Documents / Official release
This file from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library holds press releases and statements that House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford issued between January and April 1966. Most cover Vietnam policy, the war on poverty, inflation, foreign aid, the federal budget and changes in his press staff. An April 21, 1966 statement says the Air Force told Ford it would contract a university with no close Air Force ties to have scientists study unexplained UFO sightings and make the report public. According to Ford, his call for congressional hearings led to this study.
“Burbank”1 page
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD NEWS RELEASEHOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT APRIL 1, 1966 STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN No "April-Fooling" about it--it has now become more and more urgent that Democrats in Congress join Republicans in looking for places to cut the President's $112.8 billion budget instead of trying to inflate it. The reason is that French President Charles deGaulle has announced he wants all allied commands and installations out of his country by April 1, 1967. France just announced it will not pay one penny toward the cost of removing the u. s. and other allied NATO bases from French soil, and I don't think there is any way we can force France to assume any of that tTemendous expense. Estimated cost of the move-out runs as high as $2,5 billion, according to news dispatches from Paris where deGaulle and his cabinet yesterday met on the question for 2~ hours. The cabinet firmly rejected a demand by us and our NATO allies that France pay for removing the NATO bases. It has been impossible for me to learn the extent to which our 13 NATO allies apart from France will share in the cost of base removal; but since most of the installations are ours, we know the U. s. will pay most of the bill. A good guess is that our share will exceed $1 billion. This will create an unanticipated and heavy drain on u. S, defense funds in fiscal 1967 at a time when we are pouring billions of dollars into Vietnam with no end in sight. This is something that has received little attention, eclipsed as it is by the Vietnam war and by the problem of inflation here at home. It is an added reason why Congress should cut spending as a move to halt inflation and avoid a tax increase. There is no question that the reorganizing of NATO's supply lines in Europe will require heavy military expenditures by the u. s. I personally am most concerned and feel this is another reason for Congress to cut back non-military spending.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 55 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.