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Press Secretary Briefings, 7/31/76
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1671693
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Press Secretary Briefings, 7/31/76
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Ron Nessen Files (Ford Administration)
Ron Nessen's Press Briefing Transcripts
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White House (Washington, D.C.)
Presidential campaign, 1976
Vice-Presidents
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1976-07-31
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7
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1976
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1976-07-31
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7
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1976
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Digitized from Box 20 of The Ron Nessen File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
This Copy For
NEWS CONFERENCE
#549
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
WITH RON NESSEN
AT 12:55 P.M. EDT
JULY 31, 1976
SATURDAY
MR. NESSEN: As the President indicated to the
Mississippi delegates yesterday, and then in turn passed
on to you, the President is moving on with his process of
consultation concerning his choice for his Vice Presidential
running mate and, as part of that, a letter is being sent
out to all the delegates and alternates to the 1976
Republican Convention. Here is a copy of the text of the
letter which will go out.
Q
How many letters are you sending out?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know what the exact number
is there. There are 2259 delegates, and there are alter-
nates for most of those, so you would just about double
that.
Q
And there are a number of other categories,
too?
Q
Can you confirm the number in the Post --
4518?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know what the exact number
of delegates and alternates for the convention is.
0
When are they going out?
MR. NESSEN: They will be going out in the next
few days.
Q
Are they going out from here?
MR. NESSEN: It hasn't been quite decided yet.
Q
You said they will be going out in the next
few days?
MR. NESSEN: Correct.
MORE
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Q
They are not going out today?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know how quickly they can
get them printed. It has not been exactly arranged
where and how they will be printed.
Q
How much is it costing and who is going to
pay for it?
MR. NESSEN: The PFC obviously will pay for it.
Q
Will it go out under White House stationery,
do you know?
MR. NESSEN: No, it will go out under some
personal stationery the President uses for personal
letters. It says, "Gerald R. Ford" at the top.
Q
Ron, will we ever find out what the delegates
have advised the President?
MR. NESSEN: No, because if you read the letter --
Q
I don't mean individuals. I mean totals.
MR. NESSEN: I don't think we will put out
totals.
0
So, in other words, we don't know what the
President is going to get in the way of input?
MR. NESSEN: The purpose of this is to provide
advice to the President.
Q
Is he under any obligation to take the
advice?
MR. NESSEN: As I said yesterday, he is going
to make the final choice but obviously he wants to hear
the views of the delegates, the Members of Congress and
other leading Republicans. Mary Louise Smith will be
soliciting and reporting on the views of, for instance,
the Republican National Committeeman and Committeewoman from
each State, the Republican Chairman of each State and
other RNC groups like the Heritage groups and the Feder-
ation of Republican Women and so forth and former Republican
National Chairmen and Governors.
0
When do you expect all these views to be
in hand?
MR. NESSEN: I would say the deadline set for
the delegates, which is Aug 11, is the same deadline that
will be true for all the categories.
MORE
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- 3 -
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Q
Will he go to the convention with a nominee
in mind?
MR. NESSEN: Beyond this stage of the consultation
process, I can't give you a timetable for the rest of
it.
Q
Is this phase two?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know. I would like to
think this is the continuation and expansion of phase
one, Bob.
0
What will be required to work in full harmony
with the President?
MR. NESSEN: I am not going to elaborate any
further on the President's own words, Fran.
0
Ron, I am sorry, but I am not sure I heard
correctly before. Were you asked if we would be told the
rundown on, in effect, the straw Doll and you said --
MR. NESSEN: I said I don't think SO. The
results -- in other words, so and so got so many ballots
for first place and so forth will not be published.
Q
Will this be the most influential input for
the President's decision or can you break it down with other
advice he is getting? How much weight will the delegates'
preferences carry?
MR. NESSEN: I can't answer that question, Ann.
He is soliciting the views of a wide range of people,
and he has got some ideas of his own, of course. I can't
give you a weighted system of who has the most influence.
O
Ron, do you know what the principles of the
Republican Party are?
MR. NESSEN: I think SO.
0
Can you tell me?
MR. NESSEN: Well --
Q
Is he saying the Republican platform?
Q
Is there a formal document?
Q
Is there some place where we can go to
and find out what that means?
MR. NESSEN: I think probably the RNC has some
documents you could read, John, if you are interested in
pursuing the principles of the Republican Party.
MORE
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- 4 -
#549-7/31
Q
Fiscal conservatism? The President spelled
out his own principles on many occasions and I wonder --
MR. NESSEN: I think we could get you or you
could get yourself some documents from the RNC and read
up on it.
Q
Ron, I have heard some people say that this
all looks to them like a public relations stunt.
MR. NESSEN: Who are they?
&
What difference does it make? I am not
talking about political people.
MR. NESSEN: You are asking me to answer, and I
wonder who I am answering.
?
Just general public people. I am not
talking about politicians.
0
How many of them?
Q
You say you can't tell us how much influence
this is going to have. Is there any way you can reply
to that kind of skepticism, cynicism?
MR. NESSEN: I was not aware of it until you
mentioned it, Dick. Frankly, the President followed a very
similar procedure of soliciting views, as you know, when
he selected his Vice President previously. I don't recall
that there was any skepticism then that it was a genuine
effort by the President to seek a wide range of views,
and until you mentioned it to me that you talked to many
members of the public who have expressed skepticism, I
frankly have not heard of any skepticism.
Q
What I am getting at is that you have not
said here how much weight this would carry or how much
impact it would have. The President has some views of his
own. Is there any way you can make clear that the views
he is soliciting will be meaningful?
MR. NESSEN: I don't think I really --
0
Why should anybody think, from the fact that
he is sending out a letter, that he is going to abide by
the suggestions he gets? You are not even saying that.
