How the Allies Rate Ford

His first trip to Europe as President had clearly tired Gerald Ford. By the time Air Force One jet touched down in Rome last week, on the final stop of an exhausting seven-day tour that included a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit and a meeting in Salzburg with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Ford was described by an Italian official as looking as worn out "as a squeezed lemon." Happily, the President's final ten-hour stopover in Rome was diplomatically undemanding. There were exchanges of pleasantries with Italian leaders (partly to boost the fortunes of the ruling Christian Democrats in the upcoming regional elections) and a drive to Vatican City for a chat with Pope Paul VI.

Brief though it was, the President's Italian visit contributed to what was a major purpose of his journey: to give Western Europe's leaders a chance to size up Gerald Ford. Their guarded verdict: passing grades for the President. "His only real slip was the physical one," said a British official, referring to the much photographed fall that Ford took at Salzburg airport.

Ford's performance, in fact, surprised most Europeans. There had been a fairly widespread impression among Europe's diplomats and journalists that the President was an earnest nonentity. That unflattering assessment reflected Ford's unimpressive performance in his first encounters with Europeans after he entered the White House. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, for instance, had come away from a White House meeting last December doubting that Ford possessed enough intelligence to be an effective President. The British and French were similarly skeptical.

In the wake of the recent European tour, however, most European leaders feel confident that Ford, as a British diplomat put it, "is growing into his job." Schmidt indicated that he was delighted with Ford's display of real leadership. Remarked a senior Bonn official: "We now think Ford knows where he is going, even if he isn't quite sure why."

During the trip, Europeans were especially interested in the relationship between Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Because of the President's limited experience in foreign affairs, it was assumed that he would be almost totally dependent on Kissinger, who has frequently been criticized by Europeans for not being sympathetic to the Continent's needs. Although Ford said nothing that broke with the Kissinger line, Europeans now believe that the President may be capable of being his own man and of eventually putting his own imprint on U.S. policies. Italian diplomats noted that during a complicated tour d'horizon of foreign issues in Rome with Premier Aldo Moro, Ford never turned to Kissinger for consultation.

Like Eisenhower. Europeans were also pleased by Ford's style, which they characterize as warm, candid, direct, open and firm. At the Vatican, one prelate was impressed with Ford's "physical presence," while another thought he noted a certain similarity to Eisenhower. "Calm activism" is the way Italian officials describe the impression given by Ford that "he doesn't want to let a situation stagnate. He really wants to set the whole chessboard into motion."

If Europe was pleased by the Ford trip, so was Washington, which sees the President as having a calming effect on the world. "Ford's appeal, aside from the powers he wields, may be no more unusual than his simplicity," reports TIME Washington Bureau Chief Hugh Sidey. "Ford eschews tricks or fancy talk. In Europe, he had his approach down pat. Look, he said to the man seated across from him, here is how I see the problems. When Ford did not understand, he asked questions. When he was obviously unknowing, he dragged in his aides. With Britain's Harold Wilson, Ford shared economic-recession talk. Then the President listened carefully when Chancellor Schmidt, who is almost an ex-officio member of Ford's Council of Economic Advisers, talked economics. Schmidt loved it. All of Europe's leaders, apparently, were touched by Ford's warmth and decency. Perhaps that is not all that unusual; Ford does that to most people who encounter him."

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