Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
This file contains materials relating to Daniel Patrick Moynihan and William Colby.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
1671589
label
Press Secretary Briefings, 1/27/76
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
1671589
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Press Secretary Briefings, 1/27/76
description
This file contains materials relating to Daniel Patrick Moynihan and William Colby.
citationUrl
collections
Ron Nessen Files (Ford Administration)
Ron Nessen's Press Briefing Transcripts
subjects
Israel
Angola
White House (Washington, D.C.)
Foreign aid
Intelligence
Legislation
Picketing
Vetoes
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
1671589
coverageEndDate
day
27
logicalDate
1976-01-27
month
1
year
1976
coverageStartDate
day
27
logicalDate
1976-01-27
month
1
year
1976
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
0602f61a9bf77596
ocrText
Digitized from Box 16 of the Ron Nessen Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
This Copy For
NEWS CONFERENCE
#424
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
WITH RON NESSEN
AT 11:43 A.M. EST
JANUARY 27, 1976
TUESDAY
MR. NESSEN: You saw the arrival of Prime Minister
Rabin and Mrs. Rabin. Our plan is to put out a written report
on today's first meeting at 2:30 this afternoon.
Tonight, as you know, there is a dinner beginning
at 8 o'clock with the arrival of the Prime Minister and
Mrs. Rabin and that will be the regular coverage plans for that.
Sheila Weidenfeld is handling the coverage plans
but it is the usual coverage of the arrival and the coming
down the stairs, and the entertainment tonight is Carol
Burnett and Helen Reddy, and there will be coverage of part
of their show.
On the President's schedule today there will be
a brief drop-in by the Commander of the VFW and there will be
a meeting at 4:30 this afternoon with Ambassador Moynihan.
It is a periodic meeting that they have to sort of catch-up
on developments and I would certainly think that last night's
vote in the Security Council will be one of the matters, but
there will be others.
Q When was the Moynihan meeting scheduled?
MR. NESSEN: It has been on the long-range schedule
for a week or so,as far as I know.
Q
No plans for him to resign?
MR. NESSEN: No.
Q
You remember during the flap he said, "I am
going to stay on a while longer," and there was some speculation
that it would be just a while longer.
MR. NESSEN: The President is very pleased with his
conduct at the UN.
Q
Ron, would you make an attempt to make him
available.
MORE
- 2 -
#424-1/27
MR. NESSEN: I will ask him but I doubt it, John.
Fran has asked me over a period of days whether the
President knew that a good number of the letters on the
common situs picketing matter, both pro and con, were form
letters, so I dug back to a series of memos. I told you the
President gets a weekly memo from Roland Elliott, who is in
charge of the Mail Office, and I went back to the period
immediately before the decision. And I find that, for
instance, on November 14 in a memo to the President, Roland
Elliott said the common situs picketing bill has drawn
consistently heavy mail. This week there were 4654 letters
and more than 100,000 form cards.
The following week, on the 21st, he says that
4465 persons wrote in; there were also 95,000 form cards.
Then on the 28th of November, the President got a memo from
Roland Elliott saying there were 3702 letters and 101,000
forms, so the answer simply is yes, the President knew that
a good deal of the mail on both sides was forms.
Q The question is then who inspired it and was
he influenced by the forms?
MR. NESSEN: The President made his decision on the
basis of what he explained at the time that he vetoed the bill.
Q So this had no influence?
MR. NESSEN: The President did not take a count and
go with the side that turned in the most mail. He made the
decision on what he felt was best for the country.
Q Ron, you said there were forms on both sides?
MR. NESSEN: Yes.
Q
I understood the large out-pouring of forms was
on the negative side.
MR. NESSEN: Well, that is right.
Q You just say there are forms and not tell him
they are positive or negative, how about that?
MR. NESSEN: No, in each case there was -- Dick,
I agree with you. I feel like doing the same myself.
Q It's that kind of day.
MR. NESSEN: I don't find it right - well, for
instance, in a memo of December 12, which was before the
decision, common situs picketing mail, for instance, in favor
of signing the bill, there were 251 letters and 694 forms,
so he saw both sides. Anyway, I agree with Dick's comment on
this whole subject.
MORE
#424
- 3 -
#424-1/27
Q
Ron, on the President's schedule, you left out
the meeting with Vice President Rockefeller, is that right?
