A Sure Touch in Ford's Second Week

"Like President Truman and President Lincoln before him, I found on my desk, where the buck stops, the urgent problem of how to bind up the nation's wounds. And I intend to do that."

With those words, President Gerald Ford last week reaffirmed his promise to restore a sense of national unity and purpose--to replace, as his friend and adviser Bryce Harlow expresses it, a national frown with a national smile. To that end, Ford maintained a headlong pace throughout the second full week of his presidency.

He nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President. He declared a policy of leniency toward Viet Nam War-era draft evaders and deserters. He let it be known that he "probably" will run for President in 1976. He worked from early morning to late at night, signing bills, giving speeches, issuing proclamations, and meeting with an enormous number of people in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

The activity was calculated to project an image of a Chief Executive who was firmly in command and to diminish whatever doubts might still linger over the transition from Richard Nixon to a new and untested President. Much as Lyndon Johnson did in the weeks after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Ford was reaching out for a national consensus, a show of bipartisan support--and he was doing it with a sure touch. Declared Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy of Ford's first days as President: "It's been excellent. I don't think he's missed a beat."

After a last, 20-lap swim in the pool of his Alexandria, Va., home on Monday morning--soon afterward, the Fords moved into the White House--the President began his exhausting week. He flew to Chicago aboard Air Force One to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It was Ford's first out-of-town trip as President, and he and his wife Betty were greeted at Chicago's O'Hare Airport with a flubbed announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen," a voice intoned over the airport's loudspeakers, "the President of the United States and Mrs. Nixon."

Mussed Hair. Along the city's most stylish street, North Michigan Avenue, the Fords were greeted by moderate-sized but enthusiastic crowds. The President stood in the open limousine, waving both hands and clasping them like a victorious prizefighter. At one point, he plunged into the crowd, shaking hands and grinning as young girls stood on tiptoe to kiss him and muss his hair. The only discordant note was sounded by several thousand Greek Americans who were demonstrating in Grant Park across the street from the V.F.W. convention in the Conrad Hilton hotel. They were protesting U.S. policy in Cyprus, but their principal target was Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, not Ford. Demanded one placard: FORD, FIRE KISSINGER.

Inside the hotel, the 4,750 veterans warmly applauded Ford's announcement that he had nominated Richard Roudebush, a former V.F.W. national commander and ex-Representative from Indiana, as Administrator of Veterans Affairs. The audience cheered and clapped loudly as Ford departed from his bland prepared text and declared that "unconditional, blanket amnesty for anyone who illegally evaded or fled military service is wrong." But the veterans sat in shocked silence as Ford went on to say that he wanted the deserters and draft dodgers who fled abroad during the Viet Nam War "to come home if they want to work their way back." Pledging to throw "the weight of my presidency into the scales of justice on the side of leniency," he added: "I reject amnesty, and I reject revenge."

Ford did not explain what conditions he would attach to clemency; he will determine that after Attorney General William Saxbe and Defense Secretary James Schlesinger report to him before Sept. 1 on the problem. But it seemed probable that some kind of public service will be the price for amnesty. No one knows for certain how many men would be affected. Ford set the total of draft evaders and deserters at 50,000, a figure perhaps largely based on Government estimates of 4,400 draft evaders, 8,900 men actually convicted of breaking the Selective Service law and 28,600 deserters still AWOL.

A majority of the draft resisters and deserters interviewed by TIME correspondents last week said that they would accept nothing less than unconditional amnesty, explaining that anything less would imply wrongdoing on their part. On the opposite side of the touchy issue, the V.F.W. took an equally adamant stand against Ford's change in Administration policy. The day after his speech, the organization adopted a resolution rejecting any kind of amnesty for those who refused to fight in Viet Nam.

