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The drift to Ford was abruptly stalled by his Polish remark. Said Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, an Illinois Democrat: "There was a revulsion on the part of people, many of whom still send clothes over there and go there two weeks every summer." Added Terry Gabinski. a Democratic alderman in Chicago: "Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about Carter being proabortion. Now I hear people saying they just can't believe the President said what he did." Invited to speak at a long-scheduled Polish American Congress dinner in Chicago last week. Bishop Alfred L. Abramowicz agonized over whether to attend because Jimmy Carter was the main guest. When he finally decided to go, he told the audience, "I find myself in a great dilemma tonight. My Catholic friends of Polish descent assembled here shout, 'Come sit and dine with us!' My pro-life friends outside clamor, 'Come stand by us!' " The bishop compromised by condemning both Communism and abortion, hailing "God and country" and "liberty and life."
Wasting No Time. Ethnic voters waited impatiently for a retraction from Ford, and many thought it was too long coming. Finally a delegation of 18 American ethnic leaders visited the White House at the invitation of the President. Afterward, Aloysius (Al) Masewski, president of the Chicago-based Polish National Alliance, announced that he was satisfied. "What I wanted Ford to say was that it was a mistake."
Ford did that. "The original mistake was mine," he said. "I did not express myself clearly; I admit it." The President also promised to sign a veterans' bill, sought by Polish Americans for 30 years, that would grant medical benefits to Poles and Czechs now living in America who fought under the Allied command in World Wars I and II. Wasting no time, Ford put his signature on the bill in a Rose Garden ceremony, while cameras rolled and ethnic representatives beamed.
Later, at his press conference, he returned to the subject of Eastern Europe: "Now we concede for the time being that the Soviet Union has that military power there, but we subscribe to the hopes and aspirations of the courageous Polish people and their relations in the U.S." Had he gone far enough to win back the ethnic voters? On the surface, it appeared that he had. Campaigning in the East last week, he ran into no heckling in ethnic neighborhoods. In Yonkers, N.Y., he was cheered by crowds waving SLOVAK AMERICANS FOR FORD signs. In Union, N.J., he was greeted with signs proclaiming JA CIE KOCHAM (Polish for "I love you"). But these were largely Republican areas. Ethnics who continue to resent his statement may be less visible, though just as capable of going to the polling booth. As Masewski concedes, "There will be certain segments who will continue to blame him. There are some who don't believe in forgiving."