Meeting with De Gaulle?

The U.S. government showed obvious relief this week as France, the U.S.'s oldest ally, the nation at the heart of the NATO pact, stopped short of the brink of civil war. In Paris General Charles de Gaulle was made Premier by constitutional vote (see FOREIGN NEWS). In Washington President Eisenhower, after an uneasy week, took what amounted to a major U.S. policy decision. He told his staff that he would be "very interested" in meeting De Gaulle at the right time in Washington or some place else to talk things over.

Eisenhower's observation marked a relatively happy ending to a week that began with real, if carefully suppressed, White House and State Department anxieties. The President was gravely troubled by the possibility of "another Spain," i.e., an attack on France from army strongholds in North Africa. What should the U.S. do if paratroops invaded France to install De Gaulle by force and the government appealed to foreign powers for help? De Gaulle himself answered: "I could not consent to receive power from any source but the people, or at least its representatives." Top State Department officials formed a working consensus that 1) although Premier de Gaulle might be a difficult ally, 2) he would be preferable to another multiguided compromise government and infinitely preferable to a Communist-Socialist popular front.

In this situation the President balanced the diplomatic reports and soundings against his own experience of dealings with De Gaulle in World War II. In Crusade in Europe, General Eisenhower noted: "I personally liked General de Gaulle, as I recognized in him many fine qualities. We felt, however, that these qualities were marred by hypersensitiveness and an extraordinary stubbornness in matters which appeared inconsequential to us." But throughout the war, Eisenhower agreed with Winston Churchill that De Gaulle, for all his troublesome drawbacks, had not only personal but national attributes as the indomitable spirit of French resistance and French honor.

It was in this spirit last week that the President, at a critical time in French affairs, paid a press-conference tribute to Charles de Gaulle: "I will say this: I happen to be one of those people that liked him." And within hours of De Gaulle's accession, the White House put out a statement that wrapped up the President's devout hopes for the difficult days ahead: "We are gratified that the French crisis is now being resolved. General de Gaulle has assumed heavy responsibilities at a critical juncture in French history. We look forward to the continuation of the intimate and friendly relations which have always characterized our long association with France."

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