprehensions in advance of the meeting, Ford said last week thathe would “in effect rule out” the use of military force in the event ofanother Arab oil embargo. The President will meet later in June withIsraeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin in Washington.
Too Much Force. To an extent, Ford should be aided in his personaldiplomacy by his firmness in dispatching Marines and U.S.fighter-bombers to force Cambodia to give up the Mayaguez and its crew.Some Europeans believed that he used too much force. But White Houseaides thought that the rescue operation, at the very least,demonstrated to allied leaders Ford’s ability to act swiftly anddecisively.
The popularity of the rescue remained high in the U.S., despite newsthat U.S. casualties were about twice as high as had originally beenannounced. The final count was 15 dead, three missing and presumeddead, and 50 wounded. The Air Force also disclosed that 23 U.S. airmenwho were on their way to join the rescue force were killed when theirhelicopter crashed in Thailand.
Soviet Signal. There was a growing belief among Democrats in CongressXhat for a time they must back the Administration’s diplomatic andmilitary policies to keep the Communists from misinterpretingcongressional opposition as a sign of American weakness. ExplainedLiberal Democratic Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota: “It’s veryimportant to signal the Soviets that we’re not moving into anisolationist period.”
The new bipartisanship was reflected in House votes for heavy defensespending. The House authorized $26.5 billion for research, developmentand purchase of new military weapons in fiscal 1976, up 27% from thespending for the current fiscal year and only modestly lower thanFord’s original request. Congressmen also overwhelmingly rejected aproposed 70,000-man reduction in the 416,500 U.S. troops stationedoverseas. Said Illinois Democratic Representative Abner Mikva: “I’dlove to get our troops out of South Korea, but not this year. This yearI’m afraid it would be perceived by the North Koreans as an openinvitation to attack.” Added his Illinois colleague, Democrat SidneyYates: “This is no tune to reduce troops, not with the Middle East inturmoil and Cyprus unresolved.”
The congressional support should alleviate Europeans’ fears that theCommunist conquest of Indochina left the U.S. divided over thefundamentals of its foreign policy. As Ford told a group of foreignjournalists last week, “the American people are getting out from underthe trauma” of Viet Nam and are resisting any tendency to drift intoisolationism. Thus the President will leave for Europe with more thanenough evidence to argue persuasively that the U.S. is indeed able andwilling to stand behind its basic commitments.