The Right Thing for America

Carter needed lots of G.O.P. help to win the House vote on arms for Turkey

It was one of the most momentous votes in this session of Congress, and the outcome was excruciatingly uncertain until the very last minute. Nearly every member--413 out of 435--turned up to cast a vote on President Carter's request to end the 42 month-old U.S. embargo on arms for Turkey. The ban had infuriated the Turks and weakened the southern flank of NATO. Whether or not Carter would succeed in persuading Congress to lift the embargo was seen as a major test for his Administration.

As the House vote began, the cumulative tally flashed electronically on two of the chamber's walls. Soon the legislators were on their feet, shouting, jeering, laughing. The count was almost a tie: 203 for maintaining the arms ban and 202 for lifting it.

The balloting was not over however. Both Democrats and Republicans surged into the well of the House, trying to get the attention of the presiding officer, Don Fuqua of Florida. A key handful of them had not yet voted, and others were ready to change their votes. Roars greeted a sudden change in the wall tally; it was now 204 to 202 against Carter's request. But then four more members voted and the count shifted dramatically: 205 to 205.

Republican backbenchers started chanting: "Tip! Tip! Tip! Tip!" They were daring Speaker of the House Thomas ("Tip") O'Neill to break the tie and rescue the President, his fellow Democrat. But O'Neill remained silent, doing nothing. Not only was he deeply committed to the embargo but also he was furious at the Administration for the dismissal of his old friend, Robert T. Griffin, from the General Services Administration. Other Democratic leaders, however, were frantically mobilizing support--for opposite sides. Indiana's John Brademas, the Democratic whip and a leader of the pro-Greek lobby, was fighting to keep the embargo. At this point, he had a lone vote in reserve. Opposing him was Democratic Floor Leader James Wright of Texas, who had already used up most of the "sleepers" he could call on to vote for the resumption of arms sales to Turkey. Brademas played his last card and Wright matched him; the tally was now 206 to 206.

Now G.O.P. chiefs swung reluctantly back into action. They resented the idea that they would have to rescue Carter, but they were acting at the request of a rather extraordinary Carter ally: none other than Gerald R. Ford, their one-time House comrade and President for 29 months, who lost to Carter by only 3% in the 1976 election. Responding to the G.O.P. leaders' promptings, Republican Richard Schulze of Pennsylvania signaled that he was changing his vote. The clerk of the House then cried, "Off no, on yes." To jeers, laughter and applause, the tally shifted again: 207 to 205. The pro-Carter forces finally had taken the lead, and after one more member's yes, the chairman brought down his gavel with a whack and declared the final vote: 208 in favor of lifting the embargo, 205 against.

Despite the narrow margin, it was clearly a major victory for President Carter's foreign policy. Since the Senate had voted one week earlier to lift the embargo, full-scale arms transfers to Turkey can resume shortly. The embargo originally had been imposed to pressure the Turks to withdraw their troops from Cyprus, which they had invaded in 1974 to protect the island's Turks from the Greek majority. But the arms ban accomplished little except to damage Turkey's ties to NATO and aggravate the country's domestic political instability.

In a statement following the House's action, Carter praised the "bipartisan, statesman-like recognition that the time has come to turn a new page in our relations with the countries of the eastern Mediterranean... [It] is a crucial step toward strengthening the vital southern flank of NATO." Washington expects that the Turks will reciprocate soon by allowing the U.S. to resume electronic monitoring of Soviet military activity from Turkish bases, which the Turks closed down three years ago.

The victory, reports TIME Congressional Correspondent Neil MacNeil, came only after some important private maneuvering by Jim Wright. Although he personally favored keeping the embargo against Turkey, he felt that as Democratic leader he must back the Administration's pro-Turkey policy. First he tried to draft a compromise acceptable to Brademas and others who favored Greece rather than Turkey. Brademas agreed to a one year suspension of the embargo if Turkey would take positive steps to end the Cyprus stalemate. The President rejected that, however, arguing that it "would be like putting the Turks on parole. It would offend them."

