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Arms List. Yet, if the plight of the Americans was seen to be grave, could not Congress vote for the aid funds as a last gesture, believing that the money would provide a psychological lift but not actually be spent? Perhaps, but the weariness with Viet Nam, the suspicion of the Executive, runs deep in Congress. Moreover, while not optimistic about the practical impact of shoring up the Saigon forces, Pentagon experts contend that shipment of military supplies could be hastened to reach Saigon quickly. There is still some $175 million worth of equipment in the pipeline, but it is fully contracted and much of it is en route; it would be augmented by any new funding. The President's fact-finding general, Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand, provided a detailed list of arms he felt that Saigon could well utilize, and they would be rapidly sent if Congress approved. As for U.S. public opinion, however, the early reaction tabulated by the White House was that telegrams were running better than 2 to 1 against Ford's appeal for such aid to Saigon. Again, barring a marked shift in the gravity of the threat to Americans in Viet Nam as perceived in the U.S., it did not seem likely there would be much urging from congressional constituents to support Ford's request.
Unfortunately, the net impact of Ford's speech, as well as the controversy over earlier commitments, was to maintain the divisive domestic rupture over Viet Nam rather than to bridge it. The fissure between the Legislative and Executive branches of Government seemed to have widened rather than narrowed; the possibility for further bitterness as events run their melancholy course increased rather than lessened.
Responding as he felt he had to, Ford has nonetheless bobbled his first grand opportunity to lead the nation out of its concentration on a lost cause and to heal the wounds of domestic partisanship over Viet Nam. To be sure, he could not with a mere speech assuage the agony or the guilt that many Americans feel when they think of the lost and ruined lives, or watch the suffering of the war victims on their television screens. The worry over what still lies ahead for those in Indochina, both Americans and those to whom the U.S. owes a moral debt of gratitude, is real enough. But something more could properly have been expected of a new President who had no need to feel fettered by the mistakes and the policies of the past.
* Although the President cited 6,000 as the number of Americans in South Viet Nam, 1,000 have recently left.