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Press Secretary Briefings, 1/9/75
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Press Secretary Briefings, 1/9/75
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This file contains materials relating to Richard Nixon.
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Ron Nessen Files (Ford Administration)
Ron Nessen's Press Briefing Transcripts
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Vietnam (Republic)
White House (Washington, D.C.)
Foreign aid
State of the union messages
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1975-01-09
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1975
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1975
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Digitized from Box 5 of The Ron Nessen File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
This Copy For
NEWS CONFERENCE
#121
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
WITH RON NESSEN
AT 11:45 A.M. EST
JANUARY 9, 1975
THURSDAY
MR. NESSEN: Before we start today, I wanted to
introduce you to the newest member of the White House team,
although many of you have known him for a long time, Hugh
Morrow, who is Vice President Rockefeller's Press Secretary.
His office and my office are working closely together.
As the President told the Cabinet yesterday, the
Rockefeller staff and the White House staff do work together,
and the Rockefeller staff is an integral part of the White
House staff, so Hugh and I are working closely together.
Hugh says his phones are not working all that well.
MR. MORROW: I'll say they are not, and my apologies
to everybody that I have not returned a call to.
Q What is your phone number?
MR. MORROW: It is 456-6404 and 05, right now, and
they are in the process of being changed. We will send over
a list as soon as we get a sensible setup in.
MR. NESSEN: Hugh's press releases will be put in
the bin back here, so that will help you some.
Q
Is he ready to answer some questions today?
MR. MORROW: If I can.
MR. NESSEN: Let me go through the announcements.
At 2:00 this afternoon, the President is going to
sign an Executive Order establishing a National Commission
on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975. The
paper on this is just being put together now, and by the end
of the briefing, you will have it. You will have the text
of the Executive Order. You will have the text of the
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President's remarks for the 2:00 signing ceremony, and you
will have a fact sheet on what the International Women's Year
is all about.
This signing ceremony is in the Cabinet Room at
2:00. It is open for full press coverage. Mrs. Ford will
attend the ceremony, also.
For those interested in still further information,
Pat Lindh will have a briefing this afternoon at 2:30 in
Room 102 of the EOB, and if you will call Pat, she will
clear you for the briefing.
At 2:30, the President will have the meeting that
we told you about yesterday with the Sultan of Oman, and
after the meeting, we will have, hopefully, a little
information for you, which we will probably post. That
will be an opportunity for cameramen and photographers,
also.
This evening the President is going to appear
briefly at the American Football Coaches' Association Coach
of the Year Banquet at the Washington Hilton to receive the
Tuss McLaughry Award. McLaughry was one of the founders
of the American Football Coaches' Association in 1940. He
died last year. The Award honors the highest distinction
in service to others.
The protective travel pool to go there with the
President should be here at 9:00. The departure is expected
at about 9:20. Those of you who want to cover the dinner
itself can go straight on over there. There will be open
coverage, and the President will stay only briefly and be
back here at 10:15.
I believe you have the announcement that the
President today is announcing with special pleasure his
intention to nominate Elliot Richardson to be Ambassador
to Great Britain. I think you have the President's statement
saying that he has known and worked with Mr. Richardson ever
since the early days of the Eisenhower Administration and
praising his public record and pointing out that it has been
the practice of the United States to consult with the United
Kingdom on a broad range of matters and that, as Ambassador
there, Elliot Richardson will continue this practice. The
President says that both he and Secretary Kissinger will
seek Ambassador Richardson's counsel on many subjects.
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The President has signed the last two bills into
law from the 93rd Congress, that is, the conveyance of land
in Georgia and the reimbursement of military personnel for
memorial services.
For you box score fans, President Ford signed
313 bills from the 93rd Congress. He vetoed 27 bills. Of
those, 15 were pocket vetoes and 12 were regular vetoes,
and of the 12 regular vetoes, three were overridden by
Congress.
Incidentally, I know that some stories say that
four vetoes were overridden. I think there is some confusion
on the vocational rehabilitation bill, which was not an
override of a veto but simply a passage of the entire bill.
That is everything I have.
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Q
Ron, can you tell us just when the President
will deliver the State of the Union?
MR. NESSEN: It has not been decided yet,
Carroll.
Q
Can we try to get straightened out what
was unstraightened out yesterday, Ron?
MR. NESSEN: Did we leave anything unstraightened
out?
Q
Yes. Is the State of the Union Message
going to be the first public presentation of the President's
program to the Congress?
MR. NESSEN: It will be the first public presen-
tation to the Congress of the details of the President's
economic and energy message.
Q
There are reports that there will be an
energy message that may go up before the State of the
Union Message. Is that possible, probable?
MR. NESSEN: You mean a written energy message
to Congress?
Q
Yes.
