Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "7367431",
    "label": "Memorandum with Talking Points for President Gerald R. Ford's Meeting with Ambassador Graham Martin",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7367431"
}

{
    "id": "7367431",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7367431",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum with Talking Points for President Gerald R. Ford's Meeting with Ambassador Graham Martin",
    "description": "This item is a memorandum from Department of State Executive Secretary George S. Springsteen to Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft regarding Ambassador Graham Martin's call on the President Gerald Ford.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7367431",
    "identifierLocal": "032400070-001",
    "collections": [
        "Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific (Ford Administration)",
        "East Asia and Pacific Country Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/3674/7367431/content/arcmedia/presidential-libraries/ford/gallery/032400070-001_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/3674/7367431/content/arcmedia/presidential-libraries/ford/gallery/032400070-001_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/3674/7367431/content/arcmedia/presidential-libraries/ford/gallery/032400070-001_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 4,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7367431",
    "naId": 7367431,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 12,
            "logicalDate": "1974-09-12",
            "month": 9,
            "year": 1974
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 4,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/3674/7367431/content/arcmedia/presidential-libraries/ford/gallery/032400070-001.pdf",
    "mediaId": "10ba0e0445fff69a",
    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 18 of the NSA. Presidential Country Files: East Asia and the Pacific at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n38273\n7417589\nDEPARTMENT OF state\nWashington, D.C. 20520\nMAME\nSeptember 12, 1974\nSECRET\nMEMORANDUM FOR LIEUTENANT GENERAL BRENT SCOWCROFT\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nSubject: Ambassador Graham Martin's Call\non the President\nOur Ambassador to the Republic of Viet-Nam, Graham\nMartin, will call on the President at 11:30 am,\nSeptember 13. There are attached points which we\nbelieve Ambassador Martin will raise with the President\nand a suggested line of response by the President.\nGERALD ? LIBRARY FORD\nGeorge Executive S. Springsteen Secretary\nAttachment:\nTalking points\nSECRET\nGDS KBH 2/10/00\nDigitized from Box 18 of the NSA. Presidential Country Files: East Asia and the Pacific at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nSECRET\nR.\nFORD\nTALKING POINTS\nGERALD\nLIBRARY\n-- Ambassador Martin believes that, if we are able\nto provide adequate economic and military assistance to\nVietnam for the next two years, the nation can go into the\n1976 electoral campaign with Vietnam so obviously an\nAmerican success story that it will not be an election\nissue.\n-- If the amounts provided are inadequate, he believes\nthe destabilizing effects of a seriously deteriorating\nsituation in Vietnam will have such damaging repercussions,\nfar beyond Southeast Asia, that serious questions about\nAmerican foreign policy will inevitably be a 1976 campaign\nissue.\n-- Consequently, Ambassador Martin will briefly allude\nto what he believes is the vital necessity of having a\nclear understanding within the Executive Branch of the\nPresident's own strong support of a centralized and tightly\ncoordinated effort to secure the maximum possible aid\nlevels from the Congress.\n-- Ambassador Martin will probably request that DOD\nbe directed to absorb all costs now charged to Vietnam\nmilitary aid by DOD administrative decision but not required\nby law, and that he be authorized to inform President\nThieu that the President will request a supplemental appro-\npriation at an appropriate time, should this be needed\nto assure the success of Vietnam's defense against aggres-\nsion.\n-- He will express his conviction that, under the\npressures of the last two years, the Executive Branch has\nlargely abdicated its responsibility to correct the\npervasive campaign of distortion about Vietnam which has\nbeen waged so effectively by Vietnam's opponents and which\nhas been largely responsible for the erosion of support\nfor Vietnam aid in the Congress. He will offer some sug-\ngestions how the performance of the Executive Branch can\nbe improved in providing to the Congress and the American\npeople a truthful and candid picture of the current\nrealities in Vietnam.\nSECRET\nGDS\nDigitized from Box 18 of the NSA. Presidential Country Files: East Asia and the Pacific at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nSECRET\n- 2 -\n-- He will wish the President's authority to convey\nto President Thieu reassurances of the constancy of\nAmerican support for Vietnam along the lines of the\nPresident's letter to President Thieu when he assumed\nthe Presidency.\n***********\n-- None of the above points is controversial and\nwe believe they will elicit affirmative responses from\nthe President. We assume the President will wish to\nauthorize Ambassador Martin to convey to President Thieu\nthe reiteration of the assurances the President has\nalready provided.\nGERALD\n? LIBRARY FORD\nSeptember 12, 1974\nSECRET"
}