M. Flcmdin Declares ...

Sleek, supercilious Pierre-Etienne Flan-din had four days last week in which to explain his 56-day term as Vichy's Foreign Minister. In the hot, jammed Haute Cour at Versailles, the 57-year-old former Prime Minister and prewar leader of the French Right alternately explained and extolled his political tactics of the last decade.

His tone of cold condescension often froze into icy contempt. His was the old, impenetrably murky defense about the double game. Why had he supported Munich? "Because we were not ready." Why had he accepted the Foreign Affairs portfolio in Petain's Cabinet? "I intended . . . to retain my sympathies for the Allies and to help them secretly."

To this the prosecution responded by producing Petain's letter notifying Berlin of the appointment of Flandin--" . . . whose name alone will appear to be a guarantee of sincerity." Also submitted as damning evidence were newspaper articles written by Flandin during the occupation, among them a Paris Soir piece headlined: M. FLANDIN DECLARES FRANCE WAS PUSHED INTO WAR BY THE ENGLISH, PLUTOCRATS, JEWS AND MASONS.

The Churchills, Winston and Randolph, saved the day. Winston (by letter, read in court) said that he had always considered Flandin pro-Allied. Son Randolph (in person) said that he had talked with Flandin in North Africa, believed he was anti-German.

Two hours' deliberation brought the French jury to a verdict of five years of "national indignity," entailing loss of civil rights. But for Flandin's apparent change of heart, the court suspended sentence. Upon this judgment, the left and center Paris press passed its own verdict: "shameful."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.