Wright then started searching for some formula that could satisfy both the President and a House majority. The result was the bill passed last week. Similar to the Senate version, it allows the President to end the embargo if he certifies that Turkey "is acting in good faith to achieve a just and peaceful settlement of the Cyprus problem." The President must report to Congress every 60 days on progress toward a Cyprus solution.

Wright began calling several dozen Democratic Congressmen to enlist their support. He said later, "A lot of them wanted the lifting of the embargo to pass, but they didn't want to vote for it." With an election only three months away, most Congressmen preferred not to antagonize the influential Greek lobby. But by the time the issue hit the House floor, Wright had a list of 16 Democrats whom he could call on if necessary to back the President.

Carter, meanwhile, had been doing some phoning of his own and was startled by what he found. Of the 30 backbenchers with whom he talked, ten said their vote depended upon what Wright did. This persuaded Carter to endorse the Texan's new compromise.

Undoubtedly, the most important call Carter made was to Gerald Ford. "I'm in trouble on lifting the embargo. Can you help?" asked the President. "Yes I will," replied Ford, whose defeat in the 1976 election was partly owing to Carter's attacks on him for opposing the Turkish embargo. Ford went to work on G.O.P. Congressmen, and he got an earful when he told them why he was calling. Exclaimed Michigan's Guy Vander Jagt: "Do you realize that Carter knifed you unmercifully in the campaign for your stand on lifting the embargo? The Greeks voted against you 87%," Replied Ford: "I know, Guy. But it's the right thing for America."

Vander Jagt and half a dozen other Congressmen from Michigan, Illinois and Ohio were so impressed by Ford's appeal and his lack of partisanship that they voted yes. Their action moved a State Department aide to concede: "Ford was crucial in delivering a few Republicans." The G.O.P., in fact, helped Carter on the Turkish question, just as it had on the Panama Canal treaties and the Middle East aircraft package. A majority of Republicans (78 to 64) voted to lift the arms ban on Turkey, while a minority of Carter's own Democrats (130 to 141) did so.

With all the political arm-twisting, the day-long debate on the issue probably changed few votes. Still it demonstrated the bitterness of the anti-Administration forces. Brademas, for example, tried to embarrass the President by quoting liberally from his 1976 campaign speeches denouncing Ford for opposing the embargo. The Indiana Congressman then tore into the President, charging that Carter's readiness to give Turkey something without getting anything in return shows that he may not be able to deal with Moscow. Said Brademas: "I am a little nervous about the President sitting down to talk with the Soviet Union in the SALT talks and giving action for a promise. Who would trust such a President? Not I."

After lifting the Turkish embargo, the House turned to a number of other foreign policy matters. It supported the Administration by blocking attempts to cut off military aid to South Korea and Chile. But it then rebuffed Carter by calling for an end to economic sanctions on Rhodesia. Going beyond the Senate's move of the previous week, the House voted, 229 to 180, to abolish those sanctions if a new Rhodesian government chosen in free elections takes office by Dec. 31. The current regime, headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith and three moderate black leaders, has promised to hold such elections in early December. Unlike the Senate action, the House did not require Rhodesia to try to negotiate with the radical Patriotic Front guerrillas before any lifting of sanctions. The Administration feels that this is a mistake and argues that the participation of the Front is necessary for the success of any settlement. It hopes to re-establish that point during a Senate-House conference.

When the House turned to the $7.3 billion foreign aid bill, it was unexpectedly sympathetic to some of the Administration's arguments. Defeated, for example, was an attempt to attach strings on aid to international organizations, like the World Bank, to prohibit them from using U.S. contributions to assist Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Uganda. State Department lobbyists successfully argued that these agencies could not accept money with such conditions. Voting the restrictions, therefore, could force the U.S. to quit the organizations. Heartened by its victory on this issue, the Administration is more optimistic about the prospects for the rest of the foreign aid program. But it faces a major test later this month when key Congressmen are expected to propose slashing more than half a billion dollars from the White House's requests.

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