Commanding Performance

Ahead of schedule and with a few minutes to kill, the Military Air Transport Service Constellation taxied slowly across Washington's National Airport one afternoon last week. Promptly at 4 o'clock, at the VIP side of the MATS terminal, the Connie's door opened and out stepped President Paul Eugene Magloire of Haiti. Vice President Richard Nixon stepped forward to wring the visiting chief of state's hand, while Mrs. Nixon presented Mrs. Magloire with red roses.

A military band struck up Haiti's national anthem, then The Star-Spangled Banner. As cannon boomed a 21-gun salute, Magloire led the Vice President at a brisk pace to review the guard of honor. "You will find a warm welcome here," said the Vice President. "America," replied the visitor in French, "is making one of the greatest efforts undertaken for the true liberation of man."

Then a long black Cadillac with a transparent roof whisked the official party across Washington. On the north portico of the White House, President and Mrs. Eisenhower waited. Greeting the First Lady, Magloire bowed in the Continental gesture of kissing her hand.

After the state dinner and prescribed night in the White House, the Magloires moved across the street to Blair-Lee House, later laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Shortly after noon, the House of Representatives' doorkeeper boomed: "The President of the Republic of Haiti!" and Magloire strode in to address a joint session of Congress. His aim, he said, is to make his country totally immune to Communism by raising the national standard of living.

With aides and escorts flapping behind him like tattered pennants, the tireless visitor sped next day to an inspection of the Pan American Union Building and a speech before the Council of the Organization of American States, later to the State Department to watch his foreign minister sign Latin America's eleventh bilateral military assistance agreement with the U.S. Only once did he mention money out loud; at a press conference, where he spoke of Haiti's need for capital (a Haitian loan is in the works at the Export-Import Bank). Throughout the whole show, Magloire's commanding figure commanded attention. Back home, Haitians were proud of their President's quick grasp of the stately choreography of a full-dress Washington reception. At week's end Magloire left Washington for New York and Nashville to receive kudos from Columbia, Fordham and Fisk Universities; afterwards he will go to Boston for a quick physical checkup at the Lahey Clinic before he starts a five-day tour of Canada.

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