Exploration

When the presidential plane Columbine landed at Washington last week, the distinguished Frenchmen aboard were far from happy. Premier Rene Mayer had started the week by threatening to resign, a tactic that persuaded the French Assembly into accepting a new $220 million emergency loan. This delayed the start from Paris, and the plane's pilot had flown through a storm instead of circling it in order to make connections with the Columbine in New York.

By the time Mayer & Co. stepped off the plane, they were weary and still queasy with airsickness. Their reception was heartening. Vice President Nixon gave a warm welcome speech, and by the time John Foster Dulles spoke feelingly of "the France we love and are proud to acclaim as our ally," the Frenchmen were all smiles.

The ensuing four days of conference were not all smiles. The U.S. was mainly interested in getting France to approve the European Defense Community treaty (TIME, March 30). The French, reluctant to commit themselves on a treaty that is far from popular in France (although it is a French creation), insisted that questions concerning the Saar must be settled first. At one conference, President Eisenhower reminded the French leaders that they had an external as well as an internal public-relations problem. A citizen of Texas, said Ike, had a hard time understanding why disputes over the Saar, an area half as big as a Texas county, should hold up European defense. Mayer's reply was that all outstanding issues between France and Germany should be settled before France enters a European Defense Community. On a long walk, he said, a small stone in a shoe can hurt as much as a large one.

The French were pleased to learn that the U.S. would consider increased assistance in Indo-China. The details were left to future conference, but the French hoped for American Indo-China aid of $800 million a year. In return, they would promise a planned effort to end the war in Indo-China in two years, probably backed with an offer to forgo any but military aid in continental France after 1953. The French learned also that the U.S. would not be bound by an armistice in Korea if the Chinese Communists took advantage of it to invade Indo-China. Said one French conferee: "Before this visit there was a moral tie between the wars in Korea and Indo-China. Now the two wars are linked legally."

No firm agreements were arrived at, and none were expected. As exploration of views, the conference was a success.

Other Washington visitors last week: P:Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, who stayed at the White House, announced that he had come to see "a baseball match."

P:Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, who thanked the President for the U.S. aid to his country during the recent floods. P:Prince Feisal, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia and second of King Ibn Saud's 30 odd sons, who brought Ike an 111n. gold dagger, a black burnoose.

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