AID TO EL SALVADOR VITAL, GERALD FORD TELLS VOA LISTENERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201990001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 8, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201990001-1
WASHINGTON TIT ES
8 October 1984 STAT
Gerald Ford
tells VOA listeners
By Ed Rogers
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
U.S. aid is vital to the survival of El
Salvador's democratic government, for-
mer President Gerald Ford said yester-
day
Mr. Ford made his remarks on a new
Voice of America "call-in" program.
. The one-time Republican leader of
the House said he regrets opposition to
the aid by House Democrats and
defended the use of covert action by the
United States as "a very legitimate
activity of our government" if it is well
run and clearly needed.
During the 50-minute worldwide
radio premiere of"Thlk to America," Mr.
Ford also spoke of unrest in Soviet-
dominated East Europe and discounted
the threat of a nuclear war in replies to
questions asked by people in 11 nations
around the globe.
Host Larry King in Washington, D.C.,
joined by Mr.' Ford in Palm Springs,
Calif., fielded calls from Australia, El
Salvador, England, France, Greece,
India, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand,
South Africa and West Germany. The
participants called in their telephone
numbers and the VOA called them back
to save them the cost of a long-distance
call. Tb save'time, Mr. King asked them
not to bother to give their names.
"I applaud the recent election ... that
resulted in President [Jose Napolean]
Duarte being the winner," Mr. Ford said
in answer to a question from a man in El
Salvador, adding that the White House
and Congress should join to help the new
regime to succeed.
- "Why do the Democrats of Congress
oppose it [U.S. aid) if we know that is the
only way to avoid a communist takeover
here?" the caller asked.
"I regret very much that there are i
some in the Congress ... most of them
as I recall are in the House of Represen-
tatives on the Democratic side . , .
opposed to the kind of economicaid, and
to some extent some military assis-
tance, to the Duarte government," Mr.
Ford replied.
to El Salvador
"If the Duarte government fails,
there's no question that the Sandinista
elements in that part of the world, with
their base in Nicaragua, will continue to
spread the wrong philosophy in Central
America," Mr. Ford said.
Mr. Kin then asked if Mr. Ford
believed covert activity there must be
continued.
"I've seen the benefit of covert oper-
ations in many many cases while was
in the Congress and while was in t Fe White ouse, Mr. Ford sai , "an i
they can be well tun and if there's a clear
need for them ... then I would support
them."
To a caller in Clermont, France, who
felt that Europe - not the United States
or the Soviet Union - would be the tar-
get of any limited nuclear war, Mr. Ford
said, "I am absolutely certain that there
will not be a nuclear confrontation...:'
Mr. Ford welcomed South Africa's
adoption of a new constitution as 'a small
step away from a previous "hard-line
apartheid," or racial segregation, he told
a caller from Johannesburg, "We should
applaud it and not condemn it."
A caller from New South Wales, Aus-
tralia, wanted to know if Jewish eco-
nomic and political influence in the
United States is not disproportionate to !
the size of the American Jewish pop-
ulation, which the caller estimated at 3
percent of the total.
Mr. Ford responded with a brief lec-
ture on the constitutional right of citi-
zens to petition the United States
government, even in the form of organ=
ized lobbying.
Tb a woman in Selangor, Malaysia, Mr.
Ford said the nomination of Geraldine
Ferraro on the Democratic ticket means
the "barrier has now been broken" for
women and that Jesse Jackson's Demo-
cratic primary race means the barrier
"may have been broken" for blacks.
Mr. Ford declined to advise the Brit-
ish government on how to deal with the'
mine worker strike for the benefit of a
caller in Staffordshire. And he lectured
on the virtues of the two-party political
system despite difficulties it causes
third-party candidates in response to a
call from a man in Durban, South
Africa.
Mr. Ford expressed hope to a woman I
in Auckland, New Zealand, that con-!
cerns over U.S. nuclear-powered ships!
voiced by that country's new prime min-
ister will not destroy the benefits of a
long-standing treaty between the two
countries.
A man in Thessaloniki, Greece,
raised the issue of Thrkish troops that
have occupied a third of predominantly-
Greek Cyprus for more than 10 years.
"I'm not going to argue whether the
Greek government or the Thrkish gov-
ernment was right,". the former pres-
ident said.
"It's just very bad to see a great
country like Cyprus torn apart by the
current situation -on . that beautiful
island"
What was Mr. Ford's most difficult
crisis while president? He told a man in
Madras, India, that it was the decision
to use military force to recapture the!
U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez after the
Cambodian government captured it in
international waters.
U.S. residents could not call in - or
even listen to the program - because
Congress fnrbids domestic dissemina-
tion of any 'OA broadcast.
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