MR. NESSEN: I am sorry, yes. I didn't bring the
paper out with me, but that is a routine weekly meeting.
Q
Ron, on another subject, I am wondering why
the White House decided not to tell the press until after
the Colby ceremony yesterday, when you had a man who apparently
performed such a service to the country?
MR. NESSEN: Well, it was just decided to have that
as a private ceremony.
Q
Why weren't we told in advance that it was going
to happen and why weren't pictures provided as they have been
on several occasions?
MR. NESSEN: It was just a decision to hold it
privately and then we did announce it at about the time it
started, I think.
Q
Whose decision was that, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: It was a White House decision, Don.
Q
Because you wanted no coverage?
MR. NESSEN: Well, it was decided to make it a
private ceremony.
Q
Why?
MR. NESSEN: Because that was the decision.
Q
But you had no reason for it?
MR. NESSEN: There was just a decision to make it
a private ceremony, Helen.
Q
Mr. Colby's problems and the fact that he was
fired, did that have some bearing on your decision?
MR. NESSEN: I think you probably read the citation
that went with the medal, Phil, which probably answers the
question.
MORE
#424
- 4 -
#424-1/27
Q
No, it does not. Did the fact that he was
fired have anything to do with the fact that you decided
not to allow any press coverage or not to tell the press
until after it was over?
MR. NESSEN: No.
Q
We were told yesterday that Mr. Colby requested
the private ceremony. Now today we are told that it was a
White House decision.
MR. NESSEN: I don't know who requested it or
whether he did or somebody in the White House did, but that
was the decision anyhow.
We have a letter here that the President is
sending to the Speaker today. Let's just take a minute
to get these passed out now. It is a letter from the
President to the Speaker in which the President states
at some length his view of the impending vote on the aid
to Angola.
We will just take a minute while that is passed
out.
Q
While we are waiting, could you please tell
us why the decision was made to hold that South Lawn arrival
ceremony in the rain today instead of in the East Room?
MR. NESSEN: The time when a decision had to be
made was 8:30. The reason it was 8:30 was that it took
from 8:30 until 10:30 to set up the East Room. So a final
decision had to be made at 8:30. At 8:30 the weather
forecast was checked and at that time the weather forecast
called for mist and some (Laughter) sort of intermittent or
occasional sprinkles but obviously it didn't turn out that
way. The decision was made on the basis of a weather fore-
cast that turned out to be not --
Q
Does that mean someone is going to fire the
forecaster?
MR. NESSEN: I guess that guy's ability to forecast
the weather is about like mine on --
Q
On a number of matters. (Laughter)
MR. NESSEN: On one I am thinking of specifically.
Q
Ron, on the Moynihan visit with the President,
will the Secretary of State be present? Who is going to
be there besides the two men?
MR. NESSEN: Besides the President?
MORE
#424
- 5 -
#424-1/27
Q
Yes.
MR. NESSEN: Secretary Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft
will also attend the meeting.
Q
Ron, I was wondering, at the President's
first press conference after he became President he said
that the time was not right to shift our embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as he had advocated while a Congressman.
I am wondering if this is scheduled to be discussed or if,
to your knowledge, he thinks that any time will be right?
What is his position on this?
MR. NESSEN: I don't think it will be discussed
and I have not asked him lately what his position is.
Q
To your knowledge, Ron, just to follow this
up, is there any other country in the world where we have
our embassy in a city that is not the capital?
MR. NESSEN: I will have to check. I don't know
offhand, Les.
Q Thanks.
Q Ron, you probably have been asked about this
before but I wonder if you have gotten to the bottom of the
question about the Israeli military aid figures and how
they happen to be in the budget.
MR. NESSEN: Well, it is somewhat old stuff because
the State Department, I know, went over that quite
extensively the day of Jerry 'Leary's story, I think.
Q
I know but it is the President's budget,
not the State Department's budget.
MR. NESSEN: What is the question?
Q
Well, the question is, how did the figure
happen to find its way into the budget? Do you know, and
have you tracked it down to find out where a mistake was
made?
MR. NESSEN: I am not sure it was a mistake. My
understanding is that since that involved an outlay as
opposed to a loan it was required to be in the budget,
at least that portion of it.
Q
Could you expand on that?
Q
What do you mean by "that portion," Ron? Are
you implying that funds to be made available to Israel
in some other manner will make the total more than a
billion dollars?