MR. NESSEN: No, that is not correct.
Q
Ron, you added the words "public presen-
tation to Congress." Will there be a public --
MR. NESSEN: I didn't add that, Peter did.
Q
Let me ask it this way: Will he make a
public presentation before his State of the Union?
MR. NESSEN: The timetable for presenting his
proposals has not been decided yet, Gaylord.
Q
So, it is possible then?
MR. NESSEN: I am saying it has not been
decided.
Q
Ron, is it really necessary to play games
with us on this? Can't you just tell us whether the
President is in fact considering something before his
State of the Union meeting?
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MR. NESSEN: Bob, : am truly not playing games
with you. There have been a whose series of meetings
here this week to discuss both the substance and the
presentation of the President's State of the Union speech.
The meetings are not concluded, and probably
won't be until tomorrow, and until they are concluded,
it simply is not decided, and that is not playing
games.
Q
I asked you what he is considering.
MR. NESSEN: He is considering various dates
for presenting his State of the Union Message.
Q And only that?
MR. NESSEN: What do you mean by that?
Q
Well, what we are trying to get at is, is
there a possibility that he will make a speech to the
public or issue some kind of & public statement on energy
or the economy before his State of the Union? It is that
simple.
MR. NESSEN: What I am saying, which is quite
simple, is that the timetable for presenting his proposals
has not been decided.
Q
Can we conclude there is a significant
amount of disagreement within the President's camp here
in the White House among his advisers as to timing?
MR. NESSEN: Ob. no. How would you conclude
that?
9
My question didn't 80 so much to
timing as to the form of it, Ron. What we are trying to
find out is whether he is going to do it in two stages.
MR. NESSEN: I think there is some decision on
the form of it which is that the President will present
the details of both his energy and economic messages in
his State of the Union Message to Congress. Subsequent
to that, as I told Norm, I think, yesterday, there will
be separate, detailed legislation sent up on those and
other matters after the State of the Union.
Q But is it possible that the essence of the
program will be spelled out in some message prior to the
furnishing of details to Congress?
MR. NESSEN: No, I would not expect any message
to Congress on energy or economics Before the State of
the Union.
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Q
What about a message to the public?
MR. NESSEN: As I say, the timetable for presenting
his proposals has not been decided.
Q
Ron, is the President considering a public
speech or broadcast on television, radio or public some-
where outlining the program to the people other than the
State of the Union Message to Congress.
MR. NESSEN: I don't know how many times I
can say it. The timetable for presenting the proposals
has not been decided.
Q
We asked if it was being considered.
MR. NESSEN: There are lots of ideas for pre-
senting his proposals, and it has not been decided.
Q
The National Press Club says that Bob
Hartmann will speak there on the 16th and will offer a
preview of what will be in the President's State of the
Union speech. Is there any validity to that?
MR. NESSEN: He probably wrote it from the New
York Times and Washington Post. They seem to know what
is going to be in it. If Bob has arranged a speech
and plans to give a preview, I suppose he will.
Q
Ron, on another subject, as you requested,
I asked the Department of Defense how we could continue
sending jets to Saudi Arabia in view of Dr. Kissinger's
reference to possible use of force, and they replied,
"That is a good question." That is all.
Now, in view of the fact that this came up in
Buchwald's column this morning, can you tell us --
MR. NESSEN: Are you concerned with the fact that
it came up in Buchwald's column?
Q
Yes, it is the lead. The question is, are
we to regard this means of force as a joke, which seems
unlikely, or if it isn't a joke, could you tell us how
we can morally send jets to a place where they may use
them against us in this instance of force.
MR. NESSEN: Les, I can simply go back one more
time to the Secretary's interview and ask that you read
it extremely carefully and look at all the words and see
that it is not a threat of force. He refers to it as a
dangerous course. We should have learned from the Vietnam
war that it is easier to get into a war than to get out of
it.
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He says that in no case would anything like
this be considered if it had to do with the price of oil.
He does not think it is a good thing to speculate about
and so forth.
I don't know how you take his remarks and turn
them into a threat to use force against Saudi Arabia.
Q
Just on the Arab reaction throughout the
world, the Arab press. I don't think I am alone in
getting the impression that when he talks about force, it
means military intervention. I don't think I am alone on
that, Ron.
I appreciate your courtesy very much in this,
but it looks like you just can't give us much by way of
clarification.
MR. NESSEN: I don't think I can give you much
by way of clarification, Les, if you take Secretary
Kissinger's remarks in the way you have and don't read
carefully what it is he is saying and the extremely
hypothetical circumstances in which he made his carefully
worded remarks.
Q
Ron, while we are in that general area,
the Shah of Iran this week, I think, agreed to turn over
a squadron of jets which he has received from the United
States to Jordan. That prompts me to ask, has President
Ford ordered or conducted since he came into office a
review of the U.S. policy of arming Middle East nations?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know the answer to that,
but I could try to find it out.
