WHITE HOUSE SHAKEUP--MEANING FOR DEFENSE FOREIGN POLICY '76 ELECTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100010081-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 81
• Publication Date: November 17, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100010081-4
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It was a stunning series of
moves by the President, with
( effects still ripplir g through
Government. On em may
hang his own pciicai future.
President Ford's sudden shakeup of
top-level power posts on November 3
carried a clear message::: orn now on
his Administration will bear an unmis-
takable "Ford" stamp..
Ousted from positions of i_.=lu*ence-
or cut down in size-we=e top men in
the national-security structure.
Removed from consideration For sec-
ond spot on the 19716 Republican na-
tional ticket was Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller-on the surface, at least, at
his own request.
Shifting into leading positions are
men Mr. Ford has long known and
trusted, described by him as "my guys"
forming "my own team."
What the President hoped to gain by
this reshuffle -
Y To clear the decks for his 1976
campaign to win the Presidency on his
own.. Republican leaders have come to
doubt that his nomination is as certain
as it once seemed.
To free his hand in dealing with
Congress and with major issues, both at
home and abroad. Many of his aides feel
the President has too often been over-
shadowed by his advisers, and now
needs to take decisive actions in his
own name for his political well-being.
*.To end personality clashes within
President Ford, putting in his "own team,"
aims at a tighter hand on rains of power.
Fired as CIA Director was William
Colby, whose post will be taken by
George Bush, a former Ambassador to
the United Nations and now the U.S.
liaison representative in Peking.
Reduced in influence, in the view of
many observers, was Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, who keeps that job but
loses his other-and highly prized
position as chief of the National Security
Council advisers.
Moving back into the Cabinet, as Sec-
retary of Commerce to replace Rogers
C. B. Morton, was Elliot Richardson,
who has held three previous Cabinet
posts, now is Ambassador to London.
In the White House, Richard Cheney;
deputy to Mr. Rurrisfeld, takes over as
chief of staff.
Mr. Ford's own explanation of the
changes, given at a nationally televised
news conference:
"Any President, to do the job that is
needed and necessary, has to have his
own team in the area of foreign policy.
Fired as Defense
Secretary. He ran
afoul of White House.
His ouster followed
. months of turmoil.
the Administration, particularly the
long and publicly aired disagreement
over detente and U.S. military needs in
face of a Soviet threat.
Remaining to be answered are vital
questions: Did Mr. Ford help or hurt
himself? Is he coming across to the pub-
lic as a President with a decisive hand
on the helm, or as a Chief Executive
struggling with disarray and confusion
in his Administration?
The package of changes formally an-
nounced by the President stunned
many observers.
Ousted as Secretary of Defense was
James Schlesinger, to be replaced by
Donald Rumsfeld, Mr. Ford's chief of
staff at the White House.