MORE
#424
- 6 -
#424-1/27
MR. NESSEN: The State Department said that last
week.
Q
I am not familiar with what they said.
MR. NESSEN: The State Department said: "It is
only part of the security assistance package which the
Administration will be proposing to Congress. In mid-February
we will be presenting a detailed foreign assistance program
to Congress for other countries as well as Israel.'
So the billion dollars is part of the aid program
to Israel but the rest of it will be made public in mid-
February, as the State Department said last week. I mean,
this is no news.
Q
Ron, for either outlays or loans, rarely
has a country been singled out in the budget; in fact, I
think this is the first time that has happened. It is
usually in the foreign aid message. So how can you make
that distinction as between outlays and loans?
MR. NESSEN: I am saying I asked the OMB about
this and their response was that since it was an outlay it
was required that it show in the budget.
Q
Ron, I talked to Mr. Ogilvie, who is in
charge of that section of the budget, right after Jerry's
story came out and he said, "Oh, it was a big mistake, it
was an error, we don't know how it happened."
MR. NESSEN: I talked to one person at the OMB
and that is the response I got from them.
Q
Was that Jim Lynn?
MR. NESSEN: No.
Q
Mr. Ogilvie?
MR. NESSEN: No.
Q
Ron, yesterday when I talked with the budget
people about this they said they got hell from all through
the Bureau because of this thing and they said also that the
Defense Department has submitted a figure and State didn't
clear it because it didn't look through the appendix when
it was stated.
MR. NESSEN: Well, let me go back to the OMB and
see, but I think we ought to move on to this week's news
instead of last week's news.
MORE
#424
-- 7 -
#424-1/27
Q Well, for those of us who are not familiar
with what the State Department said, and I imagine there
may be more than just me, is it the case that the thrust
of O'Leary's story is not correct? Are you saying that the
ultimate total amount provided for Israel will be indeed
more than a billion dollars, and somewhat more?
MR. NESSEN: As I say, Jim, I read you the
quotation from the State Department last week which, in
so many words, says that.
Q Does it say there will be more aid for Israel?
MR. NESSEN: "It is only part of the security
assistance package which the Administration will be proposing
to Congress for Israel."
Q Go on.
MR. NESSEN: "In mid-February we will be presenting
a detailed foreign assistance program to the Congress for
other countries as well as Israel. I have no details for
you on the program at this time."
Further down he says, "It is only part of a total
which will be presented to Congress as part of a request for
all other countries. While I cannot give you any details
of the aid package for Israel, I can say it is quite
substantial," and so forth and so on. This is part of the
aid for Israel.
Q To get to this week's news, the New York
Times has a story this morning saying that nonetheless there
is still a cut in the aid budget for Israel.
MR. NESSEN: A cut from what?
Q A cut from the present level.
MR. NESSEN: Well, I think we have to wait until
mid-February and see what the other part of it is.
Q Will the President have a State of the World
address?
MR. NESSEN: Yes.
Q When?
Q To go concurrent with this?
MR. NESSEN: To go concurrent with what?
Q The foreign aid package.
MORE
#424
- 8 -
#424-1/27
MR. NESSEN: I don't know that the two are
linked together and there has not been a date set for the
State of the World speech.
Q
Approximately when will it be, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: I don't have a date even approximately.
Q
Will he go before Congress?
MR. NESSEN: The format has not been set either.
Q
Ron, to get back to today, you are not
denying reports that the Administration is considering a
sizeable cut in aid to Israel, are you?
MR. NESSEN: I cannot give you the figure, Bob,
because the rest of it does not go until next month.
Q
But you don't want to deny that, do you?
MR. NESSEN: Well, I don't know how I could deny
it since I don't know what the other part of the package is.
MORE
#424
- 9 -
#424-1/27
Q
Well, all right. That is all I wanted to know.
Q
Ron, if we could go back to Angola for a second,
in the President's letter to Carl Albert he said that,
"Resistance to Soviet expansion by military means must be a
fundamental element of U.S. foreign policy." In early
December Ambassador Moynihan, on an interview show, said
that if the Soviet-backed faction won in Angola, it would
endanger the shipping lanes for oil and might also somehow
endanger Brazil.
Does the President agree?
MR. NESSEN: I think Ambassador Moynihan has modified
his remarks somewhat since then and indicated that that is not
the major reason why the President feels that aid to Angola
is needed.
