Ford Makes His First Foray Overseas

The first hundred days of his presidency were blighted by raging inflation, deepening recession and, after a good beginning, growing doubts about his ability to lead the nation. As a result, both friends and foes urged Gerald Ford to stay in Washington this week and work on the domestic problems that had piled up while campaigned uphill for Republicans the recent elections. But Ford felt a commitment to make his first trip abroad as President. During the eight-day journey, he planned to reassure Japan and South Korea about continuing U.S support and to chat with Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev about nuclear-arms limitations; no major new agreements were expected at any of the stops.

Ford took off on Sunday from Andrews Air Force base with an entourage of 80 from the White House and a press contingent of 153. A preview of what he would find at each stop.

JAPAN. From the point of view of domestic Japanese politics, the timing of Fprd's visit was unfortunate. Once Japan's most popular politician, Premier Kakuei Tanaka is now fighting for his political life. His popularity had already slipped badly because of inflation, recession and the energy crisis when the monthly magazine Bungei-Shunju accused him in October of corrupt financial dealings and tax evasion. Tanaka denied the charges, promised to reveal all the facts and tried to consolidate his position by shuffling his Cabinet.

But rivals within Tanaka's own Liberal Democratic Party have vowed to step up efforts to unseat him as soon as Ford leaves Japan on Friday. If Tanaka is still in office when the Diet convenes in December, opposition plan to grill him at length about his financial activities, thereby hamstringing the government's normal functions and further damaging his party's image. If Tanaka survives that session, he will face another fight at a Liberal Democratic Party conference in December.

Ford is the first U.S. President to visit Japan. Dwight Eisenhower planned to go in 1960 but canceled the trip at the last minute because of massive protests by Japanese leftists. There were demonstrations in advance of Ford's trip too, including firebombings of the American and Soviet embassies by extremists. No real damage resulted.

In 1960 the mammoth anti-American demonstrations were spearheaded by the Zengakuren, a tautly disciplined, powerful army of leftist students. The Zengakuren have since faded out of existence as those members who did not entirely forsake radical politics turned to terrorism. Now the leftists have splintered into numerous tiny and not very effective groups. Aside from staging an occasional bombing, they spend most their time in internecine street fighting Some regard themselves as Maoists, others call themselves "Guevarristas"; one organization, the "East Asian Anti-Japanese Armed Front," seems primarily to oppose what it calls "a new brand of Japanese colonialism," meaning Japanese business activities in Asia.

Weak as they are, the leftist groups are unpredictable, and any of them would relish upsetting Ford's visit. To ensure the President's safety, the Japanese government assigned 10,000 policemen to guard him. In addition an advance party of 40 Secret Service men went over the itinerary, vetoing any ideas that seemed to be too dangerous. Among them was Ford's suggestion that he attend an exhibition baseball game between the New York Mets and a Japanese all-star team. Secret Service men carefully examined Ford's accommodations in the lavish 300-room Akasaka Palace, which was modeled on Versailles during 1899-1909 and refurbished recently at a cost of $33 million.

Tuesday morning Ford was to have an audience with Emperor Hirohito, who planned to honor him that evening with a formal banquet at the Imperial Palace. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, Ford and Tanaka expected to spend several hours together at the Akasaka Palace, discussing mutual defense arrangements, trade, relations with Communist China, inflation and the energy crisis. In addition, Tanaka sought a promise that the U.S. would not restrict food sales to Japan in the future, while Ford hoped to receive assurances that the Japanese Diet would ratify the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. After reciprocating with a dinner for Hirohito, Tanaka and other Japanese dignitaries on Wednesday evening, Ford planned to spend the next day touring Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital and one of its most beautiful cities.

SOUTH KOREA. After Tokyo and Kyoto, Seoul should look pleasant to Ford. There will be no protest demonstrations; the tough South Korean police will see to that. Instead, Ford could anticipate arches of welcome soaring across the streets, a sea of American and Korean flags, and hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren chanting "Mansei!" ("Long life!")

Yet Ford cannot take the joyous reception at face value. Despite Seoul's modern high-rise buildings and well-clothed, well-fed people, South Koreans are increasingly restive under the repressive rule of President Park Chung Hee. In an attempt to stamp out dissent, he issued a series of decrees this year that almost completely gagged the Korean press. Further, his police rounded up more than 250 critics of the regime; some 200 still remain in prison.

Through such tactics, Park has managed to mute dissent within Korea, though an assassin's bullet intended for him killed his wife last summer. But outside the country, support for him has shrunk. Two congressional committees want to slash U.S. military aid to Korea almost in half, to about $80 million for this fiscal year.

Ford's visit will amount to only a symbolic reaffirmation of U.S. support of a non-Communist South Korea, certainly not of Park himself. Even so, during their talks on Friday afternoon Park was expected to ask Ford for more modern military equipment and increased economic aid. That evening Park will give a state dinner for Ford to be attended by about 100 Korean dignitaries.

After a night at Seoul's Chosun Hotel, Ford will leave the country for his most important stop of all, Vladivostok.

SOVIET UNION. After Ford lands at Vladivostok (see box) on Saturday, his hosts intend to whisk him by helicopter to a remote, wooded compound of guest houses some twelve miles away for his talks with Brezhnev. Soviet leaders pushed hard during Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's recent visit to Moscow for the meeting with Ford. They know little about Ford except that as a conservative Representative he supported high defense budgets.

Brezhnev wants to test Ford's negotiating skills at first hand, as well as learn how badly Ford has been weakened by the lingering effects of Watergate, the recession and the Republican disaster at the polls this month. One effect of those crises has been to nudge detente off center stage; the meeting provides a chance to regain the lost momentum. Thus Ford must expect to be probed on the Middle East, European security matters and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. But Brezhnev was expected not to try to crowd Ford in their first meeting, only to take his measure. The Soviet leader may indeed find that he gets along better personally with Ford than he did with Nixon, for the two leaders are both plain-speaking extraverts and outdoorsmen.

At most, they hope to reach agreement before Ford leaves for home on Sunday, on the general principles that will guide U.S. and Soviet negotiators toward an arms agreement that can perhaps be signed during Brezhnev's visit to Washington this summer. Even without that, says a presidential adviser, "it's a chance to start a relationship now so that by next summer we'll be further along in picking up from where Nixon and Brezhnev left off."

With such scant expectations of concrete returns from Ford's travels, many people questioned whether he should be making the trip at all--particularly at a time when Congress has not yet confirmed a Vice President. Until then, House Speaker Carl Albert is next in line of succession. But Ford felt an obligation to honor Nixon's promise to visit Japan some time this year. Moreover Ford had decided that he must make a brief side trip to South Korea to avoid what the North Koreans might misread as a calculated snub of Park. Beyond those considerations, Ford, who said last week that he would definitely run for election in his own right in 1976, had obviously decided that he had nothing to lose at home by traveling abroad. Only by acting as if he had a mandate from the voters could an unelected President hope to increase a national consensus for his foreign policy.

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