Q
If you would.
MR. NESSEN: Yes, Bob?
Q
Ron, could you enlighten us at all on the
State Department's indications that the President is
trying to prepare some kind of a special request of
Congress for speeded up or added aid to South Vietnam?
MR. NESSEN: As we told you the other day, or
as I reminded you the other day, there was a reference
by the President in his signing of the aid bill that he
found the level of assistance to South Vietnam inadequate.
I think it would be fair to say that the President is
giving the matter of additional aid to South Vietnam
intensive consideration, and I think it would be fair
to say that the President is contemplating a supplemental
request for aid to South Vietnam.
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Q
Just South Vietnam or Cambodia, too?
MR. NESSEN: I think it would be fair to say that
he is contemplating a supplemental appropriation for aid
to Cambodia and that likewise he finds the provision
for assistance in the foreign aid bill to Cambodia
inadequate.
Q
Would it also be fair to say, Ron, that
figure --
MR. NESSEN: The figures really have not been
decided on yet, Bob. In fact, I might say that the
matter of details and exact dollars have not come to his
desk for a decision.
Q
The stories today all said that $300
million was being recommended by top officials, including
Dr. Kissinger. Is that approximately correct for South
Vietnam?
MR. NESSEN: It is difficult to say since what-
ever they decide to recommend has not reached the
President yet. I think perhaps the way that figure
was arrived at was by simple arithmetic, which is that
the authorization was for $1 billion and the appropriation
was for $700 million, but as I say, whatever figures
they decide to recommend have not reached the President
yet.
Q
What about the timing on it, Ron? How
fast does he feel this should be acted on?
MR. NESSEN: I don't get any sense of the timing
yet, Bob. It has not come to him.
Q
Ron, why is the President giving intensive
consideration to this supplemental aid program to
Vietnam?
MR. NESSEN: Because he feels that the amount
appropriated by Congress was inadequate.
Q
But why are they inadequate?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know what you mean by that.
Q Simple. Why does he consider $700 million
inadequate? To be more specific, does it relate to the
military situation in South Vietnam today?
MR. NESSEN: I would say it does not relate
specifically to the fall of the province capital.
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Q
It does or does not?
MR. NESSEN: It does not. It relates, however,
to what we feel is needed for the South Vietnamese to
defend themselves against the violations by the North
Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
Q
Is the President aware that Senate
C
Democratic Leader Mansfield has already said no to any
increased assistance to South Vietnam?
MR. NESSEN: I am not aware of what Senator
Mansfield has said.
Q
Did they discuss that last night in their
meeting--additional assistance?
MR. NESSEN: My understanding is they did not.
Q
Speaking of that last night meeting, Ron,
Senator Mansfield said that the Chinese were very enthu-
siastic about Mr. Ford's visit this year. Could you tell
us whether there are any plans yet for that visit in
terms of date or approximate date?
MR. NESSEN: No, there are not.
Q
But you will not rule it out this year,
will you?
MR. NESSEN: I think he is committed to this year.
I don't think it is a question of --
Q
No change?
MR. NESSEN: No, no change, certainly, but no
date, either.
Q
Has the President made a judgment on just
how serious the loss of this province is for the future
of the Thieu government?
MR. NESSEN: I have not heard him speak of where
he places it on a scale of seriousness. We said the
other day he was concerned.
Q
There are stories this morning about reports
out of the Pentagon that they have got to start a PR
campaign that if they don't get more aid, that they
are going down the tube, that they are going to run
out of ammunition in thirty days.
Does he really see it as a really critical
period over there, or does he think they could get by
or how does that relate to these new developments?
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MR. NESSEN: It is clear that he has said the
aid levels are inadequate as voted by Congress, and he
is contemplating more, but I would rather get something
more authoritative on how he views the situation in
terms of how critical it is before I say anything about
it.
Q
Is it your view or the President's view,
however you want, that South Vietnam can fight off the
Communists if it has increased aid without any troop
support or without any help from American forces, even
if it were allowed, which it evidently is not? Does he
think that increased aid alone will do it?
MR. NESSEN: As far as I know.
Q
Ron, there is one possibility on the
subject here. You said he was talking about an increased
appropriation. Has he given any thought to an increased
authorization as well?
MR. NESSEN: Not that I am aware of.
Q
So that would not place a maximum figure
on that?
MR. NESSEN: It is difficult to talk about
figures, Walt, because the authorization would let you
go to a billion.
Q
Which would mean a maximum appropriation
of $300 million?
MR. NESSEN: That is right, and since there
has been no decision on the figure yet, it is really
difficult to say whether it would require an additional
authorization or not.
