[128] The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford "experienced a real shock" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be "responsive" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $13.04 billion in 2021) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives.[129] The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli "war of nerves" or "test of wills".[130] After much bargaining, the Sinai Interim Agreement (Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed.

Vietnam
Ford and his daughter Susan watch as Henry Kissinger (right) shakes hands with Mao Zedong, December 2, 1975.
One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuing Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of American prisoners of war. 