The Days of the Dog Star

Jerry Ford's hold on the future is still tenuous. Despite a successful transition year. Despite some encouraging economic signs. Despite the successful Mayaguez affair. Despite the Helsinki summit meeting.

All last week George Gallup in Princeton compiled the new data from his hot, dusty pollsters around the nation, and then at week's end sent his findings out through his network. Ford had fallen a notable seven points in the esteem of the people, from 52% to 45%. Over in Manhattan, Louis Harris was totting up his findings from some 1,500 personal interviews. The general drift was pretty much the same--down.

The news came as Ford took time out to clout a few balls on the fairways of Vail, Colo., but his men were busy in the hinterlands on his behalf. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, on the verge of a new round of Middle East talks, joined with Attorney General Edward Levi in bringing to the American Bar Association's convention in Montreal Ford's messages of diplomatic and investigative restraint. Then Kissinger flew off to the bourbon belt and in Birmingham outlined American interest against the Communists in Portugal. In Bloomington, Ind., meanwhile, Secretary of the Treasury William Simon was smiting big Government hip and thigh, while Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz went before Maine's poultry federation to extol the country's productive might and the virtues of Yankee enterprise in international markets.

But there was the vague feeling back in Washington, even in the White House, that none of this would cure the new malaise very much. At the Vail branch of the White House, Ron Nessen, the President's press secretary, attributed the problem to dog days, and indeed, Sirius the Dog Star, which governs this temperamental season in mythology, seemed to have an unusual hold on the affairs of state.

Those people out there who were asked the pollsters' questions seemed to respond as if a line had been drawn through Aug. 9, the end of Ford's first year as President. The great sympathy that was extended to him in a trying time of transition has apparently run thin. The Administration is Ford's responsibility now and, while Americans like him better than ever as a man, there are growing doubts about his ability to lead.

These doubts center on the economy. Over and over, the worries surfaced about jobs, inflation, pensions and investment; about being able to meet the fall tuition bills and finding homes that can be afforded. Neither Gallup nor Harris found that the President's recent European journey helped him a bit in their measurements, and that cast doubt on whether the expected agreement in the Middle East would dispel the political and economic shadows. There is almost nothing, except a grave national military peril, that takes such a toll of Presidents as economics.

The latest samplings show that approval of Ford's military response to the Mayaguez hijacking has worn off like a weak injection, and has even produced second thoughts about its wisdom. The visit of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and his passionate warnings against cooperating with the Soviets have hurt the President some on the other flank. "Where are we going?" the people asked. Too many vetoes, said some. No focus for the future. A few were uneasy over Ford's old-fashioned talk--too naive, too much like a Boy Scout. His friendship with business and the military establishment has brought up old doubts among traditional liberals who had remained silent for months in their relief at being rid of Nixon. For many Americans, the fact that they did not have to cast a ballot, and thus make a commitment to Ford, has given them license to be fickle.

There is no panic at the White House or among the mountain vistas in Vail. Administration officials see their man getting stronger personally, staying steady, riding out these peaks and valleys. Yet here and there in the Ford retinue there is concern that the old Nixon problem of underestimating the intelligence and awareness of the people is creeping back into the White House. There are many thoughtful observers who feel the nation wants and expects more change in society than the President can conceive--even in his most imaginative moments.

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