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Ford plans a speech that is intended to reassure other allies that, as one of his senior advisers puts it, "Viet Nam is not the end of the world" for the U.S. Regardless of what happens in Indochina, the President will emphasize, America will remain faithful to its commitments elsewhere. He is also expected to outline precisely what, if anything, the U.S. can now do about the deteriorating situation in South Viet Nam, based on the mission to Saigon of Army Chief of Staff General Frederick C. Weyand and the resulting options prepared by the National Security Council. Briefing the press after meeting with Weyand, Kissinger gave no hint that the U.S. has any intention of abandoning President Thieu. Asked about Thieu's charge that Americans could be called "traitors" if they fail to help his government more, Kissinger dismissed such talk as that of "a desperate man, in some anguish."
The President also will have another chance in his speech to either harden or soften his attack on Congress. Even in political terms, blaming Congress makes little sense. The legislators are clearly reflecting their constituencies in questioning whether reduced U.S. military aid to Saigon had really made a decisive difference — and in resisting more of it.
Congress is certain to respond readily to any Ford request for humanitarian aid to relieve the agony of the war's rapidly multiplying victims. Something more substantial should be possible than the laudable, if somewhat oversentimentalized, help for orphaned children. There were hints last week that the U.S. was planning an extensive airlift of American and Vietnamese civilians from South Viet Nam. Ford has a major opportunity to help America come to terms with Viet Nam, and move on to other international problems.
America's allies already must have been encouraged by the President's San Diego speech, which reaffirmed the determination of the U.S. to maintain a strong leadership in world politics. Said he: "No adversaries or potential enemies of the United States should imagine that America can be safely challenged; and no allies or time-tested friends of the United States should worry or fear that our commitments to them will not be honored because of the current confusion and changing situation in Southeast Asia. We stand ready to defend ourselves and support our allies as surely as we always have."