On the way back to Washington, Ford, in shirtsleeves and with his tie loosened, strolled aft to Air Force One's press section to explain his change of policy and why he had picked such a hostile audience for his announcement. He said that his thinking had been shaped in part by the views of his children and those of former Defense Secretary and Close Friend Melvin Laird, who had unsuccessfully tried to get Nixon to modify his hard-line stance. More over, Ford had concluded that his pledge to bind up the nation's wounds required a new approach. He explained: "You can't talk about healing unless you're going to use it in the broadest context." His choice of audience was equally deliberate. Said Ford: "I thought that the right audience would be an audience that might be difficult. It would have been a little cowardice, I think, if I'd picked an audience that was ecstatic."

Next day House and Senate leaders, Cabinet members and reporters crowded into the Oval Office for Ford's announcement of his vice-presidential nominee, Nelson Rockefeller (see cover story page 14). The President had carefully touched all political bases beforehand, personally notifying the runners-up, Republican National Chairman George Bush and NATO Ambassador Donald Rumsfeld, telephoning former President Nixon in San Clemente and the congressional leadership. At 10:04 a.m., Ford and Rockefeller entered the room and clasped each other's waists as the President introduced his nominee, saying that "it was a tough call for a tough job." The low-key presentation was far different from the East Room extravaganza that Nixon staged for the announcement of Ford as his nominee for Vice President.

Will Run. The choice of Rockefeller set off speculation that Ford would run for President in 1976 and Rockefeller would be his running mate. Rather than discourage such talk about his future, Ford disclosed through Press Secretary J.F. terHorst that he "probably" will run in 1976, though he gave no indication as to whether Rockefeller would also be on the ticket. The declaration was a striking break with the tradition that a President wait until election year to reveal his intentions. An aide close to the President explained that Ford's competitive instincts led him to emulate Presidents Truman and Johnson, both of whom inherited the presidency, and "make it on his own." He may also have wanted to assure Republican conservatives, some of whom only tolerate Rockefeller, that Ford intends to head the ticket. Whatever the case, the declaration erased any weakness he might have had as a possible lame-duck President in his dealings with Congress and the Republican Party.

During the week, Ford went out of his way to invite a wide spectrum of Americans to the White House. He listened to the views of 16 members of the congressional Black Caucus and assured them that social-welfare programs would not be the only targets of his spending cuts. Later, as token of his resolve, he signed two important pieces of domestic legislation into law. One authorizes $11.9 billion to house low-income people; the other provides $25.4 billion in aid to public elementary and secondary schools. Said Ford: "I suspect this is the first federal aid to education bill ever signed by a lefthanded President." The President also signed a bill that revived the Cost of Living Council to monitor wages and prices.

On another day, the President surrounded himself with some of the most outspoken women in Congress, among them New York Representatives Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, as he signed a proclamation making Aug. 26, the 54th anniversary of women's suffrage, Women's Equality Day. He also urged that the remaining states ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Quipped one of the women at the gathering: "It looks like a chorus line." Responded Ford: "You girls are the Rockettes." It is a measure of both the times and Ford's style that he got away with it; even Bella grinned.

The President spent much of his week cementing relations with Congressmen, Democrats as well as Republicans. He was host at a series of meetings in the Oval Office with legislators, both individually and in small groups, to discuss pending bills. Twice he dropped in on his former colleagues on Capitol Hill. The first time was when he paid tribute to Mike Mansfield, who set a record last week for longevity as Senate majority leader: more than 13 1/2 years. Said Ford: "It proves that people who can negotiate survive better than those who take a flat, adamant attitude." Later in the week, Ford visited the Capitol again to make brief speeches to the House and Senate. "I just wanted to stop by today and say hello," he said, "and to officially inaugurate Pennsylvania Avenue as a two-way street." Both chambers responded with thunderous applause. As a further bipartisan touch, the President had a portrait of Harry Truman, whom Ford admires for his courage and straightforwardness, hung on a wall in the Cabinet Room next to a portrait of his other favorite President, Lincoln.

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