Ford Administration Notes of the Cabinet Meeting

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON Notes of the Cabinet Meeting, January 29th, 1975. President arrived in the Cabinet Room, 11:02 a.m. Press arrived 11:03 a.m. Press departed 11:06 a.m. President opened the meeting. The President in opening the meeting made two strong points: 1) The three hundred million dollar Vietnam supplemental and the 222 million dollar Cambodian supplemental have been submitted to the Hill. We are for it; the Cabinet and Administration must pledge its total support to this bill. It is vital and it is right; and we will stand behind it 100%. 2) We are dealing with a delicate economic plan. Our energy and economic plan will be submitted in one bill, all in one writing, somewhere between 7 and 8 hundred pages; it will be a single plan. Congress doesn't even have a bill, let alone a total plan. We must be unified in our support of that plan, we must be strong and tough; and I want you to know that I will make the compromises, no one else in the Executive Branch is authorized to make concessions or compromises and if you do, you are wrong. I will make the compromises. LIBRARY GERALD FORD R. Secretary Morton then asked the President, do we have a talking paper on the supplemental so we will be prepared either for testi- mony or for press conferences as we travel around the country dur- ing the next thirty days? Secretary Simon agreed with Secretary Morton indicating that a talk- ing paper was important; but he added that the important point to un- derstand is that this Administration is not asking for anymore than Congress has already authorized. That is the key point in the argu- ment. The President then indicated that there was a column in the morning's paper by Goodwin in the Christian Science Monitor where he enunciated the results of a fall in Vietnam and the guilt complex that would be inherent in the United States' position in having withdrawn support from Vietnam. The President agrees with that position. nam and Cambodia? PP.1-2DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12356, Sec. 3.4. Secretary Morton then asked, what can that kind of money do in Viet- MR 91-16, #30 Ase th. 8/20/92 By. KOH NARA, Date 9/25/92 Secretary Schlesinger - The Congress has authorized 90 million dollars per quarter in aid to Vietnam and Cambodia. The Congress then passed a bill on 12/31/74 squeezing the quarterly payments by almost 50%. With the result of this decrease in aid, the Vietcong will succeed in overrunning South Vietnam by late spring. Phnom Phen will fall by March or April. They are on such dire straights that they are rationing hand grenades. It must be understood that 300 million dollars will not buy any new equipment, but it will buy ammunition, gasoline, oil, and other essential ingredients which will allow them time to build their own forces.