The Education of Gerald Ford

A log crackled in the fireplace of the White House Red Room as butlers served drinks from silver trays to President Gerald Ford, a handful of aides and his four guests: Historian Daniel Boorstin, Harvard Government Professor James Q. Wilson, Woodrow Wilson Fellow Martin Diamond and Chicago Lawyer John Robson. The group moved to a first floor dining room for a meal of roast beef, mixed vegetables and fruit salad. The scene was more reminiscent of the White House of Thomas Jefferson, who had company at his dinner table nearly every night for leisurely conversation, than that of Richard Nixon, who guarded his privacy and preferred to hear from outsiders by memo.

Ford, looking tired but relaxed and reflective, gently steered the conversation to the problems of presidential leadership in an era of pessimism. The scholars picked up the cue. Boorstin told the President that skepticism about political leaders is inherent and healthy in democracy. Diamond noted that the challenge of leadership is to balance skepticism with trust. Wilson observed that the malaise in America had increased since the 1950s particularly because many people felt that the quality of life had not kept pace with technological advance. Ford suggested that perhaps the pendulum had swung too far toward a national "self-destructive impulse" that threatened institutions and savaged public officials.

At 10:30 p.m. the group, including Counsellors Robert Hartmann and John O. Marsh and Press Secretary Ron Nessen, finally moved back to the Red Room for brandy, cigars and more conversation. For Ford, the evening was a relaxing opportunity to reflect on the broader historical and philosophical contexts of his decisions and, in a way, a remedial crash course in presidential perspectives.

The tutor who is styling the education of Gerald Ford is his newly appointed special consultant, Robert A. Goldwin, 52, former dean of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., who was an aide to White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld when he was Ambassador to NATO. Goldwin is convinced that because Government is made up of specialists, "it is very hard to see the connections. What we hope for in these sessions is people who are trained to think and see things in terms of their broadest implications."

Goldwin plans a series of seven or eight conversations annually between the President and people outside Government who have diverse views, experience and background. The concept is much in keeping with the open-door policy that Ford established for his presidency and that has been criticized by some as too timeconsuming. But Ford's recognition of the need to widen the horizons that bounded his 25 years in Congress--and his willingness to listen to other sides--is commendable.

More Efficient. In a similar vein, Ford met last week with Nelson Rockefeller and members of his National Commission of Critical Choices in New York City. The President, who is an ex officio member of the commission, heard personal opinions on a variety of subjects. John Foster, a vice president of energy research and development for TRW, Inc., an electronics firm, suggested that the Government hire a private contractor to manage the nation's energy program, just as TRW orchestrated the ICBM project. Physicist Edward Teller urged that the Government press the conservation of energy by demanding that homes be better insulated and automobiles made more efficient. Former World Bank President George D. Woods proposed that the oil-rich Middle East countries use their new wealth to build desalination plants for poverty-stricken nations. Ford also met last week with representatives of the Trilateral Commission, including David Rockefeller and other leading citizens of the U.S., Europe and Japan.

A Trade-Off. At week's end Ford flew off to another round of summitry, his third trip abroad and 18th meeting with a head of government in four months. His destination this time was the West Indian island of Martinique, where he met with French President Valeery Giscard d'Estaing. Prominent on the agenda for the three-day meeting were the Middle East, energy problems and monetary reform--all topics on which the U.S. and France have some sharply differing views. Giscard, for example, has been proposing that oil-consuming nations, underdeveloped consumers, and producers meet in a trilateral energy conference where he would press producers to accept guarantees of their investments in Western economies in return for lowered fuel prices. The U.S. has argued that unless consumers organize first, such a conference would work only to the advantage of producers; but there was a chance that Ford would agree to it in exchange for a French promise to approve, if not directly participate in, the U.S.-proposed International Energy Agency of 16 industrial nations.

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