MR. NESSEN: I told you that the President will
make the final choice and recommendation to the convention,
but he is going through a genuine consultation process
with a wide range of people.
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Q
When is he going to announce his
decision?
MR. NESSEN: At the appropriate time.
Q
Can you do any better than that for us?
MR. NESSEN: Not right now.
Q
Will it be at the convention?
MR. NESSEN: At the appropriate time.
0
Does he hope to have his mind made up
before he goes?
MR. NESSEN: I think, as I said, we will get on
to phase two of this process after phase one is concluded,
and I just can't spell out to you when he will be making
his decision.
Q
Ron, is the President aware of at least two
polls that have been published showing that surveys of
the delegates show they favor John Connally over any of
the others mentioned?
MR. NESSEN: I saw something on TV, and I
guess something in writing, that talked about of the
delegates who could be contacted and of those who were
contacted the ones willing to express an opinion had
some views, and I assume the President read that in the
paper, but this is a very widespread effort to hear the
views of the delegates and the Members of Congress and
the other leading Republicans.
a
Ron, when you say the President will
announce his decision at the appropriate time, do you mean
not to rule out that he might do it before the
convention?
MR. NESSEN: I just can't be any more precise
than to say that it will be done at the appropriate time.
C'
So, you are leaving open the possibility that
he could do the same thing Ronald Reagan has done?
MR. NESSEN: No, I am saying that he will
announce his choice at the appropriate time.
Q Ron, I must say that I am one of those
cynical, skeptical people that Dick mentioned. I see no
evidence whatever that the President may not have
already made up his mind and that we are going through a
political gimmick process for public relations and that
is exactly what Dick is trying to ask you.
You have not given us any assurance that this is
not anything more than a public relations gimmick.
MORE
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549-7/31
MR. NESSEN: If there is that kind of widespread
cynicism and disbelief -- which I was not aware of until
Dick just brought it up -- I would say, Bob, that you are
questioning the President's very integrity and I know of no
reason why it should be.
I don't know what he has done in the past that
would lead Dick and you to question that this is a legiti-
mate effort to consult with the leaders of his party because
he believes, as the letter says, that it is one of the most
critical choices that any candidate has to make. He wants
to hear the views of Republicans as to who the choice
should be, and after all, that person will carry the
banner of the Republican Party, play a major role in
governing the country for the next four years.
The representatives to the convention -- over
4000 of them -- represent grass roots of every State,
district, in the country, represent a very wide cross-
section of Americans.
So, why you would say today on this particular
Saturday that you suddenly see the President turning away
from a record of integrity and candor and honesty and
suddenly becoming some kind of purveyor of gimmicks makes
no sense to me, Bob.
Q
Because you say the President has given no
promise that he will (a) make the figures known so that we
have any idea of what degree of support these various
candidates have and (b) you give us no assurance that the
President is going to take the advice they give him,
even privately.
MR. NESSEN: He has already begun the consultation
process of hearing the views of people who come in to
visit him. I have heard those views and, believe me, he
listens very carefully.
Secondly, why would he go to the trouble and have
the PFC go to the expense of soliciting views and asking
Senator Scott and Congressman Rhodes to solicit views at
the Capitol and Mary Louise Smith to solicit the views of
RNC committee members and State committeemen and women and
State chairmen -- I find myself not -- I see Dick scribbling
down every word, and I can see the lead, "The White House
denied today that this is a gigantic, phony public relations
gimmick," and I don't like to be put in that position,
Bob, because I know of no justification for it.
Q
Then why won't you give us the total figures,
the total results?
MR. NESSEN: Is that what this is leading up
to?
MORE
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- 7 -
#549-7/31
Q
We would like to have some idea of whether
or not the President is in fact going to take the advice
that he has asked for.
MR. NESSEN: He is certainly going to receive
the advice and study the advice. Now, I have already
said that this is not a vote in which he will necessarily
accept the majority vote. But, that will certainly be
a factor in his decision on who his running mate will be.
0
Can you tell us that he has not yet made
up his mind who he would like to see --
MR. NESSEN: I have been saying that I guess
now for weeks, and I will certainly say it again today,
if it makes you happy. The President has not decided
who his running mate will be.
Q
Ron, do all the other heads of the
State committees and so on get similar letters to this?
MR. NESSEN: Mary Louise Smith will be soliciting
them and what her method of doing so is, I can't tell
you.
Q Ron, does the President have any comment
on this latest HEW situation regarding boys choirs?
MR. NESSEN: I read that in the paper today and
I have not had time to find out what the details are.
Q Ron, can I just make sure of one other thing?
This says, "The text of a letter from the President to
the delegates and alternates." Now, I am not sure I
followed you before. Did you say that this will not be
going to the other people that have been mentioned?
MR. NESSEN: No, he has asked Senator Scott and
Congressman Rhodes to pull together and bring back to him
next week the recommendations from Republican Members of
Congress, the Senators and House Members. He has asked
Mary Louise Smith to pull together and bring back to him
before the 11th of August the views of the Republican
National Committee and the State chairmen and so forth.
Other views will be sent in, but this particular letter
will go to the delegates and alternates only.
Q
Who wrote the letter?
MR. NESSEN: The President did.
Q
And you can say, then, with certainty it is
not going out today?
MR. NESSEN: I just don't know how quickly it
can be printed and addressed and so forth. It will go out
in the next few days.
MORE
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#549-7/31
Q
And the PFC is going to handle it so we
can find out from them when they start sending out letters,
right?
MR. NESSEN: That is correct.
Q
Is it going out regular mail?
MR. NESSEN: Yes, 13 cents per letter.
THE PRESS: Thank you, Ron.
END
(AT 1:10 P.M. EDT)
#549