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London:
Europe reacted with a sigh of re–
lief that at last the trauma of the
Watergate affair is over. On this side
of the Atlantic, it has not been a
happy sight to view the strongest
economic power in the world beset
with a "cancer growing on the presi–
dency."
The last batch of White House
tape transcripts revealed the former
President's lack of interest in the
fate of the British pound and the
ltalian lira - lost as he was in the
doldrums of the Watergate affair.
Europeans are therefore relieved
that there is now a full-time presi–
dent in the White House.
The past couple of years have
been quite stormy for transatlantic
relations. With new faces in govern–
ment in the major countries of Eu–
rope, it is hoped that there will be a
friendly and efficient resolution of
problems. These include trade ,
monetary and NATO affairs. De–
spite U. S. infiation and balance of
payment problems, Europeans hope
that Mr. Ford will maintain the
U. S. troop commitment to Europe's
defense.
-
Peter Butler, David Price
Düsseldorf:
The feeling expressed in the news
media here is that of unanimous ap–
proval for Gerald Ford as new Pres–
ident of the United States and relief
at the resignation of Mr. Nixon,
thus ending the agonizing drama of
Watergate.
Although relatively unknown,
Gerald R. Ford is considered to be
the man who can restore a sense of
inner peace to his country and con–
fidence in the office of the presi–
dency. The Cologne daily,
Stadt–
Anzeiger,
went so far as to say that
"Gerald Ford is in this historical
hour the ideal President of the
United States."
The new President's decision to
retain Henry Kissinger as secretary
of state was received here with a
feeling of relief and confidence that
the team of Ford-Kissinger would
be a good one.
4
On specific issues, the influential
Hamburg daily,
Die Welt,
expressed
the hope that the new American
Chief Executive will be more flex–
ible than President Nixon was in the
critica! area of trade and monetary
affairs. Due to President Ford's un–
derstanding of basic military
strategy, one newspaper, the Bonn
General-Anzeiger,
seemed confident
that he would not encourage the re–
duction ofAmerican troops on West
German soil.
-
John Karlson
Brussels:
President Gerald Ford is off to a
good start, according to reassured
leaders here in "Europe's capital."
The North Atlantic Council met
here Saturday morning, August lO,
to hear and discuss a message from
the new President, written and sent
within hours of his taking office.
NATO observers emphasized as a
good sign the speed with which the
message was sent, as well as its con–
tent, going beyond the demands of
protocol.
Jt
pledged continued U. S.
support of the NATO alliance with
assurance tha
t
Henry Kissinge r
would remain as secretary of sta te.
In two areas, though , EEC
sources express hope for a modest
improvement: trade and monetary
policy.
These hopes stem from three fac–
tors: (l) the U. S. Congress is no
longer preoccupied with the Water–
gate investigation, meaning it can
now turn its attention to stalled leg–
islation, including a trade bill which
must be passed before GATT nego–
tiations can progress in Geneva, (2)
Ford's expected ability to deal with
Congress, also aiding passage of the
trade bill, and (3) Ford's declared
priority of tackling inflation as the
nation's number one problem,
bringing about a more stable world
economic picture.
-
Henry Sturcke
Paris:
Possible economic consequences
of the American presidential turn–
over rank high among French con-
cerns. In fact, the first official
French reaction to Mr. Nixon's res–
ignation was the initiation of certain
measures by Finance Minister Four–
cade designed to discourage mone–
tary speculation in the wake of the
power shift in Washington.
There is also the fear that Amer–
ica, traumatized by Watergate, may
turn inward and embark upon a
course of neo-isolationism.
These uncertainties about the fu–
ture seemed to be tempered by
sorne degree of optimism. The
Washington correspondent of
Le
Figaro,
for instance, was favorably
impressed by Mr. Ford's presiden–
tia! debut. In his estimation, the new
President's particular qualities - his
candor, loyalty and dynamism -
may be just what America needs at
this time to recover from Watergate.
"Certainly one may argue," he
wrote, "that Gerald Ford's fameless
congressional career does not single
him out as the most qualified man
to take charge of the destiny of his
country and of the world, or to sleep
with a 'hot line' at his bedside. lt is
too early to tell what effect the exer–
cise of power will have upon him.
"Americans like to say: 'l t's the
White House that makes the Presi–
dent' - and they aren't necessarily
wrong."
-
Tom Rogers
Rome:
Like much of Western Europe,
Italians view the resignation of Pres–
ident Nixon with mixed emotions.
Sources within the Italian govern–
ment characterized ltalian reaction
as threefold: (l) admiration mixed
with surprise that the American sys–
tem of democracy was so efficient
that it could attack and rid itself of
corruption even at the highest leve!.
(2) Bewilderment and sorne con–
cern refiected
in
seeing the leading
nation in the Western world take
such "de-stabilizing action" over
what Italy sees as a comparatively
minor incident. Sorne newspaper
editorials saw the whole affair as
one of excessive moralism in Amer–
ica. President Nixon's accomplish-
PLAIN TRUTH September 1974