East Timor declared independence from Portugal on November 28, 1975. Nine days later, the country was invaded by Indonesia under the pretext of anti-colonialism to overthrow the Fretilin regime that emerged in 1974. U.S. President Gerald Ford endorsed the invasion, seeing East Timor as of little significance, overshadowed by Indonesia–United States relations. The fall of Saigon in mid-1975 had left Indonesia as the most important U.S. ally in Southeast Asia, so Ford reasoned that it was in the national interest to side with Indonesia. He later stated: "in the scope of things, Indonesia wasn't too much on my radar", and "We needed allies after Vietnam".