This Copy For

NEWS CONFERENCE #1045

AT THE WHITE HOUSE

WITH RON ZIEGLER

AT 4:37 P.M. EDT

MAY 26, 1971

WEDNESDAY

MR. ZIEGLER: The schedule for tomorrow we announced this morning. Just to confirm it.

At 10 a.m., there will be an arrival ceremony for the King of Saudi Arabia, King Faisal.

At 10:30 tomorrow, the President will meet with King Faisal in his office.

At one o'clock, there will be a working luncheon honoring King Faisal in the State Dining Room.

At three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, the President will meet with Secretary of State Rogers.

We have several announcements today. First of all, the President today is announcing the appointment of the Secretary of Interior Rogers C.B. Morton to be a member of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission representing the Federal Government. We will post the details of that.

The President today is also announcing the appointment of James H. Sterner to be a member of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission for the remainder of the term expiring August 1, 1974. He succeeds the late John C. Bugher.

Mr. Sterner is Associate Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Texas in Houston. Members serve on a per diem basis with $100 a day compensation for each day spent in conferences of the committee. We will post the details on that.

Finally, we will post copies of an Executive Order signed by the President which will provide for two Deputy Directors of the Office of Consumer Affairs instead of the one, as is the present case.

We will post details on that, as I said.

Q Are you naming another Deputy?

MR. ZIEGLER: No. There are two appointments that will be announced relatively soon.

Q What is the pay scale on that?

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U.S. Supports U.N. Program
for East Pakistan Relief

Following is a statement read to news correspondents on May 26 by Charles W. Bray III, Director, Office of Press Relations.

The United Nations has just released the formal request which the Secretary General has received from the Government of Pakistan for international humanitarian relief assistance for East Pakistan. We are most pleased this request has been made and will be giving full support to the relief program under U.N. auspices. A U.N. representative is to be sent to East Pakistan to coordinate international efforts, and the Pakistan Government is prepared to associate UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund] and World Food Program personnel in planning and organizing relief. We look forward to the U.N. assessment of requirements for meeting the urgent needs for relief in East Pakistan.

Over the past few weeks we have been doing contingency planning in anticipation of participating in such a program to help the people of East Pakistan. The United States is prepared to take the following steps to contribute to this important international effort:

- To help expedite the improvement of port operations and thereby speed the provision of needed food and other relief supplies into the area, we are ready to send a specialist from the Department of Agriculture to survey East Pakistan's two major ports and make recommendations to facilitate off-loading and forward movement of grain.

- In addition, since the most critical immediate need appears to be in the area devastated by the November cyclone, we are planning to

assist this area on a high-priority basis. We are discussing with the Government of Pakistan the provision of coastal vessels to be used to help transport food grain and other commodities from the ports to inland distribution centers. These vessels would be financed out of the $7.5 million which Congress has appropriated for rehabilitation and reconstruction purposes in this area and which is still available.

- We are planning to use the balance of these funds over the longer term to finance the repair of coastal embankments designed to improve agricultural production in the area and for construction of housing and cyclone shelters.

- To help meet the urgent need for food in the cyclone disaster area, we are prepared to provide an additional 150,000 metric tons of food grain for this region as soon as port conditions permit and arrangements can be made to distribute the food to the cyclone victims.

- For use throughout the province, there are 200,000 metric tons of P.L. 480 title I food grain in Karachi, ready for transshipment to the East.

- We also have available in the United States under an existing P.L. 480 title I agreement 170,000 metric tons of food grain for East Pakistan which we are prepared to ship as the ports begin to handle larger quantities of grain.

- Beyond this, as requirements become better defined, the United States will consider signing an additional P.L. 480 agreement if needed.

- We also are prepared to help furnish other relief commodities which may become necessary as they are identified by the Government of Pakistan and coordinated by the U.N.

- Finally, we expect that the international voluntary agencies with established humanitarian programs in East Pakistan will continue their activities.

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Department of State Bulletin

This Copy For

NEWS CONFERENCE #1044

AT THE WHITE HOUSE

WITH RON ZIEGLER

AT 12:55 P.M. EDT

MAY 26, 1971

WEDNESDAY

MR. ZIEGLER: For those of you who are unsure, this is the eleven o'clock briefing, not the four o'clock briefing. We are delayed this morning, of course, because the President went over to speak to the meeting at the Mayflower Hotel. His remarks were delivered to the Fifth Annual Conference of the Associated Council of the Arts. We have a text of his remarks there for those of you who are interested in it.

We have several announcements today. One of those announcements, I believe you have, indicates that the President is announcing his intention to nominate three persons to be members of the District of Columbia Council for terms expiring February 1, 1974. Two of the nominations will be reappointments. Those are the reappointment of Joseph Yeldell, and the reappointment of Peggy Haywood. Also we are nominating Henry Willard, who will replace Philip Daugherty on the District of Columbia Council.

Q Ron, are these Democrats or Republicans?

MR. ZIEGLER: Joseph Yeldell is a Democrat. Peggy Haywood is a Republican. Henry Willard is a Republican.

Q What about Daugherty?

MR. ZIEGLER: Daugherty is a Democrat. Both Yeldell and Peggy Haywood are blacks and Mr. Willard is white.

Q Does this switch the balance?

MR. ZIEGLER: No, it does not. The makeup of the Council now is six Republicans, three Democrats, seven blacks and two whites.

Those are all the announcements that we have for today.

The President is now meeting with Ambassador David Bruce, as you know. We just had a picture of that. Ambassador Bruce is in town to receive the William J. Donovan Memorial Award for International Public Service at a dinner tonight given by former members of the Office of Strategic Services.

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Ambassador Bruce returned last Friday and has
been in consultation with the State Department. He will go
back to Paris on Saturday.

Q Is Ambassador Bruce contemplating resigning this summer?

MR. ZIEGLER: I know of no plans for Ambassador Bruce to leave his post.

You have a statement by the President on the
cancer cure portion of the second Supplemental Appropriation
bill. The $100 million amount was included so that funds
could be available for the program by July 1. This bill
was signed yesterday by President Nixon on Air Force One
when he was returning to Washington, D.C., from Alabama.

Implementing legislation has been introduced in
the House, I understand, and Senate hearings start on June 1.

As you know, the President has expressed a strong
personal interest and has put the full weight of his office
behind the formation of this program with an independent
director reporting directly to the President.

Q Have you got a bill number?

MR. ZIEGLER: H.O. 2190.

Q Ron, this legislation that the President proposed, the Cancer Program would be in the National Institutes of Health?

MR. ZIEGLER: Yes, it would be.

Q But separately funded?

MR. ZIEGLER: It would be in the National Institutes of Health and with a director reporting directly to the President.

Q Ron, this says an extra $100 million for cancer. What is the total amount?

MR. ZIEGLER: The budget request is $232 million. This amount would make the total $332 million.

Q What is the schedule tomorrow on King Faisal?

MR. ZIEGLER: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, as we have announced previously, will pay a visit to the White House tomorrow. There will be an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn at 10:00. Then the President will meet with the King in his office for about an hour. Following that, the President will host a working luncheon here at the White House in the Residence.

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