The Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Library and Museum
The Ford Library
in Ann Arbor
The Ford Museum
in Grand Rapids
Overview of Holdings
- 21 million pages of materials
- 400+ sets of papers
- 500,000 audiovisual items
- 17,000 artifacts
- holdings include Congressional,
Vice Presidential, and Presidential
materials
Gerald R.
Ford
Congressional
Papers
President’s
Commission on
the Assassination
of John F.
Kennedy (Warren
Commission)
Files
National Security Adviser Files
Congressman Ford and Vietnam
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Serves in the Navy during WWII. The experience
changed his world view.
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Seat on the House Subcommittee on Defense.
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Tours Vietnam in 1953.
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By the late 1960s Gerald Ford still felt the North
Vietnamese could be defeated.
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Paris Peace Accord signed in January 1973.
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War Powers Act of 1973 signed in November.
The 1970s
Richard Nixon
announces
end of
Vietnam War
Gerald Ford
becomes
th
38
President
of the
United States
“Almost by definition, the decisions that must be
made in the Oval Office are difficult. If they’re
easy, they’re made elsewhere in the federal
bureaucracy.”
Gerald R. Ford
38th President of the United States
…a full, free, and absolute pardon…
Gerald R. Ford and the Vietnam War
The Fall of Saigon
“It was the saddest hour of my time in the White
House, sitting in the Oval Office and watching
those last Americans being finally evacuated
from Vietnam. To see United States troops
kicked out, literally, was a hard thing for a
President to swallow, and hard for most
Americans to swallow.”
Presidential
Decision-making
The Fall of Saigon
Timeline
1974
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August 9:
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August 12:
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August 13:
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August 19:
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September 16:
December 30:
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Gerald R. Ford sworn in as 38th President
of the United States
Gerald Ford addresses a Joint Session of
Congress
Congress cuts the budget for South
Vietnam in half.
Addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars
in Chicago, announcing his Clemency
Program
Unveils Clemency Program
Ford signs Foreign Assistance Act of 1974
Timeline
1975
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January:
March 25:
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March 26:
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April:
April 4:
April 5:
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April 10:
April 14:
April 17:
April 23:
April 25:
April 28:
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April 29:
North Vietnam steps up movement into South Vietnam.
Ford meets with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, National Security
Advisor Major General Brent Scowcroft, Ambassador Graham Martin,
Army Chief of Staff General Frederick C. Weyand.
State Department announces beginning of evacuation of remaining U.S.
personnel and Vietnamese refugees.
Evacuation of South Vietnamese orphans, “Operation Baby Lift.”
Receives General Weyand’s memo regarding the status of South Vietnam
Meets with General Weyand … report on situation
Meets with National Security Council
Addressed Joint Session of Congress
Senate Foreign Relations Committee requests a meeting with President
Ford
Khmer Rouge troops take Cambodia
Gives Tulane University Speech
Final siege of Saigon begins
Air Force halts evacuation flights because of artillery attacks.
Ford convenes NSC
Ford orders final evacuation
In 16 hours 6,500 Americans and South Vietnamese are evacuated from
Saigon.
North Vietnamese forces step up their advance into
South Vietnam. By the end of March 1975 they control
most of the country.
Ambassador Graham Martin, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Frederick Weyand,
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discuss the situation in Vietnam, March 25, 1975.
April 1975
The Final Month
April 10
President Ford Addresses a
Joint Session of Congress
President Truman's resolution must guide us today. Our purpose is not to point the finger of blame, but
to build upon our many successes, to repair damage where we find it, to recover our balance, to
move ahead as a united people. Tonight is a time for straight talk among friends, about where we
stand and where we are going.
A vast human tragedy has befallen our friends in Vietnam and Cambodia. Tonight I shall not talk
only of obligations arising from legal documents. Who can forget the enormous sacrifices of
blood, dedication, and treasure that we made in Vietnam?
