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But clearly, it was the discouraging and threatening events in Viet Nam and Cambodia that preoccupied the President. Realistically, he sought no new help for the Phnom-Penh government, although he could not resist chiding Congress for its recent reluctance to provide more aid. He noted dryly that he had requested "food and ammunition for the brave Cambodians" in January, and that "as of this evening, it may be too late." Indeed it was. Two days later, U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean closed the U.S. embassy in Phnom-Penh, and he and his small remaining staff were evacuated by U.S. Marine helicopters from the aircraft carriers Okinawa and Hancock. It was the somber, classic ritual that marks the end of lost cities and lost wars.
Enough Spent. Ford did ask for $250 million in emergency humanitarian and economic aid to relieve the suffering in South Viet Nam—a request that the Congress will readily grant. Congress is also likely to grant Ford the explicit authorization he requested to use troops, if necessary, to aid in an evacuation from South Viet Nam.
But, barring a sharp turnabout in congressional opinion this week, there seemed to be almost no chance for more military funds for Saigon. "I think the American people and the U.S. Congress figure that $150 billion under five Presidents is enough to spend in that part of the world," said Mike Mansfield in typical understatement. Democratic Senator John L. McClellan, a longtime Viet Nam hawk whose Appropriations Committee would have to approve the military aid request, expressed a prevailing congressional view: "I think it's too late to do any good. Further military aid could merely prolong the conflict and perhaps postpone briefly the inevitable —a Communist victory, a complete takeover."
Perhaps the only thing that could alter such harsh and final judgments is evidence from Saigon that the worst fears of the Administration are justified, that the aid is indeed the price and ransom of bringing the Americans out of there safely.
Actually, the initial street reaction in Saigon was that U.S. military aid was on the way. That was probably due to the fact that the Saigon government praised the speech as "encouraging" and a "reaffirmation" of continued American support. More sophisticated Vietnamese were skeptical. Ford, observed one doctor, really meant that "we're on our own. April 19, and then it's over." Commented Saigon's Chinh Luan newspaper: "This speech came to South Viet Nam just as a final touch of a magician seeking to give a few more minutes of life to a dying patient."