Q
Ron, in this letter the President also says,
"In the absence of effective Western assistance, the two
largest political movements in the country will be destroyed
by Soviet armament and the Cuban expeditionary force."
It seems to me that is the strongest prediction he
has made. He has talked of dire consequences before but
now he is saying, "They will be destroyed."
Is that the first time he said that, to your
knowledge?
MR. NESSEN: I have to look back at the record.
I don't recall.
Q
What assurance does the United States feel it
has that the influx of our money would turn the tide there?
MR. NESSEN: Well, I am not sure the President is
making that claim. I think he is saying that certainly
without it the people of Angola will not have an opportunity
to choose their own form of Govermment.
Q
Ron, is the thrust of the letter-the fourth
paragraph--that the Senate vote is to blame for the current
state of events in Angola?
MR. NESSEN: Well, I think the whole letter speaks
for itself, but it certainly reflects the President's
view, yes.
Q How much money is that, $28 million?
MR. NESSEN: It is tacked onto the defense appropriation
bill. I believe it does amount to $28 million. I don't think
there is a specific dollar figure given in the bill.
Q
Oh, yes, there is. $28 million.
MORE
#424
- 10 -
#424-1/27
Q
Ron, has the President been in touch with
Chairman Pike about the leaks from the House Intelligence
Committee? He said yesterday he had not read the draft report.
MR. NESSEN: No, and he still hasn't.
Q Question?
MR. NESSEN: Muriel had wondered whether the President
had first of all read the draft report of the Pike Committee, and t
answer is no. And has he been in touch with Pike directly,
and the answer to that is no.
Q
Is it possible?
MR. NESSEN: It is possible. If he is, it would not
be on the subject of leaks, Muriel, it would be on a broader
subject of how you -- well, let's wait and see if he does
get in touch and then I will make you aware of what he said.
Q Ron, has the President or have any Administration
officials been in touch with South Africans to encourage them
to leave their forces in Angola?
MR. NESSEN: The South Africans are not consulting with
us as to the disposition of their troops.
Q
They landed them there. Apparently they were
pulling them out; now they are announcing they are staying in.
MR. NESSEN: They do not consult with us on those
matters.
Q
I am wondering which way the President's
speechwriters mean us to interpret the phrase on the second
page of the Angola letter, "resistance to Soviet expansion
by military means." Whose military means -- theirs or ours?
MR. NESSEN: Theirs.
Q
Does this mean, Ron, that the President is
suggesting that the Organization of African Unity should send
some help? I mean I just wonder, is that what he feele?
MR. NESSEN: Our policy from the beginning has been
that this is an African problem that should be solved by
Africans.
Q
That means the OAU, in other words? This is what
the President is suggesting here, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: I think it is quite a long letter and
very detailed letter, Les, and I don't know how I can go
beyond what he spells out pretty clearly here.
MORE
#424
- 11 -
#424-1/27
Q
Did Kissinger get nothing from the Soviets on this
problem at all?
MR. NESSEN: I think Dr. Kissinger has given a report
on his talks on this subject and I can't go beyond what he
said.
Q
It is a very strong letter and indicates there
has been no give at all.
MR. NESSEN: Well, 'this letter deals with what the
President believes Congress should be doing. The President
feels strongly about it and --
Q
Does he believe that he has the support of
the American people and that the Congress are at odds with
the American people's wishes on the subject of Angola?
MR. NESSEN: Well, he spoke of this today as a matter
of principle, Walt, and I think he has talked about the question
of public support being something that certainly in the long
run will come. I don't know that any polls or whatever have
been made, and if they had been they would not affect his
decision to do what he believes is necessary and right.
MORE
#424
- 12 -
#424-1/27
Q
Well, my question perhaps should be phrased
this way: In the light of the Vietnam experience, does the
President think that the American people will support any
form of American commitment of materiel even to Angola?
MR. NESSEN: As he said in his State of the Union
speech, it is very important that if America is going to
learn lessons from history it ought to learn the right
lesson from the right episodes and not merely the most
recent episode.
The question of public opinion, as I say, is
something the President believes in the long run will be
perceived by the American people and whether it is currently
or not is not a factor in doing what he thinks is right
and necessary.
Q
Ron, you have been asked what the President's
reaction has been to the sense of Congress statement by some
200-plus Members of the House. Have you been asked for a
White House reaction on that?