Q
Let me ask his question in reverse. Does
the President feel that the South Vietnamese could
not fight off the Communists without this additional
money?
MR. NESSEN: I think I would just rather stick
to the way the President phrases it, which is that he
believes the current levels approved by Congress are
inadequate.
Q
Ron, today is Mr. Nixon's 62nd birthday.
Has the President been in touch with San Clemente by
phone or any other way by message?
MR. NESSEN: I will have to check on that.
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Q
Ron, while Hugh is here, maybe we could
ask the question to both of you.
MR. NESSEN: I thought I was going to get off
easy today.
Q
Last week or last weekend you said the
CIA Commission heads will be sending the President a
name for Executive Director. First, has that been done
and do you have the name to announce?
MR. NESSEN: I don't have a name to announce,
but I would expect that we would have one soon.
Q
How soon?
MR. NESSEN: I can't really pick a date because,
as you know, all the --
Q
In other words, the name has come to the
President?
MR. NESSEN: There are some names that he is
thinking about.
Q
Do you expect it this week?
MR. NESSEN: I just can't give you a day. I
think soon. Today is Thursday.
Les?
Q
Ron, the White House perimeter has been
penetrated recently a number of times by helicopter, a
van, an automobile and almost by a Delta jet, if that
guy had gotten it off the ground.
MR. NESSEN: I didn't know about that.
Q
Well, when the helicopter landed in the
Rose Garden last year. The question was raised, does
the Secret Service have any better way to defend the
White House from airborne attack than shotguns, and
there was no answer. You go to the Secret Service and
you get nothing.
I just wonder, without violating security
details, could you give us some answer as to explain to
the people that the White House is sufficiently protected
from these series of invasions and so forth.
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MR. NESSEN: I think probably quite by accident,
Les, you probably stumbled onto the answer to your other
question. The Secret Service is talking to the Saudis
about their using the planes to protect the White House.
(Laughter)
Obviously, the questions of security need to
be addressed to the Secret Service, which has a press
spokesman named Jack Warner.
Q
Will you give us an indication that he
will give us something specific?
MR. NESSEN: I have found in the past on every
occasion he is extremely forthcoming, and I know he was
during the Christmas Day episode. Jack Warner is the
Secret Service PR man.
Q
Ron, I would like to go back to Secretary
Kissinger's interview in Business Week magazine for a
minute. Recently it was said that the Secretary or his
aides reviewed that interview, reviewed the text before
it was printed. I would like to ask you, first, is that
correct, did they do that? Then I have another question
I would like to ask.
MR. NESSEN: Jim, I really think it is difficult
for me to answer State Department questions. I just can't.
Q You don't know?
MR. NESSEN: I don't know, and I really think
the proper place is the State Department.
So, does the second part hinge on getting an
answer to the first part?
Q
Yes.
Q
On that same subject, has the President sent
any indication to the Arab leaders to express some
distress about that comment, explaining to them that it
was a highly qualified answer to a highly critical
question?
MR. NESSEN: I am not aware that he has
sent a written communication of any kind to the Arab
leaders.
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Q
How about other than written?
MR. NESSEN: I am not aware that he sent any
communication to the Arab leaders because, I think, read
in its full context and reading the words carefully and,
also, putting it together with the Secretary's and the
President's previous remarks about cooperation is the only
way to solve the energy problem or oil problem -- you know,
I am not sure that it needs a clarification.
Q
Do those qualifiers translate neatly into
)
Arabic?
MR. NESSEN: I am not that fluent in Arabic.
Q
Ron, the figures coming out of the Labor
Department show that the Public Service Jobs Program is not
working, is really not getting off the ground as far back
as the program in 1973. Has anyone in the White House
sent out word to get those things moving?
There are some meetings by the Labor Department
with the States and so forth to jack it up, but what is the
feeling of the White House now? Do you have any sort of
comment from the President or anyone in the White House?
MR. NESSEN: I don't have any, but I know that
Secretary Brennan spoke on it about a week or so ago and
is doing some things to hopefully get the States and cities
to hire these people more quickly.
Q
Is the President aware of this happening or
not happening?
MR. NESSEN: Yes.
Q
What is his reaction to it?
MR. NESSEN: Well, I don't have any reaction to
it. I mean, Secretary Brennan runs the program, and it
seems to me his statement the other week indicated his
concern about it.
Q
Ron, in the President's statement on the
appointment of Richardson as Ambassador to the United
Kingdom, he says, "I warmly welcome Elliot Richardson back
into the service of our country." Now, was former President
Nixon informed previously of Mr. Richardson's receiving
the appointment?
MR. NESSEN: Not that I am aware of, Dick.
THE PRESS: Thank you, Ron.
END
(AT 12:10 P.M. EST)
#121