Ronald Reagan Letter Signed - Criticizes Gerald Ford Over Vietnam Refugee Crisis

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RONALD REAGAN
.  Important typed letter signed by, “Ron,” Reagan to Ken Browne five months before announcing his candidacy for president against incumbent President Gerald Ford: “It was good to hear from you and I thank you for the kind words.  If the occasion should arise, your support will be most welcome. Don’t worry about the President and me where the refugees are concerned. I’ve been including it in my speeches and press conferences. If we don’t help these people, we ought to chisel those words right off the base of the Statue of Liberty.  My best to Joyce.”
IMPORTANT TYPED LETTER SIGNED BY RONALD REAGAN CRITICIZING PRESIDENT GERALD FORD’S RESPONSE TO THE REFUGEE CRISIS AT THE END OF THE VIETNAM WAR
Reagan began to actively campaign against and publicly criticize President Ford in 1975 in hopes he would win the Republican nomination for president.  In the present letter, Reagan is criticizing President Ford’s response to having left a wide segment of the Indochinese population who had assisted the American military and political effort in the Vietnam War after the United States evacuated its remaining personnel from Vietnam in the spring of 1975.  Without the American presence, they were left vulnerable to retaliation by the North Vietnamese government leading up to and after the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Those who did not make it out either fled by dangerous methods or were captured and sent to so-called reeducation camps that were in essence concentration camps.
“IF WE DON’T HELP THESE PEOPLE, WE OUGHT TO CHISEL THOSE WORDS RIGHT OFF THE BASE OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.”
President Ford and Congress responded to the refugee crisis by passing the 1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act in May 1975.  The act aimed to assist Indochinese in escaping the danger they faced from the North Vietnamese and finding them safe residences in the U.S. Between 1975 and 1986, about 750,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos resettled in the U.S.
ACCOMPANIED WITH A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY FROM RR AUCTION, THE WORLD’S LEADING AUTOGRAPH AUCTION HOUSE
The letter is one page on personal letterhead, measures 11” by 8.5”, created in Los Angeles on June 3, 1975, in fine condition with staple holes to the upper left corner, accompanied with the original mailing envelope, and accompanied with a certificate of authenticity from RR Auction, the world’s leading autograph auction house.