Under five Presidents and 12 Congresses, the United States was engaged in Indochina. Millions of
Americans served, thousands died, and many more were wounded, imprisoned, or lost. Over $150
billion have been appropriated for that war by the Congress of the United States. And after years of
effort, we negotiated, under the most difficult circumstances, a settlement which made it possible
for us to remove our military forces and bring home with pride our American prisoners. This
settlement, if its terms had been adhered to, would have permitted our South Vietnamese ally, with
our material and moral support, to maintain its security and rebuild after two decades of war.
The chances for an enduring peace after the last American fighting man left Vietnam in 1973 rested on
two publicly stated premises: first, that if necessary, the United States would help sustain the terms
of the Paris accords it signed 2 years ago, and second, that the United States would provide
adequate economic and military assistance to South Vietnam.
April 23
President Ford Speaks At Tulane University
Today, America can regain the sense of pride that
existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by
refighting a war that is finished as far as America is
concerned. As I see it, the time has come to look
forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind
up the Nation's wounds, and to restore its health and
its optimistic self-confidence.
The Final 48 Hours
April 28
The Air Force halts evacuation flights.
The President convenes a meeting of the
National Security Council.
Just before midnight, Gerald Ford orders the
final evacuation of Saigon.
April 28
National Security Council Meets
April 29
State Department Cables
to and from
Ambassador Graham Martin,
April 29, 1975
9:47 a.m. EST
1:42 p.m. Zulu Time
Scowcroft
(Situation Room) to
Martin:
“Insure that all 400
Americans in the
Embassy compound
are evacuated in this
operation ASAP. “
10:11 a.m. EST
2:11 p.m. Zulu Time
From Secy. Of State
Kissinger to Martin
(via Brown)
“IBM headquarters
reports its personnel
still in Saigon and is
most disturbed. Do
what you can.”
The End
In 16 hours, United States forces evacuated
6,500 Americans and South Vietnamese from
Saigon, ending decades of American
involvement in the area.
Refugees
What Would You Do?
Refugees & Immigration
 There were now over 120,000 South Vietnamese
refugees … men, women, and children who had
nowhere to go.
 On April 30, 1975 Gerald Ford requested $507
million from Congress for refugee transport and care.
 The United States House of Representatives rejected
that request the following day.
April 1975
“Operation Baby Lift”
The evacuation of South Vietnamese orphans begins.
Refugees escaped
using any method
available to them
…
On foot
By boat
By air
Political Cartoons
Amnesty
President Gerald R. Ford's Remarks
Announcing a Program for the Return of
Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military
Deserters
September 16, 1974
Good morning:
In my first week as President, I asked the Attorney General and the Secretary of
Defense to report to me, after consultation with other Governmental officials
and private citizens concerned, on the status of those young Americans who
have been convicted, charged, investigated, or are still being sought as draft
evaders or military deserters.
On August 19, at the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars in the
city of Chicago, I announced my intention to give these young people a chance
to earn their return to the mainstream of American society so that they can, if
they choose, contribute, even though belatedly, to the building and the
betterment of our country and the world.
I did this for the simple reason that for American fighting men, the long and
divisive war in Vietnam has been over for more than a year, and I was
determined then, as now, to do everything in my power to bind up the Nation's
wounds.
I promised to throw the weight of my Presidency into the scales of justice on
the side of leniency and mercy, but I promised also to work within the existing
system of military and civilian law and the precedents set by my predecessors
who faced similar postwar situations, among them Presidents Abraham Lincoln
and Harry S. Truman.
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draft evaders and military deserters
24 months of alternate service
Clemency Review Board
The primary purpose of this program is the
reconciliation of all our people and the
restoration of the essential unity of Americans
within which honest differences of opinion do
not descend to angry discord and mutual
problems are not polarized by excessive
passion.
“… never did enough to win. We always did just
enough to keep the battle going.”
Demise…
Burial…
Gerald R. Ford
38th President of the United States
July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006
For more information visit our
websites:
 www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov
 www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/
guides/vietnam.asp
 www.archives.gov