MR. NESSEN: No, but I think you could say, Jim,
that this letter is in a sense a response and the letter is
one in which the President wants to make sure that the
Members of the House understand the issue, or his view of
the issue, and of what is at stake before they vote.
Q
Ron, did the Speaker release this letter,
do you know?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know whether it has been
released on the Hill or not.
Q
When did it go up?
MR. NESSEN: It went up earlier this morning.
Q
Do you know what time they vote, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: It is not the first item on the agenda
this afternoon in the House.
Q
Ron, can you clear some procedural matters
on the intelligence changes that the President ultimately
will propose? As I understand it, the White House is working
with the Church Committee; is that correct?
MR. NESSEN: No. The Church Committee Members
have been meeting on occasion with the White House staff
to get the White House views and reaction to some of their
proposals.
Q
So there will be no joint proposals; is that
correct?
MORE
#424
- 13 -
#424-1/27
MR. NESSEN: Correct.
Q
The President will make his separately?
MR. NESSEN: Correct.
Q
Do you anticipate that the President's
proposals will come before any coming from the Church
Committee?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know what their timetable is,
John. As I said yesterday, the President is certainly within
a couple of weeks of making his public. He has made, I think,
most of the decisions at least on a tentative basis.
Q
Have those decisions been conveyed to the
Church Committee as a whole or to some Members of it, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: Not that I know of, John.
Q
Is the President concerned that they would
leak out if he did not?
MR. NESSEN: I don't think that was a factor, no.
Q
Can you explain why the President has not
answered a questionnaire from the Energy Action Commission
asking him whether he would accept large gifts from the
executives of oil companies for his compaign or from their
political action groups?
MR. NESSEN: Well, as you know, the Federal
election law prohibits any gifts larger than $1,000 from
any individual. We have this season a large number of
questionnaires come in from different publications and we
are answering them as fast as we can. The intention is to
answer all or most of them that can be answered, and that
goes on all the time.
Q
Who does the answering?
MR. NESSEN: Well, the President gives his views
on what the answers should be and then they are drafted and
passed back before the President for his approval.
I am told this group, the Energy -- what -- Action
Commission wanted a yes or no and no elaboration. The group,
I am told, wanted a simple yes or no and would not accept
anything that went beyond a one-word answer. I guess on that
basis it will not be answered.
Q
Ron, I understand that the Sonny Montgomery
group that came had previously sent a written report to the
President and it was my understanding that that report indicates
that maybe we should try to reach some accommodation with
the North Vietnamese at least partly to try and resolve
the MIA issue. Do you have anything that you can tell us
on that, the President's views?
MORE
#424
- 14 -
#424-1/27
MR. NESSEN: The President's views are today the
same as they were when he made his speech at the East-West
Center in Honolulu and they have not really changed, and
you know what they were then.
Q
So he really has no reaction to the report?
MR. NESSEN: Not specifically to the report. I
think the fact that the North Vietnamese have turned over
some bodies of Americans who had been missing for quite a
long time is viewed as the kind of hopeful sign that the
President was talking about in Honolulu.
Q
Ron, questions are piling up on Angola,
on the whole intelligence issue, on the economy and a good
many other issues. When does the President plan to hold
a press conference?
MR. NESSEN: Well, not this week, Jim.
Q
Can you give any kind of time frame?
MR. NESSEN: Not other than to say he will continue
to hold them on a regular basis and I would not be surprised
if there were a news conference fairly soon, but not this
week.
Q
Ron, is there a meeting with the President
coming up Wednesday? Do you have anything on that, any
schedule for Wednesday?
MR. NESSEN: He will be meeting with Prime Minister
Rabin again tomorrow and I have not seen the rest of his
schedule that I recall at the moment. Did you have
something special in mind?
Q
You don't know what he is going to do in the
evening?
MR. NESSEN: I think he has been invited to a
reciprocal reception by --
Q
That is Thursday.
MR. NESSEN: Is it?
Q
Reciprocal reception by Rabin -- yes.
MR. NESSEN: What is it you had in mind and maybe
it will jog my memory?
Q
Anything at any hotel downtown?
MR. NESSEN: Oh, I see.
MORE
#424
- 15 -
#424-1/27
Q
No, no, I am not talking about the
Washington Press Club; he is invited to that, too. But
anything other than that?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know of any evening plans
he has tomorrow.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END (AT 12:08 P.M. EST)
#424